Studios mining cash from DVD box sets of TV series
Billie
Knight Ridder Newspapers
DVD at first offered to re-create the big-screen experience at home, with crisp
pictures and sound. But the digital format has struck more gold in items from
the small screen.
TV series on DVD, especially in elaborate box sets, are a sales phenomenon, and
studios are mining their archives for shows to recycle.
Are you ready for a ``Baretta'' box? We aren't, either.
But viewers may be attracted to ``All in the Family,'' ``The Jeffersons,''
``Sanford & Son,'' ``Mr. Show With Bob & David,'' ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer,''
``Friends,'' ``The Larry Sanders Show'' and other series available in DVD sets
-- with more shows on the way.
Nor does the cost of these sets deter devoted fans.
``Star Trek: The Next Generation'' lovers have shelled out roughly $400 so far
for boxes of the show's first four seasons -- and the remaining three seasons
are due out by Dec. 31.
The videos may even be helping to promote series still on the air.
``The Sopranos'' issued its third season on home video just weeks before the
Sept. 15 launch of its fourth. Fox's cult hit ``24'' will issues its first
season on DVD on Sept. 17, giving fans time to catch up before the
second-season premiere on Oct. 29.
Syracuse University professor Robert Thompson, a TV historian and commentator
on pop-culture issues, thinks series with continuing arcs and complex story
lines especially benefit from the DVD-box treatment, which with commentary and
other extras are ``not just reruns, but seminars on the shows.''
While ``the number of viewers who are going to watch the fourth season of `The
Sopranos' is a lot higher than the number buying the third season,'' Thompson
said having the DVD available provides a refresher course for a show that has
not had a new episode on the air for more than a year.
``If `Dallas' had waited this long (for a new season), we'd have forgotten who
J.R. was,'' he said.
But why would fans who have seen ``Friends,'' ``Star Trek'' or other favorites
many times over want to go to the trouble and expense of adding them to their
video libraries?
``It is in the nature of things for fans to savor the experience of owning a
show they love and respect,'' said Martin Blythe, vice president of publicity
for Paramount Home Entertainment, which distributes the Star Trek series on
DVD. ``It's one thing to view it on TV; it's quite another to own it for one's
self, for viewing it at one's leisure. Not all TV series are collectible, but
where there's a dedicated fan base, it makes perfect sense to deliver them to
the fan.''
Thompson thinks the DVD box is just the next step in how we view and think
about TV. The first is seeing it over the air when it is new. The second is
watching endless reruns, though those telecasts are not quite the same as the
original, since older shows in particular are trimmed to make room for more
commercials. Thompson also noted that some shows are edited for political
correctness, as when TV Land retooled the original ``I Love Lucy'' opening to
delete a large cigarette pack.
Looking at what had been done to ``Cheers'' reruns, co-star George Wendt (Norm)
called it ``a little icky'' and John Ratzenberger (Cliff) said, ``The timing is
off. It ruins the joke.''
So the third phase is home video. And while some shows had life on
videocassette, the increased convenience, added features, terrific look and
durability of DVD make it the best video format for the moment.
DVD viewers are actually seeing old series better than when they first aired,
Thompson said. Given the vagaries of TV transmission in the `50s, he said,
``Nobody ever saw an `I Love Lucy' as well as you can see it now.''
Convenience is also a factor, especially as viewers feel dissatisfied with what
modern TV has to offer. Don't want to watch a rerun of `My Wife and Kids'
tonight? Choose a favorite from your archive instead.
At least, that's what the studios are counting on, suggests Jim Rocchi, film
critic for DVD rental service Netflix.
``This is all part of a burgeoning entertainment conglomerate desire to
monetize the back catalog as much as possible,'' he said.
DVD is a new way to do that. It's still not the dominant video format in
American homes. Nielsen Media Research says 91 percent of homes have
videocassette recorders, while only a third have DVD. But the DVD Entertainment
Group, federation of player manufacturers and movie studios, expects machines
in half of homes by the end of 2002, thanks in part to the continuing price
freefall of players.
