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THE WONDER YEARS (Consolidated Thread; No New Ones, Please!) (1 Viewer)

John*P

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May 27, 2004
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I figured as much. Selling this stuff on eBay is one thing, (still illegal) but advertising these bootlegs on Google? They're just asking for it...
 

Louis C

Supporting Actor
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Jul 5, 2002
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OT: Just got Tour of Duty Season 1, and ALL the music is different, the theme song used to be "Paint it Black" now it's the same as the closing credits theme. I feel cheated.
 

Eugene Esterly

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Aug 7, 2002
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The problem with the Wonder Years is that this show used so much music that it will cost a good amount of money to license all of the music.
 

Chris:L

Supporting Actor
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Jan 31, 2004
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Okay, okay. I know that this forum has discussed this topic at great length in the past and I would have brought this up again on the previous similar topics. But I'm too lazy to look back through 20 pages of topics.

As you all know, American Dreams will be released with the original music intact. Happy Days has all the original music intact, at least that's what I understand. So, what is the deal with the Wonder Years? If it is still about music, explain to me then why so many other television shows have survived the long haul to DVD conquering the music rights issue where so many others have failed?

Come on, people. If we really want this tv show preserved forever on DVD we can turn the tide with our demand!

Let's make this a possibility. Strive with me!
 

Gord Lacey

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There's a difference betwen a new show that contains a lot of music, and an old show. With a new show they can license the music for broadcast and home video, but with an old show they have to go back and negotiate for home video rights. I understand that American Dreams contains old songs, but they aren't sung by the original artists. This also changes the licensing for the song.

Gord
 

Casey Trowbridg

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Then how do you explain Happy Days, Gord?
My name isn't Gord, but I'll give this a try.

You're making a mistake if you think that because music for Happy Days was cleared, that it will be easy or cost effective for Wonder Years music to be cleared and that is simply not correct.

The music is likely not controlled by the same people for both shows, and the cost of clearing it might be higher. There is no standard for music clearance for older TV shows, so because Happy Days has all of its music that does not mean that it would be just as easy or just as expensive for Fox to clear all the music rights to the Wonder Years.
 

Mikel_Cooperman

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Mikey
If they can pay I million dollars for the music rights to Freaks and Geeks, why can't they pay alittle more for a show that was not only on longer but did better in the ratings?
 

Jon F.

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Jun 29, 2004
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It all depends on how much money the company thinks they can make. WONDER YEARS is quite a few years old and isn't shown in syndication very often, therefore it is not in recent memory of many people. If the company that has the rights to the show thinks it would cost $1M to have all of original music they may not think they would make enough on the DVDs to recover that cost.

Obviously the people that released FREAKS & GEEKS did think they could recover the costs. Whether they actually did or not is another question.
 

Casey Trowbridg

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If they can pay I million dollars for the music rights to Freaks and Geeks, why can't they pay alittle more for a show that was not only on longer but did
better in the ratings?
Again, what would make you think that it would only be just a little bit more? Rights issues are tricky, if the song in question is owned by more than one person and not all parties sign off on the deal then the song can't be used. There are several instances where this is ture, and not just for home video clearance. Did you know for instance that Sunny Bono once wanted to use a song that he had written on a TV show he was starring in, but he couldn't use it because a deal could not be struck with the other rights holder on the song, the producer IIRC.

You can't just say well, they didn't have any problem with Freaks and Geeks so why not the Wonder Years? The cost is not going to be the same across the board, and one person can stall one negotiation and one absent song might be enough to stall a DVD release.
 

Gord Lacey

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Music licensing is not an easy thing, and different songs cost different amounts of money. I spoke to a nameless studio exec that told me they spent $700,000 to clear the theme song for a show, for ONE season. That's not to say that every song is $700,000, but it can show you how expensive clearing music can get. If they sold 100,000 copies of that set then the theme song is adding $7 PER set to the cost. YIKES!

Chris, I was just trying to illustrate that new shows and old shows are very different, since you compared The Wonder Years to American Dreams. Every property will have challenges, but newer shows will have fewer because the companies are clearing music for home video at the same time as they're clearing it for broadcast.

Gord
 

Matt Hetzler

Stunt Coordinator
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Jul 17, 1999
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*sigh*

I really want Wonder Years on DVD, but it looks like the chances of it ever happening are slim to none... :frowning:
 

Martin_C

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Jun 2, 2004
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FWIW, the german FOX TV-DVD site is having a Poll about which shows to release on DVD. WONDER YEARS is listed among six other titles. (All US btw., as far as I can tell).

Not that it matters much, but it does mean that they at least haven't given up completely on releasing this show.

http://www.foxtv.de/content/
 

MatthewLouwrens

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Mar 18, 2003
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3,034
So get there and vote.

Assuming that "MEINE WUNDERBAREN JAHRE" is the German name for the show, it has only had 203 votes - that's 0.12% of the votes cast so far.

The poll's results:

* REMINGTON STEELE - 3150 votes 1.83 %
* MEINE WUNDERBAREN JAHRE - 203 votes 0.12 %
* CHICAGO HOPE - 135 votes 0.08 %
* DENVER CLAN - 80124 votes 46.46 %
* LOU GRANT - 17 votes 0.01 %
* PRETENDER - 74490 votes 43.19 %
* EIN COLT FUER ALLE FAELLE - 14333 votes 8.31 %

(Personally, I never watched it when it was on, and so wouldn't buy it - but I might rent it, and then buy it if I like it - but my brother called me a couple of weeks ago out of the blue to ask me whether it was on DVD, and I had to explain the music rights issue to him. So I cast a vote on his behalf.)
 

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