DVD
WKRP in Cincinnati, the Complete Series: A home video review
The DVD release of the cult rock-n’-roll sitcom is much better than fans expected.
TV On DVD Exclusives – Which Means “Stuff Stores Won’t Carry”
Shout! Factory, which now basically has the TV-on-DVD business to itself (when it comes to non-current items), is trying a new strategy that I sincerely hope will work out. In an effort to continue releasing shows, they’re going to make a bunch of season sets available as “Online Exclusives,” available from Shoutfactory.com’s online store. The site does appear to offer shipping to Canada, and TVshowsondvd.com reports that these releases will be factory-produced sets, making it more appealing than the computer-burned discs being offered by Warner Brothers and other companies.
TVs, DVDs, And License Fees
Some notes on upcoming catalogue TV-on-DVD releases, most of them having to do with a) Special features and b) cuts.
Say Hello/Goodbye To Big Screen Classics
As a follow-up/rebuttal to our piece “Say Goodbye To Big Screen Classics,” Kevin Jagernauth at the Playlist talks to Criterion Collection CEO Jonathan Turrell, who says that independent companies like his own are not experiencing the same downturn as the big studios — “If we’re down, we’re down a very small amount” — and that despite the slower pace of recent releases, there has been “no concerted effort to go to newer films.” It’s a good piece and well worth looking at, particularly since my piece focused so heavily on the negative side of the situation; this is the other side, where some companies are still able to get older/classic movies onto the DVD marketplace.
Everybody’s Obsessed With “thirtysomething”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wRqBV9VVuU
It’s a Vertically, Vertically, Vertically Integrated World
Zack Smith found a telling item in the L.A. Times about why Holly Hunter’s vehicle Saving Grace was canceled even though the network wanted to keep it going (emphasis mine):
Say goodbye to big screen classics
Not many great old movies are being released on DVD now. It’s partly Joan Collins’ fault.
This Is Not a Well-Thought-Out Concept For a DVD Box Set
If you thought there was fan controversy over the idea of having to buy a complete Mary Tyler Moore box set to get the last three seasons, Sony’s announcement of a “Norman Lear Collection” will cause more controversy, or at least it should, because it’s a very strange and poorly-thought-out concept for a set. It appears to be one big box set with the first seasons, and only the first seasons, of all the hit Norman Lear shows that Sony owns — All in the Family, Good Times, Maude, The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son, One Day at a Time, Mary Hartman.