Still, Rocchi said of TV series on DVD, ``A lot of it doesn't pass the sniff
test of interesting art or interesting pop culture.''
``Series like `The Sopranos' make sense on DVD,'' added Thompson. ``Others
don't make sense, like `Suddenly Susan' or `Caroline in the City.' I think the
test is if you turn off the light to watch.''
``Who is the target audience for the first season of `Malcolm in the Middle' or
`Sanford and Son' ?'' asked Rocchi. ``Those really seem dismissable as
curiosities.''
The same might be said of Universal Studios' plan to release the first season
of ``Baretta,'' a crime show starring the now-infamous Robert Blake. Would
there have been a second thought given to issuing it were Blake not arrested
for the slaying of his wife?
But if you love a show and buy it on DVD, are you really getting everything you
hoped? Not necessarily.
Low-cost releases of ``The Andy Griffith Show'' (from Madacy Entertainment) and
``Bonanza'' (Platinum Disc) do not include those shows' legendary theme songs
because the distributors did not get the rights. A new set of ``Rumpole of the
Bailey'' has washed-out color and, in filmed exterior scenes, visible flaws in
the picture.
Even a TV season -- the new way of packaging shows for DVD -- means different
things to different series. While a full season of some commercial series runs
more than 20 episodes,
``All in the Family'' began as a midseason show, so its first season was 13
episodes. British series at times have seasons half as long as that.
Information on the sets themselves can be dizzying. A series of DVDs from Judy
Garland's `60s variety show numbers them according to when they were shot, not
when they aired (although it includes both dates), so the premiere episode is
number seven.
``The Prisoner'' DVDs order the episodes based on the information in the
fantasy-mystery's episodes rather than production or air date.
And for all the talk about shows being preserved, occasional license is taken.
The pilot for I Love Lucy contains a reconstructed opening because the
surviving film was unusable (and the set explains what was done). That
cigarette-pack opening is presented as an extra feature while the episodes
themselves use the heart-on-satin credits substituted when the series was in
rerun. The third season of ``The Sopranos'' uses an alternate version of the
final episode, where one role had been recast after it first aired, instead of
the original.
A change like that especially concerns Thompson, who is also bothered by the
re-editing of big-screen movies such as ``Star Wars'' and ``E.T.'' for video
and theatrical re-releases. ``You want to know what the definitive (version)
is,'' he said.
Available extras vary wildly, as does the number of discs in a set.
``The Sopranos'' fits 13 one-hour episodes on four discs, while ``The
Prisoner'' stretched 18 hours (17 plus an alternate version of one) across 10.
The original ``Star Trek'' was issued piecemeal, with just two episodes and no
extras on a disc, released over three years.
``I Love Lucy'' is coming out four episodes at a time on disc, although the
extras are impressive.
Blythe said Paramount learned from its release of the original ``Star Trek''
and accordingly went the box-set route with ``Star Trek: The Next Generation,''
with extras that include the show's producers and cast members talking about
the production.
Although he wouldn't give an exact figure, Blythe said that sales of ``Next
Generation'' have exceeded the studio's projections.
However, ``Star Trek'' has a rabid fan base that goes back more than 30 years.
The series has been available on home video in one form or another -- be it
VHS, Beta, CED video disc or laserdisc -- for almost 20 years.
And TV shows on home video include a lot of fantasy, science-fiction and cult
series, from ``The Avengers'' and ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' to ``Monty
Python'' and ``Space: 1999'' -- whose fans are most likely to snap up anything
related to their favorites.
But are those fans really seeing these shows the way they were meant to be
seen? Commercial series were designed around ads, which are gone from the video
versions.
While that certainly saves time and distraction in viewing, it is different
from the way the shows were meant to be seen, Thompson said. ``When I record a
TV show, I keep the commercials in,'' he said. ``When I teach ``Twin Peaks,''
and show it to my students, I don't zap through the commercials. The
commercials set the show in a historical perspective. They are part of what the
show is.''
