As you know, yesterday evening the Home Theater Forum hosted a live online chat with executives from Warner Home Video, talking about television and animation DVDs...and we had the pleasure of being there and taking part in the question-and-answer session. We hope that you did, too, but for those of you who missed it (it was a full room!), we've got a wrap-up of the shows that were discussed, and what was said about them. For the purpose of this wrap-up, I'm going to try to lump each item into one of just a few categories such as "On-the-Way," "Planned," "Being Evaluated," "No Plans," etc. This is rather tricky to do, because - in all fairness to the studio - at times they can't convey in a few simple words all of the nuances about the status of a show's DVD possibilities. For example, there's this exchange:
- < PaulMiller > Is there any plans for Pac Man, The Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Hour, Paw Paws, or Yogi Bear's First Christmas getting a DVD release?
- < WHV > We are looking at all of these, and hope to have news for you in 2009.
How should that answer be categorized? It's difficult, because Warner didn't say to "expect" the titles next year; just that they hoped to have news next year about them. It's very vague for them to use the term "looking at," of course, so my first inclination is to just lump all four of these into the "Being Evaluated" category. On the other hand, we know that the first two titles mentioned were included in studio-sponsored online surveys, asking potential consumers if they would buy those programs if DVDs were released. So for those two, I decided they belong in a category called "Decision Pending."
It's not an exact science, because you have to understand the context of the question that was asked, and the wording of the answer that was given. For that reason, we urge you to read
the chat transcript that's posted at the Home Theater Forum, and find the exact passage with the exchange involving that title. Remember, there might be more than one such exchange, each with additional info...or not. For example,
Animaniacs - Volume 4 was asked about 4 times, but obviously the studio reps present at the chat were unable to provide any details as to why there are currently "no plans" for it. Based on feedback today, I see that it's difficult for people to understand why the studio would avoid answering such a question, but here we chalk it up to behind-the-scenes reasons that we're simply not privy to...and that making the reasons public could actually jeopardize the release's chances of ever happening. So we thank the studio reps at the chat for providing what info they were able to, and we recognize that it's more communication with the consumers than other studios are providing. We appreciate it, and we hope you do as well...even if you didn't get good news about your own favorite show(s).
First up, though, we have the good news! As we've
reported,
Moonlight will be announced for DVD release in North America. Expect that to be made official in just a few weeks, with a late 2008/early 2009 release date expected. I'm personally pleased that
Night Court - Season 2 is coming in Early 2009, along with second seasons of
Knot's Landing and
Everwood. Other releases mentioned in the chat as coming out in the new year are:
- Dallas - Season 10
- Waltons - Season 8
- Zeta Project
- more Whose Line is it Anyway?
- more Superfriends
It was also mentioned that the various
Dallas telefilms ("The Early Years," "J.R. Returns" and "War of the Ewings") were being planned for a separate release down the road (probably after the season sets are all done, would be my guess). Also planned for home video release at some point are remastered releases of more of the various MGM cartoons which Warner currently owns, according to one chat response.
One title I personally asked about was the television spin-off of the classic film
Logan's Run. Another title,
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, was asked about by Ronald Epstein, who runs the Home Theater Forum website that hosted the chat. Warner's answer for both these titles was that there are possible movies in the works (a remake in
Logan's case), and that DVD releases of the TV shows would be held for now, to see if they can tie in any possible TV-DVDs with the movies...a smart marketing move that increases publicity and interest in both the home video release, and in the new film.
Warner explained how the DVD chances of other titles would really depend on the sales of other releases performing well first. For example,
Falcon Crest is on their radar, but they want to see how the continuation of
Knots Landing goes over first! And their upcoming general retail release of
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. will have to do well enough to warrant a release of
The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., of course. A massive DVD release of
Superman: The Animated Series - Complete Series would naturally depend on whether or not the
Batman version of this big package does well late this year. And the sales of the regular
Tiny Toon Adventures sets (the first one is in stores now) will not only decide whether the related movies and specials get released, but also whether Warner moves forward with releases of similar programming like
Taz-Mania and
Histeria. Want more classic DC universe cartoons, whether they were produced by Filmation or Ruby-Spears or anyone else? It sure wouldn't hurt their chances if the recent release of
DC Super Heroes: The Filmation Adventures sells pretty good!
A large number of the replies Warner gave to chat questions were that the title being asked about was "being evaluated." We understand that this is a somewhat frustrating response to fans who would love something more firm by way of a status. But it properly describes that the studio hasn't made plans for a release yet, but neither have they ruled one out entirely. The vast majority of unreleased properties at any studio would fall into this category, and sometimes the description is appropriate for an entire range of shows, rather than a particular title. "B&W Television shows of the 1950's-1960s" "Being evalutated." "the Cartoon Network library (including
Cow & Chicken, Dexter's Lab, Johnny Bravo, Captain Planet and/or more releases of
Foster's Home or
Ed, Edd n' Eddy)? "Being evaluated." More Hanna Barbera releases (additional ones in several cases) along the lines of
Richie Rich, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Snorks or
Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home? "Being evaluated." More
Growing Pains, Mama's Family or
Perfect Strangers? "Being evaluated." Blu-ray Disc releases for
Looney Tunes, Bruce Timm's
Batman or
Friends? "Being evaluated." Also on the
Looney Tunes front, Warner says they're open to releasing more of the feature films starring their merry gang, and that they "continue to have discussions about 'Censored 11'" shorts, and promise to keep us posted.
