It's been over a year since
The Mary Tyler Moore Show - The Complete 1st Season came out on DVD. Despite a fabulous video presentation and extensive extras (see
our review by guest writer Jonathan Boudreaux), the sales of
Season 1 were vastly underwhelming to Fox's bean-counters. So much so, that plans for a March 2003
Season 2 release were squashed...even though much of the production of that set had already been completed!
Fan speculaton for the first set's failure was centered around low-key marketing that didn't seem to raise consumer awareness, and a price point that seemed too high ($49.98 SRP, resulting in street prices around $35-$45). Another complaint was that supplements were done without the participation of Mary herself, and so fell a bit flat for the money.
Since word about the slow sales of
Season 1 was mentioned by Peter Staddon (Fox's Senior Vice President of Marketing) in a
Dec. 2002 Home Theater Forum chat, fans have watched and worried as to whether future DVD releases were doomed. Of particular concern was that later seasons contained episodes which they felt were among the very best, including Season 6's classic show "Chuckles Bites The Dust".
Now Mr. Staddon himself brings us new hope that
Season 2 might see the light of day after all! Nothing is certain yet, but he says that they are looking into it. This information will soon be found in an upcoming (Nov. 30th) article by Randy Salas, DVD Columnist and Entertainment Wire Editor at the
Minneapolis Star Tribune. Salas asked Staddon about
The Mary Tyler Moore Show - Season 2 and this was the reply:
"We're looking at ways of bringing that out, so there is hope. We finished it, and there's just a question of can we make it work better than the first season worked."
Salas continued by asking if the "model of presentation" was something being looked at as likely to change, and Staddon replied affirmatively. Salas interprets that to mean that fans shouldn't "expect the same elaborate packaging and wealth of supplements." This would perhaps be done with the goal of getting the price down into the range of Fox's successful-selling DVD sets for
M*A*S*H, another classic series from that era.
This is definately a story in development, and we'll be keeping a close eye on it. We don't want to get your hopes up
too high just yet, because nothing is firm. But still, this is the best news
MTM Show fans have had in a year...and we're pleased to bring it to you. Thanks to Randy Salas for his co-operation with this story. Fans should stay tuned for further updates, whenever they become available.
