A week and a half ago, our friends at the Home Theater Forum website hosted a live online chat with the execs at Warner Home Video, and we've covered a number of the news items which came out of that two-and-a-half hour question-and-answer session. One item we didn't really cover much, though, was one part of my own question, which included an often-requested item here at TVShowsOnDVD: a high-definition Blu-ray Disc release of
Friends. Here's my question and the studio's answer, directly quoted from the chat's transcript (highlighting is mine):
- < David_Lambert > Thanks for coming tonight! I hoped others would ask about these already, but since no one has, there are a few titles that TSoD readers will be upset about, if not brought up here! Any word on Scarecrow & Mrs. King, thirtySomething, Men in Trees, more Night Court or a Blu version of Friends? For myself, what about Logan's Run? :) Thanks, DONE
- < WHV > We don't have rights to Thirtysomething. No plans currently on Scarecrow, Men in Trees but we recognize there is interest. We'll revisit Logan's Run in the event the theatrical film happens.
- < WHV > Good news for you fans of Night Court though. Look for the long awaited Season 2 DVD coming next year!
- < WHV > We're continuing to develop our Blu Ray plans and you'll see many more shows on Blu Ray in the future. That may include Friends - some day - but I can't tell you when. :) DONE
As you can see, there wasn't a lot to report just then, based on the provided answer! In our
chat roundup, I characterized that response as falling into the category of "Being Evaluated." But now we have new, stronger clues that the hugely popular NBC series will be coming home in high-def...and possibly not too far down the road, either!
One of the folks from Warner Home Video who attended the chat was Rosemary Markson, Warner's Vice President of TV and Special Interest Marketing. Rosemary has been quoted in a new story, posted today by Susanne Ault at the website of trade periodical
Video Business. Their brand-new article, "
TV Genre Tunes in New Shades of Blu," is an excellent recap of which TV-BDs have recently come on the market, or are announced for release in the near future. Rosemary takes it a step further, though, and speaks up about Warner's Blu future plans in the world of television. As you can see from the quote below (highlighting is, once again, mine),
Friends would play a big part in these plans!
"We are definitely starting to look at Blu-ray for TV, and we want to be more aggressive in the future," said Rosemary Markson, Warner VP of TV marketing. "I think day-and-date releases of shows [on Blu-ray and standard DVD] makes sense. We are looking for that right product that shows off the benefits of Blu-ray."
Warner is streeting several first-season sets of modestly rated TV series that are still building audiences, including Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Pushing Daisies, both released recently, and Nov. 11 release Chuck. Also, Warner is circling catalog for the first time and is eyeing an upcoming Blu-ray release for Friends.
"We think there is a market there, and we are actively looking at our catalog," said Markson. "There are great series we can go back to, and Friends is one of them."
This is certainly the most positive-sounding statement from the studio about the possibility of a Blu
Friends release! Now, many of our readers who ask about this, also wonder if any potential release might be season-by-season, or if the studio would go straight to a "complete series" release. While the latter would be okay with me (and while anything is possible, of course), I think it's safe to say that they would most likely start with individual season sets. Why? In order to get the earlier seasons in Blu-ray format on the market sooner, and still give themselves enough time to begin producing the later seasons on Blu-ray.
Stay tuned, and we'll update you of course as further developments happen with the high-def adventures of Chandler, Monica, Ross, Rachel, Joey and Phoebe.
