TV shows that STILL aren't available on DVD!?!?

[The Borgified Corpse]

if you are ever wondering why it took forever for 7 Days to get even a DVD release it was music rights.

Seriously? I just figured it was the fact that CBS didn't think that anyone cared about any of those UPN shows that aren't Star Trek. Or did Deadly Games, Jake 2.0, Level 9, The Sentinel, Special Unit 2, and The Untouchables (1993) also have music rights issues that were resolved at the same time?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Seriously? I just figured it was the fact that CBS didn't think that anyone cared about any of those UPN shows that aren't Star Trek. Or did Deadly Games, Jake 2.0, Level 9, The Sentinel, Special Unit 2, and The Untouchables (1993) also have music rights issues that were resolved at the same time?

I'm not sure that's just what I read on a blog that music rights was part of the problem getting a release done. I had Jake 2.0 not as fun the 2nd time around but I do like the actor and he was great in Covert Affairs, another show I caught up with.

Dollhouse is shite

 

[Jayson1]

About 7 Days on DVD. I would like to get that but did they keep the music for the DVD release or did they remove it? I have always been afraid to get Quantum Leap on DVD for this reason though I have heard the newer Blu Ray versions of the show have all the music intact.

Jason

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

About 7 Days on DVD. I would like to get that but did they keep the music for the DVD release or did they remove it? I have always been afraid to get Quantum Leap on DVD for this reason though I have heard the newer Blu Ray versions of the show have all the music intact.

Jason

I got my set of 7 Days off Amazon and it does have all the original music intact.

I did have Quantum Leap a year or two ago and the version I had was on DVD and intact.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Seriously? I just figured it was the fact that CBS didn't think that anyone cared about any of those UPN shows that aren't Star Trek. Or did Deadly Games, Jake 2.0, Level 9, The Sentinel, Special Unit 2, and The Untouchables (1993) also have music rights issues that were resolved at the same time?

Older shows did not have the legal on Video sorted out, so the lawyers have to go back to the table.

Older shows did not have the legal on DVD releases sorted out, so the lawyers have to go back to the table.

Older shows did not have the legal on Bluray sorted out, so the lawyers have to go back to the table.

Older Older shows did not have the legal on streaming sorted out, so the lawyers have to go back to the table.

And so on.

 

[Qonundrum]

Not sure about the others but I've heard that the music rights for The Drew Carey Show are pretty expensive. Expensive music rights are also what scuttled further DVD releases of Malcolm in the Middle and Murphy Brown, among others.

Makes sense.

I'm still amazed so many 80s shows loaded with pop music of the day got released. Depending on region, "Knight Rider" needs an overseas source (Japan) to get the "complete" collection - of which 2 or 3 songs are still missing but that's better than twenty times that amount. Might be the same if they released A-Team and other greats of the era.

I wonder if music rights are also part of the stumbling block for Unhappily Ever After too thanks to using "Hit the Road Jack" as the theme song. Perhaps that combined with the fact that it seems that very few people seem to remember that show. I think a lot of people dismissed it as a Married with Children ripoff but I really liked it, if only for the Mr. Floppy segments. And then that one episode where they go to a fancy restaurant and meet Erik Estrada, who is really miffed that they don't recognize him, so he keeps dropping hints about his motorcycle, etc. Eventually, he dresses up in his full CHiPs uniform, they finally recognize him, and he berates them for bothering him in public and that he just wants to dine in peace!

"Grace Under Fire" had its theme music retroactively changed for season 1 - replacing the Aretha Franklin song with what was made for season 2. A shame, as much as I am not a fan of using old songs directly as theme music, the songs for GUF and UEA both suited the tones of their shows rather nicely. UEA more so given the upbeat tone used.

BTW, after a quick search on Amazon, I found a couple listings for The Drew Carey Show. There's a 6-episode Best Of DVD that's out of print and really expensive but the complete 1st season seems to be available for a reasonable price considering it came out back in 2007. It's nowhere near the complete series but it's a start.
https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Carey-S...ZNQS0F27K7X&psc=1&refRID=8JR7P52WWZNQS0F27K7X

Thanks for the link!!

It might come back one day, even as MOD. While not my favorite method, it works. Just don't store the discs in humid and warm conditions. If more streaming services did permanent schedules, then the venue would become more appealing. By then, they won't need to strip 5 frames out of the material as well - streamed TV shows go from that smooth video look to being very choppy, of which even modern TVs that synthetically create filler frames on the fly to simulate smoothness aren't exactly perfect...

Sadly, when I searched for Unhappily Ever After on DVD, it just gave me a bunch of listings for Married with Children and Roseanne.

Definitely the same theme of "dysfunctional family" exists for all three shows, but those two are not UEA for sure. UEA definitely had a field day with the premise, right down to the manifestation of psychotic breakdown via a bunny toy that only he could interact with... A shame Roseanne didn't do it first, but the juxtaposition of Jack's apparent levelheadedness in non-bunny scenes only makes the relative complexity more entertaining.

