WB chat 1970s series (1 Viewer)

[rollotoon]

Regarding the Warner Archive series, I've heard that those DVDs feature unrestored material, and it's on DVD-R. Is that really the case? If so, would you want Warner to release old TV shows in that format?

MGM is doing something similar where it's going to be 11 DVD-Rs for the first season of New Flipper. Is that really acceptable?

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by rollotoon

Regarding the Warner Archive series, I've heard that those DVDs feature unrestored material, and it's on DVD-R. Is that really the case? If so, would you want Warner to release old TV shows in that format?

MGM is doing something similar where it's going to be 11 DVD-Rs for the first season of New Flipper. Is that really acceptable?

I don't think anyone is happy when a movie or TV show is relegated to a DVD-R but if it's that or nothing, I'm probably always going to choose the DVD-R over not seeing the movie or show at all.

 

[TravisR]

sorry, double post.

 

[Neil Brock]

Originally Posted by Steve...O

In the latest issue of Classic Images magazine Kit Parker has a nice letter to the editor published in which he discusses the high costs of releasing vintage TV. His company was going to release "My Little Margie" but gave up once the costs exceeded $100k. That's an astounding number. He cited rights clearances as the culprit. It's not just music clearances, but dealing with talent or their heirs (if they can even be found). An example that was given was that if an actor has 10 heirs, it just takes one of them to throw a monkey wrench into the project.

My Little Margie is a very interesting situation. The show was renewed for copyright in the early 80s by Roland Reed. However, he passed away a long time ago and I don't know if he left any heirs. The show was being offered for syndication by Weiss Global but when Weiss died about 20 years ago, the show fell into limbo. Since then, everyone has treated it like a PD show. Which brings up a very interesting point. What becomes of a series when the owner/copyright holder dies and there is no known heir who inherits the show? How does that work? Because I believe this show fits into that category.

 

[DeWilson]

Originally Posted by Neil Brock




My Little Margie is a very interesting situation. The show was renewed for copyright in the early 80s by Roland Reed. However, he passed away a long time ago and I don't know if he left any heirs. The show was being offered for syndication by Weiss Global but when Weiss died about 20 years ago, the show fell into limbo. Since then, everyone has treated it like a PD show. Which brings up a very interesting point. What becomes of a series when the owner/copyright holder dies and there is no known heir who inherits the show? How does that work? Because I believe this show fits into that category.

"Orphaned Copyright" - it's in limbo - which is why there is need to copyright reform. But they sais a "distant heir" had a valid claim - but an heir to what?

 

[DeWilson]

Originally Posted by rollotoon

MGM is doing something similar where it's going to be 11 DVD-Rs for the first season of New Flipper. Is that really acceptable?

11 DVDs! I can only imagine the cost - better than squeezing more than two hours on a DVD-R!

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeWilson

11 DVDs! I can only imagine the cost - better than squeezing more than two hours on a DVD-R!

Right. There's no way I'd ever want any of the studios trying to put more than two hours worth of content on a DVD-R. That's the limit for sure.

The tricky thing for the studios, and the issue I'm most curious about, is going to be the pricing of these TV show sets. If they price them at about $5.00 per disc, then they keep the overall total at a semi-reasonable level. But if that's what the studios do then I'm guessing the film fans are going to scream bloody murder because they've been paying anywhere from 3 to 4 times as much for one disc. If the studios price these TV sets at closer to $10, much less $20, per disc I think they price themselves out of the market. To me they have a dilemma, and I'll be anxious to see how it plays out.


Gary "I hope the studios don't try to squeeze 3 or more hours onto the DVD-Rs" O.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

I've been wondering about archive prices too, how much would be charged for complete season sets of 20+ episodes.

 

does warner own the rights to dan august

 

[FanCollector]

No. I believe Paramount owns distribution rights for Dan August. It was a Quinn Martin production, and apart from The FBI which was a special case, they all went to Paramount.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

That makes me surprised they haven't done anything with it yet, would be an obvious classic now they've done Hawaii Five-O probably it's some rights issue.

 

[cajunhillbilly]

Originally Posted by HenryDuBrow

That makes me surprised they haven't done anything with it yet, would be an obvious classic now they've done Hawaii Five-O probably it's some rights issue.

How do we know there are no plans to put out Dan August in the future. After all CBS/Paramount is now releasing Matt Houston.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

No, I was talking about The FBI there with maybe some rights reason.

 

[Jack P]

THere isn't any rights issue with "The FBI". It's just a matter of whether Warner does it or won't do it.

"Twelve O'Clock High" is the only other QM show I know of not controlled by CBS/Paramount (Fox in this case).

 

[DeWilson]

Originally Posted by Jack P

THere isn't any rights issue with "The FBI". It's just a matter of whether Warner does it or won't do it.

...and with about 240 episodes, that's ALOT of shows to do!

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Well, then I don't know why they don't release this classic when Hawaii Five-O had a ton of episode as well.

 

[Jack P]

A comparison with Five-O is meaningless if we're talking about "The FBI" because it's *two different companies*. FIve-O is CBS/Paramount, FBI is Warners and what one does with one, has nothing to do with the other.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Stingy yeah, oh well, like I said in another thread today if you're a classic WB show you're probably less lucky than at other studios.

 

[Neil Brock]

Not to mention the fact that The FBI is not that great of a show. Even though its a Quinn Martin show, it has more of a Jack Webb feel to it with boring leads who display little personality. And also the show did terribly in syndication and really hasn't been seen very much in the last 30 years.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Still I think it should count for something that it lasted quite a few seasons, nine years to be precise, and had some cracking good guest stars like Charles Bronson.