In some cases, the evaluation comes under the heading of "trying to make the numbers work" financially. For example, the final two seasons of
Fresh Prince are waiting for Warner to figure out how to handle the big musical licensing costs associated with those episodes. The studio also revealed that the second season of
Third Watch is also held up because the "music costs...are extraordinarily high." Sometimes it's not the music, though.
For any show there are certain set costs, which may include licenses and/or royalties for the original property that the show was based on, or perhaps residuals to writers, directors or even the talent, or other payouts which a DVD release would incur. For example, Warner explained that "
Family Matters is a title that has always been on our list, but related costs have prevented it thus far and we're working to get around those issues, if possible. MORE TO COME." When pressed for an explanation of why
Eight Is Enough has no release plans, the studio reps explained that "
We'll continue to evaluate it but for any show it's a combination of sales forecast and fixed cost hurdles." We've heard that
Scarecrow and Mrs. King, one of the most-wanted programs at TVShowsOnDVD (currently #6 on our Top 10 list) is also held up for reasons that fit into this category. When I personally asked about
Scarecrow, Men in Trees and others, Warner replied that they had "
no plans currently on Scarecrow, Men in Trees but we recognize there is interest."
In a few cases there were items that the studio had no plans in the works for, but felt glad that the titles were brought up in the chat last night and they said they would take a new look into it.
Brimstone, Alice, Valerie/Valerie's Family/The Hogan Family and the Cathy Lee Crosby version of
Wonder Woman (a failed pilot, prior to the classic Lynda Carter series) all fell into this category.
On the other hand, there were a number of shows that the studio explained that they simply had no current plans for, at all. As I explained earlier,
Animaniacs - Volume 4 (which would be the final release for the series) is in this category. To my personal disappointment, the live-action Saturday morning
Shazam! series, produced by Filmation, is also in this category. Other titles described this way include the classic
Maverick, Spenser: For Hire, Time Trax, Biskitts, SeaLab 2020, Living With Fran and additional releases of
What I Like About You, The Drew Carey Show and
Welcome Back, Kotter. Also firmly in the "no plans" category, due to what's described as insufficient sales of the first season set releases, are
Murphy Brown and the live-action
Superboy.
One of the shows that I asked Warner about,
thirtysomething, turned out to not be Warner's property after all. It's a common mistake at these chats, and I probably ought to feel embarrassed, but hey...it happens. My confusion was in knowing that it was originally produced by MGM, and while some properties they produced (including
CHiPs and
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) are now owned by Warner, others - such as this one - are not. One chat participant asked if the DVD release of
The Rosie O'Donnell Show - Season 1: Rosie Reminisces was worked on through Warner Home Video; the studio responded that "
WHV is not part of that release." One show asked about,
Reba, turns out to be from Fox...the confusion of course is that the program aired on the old WB Network (now The CW); but the network a series airs on doesn't always indicate which studio produced the episodes. Another Fox-owned program asked about in the chat was the classic Adam West version of
Batman. To make things easy, here's what was asked and answered:
- < RonEpstein > Warner, let me step in one sec...Who do we have to push to get the original Batman TV series out? It is the #1 requested TV show for release and neither Fox nor WB or DC can agree on release terms. Do you have any influence over its release?
- < WHV > We'd like to see it, too ... BAM! However, the issue exists apart from WHV. BIFF! Warner Home Video has no rights to the series.
- < Gina > Who has the rigths to put the 1966 Batman Tv Series on DVD?
- < WHV > Fox.
Hopefully everyone reading this will help spread that word: the home video division of Warner has no part in the hold-up to a DVD release of
Batman. We've seen this said over and over again, mainly because WHV's a sister company to DC Comics, and frustrated fans feel that there HAS to be a connection. Here the studio has explained, publicly, that this isn't the case.
I couldn't cover every single program title asked about in the chat here in my round-up, but that's the vast majority of them. Again, I encourage you to read through the chat transcript for full details. Once more there are thanks owed to Warner Home Video for taking the time to come and talk to all of us...even if you got bad news about your most-wanted show, you DID get the news, right? You know what's going on! And for that we also owe thanks to Ronald Epstein and Parker Clack, along with the rest of the staff of the Home Theater Forum website. This chat happened because of them. If you're not hanging out at this excellent discussion forum (and the official one of TVShowsOnDVD), then give it a look...it's excellent!
