Our Penchant For Old TV Shows Has Us Tuning in to More DVD's

[Zoneboy]

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CHICAGO -- Network television may be struggling to keep its audience in an era of competition that includes everything from streaming video Web sites such as Hulu to video-on-demand services such as Netflix. But demand for network television shows from the past is giving an unexpected lift to what are otherwise overall lackluster DVD sales.


In fact, the availability of so many videos in so many formats may actually be helping TV-DVD sales, as fans rediscover old favorites.


"What did television do at the beginning? It said, we're offering you top-flight entertainment; all you have to do in return is watch a few commercials. Otherwise it's free," Harry Castleman, co-author of "Watching TV: Six Decades of American Television." "I think the studios woke up just in time to create sites like Hulu. They've managed to circumvent some of the YouTube mania and offer their own content."


The ability to sample episodes of a favorite show from many years ago can either confirm your pleasant memories -- or not.


"There's a difference between wanting to own and wanting to see," said Walter Podrazik, Castleman's co-author on "Watching TV." "And that's where the online streaming and video on demand for various cable services come in. Maybe I'd like to see an episode of 'Have Gun, Will Travel.' Great. I don't necessarily need to keep all of the box sets and follow all of the stories," Podrazik said. (So far, three of "Have Gun, Will Travel's" six seasons on CBS have been released on DVD.)


The converse is also true, says Cynthia Boris, managing editor of TV Verdict. "People might have a chance to say, you know, I forgot how good this was, how much I really enjoyed this. I'm going to go buy the entire season."


And while the list of the biggest sellers doesn't generally reflect it -- the only classic series making the top 10 in 2008 was "I Love Lucy" -- there is still solid demand for classic programs on DVD. CBS's multiple-season box sets of such shows as "The Andy Griffith Show," "Perry Mason," "Hawaii Five-O," "Gunsmoke" and "Mannix" have performed well.


"Our approach is to put classic [shows] on a pedestal -- we're very ambitious in our efforts in refurbishing old masters by restoring picture and creating new transfers, enhancing audio, creating featurettes, unearthing bonus materials and producing new value added pieces," said Ken Ross, executive vice president and general manager of CBS Home Entertainment, in an email.


While U.S. DVD sales declined by 9% in 2008 to $14.5 billion -- a far cry from the format's boom years earlier this decade -- the total figure certainly suggests that there is a healthy appetite for the format. TV shows represented about 9% of all DVDs released last year, according to DVD Release Report.


CBS Corp. (CBS: 4.13, 0.31, 8.12%) Chairman Les Moonves said last month that sales of CBS TV-DVD titles rose by a "mid-teens" percentage in 2008, far outpacing the industry's overall sales. That includes one of the products that only the DVD era made viable -- entire seasons of television shows in box sets.


Getting smart


Time-Life Video hit the jackpot with its mammoth 25-disc set comprising all five seasons of the spy spoof sitcom "Get Smart."


While many important shows came to DVD early in this decade, "Get Smart" didn't, due to a rights problem, though it consistently showed up among lists of programs people most wanted to see come to DVD.


Jeffrey Peisch, head of DVD development for Time-Life Video, tracked the ownership of the series to HBO, a unit of Time Warner (TWX: 8.38, 0.21, 2.57%) , and acquired the rights.


Time-Life decided to release the entire series in one huge set, housed in a unique box that mimicked the telephone booth Maxwell Smart entered at the beginning of each show, and with 10 hours of bonus features including interviews with creative personnel, vintage commercials and more.


The set, available only from Time-Life, sold for $200. Released in 2006, it was a bold new concept at a time when studios were traditionally putting out perhaps as many as two seasons of a program per year, on an individual basis.


"We thought, let's make it available right up front," Peisch said. "And you know -- we sold 50,000 of those $200 sets. The people who like it know what a real collectable product is. It's like the equivalent of a coffee-table book. That's our customer. It's the hardcore buffs, and the wanna-be buffs, who just like it enough that they're willing to pay the premium price to get the premium product.


"Now it's been 18 months since we released it, and you're seeing that a lot. Of course now, after we've gotten all of the hardcore fans, we've issued them one at a time," Peisch said.


Time-Life followed up its "Get Smart" release with a 42-disc set of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," another NBC spy series of the '60s. Again, it was housed in a unique case, this time one that looked like a briefcase carried by U.N.C.L.E. agent Napoleon Solo, and with many hours of extras.


"We knew 'Man from U.N.C.L.E.' wouldn't sell as well as Get Smart,' but we're very happy with the results. And it continues to do well for us," Peisch noted. He said Time-Life has plans to release additional complete-series sets, though he wouldn't name the shows.


What goes out and how


CBS's decision to split seasons of some shows into two volumes, such as "Perry Mason" and "Gunsmoke," is a subject of controversy among some fans, who balk at having to pay $30 or $35 for one half of a season.


In the 1950s, a full-season order for a TV series was often 39 episodes. By the mid-'60s, many shows were still averaging close to 30 episodes per season. Today, the standard order is 22 episodes, and for some cable shows, it might be 13 or fewer.


The split volumes on the older series make the price per volume "more palatable," Ross said.


In making such a decision, and many others, studios must decide how much their DVD product should appeal to a wide audience, and to what extent they should cater to hardcore fans of a given series.


Special features and restored video and sound are great, but just as important to many fans is whether all of the seasons of a program will come out. Sometimes, poor sales of the first season convince a studio that demand isn't great enough to justify further releases of a series.


For a major studio, unit sales in the 50,000 range constitute a good performance for a TV show that comes to DVD, says Ralph Tribbey, editor of DVD Release Report.


In some cases, the sales goal for a series set may be more modest than that, but whatever the target is, it must be met, or the studio will suspend production of future seasons on DVD.


