I called the Sony number and this is what they told me:

I asked about the releases that they do. They told me that it does take a long time for a season to make its sales back to them. That's why you see continued releases a year or two years down the road. They also said that if one season didn't sell well, why put a lot of production into the remaining seasons?

Sadly, this show and others like "The Facts of Life" and "All in the Family" do not have any future release at this time. So what we have to do is to get more people to buy the seasons that are already out for them to break even or make sales good enough to release more seasons.

This is why they release current shows on DVD because they are sure to sell and people who missed the season on TV will be sure to buy them. This pushes promotion for these shows on the networks that air them. But for past or classic shows, they will not invest in them until they see some decent returns for ths stuff that is already out there. They claim that their classic shows do NOT sell as well as the current ones so they don't bother in continued releases. I said "so basically crap like Seinfeld and all that can get re-released like crazy and stuff", and they said "Yes because it's a popular title and people still buy the releases. We're not going to keep putting out seasons on what we THINK might make money because that would constitute a LOSS for us".

So SONY is actually a REACTIVE company with their classic stuff and highly PROACTIVE with their current stuff. They have to sell more than a few thousand copies on the seasons (50,000 to be exact) of a show they do have in order to release more seasons. So people, BUY MORE CLASSIC SHOWS AND LESS CURRENT SHOWS. That'll teach them.

And it will show them that we do care as much about the classic shows as we do the current shows.

Personally, I think that's a load of bunk. I know that's their statement to release, but they can't tell me some of these shows haven't sold a measly 50,000 copies. If they haven't sold that much, I think it's because they weren't available and accessible enough...when I wanted to buy my copy of WTB season 1 I couldn't find it anywhere, and it still can't be found easily unless you get online. Many stores don't even carry it or other classic shows. There are still many people who don't shop online...and if it isn't in the stores and out where people can see it, it isn't going to sell as well. I think they decided ahead of time that they weren't going to invest much in classic shows to begin with.
So people, BUY MORE CLASSIC SHOWS AND LESS CURRENT SHOWS. That'll teach them.
That'll teach them? Ya think?? Or will the joke be on us when we've given them our money only to have them come up with some other reason why they have no intention of releasing any more seasons?

If it takes a long time for sales to come back... then how do they know so quickly that shows like Seinfeld and King of Queens sell well? I don't get that at all.

I can honestly see their reasoning, though. People tend to buy classic shows whenever they feel like it, but they buy current shows immediately after they come out to catch up on the season.

We just need to get more people to stop waiting around and buy the classic shows. How we'll do that I have no idea.

Like with Who's the Boss?, it's been out for what, 4 years now? And it still hasn't made a profit yet, which is very surprising, and almost impossible if you ask me. I think everyone who wants to buy it has bought it already. If they put out another release, they're sure to make a profit because everyone who bought season 1 is waiting around for season 2 now. Complicated, but they need to expand their thinking past the basics.

I see what you're saying, except I have trouble with this part:
And it still hasn't made a profit yet, which is very surprising, and almost impossible if you ask me. I think everyone who wants to buy it has bought it already.
See, I think it's not that surprising that it hasn't made as much money as they wanted because you can't find the thing unless you go online specifically looking for it. And besides just looking on a whim, a lot of people might not go online looking for it unless they knew it was available. This show also hasn't been on tv that much in the past four years, only Nick and for a minute on ion, so it hasn't really had a very good chance to generate a new audience to go looking for it. As for people who want it already having bought it, I don't think that's true either. I belong to a dvd forum and there are people there all the time who are hearing for the first time that Who's the Boss and a lot of other classic shows are out on dvd and saying they loved the show and would buy it.
If it takes a long time for sales to come back... then how do they know so quickly that shows like Seinfeld and King of Queens sell well? I don't get that at all.
Well those were popular shows but I honestly think it also has to do with how much time and money the company has invested in marketing it too. Those dvds and similar future shows will get advertising that the new season is coming, they'll show up in every store, in every WalMart and Target, even stores like Walgreens. And they will be nicely and prominently displayed, and people will see it, remember they liked it, and they'll buy it. Being in discount stores will also allow the dvds to be put on sale every once in awhile, attracting still more people to buy it. That's just my opinion, mostly formed from hearing people say they want to buy classic shows on dvds but can't find them in stores.

I personally don't think we'll see any more seasons of a lot of these shows, as sad as that is, because dvd is sort of beginning to become a little obsolete. I can't see companies investing in something they don't believe is a moneymaker to begin with, in a declining medium besides. Maybe we'll be able to own any show we want someday, via some version of downloading, much the way we can buy songs now. :)