TV On DVD. Where Are We Headed As Of August 2013? (1 Viewer)

[Frank Soyke]

A while back someone had started a thread questioning whether the b/w releases would be continuing. At this point, I myself am wondering whether DVD releases of classic shows will be continuing at all, b/w or color. The upcoming release schedules look bleak to say the least. I had mentioned this once before and I was cautioned that this is usually a dry point in the year and releases would probably pick up again over the holidays. While that makes sense, I'm not so sure it's factual. I looked at releases over the past 3 years during the months of July-October and although there was a definite decrease in releases of classic shows, it was nowhere near the extent of this year.
Point being, I wondering how long the major companies will continue to release classic shows at all. My guess is that it's possible things are winding down at some of these distributors. Let examine some current trends

1) Our old ally Shout is not shy about letting us know they are, for the most part, phasing out releasing classic shows and their Shout Select program has been minimized.

2) Judging by the release announcements, IMO Paramount/CBS appears to doing a little bit of phasing out themselves. Save for the recent announcement of Gentle Ben, they have little of note on the schedule after Mason is released on the 8/14 through at least the end of October. Their usual cycling of Rawhide, Bonanza, and Gunsmoke are not following previous predictable patterns. I'm just feeling that something may be changing with these guys which is a shame considering some of the shows we are depending on them for.

4) Warner Brothers we know we can continue to count on, at least for now. They are releasing some great stuff, albeit at a horribly slow pace.

5) Sony - Nuff said

6) We've heard a lot about some of the stuff coming out from the indies such as VEI but nothing has coming to fruition yet. We've all heard the rumblings about Mod Squad, Rifleman, The Rebel and a few others, but haven't heard so much as a formal announcement about any one of these. We can only hope at the this point that these and other indies come through on some of this stuff because my take, is other than these guys and Warner Brothers we don't have too many friends anymore. Bottom line- I ain't pulling out my shades, cause the future ain't so bright.

 

[jcroy]

"Murder She Wrote" complete series set is being released on Oct 1, 2013.

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-She-Wrote-Angela-Lansbury/dp/B00E8AVN9U

Hopefully the first three seasons will be done as single sided dvd discs. (IIRC, the first three seasons on dvd were originally double sided flipper discs).

 

[TVonDVDJunkie05]

You forgot:

7) Fox - Nuff said

I agree that things have slowed down, although in fairness to CBS/Paramount they have released quite a bit this year, including 5 shows (Father Dowling Mysteries, Have Gun, Will Travel, Matlock, Family Ties & Perry Mason) that were finished off. I am surprised that they have not announced the release of the final season of Touched by an Angel, looks like that might have been pushed back into next year?!

As for VEI, they are a small company and do not announce things too far in advance but I expect you will see an announcement about Diagnosis: Murder & The Mod Squad soon, in time for the holday season.

This time of year, the focus shifts to the holiday season which may be one reason why things have slowed down. Usually this is when the studios focus their attention on big releases (complete series sets), thus far we have had the following announcements:

Paramount- The Honeymooners Blu-ray complete series
Sony- Bewitched & Partridge Family complete series sets and I Dream of Jeannie complete series re-release
Universal- Magnum, P.I. and Murder, She Wrote complete series sets
Warner Bros.- ?
Shout Factory- ?
Mill Creek Entertainment- Wanted: Dead or Alive Complete series re-release

 

[jcroy]

This time of year, the focus shifts to the holiday season which may be one reason why things have slowed down. Usually this is when the studios focus their attention on big releases (complete series sets)

(On a slight tangent).

Maybe I'm just getting old and tired.

For the upcoming fall to xmas season, there is absolutely nothing that is attracting my attention on dvd/bluray. (Both classic and recent tv shows).

For more recent stuff, just about every current tv show that I've been watching over the last year or so, has been rather lackluster and kinda unmemorable this past season over 2012 and 2013. (TV shows like: NCIS, Criminal Minds, NCIS: LA, Defiance, Fringe, Under The Dome, Revolution, Unforgettable, Motive, Person of Interest, Nikita, etc ...). None of their upcoming dvd/bluray season sets look appealing to me at all. Not even as a $15 bargain bin find.

Last year I thought there were better tv on dvd/bluray releases, than this year.