"I feel like when a studio puts out a show, they've made a promise, a commitment, to put out the entire run. And this is so not happening," Boris said, laughing. "It's very aggravating."


Sometimes it's easier for a distributor other than the studio itself to serve the needs of diehard viewers of classic programs, as expectations may not have to be as high.


Shout Factory has licensed the DVD rights to many vintage shows that weren't seen as promising bets to the studios, and released them in well-received sets, including "Father Knows Best," "That Girl," "McHale's Navy" and "The Electric Company." Future releases include "Room 222" and "Peyton Place."


Boris says fans have been particularly happy to see Shout pick up where Universal left off on two series that had stalled on DVD: "Adam-12" and "Simon & Simon."


"It's just great to see them take up that mantle," she said.


Fundamentally too, there's still a sizeable audience that wants to see and feel the product and put it on their shelves.


"Our TV-on-DVD sales bucked the trend, paced by the emergence of our Showtime titles -- 'Dexter,' 'The Tudors,' and 'Californication' -- they are all major hits," said Ross, the CBS Home Entertainment executive. "In addition, 'NCIS' DVD sales increased, reflecting the considerable buzz and top ratings for the show on the network."


How competition helps


Ross says the unit has seen that marketing the titles on TV, as one might guess, has been quite effective, as well as across its wide array of Web destinations, such as CNET and CBS.com.


According to Rentrak Retail Essentials, the top-selling 10 TV-DVDs for the entire industry last year reflect a similar slant toward newer hits, including "The Office," Seasons 3 and 4, "Heroes," Seasons 1 and 2," the third and fourth seasons of "Lost," "House," Seasons 3 and 4, "Family Guy -- Vol. 6" and the fourth season of "Grey's Anatomy."


It's assumed in some quarters that ad-supported streaming of shows at Web sites like Hulu and downloadable episodes at iTunes will supplant DVDs, as declining sales of the discs have come as online viewing grows more popular.


But the studios and networks are being careful to make sure that doesn't happen right away.


At Hulu, for instance, there are just five full episodes of NBC's (GE: 9.99, 0.32, 3.31%) (012777) "Heroes" available, all from the current season. Otherwise, there are clips and Webisodes. The same is true of "30 Rock," Fox's "The Simpsons," and other recent shows.


Hulu is more generous, however with older programs, including some that are available on DVD. For example, the first four seasons of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" -- a staggering 146 half-hour episodes -- can be viewed in their entirety, as well as all 88 episodes of the "Alfred Hitchcock Hour." The site also offers every episode of "Night Gallery" and the first three seasons of "Kojak."


Why put so many vintage episodes on the Web? "That's not the stuff that sells in big volume on disc, so there's very little harm in making those episodes available for streaming," said Tom Adams, president and senior analyst at Adams Media Research.

[dakert]

I dont care to watch shows online.

[Marvo301]

I don't like watching shows online either. (a lot of online programming isn't available for viewing in Canada anyway) I much prefer watching DVD's.

[robby76]

I know - I hate people who say "oh you can watch _ _ _ on Hulu.com" etc. Who wants to sit for half an hour or 45 mins in front of a small pc screen? DVDs are the only way to go! The dvd box art and packaging also plays a huge part for fans of old tv shows.

It should also be noted that a lot of these online viewing sites are for the US only.

[bencasey]

Originally Posted by dakert

I dont care to watch shows online.

Unless they have a way I can burn it to a DVD, I'm not interested.

[Robert 13]

Originally Posted by robby76

I know - I hate people who say "oh you can watch _ _ _ on Hulu.com" etc. Who wants to sit for half an hour or 45 mins in front of a small pc screen? DVDs are the only way to go! The dvd box art and packaging also plays a huge part for fans of old tv shows.

It should also be noted that a lot of these online viewing sites are for the US only.

Totally agree!

[bmasters9]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

I don't like watching shows online either. (a lot of online programming isn't available for viewing in Canada anyway) I much prefer watching DVD's.

So do I. I have a pretty good collection, and it's very much old-school.

[Marvo301]

I ordered three more DVD sets from Amazon.ca on Monday! Petticoat Junction The Official First Season, Partridge Family season 4, and Family Ties season 5.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by dakert

I dont care to watch shows online.

Neither do I, unless it's a show that is unavailable anywhere else.

[TV_Fan]

Originally Posted by dakert

I dont care to watch shows online.

Add my voice to the list of people who don't like watching shows online. I'd much rather be lying conmfy on my couch watching a dvd than sitting in front of my small computer screen. Also the quality is usually less online, at least in my experience.

[browneyes106]

I don't care to watch tv shows online either. Once in awhile I will The Golden Palace or Are You Afraid of the Dark on youtube. Those shows aren't on DVD. But I like watching DVD's better for better quality picture and sometimes there commentaries on episodes that give insight on what happened behind the scenes. I sometimes watches SNL clips on Hulu.

[Mickeymouse07079]

I do not like watching TV shows and movies online. I'm so much more comfortable watch TV shows and movie from the comfort of my sofa.That is why I get DVDs of my favorite TV shows. Also so I can watch them over and over again when I want to watch them. Sitting in a desk chair to watch these is way to uncomfortable.

[Robert 13]

I wonder if a new trend will begin with studios releasing lesser-known shows that were short-lived. It would appeal to consumers are something "new" and they wouldn't have any long-term hold-ups in terms of future seasons. It would be one and done. I'm surprised none of the seasons have thought to take advantage of such a format.

[MickeyMac]

I'm on the same trip yall are on. I dont dig watching TV shows online either. That said I will watch clips of the music shows from the 60's on youtube since none of those havent shown up on DVD (well except Hullabaloo, but that went out of print).

[cajunhillbilly]

I prefer dvds as well.