tvshowsondvd.com is down (1 Viewer)

[Gord Lacey]

Sorry if I'm gonna be the only one to say this, but I'm a pretty blunt person anyway:

Yes, I'm going to miss the website, it was a daily browse for me, BUT I'm extremely disappointed with the way the situation was handled.

All this time we were led to believe that the site was down for maintenance, and we all thought, well maybe they hit a technical hitch, but it's all OK.

Now, all of a sudden you come out and say "that's all folks". No explanation, nothing.

It feels like the Facebook page all over again, when it just disappeared into thin air out of the blue.

I am really going to miss the website, but to me, the situation was very, very poorly handled.

Best of luck to you guys.

When you're owned by another party, the decision-making process doesn't always involve you.

 

[Gord Lacey]

I didn't read the reason for this but I can guess. They got a nice piece of change to sell the site, just like the guy who the excellent Jump The Shark site and Locate TV. It will be greatly missed and there will no longer be a place to check on a show as to if it ever came out or not.

Well, the sale of the site happened back in 2007, so it was around longer being owned by someone else than it had been when I owned it. wish I had gotten "Jump the Shark" money for it!

 

[Brent Reid]

Bloody hell. Shocking news. Ridiculous to think the site's worth a ton of money and that's somehow behind the reason for its demise. More likely it wasn't cost-effective anymore and the owners no longer wanted to keep paying to maintain it. Thanks so much for all your hard work over the years, guys. It's been very much appreciated by more people than you'll ever know.

Replace your current bookmarks with the Wayback Machine's most recent saved version:

• TVShowsOnDVD.com 5 May 2018.

RIP.

 

[BobO'Link]

If I understand correctly, after the site was purchased by TV Guide it was again purchased, or rather taken over, by CBS Interactive in ~2013. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

I fully expected TV Guide (Gemstar) to totally ruin it, as they did "Jump the Shark." Of course they (again Gemstar who purchased TV Guide in 1999) also ruined a great TV magazine and turned it into just another gossip rag/website. But it gets real convoluted and ownership changed several times since 2013 (at least TV Guide - and I'm making a huge assumption that tvshowsondvd was always part of the sales of TV Guide - the last captured image on Wayback shows CBS Interactive as the owner so maybe not - or they kept that name through the subsequent sales). I'm positive the current owners saw no benefit in the site and felt it was a money drain as they've changed all the TV Guide properties into further shells of what even Gemstar had done.

I was going to include the Wayback Machine's link for the site but Brent beat me to it.

 

[Bradskey]

This has been a favorite website for years and I am greatly disappointed in the loss of the historical database. Also my feelings may be misguided here but the whole FB thing kind of triggered me with a strong sense that this is yet another way that the dumbed down firehose of garbage that is social media is ruining the Internet, certainly the dynamic Internet ecosystem of independent crosslinking websites that I remember, and I don't know why we want to persist in continuing to give these evil companies all the control of our content and interactions on the web. Plus I can't imagine trying to relegate this service to a crummy social media feed can ever be anything like what we had.

Still, there was a time when there were fun new dvd sets for me to buy every week, and now my purchases are infrequent at best. Almost all the catalog stuff that I wanted and was ever available I have and is just occasionally being repackaged. Other things I want seemingly will NEVER be released. Almost no new or contemporary shows are worth physically owning. But I can't complain about the large collection of content I did build on disc and may still add to piecemeal if I can figure out what's still out there or coming soon. Amazon's recommendation page was completely ruined years ago, destroying its once powerful discovery features for me, and they almost try to hide or ignore physical media these days anyway. And even if that weren't the case, there just isnt much coming out. End of an era it seems, so thanks for all the years of effort and the memories. The TVShowsOnDVD site was the source of many pleasant diversions and much exciting news for me for many years.

 

[bmasters9]

Amazon's recommendation page was completely ruined years ago, destroying its once powerful discovery features for me, and they almost try to hide or ignore physical media these days anyway.

What was behind the destruction?

 

[Gord Lacey]

If I understand correctly, after the site was purchased by TV Guide it was again purchased, or rather taken over, by CBS Interactive in ~2013. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

I fully expected TV Guide (Gemstar) to totally ruin it, as they did "Jump the Shark." Of course they (again Gemstar who purchased TV Guide in 1999) also ruined a great TV magazine and turned it into just another gossip rag/website. But it gets real convoluted and ownership changed several times since 2013 (at least TV Guide - and I'm making a huge assumption that tvshowsondvd was always part of the sales of TV Guide - the last captured image on Wayback shows CBS Interactive as the owner so maybe not - or they kept that name through the subsequent sales). I'm positive the current owners saw no benefit in the site and felt it was a money drain as they've changed all the TV Guide properties into further shells of what even Gemstar had done.

