TMG: THE NAME OF THE GAME: SEASON 1 8/19/2014 (1 Viewer)

[Neil Brock]

Yeah, and I still can't believe Brian Ward said that they had the rights to all eight seasons of Ironside.

Brian Ward had proven to be either a liar or a know-nothing, probably both. You can't base anything on what he says about anything. Even if they did have the rights to all 8 seasons of Ironside, they aren't going to keep releasing a series that they are losing more and more money on with each subsequent release.

 

[Neil Brock]

Can Run For Your Life be far behind?

I would love to see a nice release of RFYL but it was a co-production between Roncom (Perry Como's company) and Universal and the split rights may make it problematic.

 

[FanCollector]

Even if they did have the rights to all 8 seasons of Ironside, they aren't going to keep releasing a series that they are losing more and more money on with each subsequent release.

This is certainly right, and fair enough, but I do think that Ironside would have fared better had Shout picked it up now, rather than when they did. Their recent practices of issuing complete series sets before individual seasons and of fast tracking dramas of that era would have been beneficial to Ironside, as opposed to the slow drip of releases and their diminishing returns.Also, Madman in Australia found a way to make it profitable enough to release the whole series. Does Universal charge American licensing companies that much more for each title? If they do, it's obviously a mistake for them.

 

[phenri]

This is certainly right, and fair enough, but I do think that Ironside would have fared better had Shout picked it up now, rather than when they did. Their recent practices of issuing complete series sets before individual seasons and of fast tracking dramas of that era would have been beneficial to Ironside, as opposed to the slow drip of releases and their diminishing returns.Also, Madman in Australia found a way to make it profitable enough to release the whole series. Does Universal charge American licensing companies that much more for each title? If they do, it's obviously a mistake for them.

I agree with you on this. Shout! has finally figured out that the best way to release a classic series is to do a complete set, rather than stall it out with individual season releases. This would definitely benefit Ironside.

 

[Professor Echo]

Brian Ward had proven to be either a liar or a know-nothing, probably both. You can't base anything on what he says about anything. Even if they did have the rights to all 8 seasons of Ironside, they aren't going to keep releasing a series that they are losing more and more money on with each subsequent release.

Ward has been caught in one lie after another over the years, yet people continue to sing both he and his company's praises unconditionally. One online "critic" (the same one who watched the first release of the second season of THE FUGITIVE and never once noticed that the music had been replaced) actually said that Shout was unquestionably the BEST company to ever release vintage TV on DVD. They've had their successes, no doubt, but they've had failures too and many overlook that.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

With WKRP - the show no one thought could happen in an acceptable manner - they came through.

 

[LeoA]

One online "critic" (the same one who watched the first release of the second season of THE FUGITIVE and never once noticed that the music had been replaced) actually said that Shout was unquestionably the BEST company to ever release vintage TV on DVD.

Not familiar with that review, but I bet I can guess who did it. Are his initials PM?

Shout's attention to detail is worst than their honesty. They make far too many amateurish mistakes to ever proclaim them as the best in this business.

Which is a shame since they've put out a solid catalog of classics, are one of the few companies still doing so today, and they're fully capable of doing their jobs well with the resulting product being something that pleases almost everyone.

But instead, every time we get excited about a new release from them, we're left with concern about what it's going to be this time around.

 

[Jack P]

Mavis sometimes does some good reviews (and I appreciate the fact that he is there as a counterweight to certain other critics especially one with the initials SB) but on Fugitive he was indeed off-base.

 

[LeoA]

I also like that he provides a healthy selection of screenshots, multiple season reviews for the same show aren't just copy/paste jobs, and he at least spends a bit of time on something other than just summarizing the basis of the show.

For instance, how many people looking up a review for I Love Lucy at DVDTalk aren't familiar with the show? They're there to find out about the quality of the transfers on the discs, the packaging, bonus materials, etc.

But he sure has some strange ideas at times.

 

[Professor Echo]

I sent him a letter of praise once and he enthusiastically replied. Sent him at least seven letters politely correcting mistakes in his reviews and not a single response, much less a retraction. I'm done with him.