 

[Harvey]

Seriously? I just figured it was the fact that CBS didn't think that anyone cared about any of those UPN shows that aren't Star Trek. Or did Deadly Games, Jake 2.0, Level 9, The Sentinel, Special Unit 2, and The Untouchables (1993) also have music rights issues that were resolved at the same time?

If a popular show isn’t on DVD at this point, chances are good that either:

(1) The music was not pre-cleared for home video.
(2) The video masters are in bad shape.

For the shows you’ve listed, it’s unlikely to be option #2.

 

[Non Sync]

Why is The Orville only available on DVD and not Blu-Ray?

Oh the humanity of it all!

 

[Jayson1]

Why is The Orville only available on DVD and not Blu-Ray?

Oh the humanity of it all!

Because they know many of it's fans are also DS9 fans who never got it's show on Blu Ray as well and this a form of ritual torture they like to perform on us for not liking Discovery more.

Jason

 

[Snaploud]

I'm still waiting for First Wave, the last season of Once and Again, and a region 1 release of Ashes to Ashes. The latter is at least available on region 2, so I could theoretically go to the trouble of getting a region free DVD play (or use a VPN for streaming). I used to be waiting for Mister Sterling, but I was finally able to watch that one on youtube not long ago.

I believe the first season of First Wave was briefly available in Canada. There's a website that claims to sell all three seasons, but that website doesn't seem to have a good reputation online.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I had Jake 2.0 not as fun the 2nd time around but I do like the actor and he was great in Covert Affairs, another show I caught up with.

I like Christopher Gorham. I'm mostly a fan of his from Odyssey 5. I also liked that guest appearance he did on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Definitely the same theme of "dysfunctional family" exists for all three shows, but those two are not UEA for sure. UEA definitely had a field day with the premise, right down to the manifestation of psychotic breakdown via a bunny toy that only he could interact with... A shame Roseanne didn't do it first, but the juxtaposition of Jack's apparent levelheadedness in non-bunny scenes only makes the relative complexity more entertaining.

Unhappily Ever After was one of the most batshit crazy sitcoms I've ever seen. I remember that one episode where Ryan started a sex chat business where he pretended to be Tiffany without her knowledge. Tiffany was miffed at first but then got involved because she found out how lucrative it was. Then the FBI tried to shut the website down and it became this whole 1st Amendment issue. Meanwhile, Jack didn't know anything about the business arrangement. He just knew that there were naughty pictures of Tiffany online and he was out for blood. "Who did this to you, honey?" "The FBI, daddy." "The FBI? Well, they're kinda big to go after. Maybe I can go after someone smaller, like the meter maids." Later on, there was a series of newspaper headlines proclaiming that Tiffany won her Supreme Court case and the website could stay up. And amidst all these other headlines was one that said, "Who is killing the meter maids?" Very few 3-camera sitcoms have the balls to turn one of their main characters into a serial killer.

If a popular show isn’t on DVD at this point, chances are good that either:

(1) The music was not pre-cleared for home video.
(2) The video masters are in bad shape.

For the shows you’ve listed, it’s unlikely to be option #2.

Yeah, but I always figured that it had less to do with music and more to do with the fact that "popular" is a very relative term. I'm used to falling in love with shows that get quickly forgotten. Why oh why did no one else love Sit Down Shut Up the way I do?
"Asbestos. Cancer."
"That's right, as best as they can, sir!"

Why is The Orville only available on DVD and not Blu-Ray?

Oh the humanity of it all!

That's a weird quirk of this modern age. Burn Notice only ever released Season 2 on blu-ray. Community didn't get any blu-rays at all until Mill Creek put out a complete series box set. Glee gave up on blu-ray releases after Season 4. (Although it looks like Amazon has some Region A blu-rays for Seasons 5 & 6 imported from Japan. But I'm not sure how legit those are.)

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

But Married With Children had the nympho daughter......That might been a bridge too far for other shows to copy and I think Kelly started out as a teen doing that? Or that's the implication the show gives.

 

[Harvey]

That's a weird quirk of this modern age. Burn Notice only ever released Season 2 on blu-ray. Community didn't get any blu-rays at all until Mill Creek put out a complete series box set. Glee gave up on blu-ray releases after Season 4. (Although it looks like Amazon has some Region A blu-rays for Seasons 5 & 6 imported from Japan. But I'm not sure how legit those are.)

DVDs are cheaper to manufacture than Blu-rays and TV on DVD still outsells Blu-ray for the most part.

But I do think there’s a collector’s market for TV on Blu-ray that hasn’t been fully tapped.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Legal Streaming is more reliable than Blurays.

And it takes up less space.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Legal Streaming is more reliable than Blurays.

And it takes up less space.

Yeah, then you get part of the way through a series and the streaming service takes the show off because the rights have expired or something.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Yeah, then you get part of the way through a series and the streaming service takes the show off because the rights have expired or something.

