Upcoming Wild Boyz and Viva La Bam DVDs question (1 Viewer)

[Ian_H]

Has anyone heard if Viva La Bam and Wild Boyz will be released with all the music used on the shows intact? Both shows utilize many artists from many labels and some of the songs fit the scenes so well. If the music is altered than I will have to stick with my broadcast DVD-Rs.


--Ian

 

[Ian_H]

Closer to street date now... anyone have a clue?


--Ian

 

[Jon B NY]

This brings upa really good point I didn't think about. A lot of times you get those recently broadcast TV shows with altered music because of the rights (Chapelle's Show comes to mind). But (!) this is MTV, and not Comedy Central. I think MTV will try a bit harder to keep the original source music in there because it appeals to the pop generation who watch MTv and watch these shows. That's just an opinion though. I can't give you a straightforward answer...but I will be actively seeking one now.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Why the hell are these shows being released when we don't even have proper uncut season sets of Jackass on DVD?

I wouldn't buy these anyways to be honest, but I really think the home video production department over at MTV are a bunch of meatheads.

Maybe one day they'll actually give us the shows we want on DVD... that would be a concept.

 

[Ian_H]

Well in October of 2000 when the show first aired I don't think that TV on DVD was such a hot product. So they probably didn't even think about a home release at the time. More than likely the music rights are holding that up. Hell they couldn't even get out Volume 1 of the Best of Jackass. Hopefully with these shows (Viva La Bam and Wild Boyz) they secured the music rights for DVD. They would be stupid not to have.


--Ian

 

[Jon B NY]

the Best of Jackass volume 2/3 DVD's titles are jokes. There is no volume 1 on purpose. Knoxville did this as a joke. Volume 1 wasn't withheld from store shelves or anything.

But yea, I'd much rather Jackass on DVD then Bam, but I'll take what I can get.

 

[Ian_H]

Finally picked up the Viva La Bam set and music has been replaced. Most notably is in the Compton Ass Terry bits on the 3rd episode. I haven't finished watching the rest so I don't know the total extent of music replacement.

I could understand music rights being an issue on older shows, but why in the hell are they not procuring rights for home release on shows that have come out in the last 2 years. IF they can't get a license that covers broadcast and home release they shouldn't use the song at all.


--Ian

 

[David Lambert]

On newer shows that are "for-sure" DVD releases at some point, they are doing this. It costs extra up-front money, but they do it.

The thing is, how do you know something's a "for-sure" DVD release? If you're the person in charge of this when you are producing the very first few episodes of Desperate Housewives, and you have to lock in such a contract that affects the rest of the season, how do you predict DH will turn into such a huge hit?

You can't, that's the answer. So you must decide how safe a bet it is to spend the money - use up a big chunk of the show's budgetary resources, perhaps dooming the show to cancellation because other needs can't be met - and buy that DVD license up-front.

For a smaller show like Viva la Bam, it's harder to make such a decision. And easier, too...at the time, who could predict a skateboarding show would come to DVD at all, much less in season sets?!?!?

And just to prove how unpredictable the whole thing is, here is news that Viva la Bam - Season 2 is coming in March. Back in the Summer of 2003, could you have predicted that this would happen? Well, neither could they, back at that time when they were first putting the series together.

 

[Ian_H]

There were plenty of factors to think about with Viva La Bam and a DVD release. Bam was popular on Jackass and early episodes of Jackass used Bam's footage from his CKY videos. His CKY videos also were good sellers, way before Viva La Bam came out. Bam has been getting more and more popular as evidenced by him taking up half of the new Tony Hawk game.

If the executives in charge couldn't really couldn't forsee a DVD release for this show than there really is no hope for shows that use tons of music getting an intact release.

--Ian

 

[James Reader]

(I'll address this in a general manner, referring to drama, comedy and reality shows en mass.)

Because when all is said and done, they are making television shows which will be seen by potentially millions and millions of people, especially when worldwide rights are taken into consideration.

I don't know about you, but if I was a producer and I could choose between an ideal track on the soundtrack which would compliment the action on screen perfectly and have a real emotional connection to the narrative (but no home clearance) and my third or fourth choice which I didn't think was as good (but had future home clearance) I know which one I would choose every time.

I'm sorry, but the much larger intended audience would win out. DVD sets will perhaps only sell in the tens or hundreds of thousands, and should be an afterthought. Especially if planning for the DVD sets would result in creative compromises.

 

[Michael_EC]

I'm not sure I agree with this James. At this point I tend to think the legacy of a lot of shows will be the DVD/future home video format releases. If a show doesn't get picked up for syndication, then a lot of them will never be seen again other than on DVD. Firefly would probably be nothing but a footnote were it not for DVD. How many people would ever see an episode of Survivor or The Apprentice a second time if not for DVD?

 

[David Lambert]

I saw this, and it struck a chord with me. Why? Because I just read the opposite opinion elsewhere!

In the newest issue of Video Business trade magazine, editor Scott Hettrick (who also write for Variety) has his normal column, and breaks it into two parts. His first part concentrates on how Target is making gains on Wal-Mart, and the second part concentrates on Douglas Pratt. I recognized Doug's name, but couldn't place it until I recalled his famous -to-HTF Link Removed "WHAT IT MEANS TO OWN A MOVIE".

Hettrick quotes Pratt as saying (on another occassion): "...the ultimate purpose of a movie is to become a DVD." There's a certain wisdom in that, from many points of view. After all, it is the most easily-accessible "permanent archive" of a film...and now of TV Shows as well.


I tend to agree more with Michael that DVDs (and other home video media) will be the enduring legacy of many of these features, and agree less with James that the DVDs are the lesser audience for the product. Over the long haul, DVDs will be seen much much more. It burns my britches that the product we end up with is all-too-often different than what was originally broadcast.

 

[James Reader]

The quote I saw which addressed this issue was from the Producer of Teachers, a UK "dromedy" in which the music is a very important aspect of the show, almost becomming a character in it's own right. I guess it's like Ally McBeal, Northern Exposure or Due South were in America.

Now, I happen to know that a lot of care and effort goes into choosing the music for each scene, just as it did in the above mentioned US/Canadian shows. Why should she, when trying to create the most complete and artistic experience for the television viewers, be forced to use her third, fourth or even fifth choices? Especially if it is simply for DVD sales which, as I've said, will be seen by a small fraction of the TV audience, which is afterall, the prime audience?

X-Files was watched by close to 20M viewers in the US alone during its peak. Add in all the international viewers (the UK alone had another 6M) and you could be talking about 100M viewers plus. How many DVD boxsets have been sold of each season? In America alone, have sales for each set even approched 1M? I think the Simpsons is the biggest selling US TV release, and last time I looked they weren't over 1M copies a set yet.

Should anyone be forced to make artistic compremises for perhaps something that turns out to be less than 5% of the audience? It's no different to forced edits of movies by studios. The original intent is ignored for non-artistic, profit based reasons.

It's sort of different for films. Everyone accepts a film will be released on home video, and yes, most films do see more viewers in the home format. I doubt any TV series has home viewers anywhere close to their original TV audiences.

Of course, as the producer pointed out ideally they would get clearance for both (as they have for Teachers, as it happens). She was just pointing out that, yes they had, but we couldn't count on this always being the case.

Oh a quick addition: I believe Apple no longer allow any Beatles recordings to be licenced for soundtrack reasons on home video format. Does this mean every TV producer should ditch such content from their TV shows, even if they have a killer storyline or emotional moment where a Beatles song would be ideal?

 

[Ian_H]

James said:


Chapelle Show has topped 2 mil and Family Guy I think was over 1 mil.



--Ian