A few days ago we
posted cover art for
21 Jump Street - The Complete 2nd Season DVD box set. At the time we explained that the pic we had came from a small thumb shot at an online retailer, and that we blew up the shot to about twice its size to make it more viewable, but it became blurry and grainy in the process. We promised to have a better shot of the packaging once it became available. Here it is, and then read on below for more about
21 Jump Street and other Stephen J. Cannell-produced shows being released through Anchor Bay.
Each and every day here at TVShowsOnDVD, we get e-mail from our readers either praising or complaining about the TV-on-DVD releases we talk about. Often our readers hope we can pass word back to the studios to either keep doing things in a well-done manner, or to change things that the fans don't like. We always try to pass that on whenever we can. Of course, as Gord and I surf the various DVD discussion forums on the web, like the
Home Theater Forum, DVDTalk, and others, we see the same sort of feedback posted there as well.
Along the way we have noticed some confusion in fans about the Stephen J. Cannell Production company's releases on DVD through Anchor Bay. Complaints, compliments and questions about release patterns are aimed at Anchor Bay, and the general assumption seems to be that Anchor Bay is producing the box sets for shows like
21 Jump Street, The Greatest American Hero, Hunter, The Commish, Silk Stalkings, and
Renegade. So far as we know, Anchor Bay has nothing to do with the actual production of these sets.
We'll point back to
the June 2004 press release about Anchor Bay's deal with Stephen J. Cannell Productions., which said that
"IDT Entertainment today announced that through its home video subsidiary, Anchor Bay Entertainment, it has signed an exclusive agreement with Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Inc. to market and distribute hit television programs for the prestigious Cannell library." (emphasis ours)
As you can see, nothing was ever said about AB doing the production, just the distribution and associated publicity. We're reasonably sure, of course, that Anchor Bay will cheerfully pass consumer comments back to the Cannell Productions company (just like we try to pass feedback on to the studios we deal with). However, we thought it was important to do our part to help everyone out there understand the actual nature of the relationship between Anchor Bay and Cannell Productions, so there's no confusion over Anchor Bay's distributor-only role. AB has a similar deal with other companies, such as the Davis/Panzer Corporation for
Highlander: The Series, Hercules: The Legendary Journies, and
Xena: Warrior Princess. So remember, AB's just the "messenger" in these cases...if you have a complaint, don't shoot them!