 

[mrz7]

Well I think there are a number of factors with the slowdown of T.V. on DVD:1.) The Economy is still on shaky ground. If you notice the shows being released more are current shows. Studios are counting on the exposure of the newer shows (eg; "The Big Bang Theory", "Modern Family", "Hannibul" etc...) Whereas the classic older shows are limited in airing on very few cable channels.2.) MOST of the classic shows have been released on DVD already. The shows that are not released or have had limited season release are the ones tied up in rights issues of some sort. Examples shows of this nature would be: 1966 "Batman", "WKRP In Cinncinnati", "The Wonder Years", "Knots Landing", "The Drew Carey Show", "Murphy Brown" are among the top ones on my list. With the exception of "Batman", most of the other shows are having a problem with music rights....costs to much for the studios....and once again, in this economy, studios are not taking the risks. And if they are considering to release any of these shows someday, they have to get thru the red tape of rights issues.3.) Blu-ray releases of classic shows are at a VERY SLOW PACE. I'm very happy with Paramount in their recent announcement of the 39 Classic Episodes of "The Honeymooners". It's a smaller series for Paramount to take the chance of an older show on Blu-Ray. Hopefully, sales of this series will be good and the studios will take more chances on shows with more seasons (like last year's "Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Friends"). Hopefully this year, HBO will consider releasing the complete series of "The Soprano's" on Blu Ray. Season 1 and the two part season 6 have been released. But, and no disrespect to Mr. Gandofini's untimely death, I would think they would consider releasing this cause of Mr. Gandofini's popularity (afterall, his character, Tony Soprano, was the show). So a Blu-Ray release of the complete series would be nice to see around holiday time (hint, hint HBO!!!)4.) I still think it's early yet to hear about more releases. I think we will hear more releases in the upcoming month (August/Sept). I heard on another thread, that Shout! is suppose to be making a big announcement about a classic show (Sony property) for a complete series. Guesses mentioned were "The Jeffersons" and "Fantasy Island". It also could possibly be "Maude", "One Day At A Time"....but I heard it's suppose to be a show that has been limited in release from Sony initially. Since "All In The Family" was released as a complete series from Shout! last year, I'm thinking it might be "The Jeffersons" or "Archie Bunker's Place", but those are just my guesses. In any case, I think we will hear more complete series coming soon as the holidays approach.One last thing, out of all the classic shows that were mentioned earlier that are going to be released this upcoming holiday season so far, there was a couple of omissions....from the Time Life/Star Vista studio: "Mama's Family", a holiday-themed DVD of "The Carol Burnett Show" and the complete series set of "Dean Martin Roasts".Here's hoping we hear more classic shows being released for the holiday season. But I would not be surprised if didn't based on some of the factors that I mentioned above.

 

[jcroy]

1.) The Economy is still on shaky ground.

Over the years I've heard this type of explanation being used to rationalize and explain poor performance in numerous areas.

We'll never know for sure, but at times I wonder whether things would have been much different for "tv on dvd/bluray", if the "great recession" had never happened back in 2008.

 

[Corey3rd]

Remember that Timeless is now part of Shout! Factory. They are dipping into putting out '70s titles over the last year with Stoney Burke, West Point, Grizzly Adams and Bear Cats!

 

[Gary OS]

Remember that Timeless is now part of Shout! Factory. They are dipping into putting out '70s titles over the last year with Stoney Burke, West Point, Grizzly Adams and Bear Cats!

Unless I'm mistaken, West Point was a 50's show and Stoney Burke an early 60's show. I'd still look for Timeless to concentrate on 50's and 60's material when they are able.


Gary "but that's only my opinion - perhaps they will move into more modern series" O.

 

[Neil Brock]

From the word that I am getting, there are quite a number of titles that Timeless/Shout is looking into digging up and they are all in the traditional "Timeless" type show category. So, I wouldn't be so quick to write them off just yet. Who knows, maybe someday management will change at Fox and the morons working there now who do nothing will be replaced by people who actually want to make use of their library.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Especially given all the stuff TGG has released on top of Timeless, Shout, and Warner Archive, I'm fairly happy. Other than Batman, much of the tv I still want the most is stalled at CBS.

 

[benbess]

The Virginian is now complete. That's pretty amazing. I only bought and watched the first 3 seasons, but what a good show. Might get back to it someday. Wish it were on blu, but I know that'll never happen...

 

[MattPriceTime]

I'd say the more accurate diagnosis of the "economy" story is the fact that Warner saw head on and went around by starting the archive. Yes we know lots of shows (and other forms of entertainment) have lots of fans that will pay money which is good, but sometimes the big companies don't always feel as safer releasing lots and lots of stuff that may run into problems in sales. As with many sets, the added problem comes after the first shipment. Most TV on DVD is going to bought in first wave by collectors and then sit there on shelves as most of the market is depleted on the first good sales. So while Warner has changed up their game, the others for the most part are still stuck in the problem the industry had. While some have done mod plans themselves, let's face it none of them really are ready to be rolling like Warner has there's going.

Also this comes back to distribution, within the bubble of the really end if the 90s and into the early 2000s, tv distribution went down, so in created a little bubble in the fanbases of people who never really got to see a lot of re-runs like anyone who grew up in the past kind of just got naturally from watching tv. With a part of the potential market probably not interested from ignorance, you lose a segment with disposable income. So a newer show has a freshness to it, people are aware of it, including the ignorants who came from that bubble because it's easily accessible then. Hence why retail releases for lots of them are safer bets.