But back on topic: As I've posted before, I'm sincerely hoping THE NAME OF THE GAME gets a whole series release rather than season by season, but not sure where TMG stands on such proposals right now. They have certainly released and re-released complete series in the past, but went season by season for THE BIG VALLEY and ZANE GREY THEATER. Those were started by other studios so that may be a factor, but ALIAS SMITH AND JONES was also initiated by another studio and Timeless wound up with a complete series release for that. I personally don't think a single season of THE NAME OF THE GAME is the way to go as the remaining seasons may be a tough sell for newbies who might not have cared for the first season. If they have the resources at hand, just do the complete package now. Dragging out releases for such an old, relatively forgotten, non-western show with individual season sets is asking for trouble.

 

[LeoA]

I sent him an email after one of his Adam-12 reviews. He had done his usual "I think they've cut the conclusions off each of these episodes" routine and then asked for input from those that were more familiar with the show.

I sent him a polite email to clarify that they were indeed complete, worded just as I interact with you guys. In return, I received a rant and the DVDTalk review was edited minutes later to remove that line. He substituted what's in parenthesis below instead...

"I'm pretty sure these transfers are missing the final wrap-up tags that were routinely snipped for syndication (Adam-12 expertshave[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;font-size:13px;] emailed...and they all claim the guys on the other side of their arguments are wrong, so....)."[/color]

And his attitude continued in a later review it appears as well.

"I'm not going to get into the whole "do these have the last scene tags or not" thing I went through for the last two sets, where I received a bunch of angry, crazy emails from "experts" on both sides of the argument calling me out."

Needless to say, I won't be emailing him again.

 

[Neil Brock]

Getting back on topic, the latest thing I've heard is that the elements are still a big issue. The 16mm prints that exist may be in rough shape and I don't think Shout is interested in doing a release similar to what Timeless was putting out a decade ago with bad quality elements. Universal only did transfers on about a little more than half the episodes for the sale they did to Encore in the 90s but those all have music replacement. That's where things stand as of now. For a show that will likely sell only a few thousand copies, there's only so much money that can be put into it.

 

[FanCollector]

Thanks for the update. My question about shows like this one is: do the inferior elements really affect sales? Do they think that Checkmate or M Squad would have sold many more copies if the prints looked better? I would love good-looking copies, of course, but I would certainly not avoid buying The Name of the Game because some episodes had cleaner source material than others. Does Shout really think a lot of the potential buyers for this series would refuse to buy copies that are less than pristine?

 

[Neil Brock]

Go search the Room 222 thread and look at how many people bitched and moaned about the lousy elements that Shout was given by Fox. Also, the people who said they wouldn't buy it. That will give you your answer.

 

[FanCollector]

That's a good point. (Although I wonder how much the people who use venues like this one reflect the general marketplace.)

 

[DeWilson]

Getting back on topic, the latest thing I've heard is that the elements are still a big issue. The 16mm prints that exist may be in rough shape and I don't think Shout is interested in doing a release similar to what Timeless was putting out a decade ago with bad quality elements. Universal only did transfers on about a little more than half the episodes for the sale they did to Encore in the 90s but those all have music replacement. That's where things stand as of now. For a show that will likely sell only a few thousand copies, there's only so much money that can be put into it.

Wait, so they put the title on the schedule, including box art and solicitation without making sure there were usable elements?

 

[Jack P]

Wouldn't be the first time Shout did that (anyone remember Werewolf which they announced and then cancelled when they found they couldn't clear one piece of music?)

 

[Ian K McLachlan]

Disappointed to hear this. I would be interested in at least some episodes being released rather than nothing at all.

 

[jperez]

This is an answer I received today from the Shout Facebook page, in relation to the status of The Name of the Game.


Hi Jorge--The Name of the Game is in a bit of a limbo from what I understand. Can't say for sure what's gonna happen with it. Thanks for the request and the message!

 

[Professor Echo]

It's currently airing on Cozi TV, but I haven't watched it to see the condition, with regards to aspect ratio, edits, music subs and/or time compression. Can anyone report on this?