When you open up the fourth case to the third watch abut what you see is the Second Garfield movie because your first cousin is a zero.

 

[Qonundrum]

Unhappily Ever After was one of the most batshit crazy sitcoms I've ever seen. I remember that one episode where Ryan started a sex chat business where he pretended to be Tiffany without her knowledge. Tiffany was miffed at first but then got involved because she found out how lucrative it was. Then the FBI tried to shut the website down and it became this whole 1st Amendment issue. Meanwhile, Jack didn't know anything about the business arrangement. He just knew that there were naughty pictures of Tiffany online and he was out for blood. "Who did this to you, honey?" "The FBI, daddy." "The FBI? Well, they're kinda big to go after. Maybe I can go after someone smaller, like the meter maids." Later on, there was a series of newspaper headlines proclaiming that Tiffany won her Supreme Court case and the website could stay up. And amidst all these other headlines was one that said, "Who is killing the meter maids?" Very few 3-camera sitcoms have the balls to turn one of their main characters into a serial killer.

^^this

When a writing group and cast that understand the bizarre nature of the proceedings and play it accordingly, it's pretty great. It takes balls and some talent to make dark morbid subjects actually funny. Geoff Pierson definitely had what it takes to make the personality be other than "entirely creepy"...

The sex chat episode - which is hysterically funny, how did they come up with that stuff - is later on in the series run (Season 4 or 5?). The scene where Jack walks in on Ryan is possibly the funniest moment, when he overhears and then whips out the baseball bat in true Looney Tunes fashion... until he hears Ryan's side of the (bizarre) story. "Men know what they like!" OMG, never heard it like that before... (Note to audience: The show has always been a warped satire and not an instructional video... ) The entire cast was eminent in their skills to sell this concept. And I couldn't see MWC doing it either. There are similarities but the nuanced differences are more than large enough. Not bad for theme variation...

The first two years were the best (the glass table episode was one such all-time great), the third starts to show the inevitable format shift when the writers find some new path to go down on... with the wife leaving after season 4 because the show was now "The Tiffany Show" it went from an edgy satire increasingly toward and then a total live action cartoon (which is also fun, but definitely not the original feel of the show)...

 

[Qonundrum]

Yeah, then you get part of the way through a series and the streaming service takes the show off because the rights have expired or something.

Or when lots of goofy looking squares flicker and squidge onto the screen or when there is major stuttering or when the screen goes gray and a message saying connection is lost... happens more often on streaming, unless the DVD is 30 years old under poor storage conditions (high temperature and humidity, kept outside of storage box for UV radiation to cause discoloration, kiddies or kitties scratch the data side surface, used as skeet shooting pigeons, et cetera...)

Studies have also shown blu-ray discs have more detail and less color bleed, jaggy or blurry lines, etc, than 4K streaming... want HD? Then streaming is maybe 70% the definition of "HD". "Megapixel myth" taking on a new life of its own...

Streaming is still great for casual viewing, as long as the shows are still there. But then why make all the big shiny f/x and HD? At laast for a casual show?

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

The sex chat episode - which is hysterically funny, how did they come up with that stuff - is later on in the series run (Season 4 or 5?). The scene where Jack walks in on Ryan is possibly the funniest moment, when he overhears and then whips out the baseball bat in true Looney Tunes fashion... until he hears Ryan's side of the (bizarre) story. "Men know what they like!" OMG, never heard it like that before... (Note to audience: The show has always been a warped satire and not an instructional video... )

(Typing in the sex chat.) "Here's a sandwich. You can have it after we're finished. Oh, what the heck, eat it now."

 

[tomswift2002]

If a popular show isn’t on DVD at this point, chances are good that either:

(1) The music was not pre-cleared for home video.
(2) The video masters are in bad shape.

For the shows you’ve listed, it’s

About 7 Days on DVD. I would like to get that but did they keep the music for the DVD release or did they remove it? I have always been afraid to get Quantum Leap on DVD for this reason though I have heard the newer Blu Ray versions of the show have all the music intact.

Jason

In the case of “Quantum Leap”, the PAL DVD’s contained the original music as the courts in Europe and the UK have ruled that prior to the mid-90’s, any TV show or movie that licensed music licensed all necessary rights, even if the contract didn’t mention anything but broadcast. So shows like “Quantum Leap” and “A Muppet Family Christmas” were released with music intact in Europe. However in the US & Canada the courts have ruled that each seperate right must be cleared. So that’s why “Quantum Leap” & “Muppet Family Christmas” have replacement music or are edited to remove the different songs.

But another problem with some shows is that the music is not on its own seperate track, but has been mixed together with the spoken dialogue, so if they can’t clear the music, then it’s not worth it as it would be more expensive to get the actors or sound-a-likes to re-dub the lines that are in that section of video.

But then there are other times, especially with third parties like Shout Factory or Mill Creek, where they’ll release the syndication masters because the current rights owners want ridiculous amounts of money to license the network masters. So a lot of times the music scenes will have already been cut for syndication, unless it was an important scene.