TV on DVD article from NY Daily News

[vashti1999]

Must-see TV. Not on DVD

By GERRY PUTZER
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Okay, you sped through the four seasons of "The Sopranos" on DVD and you're dying for the fifth boxed set to come out.
You were glued to the first two thrilling runs of "24" over a sleep-deprived span of about 72 hours.

And you've just bought the ninth and final year of "The X-Files," making your alien adventure complete.

Now you're ready to watch some of your old favorite TV series on DVD. "Columbo," for one, comes to mind.

But, as the rumpled police lieutenant would say: Uh, there's just one thing.

The classic mystery series isn't available on DVD.

Neither are "The Rockford Files," "The Adventures of Superman," "Perry Mason," "Gunsmoke" or "Kojak."

Or classic sitcoms like "The Bob Newhart Show," "I Dream of Jeannie," "Get Smart" or "The Odd Couple.

Even more recent big hit shows like "The Cosby Show" and "Family Ties" are nowhere to be found on the DVD racks.

In an era when virtually every new movie and many new TV shows appear on DVD within a few months of their release or airing, most of our favorite old TV series live on only in memory - or, at best, in commercial-filled reruns.

So what's the problem? Well, a lot of it involves money.

Take "Seinfeld." The NBC sitcom ended its spectacular run in 1998, but only in March did DVD production begin when Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Michael Richards finally reached payment terms for interviews and other DVD extras. The first season will be released in November by Columbia TriStar.

The wait is also about to end for fans of another legendary series. The first season of the original "Star Trek" will be released this year by Paramount. It has been available on two-episode_ disks (at significant cost for collectors), but this will mark the first full-season set.

Other series seem to finally be on the way, too.

In January, MGM Home Enter_tainment issued the first season of "Green Acres" and a compilation of "Mister Ed"; the studio has many more series in its arsenal, including "The Patty Duke Show" and the Lloyd Bridges adventure "Seahunt."

Warner Home Video plans to release about 30 series on DVD over the next few years. Its library includes such wide-ranging fare as "China Beach," "F Troop," "The FBI," "Hawaiian Eye" and "Murphy Brown."

At Universal, new DVDs include the first seasons of "Quantum Leap" and "Northern Exposure."

Classics still in the Universal vaults include "The Rockford Files," "Columbo," "McCloud_," "The Six Million Dollar Man," "Night Gallery," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Murder, She Wrote" and "Kojak" - all of which will reach DVD this year and next.

And coming soon, in response to what Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of marketing at Universal Studios Home Video, calls "overwhelming consumer demand": "The Munsters."

Columbia TriStar is making plans for "Diff'rent Strokes" and "227," and there's talk about "The Partridge Family" and "NewsRadio."

In the days when there were fewer channels, "people_ developed long-term relationships with a TV show," according to Marc Rashba, vice president of catalogue marketing for Sony's Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. "They want to own a piece of that past."

But it hasn't been easy.

The licensing rights to a series often shift from company to company. The classic 1960s comedy "The Andy Griffith Show," for instance, was produced by CBS and distributed by CBS and Paramount Television. But DVDs containing random episodes have been released by six independent labels. Paramount will finally release season sets beginning this year.

One of the most frustrating delays for fans has been the second and final season of David Lynch's"Twin Peaks." The first, abbreviated season was released by Artisan (now Lions Gate) in 2001.

But, because of a licensing impasse, the set did not include the two-hour pilot episode, which set up the central mystery: Who killed Laura Palmer?

Due to the same squabble, the longer second season - in which the killer was revealed and came undone in a memorably heartbreaking scene - remains unavailable on this continent.

Graffeo says acquiring rights, especially music clearances, is the biggest stumbling block.

"In the earlier days of TV, there was never a thought of video," he says.

Some famous series have been fitfully released on disk.

A handful of episodes of "Alfred_ Hitchcock Presents" are available, but only as part of Universal's boxed sets of the director's feature films.

While Image Entertainment will issue the fifth and final season of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" this month, only the first season of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" has come out (from Fox), and that was 18 months ago. Anchor Bay released the "Moonlighting" pilot in 2000, then nothing.

Universal put out the first season of "Baretta" in 2002 (around the time Robert Blake was charged with the killing of his wife) but nothing since.

The good news is that the money to be made from TV season sets is too good for popular old series to remain unavailable much longer.

In fact, season TV sets are one of the fastest-growing segments of the DVD business, amounting to $1.42 billion in sales in 2003, up from $870 million in 2002, according to trade publication Video Store Magazine.

COMING SOON ON DVD


"The A-Team" "Boy Meets World" "Combat" "Dallas" "Happy Days" "Land of the Lost" "Laverne & Shirley" "Mork & Mindy" "Nip/Tuck" "Punky Brewster" "SCTV Network 90" "Seinfeld" "Taxi" "Touched by an Angel" "Wonder Woman"


I WANT MY OLD TV:
Shows you still can't get on DVD


"The Addams Family" "Adventures of Superman" "Bewitched" "The Bob Newhart Show" "Columbo" "The Cosby Show" "Dynasty" "Eight Is Enough" "Family Ties" "Father Knows Best" "Get Smart" "Gunsmoke" "Ironside""Kojak" "L.A. Law" "Lassie" "Maude" "Mission: Impossible" "Murder, She Wrote" "The Odd Couple" "Perry Mason" "Peyton Place" "The Phil Silvers Show" "The Rockford Files" "St. Elsewhere."

[TVJunkie101]

Good article.

Thanks for posting it here.

[dawsongirl]

Cool article. Too bad all the ones coming out soon I have little interest in.

[spunkygirl]

Great article, I agree with every word of it. It does sicken me to an extent that shows out now, get immediately released on DVD before they even have 2 full seasons

Classics are in demand, and I'm glad they are realizing it. I have a feeling that someday every television show ever made will be out on DVD

[barwars]

Murphy Brown on DVD = awesomeness.

[KJH278]

Emergency on DVD is a nust have

[Dean Winchester]

Originally posted by Topanga
Great article, I agree with every word of it. It does sicken me to an extent that shows out now, get immediately released on DVD before they even have 2 full seasons

well, if you're talking the cable series. I think there's an answer for that.... no life in syndication. Most of the shows on HBO and Showtime are never going to have a life in reruns outside of the networks, I highly doubt you'll see TNT airing The Sopranos or Queer As Folk in their daily drama lineups, at least without not being heavily butchered up to where the show is barely recognizable to those who watched them on pay-cable.... yes, TBS is going to air Sex And The City starting in about 2 weeks, but the series is going to be heavily edited... so the only way people will be able to see the uncensored version of the show is by owning the DVD's

[dawsongirl]

Originally posted by STEPH_McMAHON_FAN
Emergency on DVD is a nust have

I agree. Good show.