Quote:
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Originally Posted by me, in my original post--but now edited for space
Is there a list somewhere of TV seasons that are in limbo?
By my question, I don't mean entire series, like the Adam West Batman series that are in limbo because of rights issues, but series that started to come out, like Superboy, but the sales or whatever weren't good, so there have been no official announcements about upcoming releases of the rest of the seasons. In some cases, maybe in an interview online somewhere, an official may have even stated that future releases are unlikely.
At this point, the studios are starting to shoot themselves in the foot (on this issue), because these days I (and I don't think I'm the only one) won't buy a series unless I am confident it will be completed. That's why I haven't bought Superboy season 1, nor any of the Sliders seasons yet. Put the rest of the seasons on the schedule, and as soon as they're out, I'll be ordering the entire series. (Of course, if the studios continue screwing over the early purchasers by putting extras in the "Complete Series" release that aren't available in the individual season purchases, that's just going to make me stop buying ANYTHING until a "Complete Series" is released.)
But back to the current issue. I am not going to waste my money again on getting a series like X-Men Evolution, only to be left with a cliffhanger at the end of the current releases, with no plans for Warner Brothers to allow me to see the ending. So you know what I did? And I hope you studios are reading this. I downloaded the final season (of TV captures) using a torrent and watched it that way. I will still buy the DVDs if they're released, but I am not going to be left hanging ad infinitum. I buy a LOT of DVDs, and there is always something else for me to get instead of a partial release that will leave me frustrated at the end.
I am hoping we can have a list where we can see series that are seemingly (or knowingly) discontinued, so we can be better-informed consumers, and so we can know which studios need letters of encouragement about releasing the remaining seasons.
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Edit 2008-01-12:
Updated to include info from posts up to #84.
Thank you to everyone that has been submitting info!
As I mentioned in the last update, "Kids' Shows" have their own section, and please don't complain about "Kids' Shows" including Rocky and Bullwinkle, etc.. Other shows are divided by decade, but then a few shows have been moved forward if they aired primarily in the decade following their premiere season, and/or if they "felt" more like the next decade's show. So Adam-12 (1968-1975) stays in the 1960s, but Murphy Brown (1988-1999) winds up in the 1990s.
If you don't like the layout of the lists, let me know. However, it felt strange to me before to be looking at a list that had "Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats" sitting between "Have Gun -- Will Travel" and "Hill Street Blues" in a single alphabetical list.
As for what's included and what's not:
First, a show must be released in some kind of sequential order. "Best of" DVDs or other such releases aren't enough to be considered.
Second, shows have to be considered separate series if they were produced by different companies or were retooled and had year breaks in them, or possibly were even broadcast on different networks. Of course there can be exceptions to this. I debated about this for a while because of Saved by the Bell. Its first season hasn't been released, but the reality is that a different company owns that first season, it was produced for a different network, the show was retooled and renamed after a year off, and the DVDs for the subsequent main series have all been released. And there are subsequent series to the main series, as well (College Years, the New Class, whatever). There's a similar problem with SCTV. If I included the "first season(s)," then would I be able to draw the line between The Outer Limits and The New Outer Limits as different series, or not?
Third, as for the dates of the show's last release on DVD:
(last DVD release date) -> result
(older than 12 months ago) -> on the list
(6-12 months ago) -> on the "too early to panic list"
(less than 6 months ago, with good reason to believe there's a problem) -> "too early to panic"
(less than 6 months ago, with no other info) -> not on the list
(previously abandoned, but with an upcoming or recent release) -> on the "shaky series" list
In every update, I will always include a list of what was added to what list, as well as what wasn't added and why.
Any feedback on these "rules" for the list is appreciated. And if I turn down something for inclusion on the list, you can always request it again and explain why. If you request something, and in a list update I didn't mention that it was included, or that it wasn't included and why not, then please let me know so I can rectify my mistake.
Key:
"S1" = "Season 1"
"V2" = "Volume 2"
Dates are YYYY-MM (e.g., July, 2005 = 2005-07)
So, this entry:
Boy Meets World (1993), S4-S7 (S3: 2005-08) (poor sales)
means:
The 1993 series had season 3 released in August, 2005, but seasons 4-7 are still missing, because of, according to an article I read somewhere on the web, poor sales of the earlier seasons.
