A week ago, we
reported about TVShowsOnDVD owner Gord Lacey's discussions with Artisan, and how he was told that sales figures for the first season of
Twin Peaks - while decent - just were not profitable enough to cover the high production costs of the set, and that as a result, Artisan wouldn't move forward with a
Season 2 release.
While we were unhappy with that piece of information, we were at least pleased to finally answer the question that's been on many of your minds about what the holdup was. Much to our surprise, though, our report caused an immediate backlash. Some of it against Artisan, naturally, for making an unpopular decision.
Strangely enough, however, much of the backlash was against us. We were accused of being offensive to fans, which was hardly our intention. The goal of the article was to finally explain what was going on with the
S2 set, explain what brought it to that point (according to the studio), suggest what consumers can do about it (which was to show support by purchasing the
S1 set at the now-lower SRP), and say what hopes we saw to turn the
S2 situation around. However, they say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions...and so it went for us. It was even suggested that we had made the whole thing up! Lacey says, "I've basically been called a liar in various forums on the 'net and I don't like it. We presented the news straight from someone who works at Artisan." At this point, though, we are obviously reluctant to name names, fearing that it may jeopardize somebody's job. That's not our goal; getting word to fans about TV-on-DVD releases is what we're about.
The backlash leveled at Artisan included deep criticism that the pilot episode wasn't included on the
Season 1 set, leaving fans to either settle for the written summary that WAS included, purchase
an import at a high price via Amazon.com, or else get the same import DVD from eBay or equivalent sources. What many don't seem to realize is that Artisan didn't (and still doesn't) own the pilot, and compensated the best way possible, by summarizing it. They can hardly be criticized for not including it on the
S1 set; their alternative was to keep that set off the market completely.
On two previous occasions, TVShowsOnDVD stepped up to the plate to refute then-current rumors that
S2 plans had been cancelled. Each time the word from the studio was "no, it's merely delayed". Believe us, we would not have gone down this path again if we ourselves weren't convinced that there was something to it. Note that Artisan has not spoken up in the past week on this matter, either to confirm what we were told by one of their own, or to otherwise deny the information as coming from an employee who maybe wasn't in-the-loop.
The ever-popular
Dugpa.com (a site devoted to all things from David Lynch), was quick to respond, though. They reminded us all that "
in the January 24th 2002 issue of the Chicago Tribune, President of Artisan Home Entertainment was quoted:
The studios generally won't release sales figures for TV-based DVDs. But Steven Beeks, president of Artisan Home Entertainment, said he thinks other studios are experiencing DVD successes similar to the one he had with the first season of "
Twin Peaks
," the moody David Lynch drama about solving a murder in a quirky town. In the three years that it has been distributing videos of "Twin Peaks
" episodes, Artisan has sold between 30,000 and 40,000. In contrast, Beeks said, in the few weeks since the series' first-season boxed set has been out on DVD, Artisan has sold about 150,000."
While this sounds promising for overall sales at THAT point, please remember that quote is from early in the time after
S1 was shipped. Based on that info, Artisan could have expected it to be a good indication that sales would continue on that trend, and pay off the costs of the set's development. Only guessing here, but perhaps what happened instead was that die-hard fans bought it rapidly, and then sales quickly fell off afterward. That's one possibility that fits with Artisan's story. As much as we, too, would like to believe Artisan is telling us the wrong thing, there isn't enough evidence to disbelieve what we were told about insufficient sales at the final examination.
However - as we initially reported - there ARE hopes that we'll see
S2 released, by hook or by crook. It is DEFINATELY being released overseas by Paramount, as a site known as MovieHole.net
reported yesterday:
"Great news for "Twin Peaks" fans. Although a deal hasn't been able to be reached to get the film out on DVD elsewhere [namely because Artisan didn't make enough money to cover the production costs first time around, or that's what the rumours say], Paramount in Australia seems to have locked in "Twin Peaks : Season 2" for a late 2004 release. According to the DVD arm, the series will be released in two parts, Part 1 - containing the first four discs, will hit 9th September, and the second set - containing another 4 discs - will hit 7th of October. Subject to change of course, but it's looking good."
For those of you with multi-region players, it won't be a problem whatsoever. But we still want to see an officialy Region 1 release, of course. So stay tuned right here, and we'll continue to try to bring you more information on this subject...one that we're all VERY passionate about. And please don't shoot the messenger, because we're on your side in this!