Now if we take one thing away from what WB has taught us, a lot of those franchises that got shuffled in the time period where dvd releases were slowed is that a lot of them are still quite popular. When releases were stopping we had reason to fear "this may not be as popular as before", but now thanks to what we see on social media with more people using them all the time, we see that lots of them will sell well, but back to the problem, sometimes you can sell well but not well enough to justify pressing out millions of discs to countless stores all around the world.

Back in the present day though, let's see where things go. A new generation will be growing up and become in the spot the bubble used to be. A lot of these kids won't be limited by tv and listen to the internet, as now with DVDs, Blus and streaming of sooooo many things easily available they might be more interested than the current bubble was. But again if other companies went the way WB did, i'm sure we wouldn't really be worrying about a lot of that. Since if times goes on one of these two hypothesis bubbles are going to break. Question is which one is going to happen first.

I think the future right now is something that has some waiting involved but not so much that it's murky. We're going at a decent pace that needs one of two events to happen to trigger it to move fast. Both are feasible but i don't think we know which one is going to come to pass first.

EDIT: On an addendum note, let's just call Cartoon Network as the example of how we don't want properties to end up. Since most of there's have an audience that is mostly in the bubble and in a no man's land, they won't make many new fans or let older people discover them. If older shows have a lot of their older audiences die and the people under the bubble can't discover them, then a lot of those shows may end up in a no man's land. And i don't think anyone wants that to happen.

 

[Towergrove]

I would also like to point out where I used to buy TV on DVD exclusively, I now also buy Ultraviolet and iTunes digital files of series instead of waiting and waiting for the studios to press those discs. The market has changed and lots of stuff is for sale as sell thru but it may not necessarily be released on disc.

 

[Ron1973]

Especially given all the stuff TGG has released on top of Timeless, Shout, and Warner Archive, I'm fairly happy. Other than Batman, much of the tv I still want the most is stalled at CBS.

I realize CBS HE is doing more than some other companies. On the other hand, the way they're stalling out classic shows is annoying. I'm still waiting patiently for the color seasons of The Beverly Hillbillies. Barnaby Jones is stalled out on the 1st season. My Three Sons, Petticoat Junction, Happy Days (music issues I'm sure) are all stalled out.

I think so often of wishing CBS HE would do an archive thing like Warner is doing. As much as I'd love to have fresh HD masters from the original film elements, I would settle for anything, except cut episodes of course, at this point on The Beverly Hillbillies. I'm just not choicy on it. I grew up watching worn out and sometimes fade 16mm episodes on TV. The Columbia House VHS tapes look to be sourced from 16mm elements given the picture quality and the fact some episodes still have the sponsor advertisement during the ending theme. I wouldn't even mind DVD-R discs at this point, just anything to get them, and other stalled CBS HE properties, out.

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

I'd go for Have Gun, Will Travel on Blu-Ray, but it'll probably never happen,, unless they can do new transfers in HD of seasons 1-3.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

I'm yet to hear a good reason from the studios, all of them, why they aren't doing more with the possibilities of the MOD thing. It's the ideal avenue for their slimmer older titles, get on it already. Think they'd all be surprised at the interest from fans and collectors, they think it's not there but it clearly is.

 

[GMBurns]

I'm yet to hear a good reason from the studios, all of them, why they aren't doing more with the possibilities of the MOD thing. It's the ideal avenue for their slimmer older titles, get on it already. Think they'd all be surprised at the interest from fans and collectors, they think it's not there but it clearly is.

While CBS has sort of started an MOD program it's nothing like what Warner is doing. I was glad to see a second release of Becker in June, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that'll mean a second release of Cannon is coming soon. But overall it's a big disappointment that CBS has not sent more of their stalled shows this route.

 

[Frank Soyke]

While CBS has sort of started an MOD program it's nothing like what Warner is doing. I was glad to see a second release of Becker in June, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that'll mean a second release of Cannon is coming soon. But overall it's a big disappointment that CBS has not sent more of their stalled shows this route.

They don't seem real committed to it, do they? My own personal take was the the Cannon and Becker releases was a sort of "run it up the flagpole" move to see what kind of sales they would get before they went all in. Doesn't really look promising at this point.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Things were really slowing down in 2011. They picked up a bit in 2012 and a little more in 2013 so overall I'm happy with the release schedules now. There are plenty of stalled shows I still want: Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, My Three Sons, Green Acres but many other shows have been completed either last year or this year. There are still many shows that have come out that I still haven't purchased because I don't have the time or money yet. Too much to watch already.
As someone who owns many WA TV shows there is no quality difference in their releases and regular release. In their 1st couple of years yes but not since 2011 they have been remastering the majority of their releases and a quick digital cleanup on the others. No worn out old transfers with maybe a few exceptions. Most are now on Pressed discs now for those who care about this. If Paramount goes the Archive route I'm sure they will follow the same quality model.

 

[BobO'Link]

..Most are no on Pressed discs now for those who care about this. If Paramount goes the Archive route I'm sure they will follow the same quality model.

Isn't that true only for the first run and once it's exhausted they revert to MOD?