Although he concedes it will never happen, Thompson would like the DVDs of TV
shows to include episodes with their original commercials as well as ad-free
versions.
``The advantage of DVD is you get to keep it all,'' he said.
"STUPIDITY IS NOT A HANDICAP. Park elsewhere!"
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SteaHoover
>From: pusssykatt
The biggest Gold Mine will be when they release SEINFELD ON DVD! Where is
SEINFELD?
dan.
That show does great ratings on syndication so why put the thing on DVD when
those who like the show will still watch then it comes on?
I'd like to see the first season of "Charlie's Angels" on a box. Yeah, I
know. I'm probably the only one. Oh, that and "Action!" from Fox in 1999.
dan
"SteaHoover" <steah...@aol.com> wrote in message
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Ed R.
"dan." <televi...@att.net> wrote in message
news:YJEf9.23586$jG2.1...@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
I'd love to see them release all the episodes of "Police Squad!" on DVD.
For those unfamiliatr with the show, it was created by the makers of
"Airplane!", starred Leslie Neilsen as Lt. Frank Drebbin and was the
inspiration for the subsequent Police Squad movie. VERY VERY funny show.
(Would also love to see a Red Dwarf compilation DVD.)
EdR
Sheriff J.W. Icebreaker
"Billie " <pusss...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020910204546...@mb-mu.aol.com...
> By George M. Thomas and R.D. Heldenfels
> Knight Ridder Newspapers
>
> DVD at first offered to re-create the big-screen experience at home, with
crisp
> pictures and sound. But the digital format has struck more gold in items
from
> the small screen.
>
> TV series on DVD, especially in elaborate box sets, are a sales
phenomenon, and
> studios are mining their archives for shows to recycle.
I'd much prefer to watch all my favorite shows on DVD. I cannot stand
regular television anymore. The screen is so $*#&^@*&^ cluttered with
garbage that it makes me angry. Now my local news stations minimize the
screen showing the programming and run quick blurbs about what stories they
are working on for the 5:00 newscast. It's absurd! It's bad enough all the
networks went to that scrolling text on 9/11, but now individual stations
are doing it as well.
On Fox News Channel, my favorite channel for fair and balanced reporting,
they are killing me with all this visual clutter. In the upper left screen
is the FOX/LIVE logo with the flag waving in the back ground. On the bottom
left of the screen it has the revolving Fox News Channel 3-D block logo.
Below that it tells me what time it is in Montana (like I really give a crap
about that) and above the logo i've got the "Orange Terror Alert" logo. The
bottom third of the screen is filled with "THE BIG STORY" text, telling me
what the talking heads are currently talking about. The bottom third of the
screen also contains the annoying scrolling text and is it just me, or has
Fox recently gone to shortening that text so they can include weather and
sports updates? My goodness, when I want weather, I go to the weather
channel. If I want sports, i'll go to ESPN (I am boycotting Fox Sports for
hiring Michael Irvin). On the bottom right, or right central of the screen,
is the Fox Market Watch ticker, showing the AP, SP, NASDAQ, etc...standings.
If I want financial news I could go to CNNFn.
This is just frickin' unbelievable. I'm so #*^*&#@^@*&^ sick of these big
advertisements for other shows being run while i'm watching a show. It's
disrespectful. I wish we could go back to 1990 when we didn't have a
corporate logo at the bottom of the screen or any of this other junk. This
is just beyond acceptable.
_______________
Sheriff J.W. Icebreaker - "What are you boy? Some kind of doomsday machine?"
dan.
when it aired that ABC execs wanted to put in laugh tracks to tell when the
people should laugh. The only problem for them was that every scene had
either a visual gag or jokes (subtle ones). I was glad the directors were
successful in prohibiting it.
They'd also have to include on the DVD the never aired John Belushi opening
"death" scene. That scene was to air on the episode that was scheduled on
the weekend that he died. They quickly substituded it w/another actor.
dan
"Ed R." <edon...@comcast.net> wrote in message
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