I was going to include the Wayback Machine's link for the site but Brent beat me to it.

I honestly can't remember how many times TV Guide was bought and sold since we joined them. There was a time when Rovi (the company formerly known as Macrovision) owned us, as well as a brief period when Lionsgate owned the company. And the wonderful part of it is that the users really didn't know when the ownership switched, because it wasn't reflected on the site. We did our own thing, and about the only changes we had were where we sent our invoices. If people are looking to place blame for the demise of the site, I certainly wouldn't start with the owners; they have been great.

 

[Bryan^H]

Replace your current bookmarks with the Wayback Machine's most recent saved version:

• TVShowsOnDVD.com 5 May 2018.

RIP.

Visiting the site as it was, one word painful. How perfectly designed, and easily accessible it was for news. It also shows there is still a lot of life left in this hobby, surprisingly in classic TV.

I have tried all the other websites regarding news for upcoming release dates of shows, and to be perfectly honest...they suck.

For the first time since I started collecting TV shows on DVD, I'm flying blind, and I hate it. tvshowsondvd.com was the first site I visited every day. The excitement of finding news of a long lost show, or a familiar favorite with a street date is dead.

The more I think about it, the more it makes me sad.

 

[tlc38tlc38]

I'm so thankful to the site for helping me accumulate a great TV DVD collection. Without them, it would've been hard to figure out what titles I still need to buy, know release dates, etc..

Thanks for everything.

 

[TravisR]

I've been visiting TVShowsOnDVD at least since the days that 24 and Alias were starting up on DVD. I will miss it and will always be appreciative of the efforts of Gord, Dave and anyone else who contributed to the site. Thanks for more than a decade of great work!

 

[Jason_V]

I'm not shocked by this, but I am saddened. The site has been around since I was involved in reviewing i the early 2000's. I checked in at least once a day and still did through last week. Thanks for everything Gord and Dave. I've enjoyed it.

 

[tlc38tlc38]

It's sorta ironic that the demise of the site comes just when 2 of the most-wanted shows on DVD are getting releases: Perfect Strangers & Step by Step

 

[mark-edk]

I got an email today saying that my log in at TSOD may have been compromised. It reads in part:

On May 21, 2018, we determined that between January and May 2018, an unauthorized party had gained access to information submitted by users to TVShowsonDVD. As a result, certain registration information that you submitted to the site, which may have included your name, username, password, or date of birth, may have been compromised. If you used the same password for TVShowsonDVD.com for other websites, we strongly recommend you change those passwords and monitor your accounts for any suspicious activity. Please note that we will never email you a direct link to update your settings or ask for your password...

 

[BobO'Link]

I think what I'll miss most is the "What's on sale" listing. I checked that section every couple of days and most weeks came up with at least one purchase based on that listing. Essentially - something went on sale that I didn't have in my cart but would purchase for the right price.

 

[JohnHopper]

To TVSHOWSONDVD,

How will you inform your community when new titles surface since there is no database related to people?

 

[JamesSmith]

What will we do? Where will we go?

James

 

[Ron1973]

I can't say I frequented the site, but I did have preferences set up to be notified when certain shows were getting a release. Sure, I'll find out here, but it's not quite the same.

 

[justarandomstan]

When you're owned by another party, the decision-making process doesn't always involve you.

So, during the maintenance your owner just said - hey guys, you know what? How about we pull the plug. I mean the website is down anyway....

I am sorry, but nothing makes sense.

All we wanted was transparency, and we obviously did not get it.

Too bad the website is no more, because as I said it was a daily browse for me, but as a customer I can't help but feel very disappointed in the way this was all handled.

 

[BobO'Link]

When you're owned by another party, the decision-making process doesn't always involve you.

If people are looking to place blame for the demise of the site, I certainly wouldn't start with the owners; they have been great.

OK... now I'm just confused. These statements seem contradictory.

 

[lj01]

I wonder if the domain itself could be acquired by someone who could operate it independently and provide news of releases. But, I would guess that in time, it will just auto-redirect to tvguide.com.

Ironic, that tvshowsondvd.com meets an ultimate fate like that of a favorite TV show with music rights issues - costs are too high/profits too low for the owners, so no one gets to enjoy it.