"KIDS' SHOWS" FROM ALL ERAS
C.O.P.S. (1988), S1V2-S1V3 (S1V1: 2006-02)
G.I. Joe (1984), S2V2 (S2V1: 2004-08)
Gargoyles (1994), S2V2-S3 (S2V1: 2005-12)
Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats (1984), S2V2-S2 (V1: 2005-09)
Huckleberry Hound Show, The (1958), S2-S4 (V1: 2005-11)
Rocky and Bullwinkle (1959), S4 (S3: 2005-09)
Scooby-Doo Show, The (All-Star Laff-A-Lympics) (1976), S2 (S1: 2004-03) (S1 on DVD is called "S-D, Where are You? S3")
X-Men Evolution (2000), S4 (S3: 2006-05)
SHOWS FROM THE 1960s AND BEFORE
Adam-12 (1968), S2-S7 (S1: 2005-08)
Beverly Hillbillies, The (1962), S2V2-S9 (V2: 2006-02)
Big Valley, The (1965), S2V2-S4 (S2V1: 2007-01)
Cheyenne (1955), S2-S7 (S1: 2006-06)
Dragnet (1967), S2-S4 (S1: 2005-06)
Flying Nun, The (1967), S3 (S2: 2006-08)
Green Acres (1965), S4-S6 (S3: 2005-12)
Have Gun -- Will Travel (1957), S4-S6 (S3: 2006-01)
Here Come the Brides (1968), S2 (S1: 2006-05)
Leave It to Beaver (1957), S3-S6 (S2: 2006-05)
Too early to panic, but fans are worried:
Bewitched (1964), S6-S8 (S5: 2007-07)
SHOWS FROM THE 1970s
All in the Family (1971), S7-S9 (S6: 2007-02)
Bob Newhart Show, The (1972), S5-S6 (S4: 2006-09)
Mary Tyler Moore Show, The (1970), S5-S7 (S4: 2006-06)
Night Gallery (1970), S2-S3 (S1: 2004-08)
Quincy, M.E. (1976), S3-S8 (S1&2: 2005-06)
Taxi (1978), S4-S5 (S3: 2005-09)
Too early to panic, but fans are worried:
CHiPs (1977), S2-S6 (S1: 2007-06)
Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The (1977), S3 (S2: 2007-06)
Jeffersons, The (1975), S7-S11 (S6: 2007-03)
Maude (1972), S2-S6 (S1: 2007-03)
One Day at a Time (1975), S2-S9 (S1: 2007-04)
Welcome Back, Kotter (1975), S2-S4 (S1: 2007-06)
WKRP in Cincinatti (1978), S2-S4 (S1: 2007-04) (music right problems)
SHOWS FROM THE 1980s
Amazing Stories (1985), S2 (S1: 2006-07)
Diff'rent Strokes (1978), S3-S8 (S2: 2006-01)
Fame (1982), S2-S6 (S1: 2005-11)
Fantasy Island (1978), S2-S7 (S1: 2005-11)
Gimme a Break! (1981), S3-S6 (S2: 2006-10) (Canadian release)
Growing Pains (1985), S2-S7 (S1: 2006-02)
Hill Street Blues (1981), S3-S7 (S2: 2006-05)
Life Goes On (1989), S2-S4 (S1: 2006-05)
Mama's Family (1983), S2-S6 (S1: 2006-09) (syndicated/cut episodes released)
Night Court (1984), S2-S9 (S1: 2005-02) (poor sales)
Simon & Simon (1981), S2-S8 (S1: 2006-10)
St. Elsewhere (1982), S2-S6 (S1: 2006-11)
Who's the Boss? (1984), S2-S8 (S1: 2004-06) (poor sales)
Too early to panic, but fans are worried:
Airwolf (1984), S4 (S3: 2007-05)
Fall Guy, The (1981), S2-S5 (S1: 2007-06)
Kate & Allie (1984), S5-S6 (S4: 2007-07) (Canadian release)
Whose Line is It, Anyway? [UK] (1988), S3-S10 (S1&S2: 2007-03)
Shaky series, but have future releases scheduled
Cheers (1982), S9-S11 (S8: 2006-06) (S9 scheduled for 2008-04)
Punky Brewster (1984), S4 (S3: 2006-07) (S4 scheduled for 2008-02)
SHOWS FROM THE 1990s
Adventures of Pete & Pete, The (1993), S3-S4 (S2: 2005-11)
Boy Meets World (1993), S4-S7 (S3: 2005-08) (poor sales)
Clarissa Explains It All (1991), S2-S5 (S1: 2005-05)
Dharma & Greg (1997), S2-S5 (S1: 2006-06)
Dream On (1990), S3-S6 (S1&2: 2004-10)
Earth: Final Conflict (1997), S1-S2 (S5: 2003-10)
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The (1990), S5-S6 (S4: 2006-08)
Jamie Foxx Show, The (1996), S2-S5 (S1: 2005-02) (poor sales)
Just Shoot Me! (1997), S3-S7 (S1&2: 2004-06)
Larry Sanders Show, The (1992), S2-S6 (S1: 2002-10)
Mad About You (1992), S4-S7 (S3: 2007-02)
Mad TV (1995), S2-S12- (S1: 2004-09)
Murphy Brown (1988), S2-S10 (S1: 2005-02) (poor sales)
Ned and Stacey (1995), S2 (S1: 2005-09)
NYPD Blue (1993), S5-S12 (S4: 2006-06) (poor sales)
Outer Limits, The New (1995), S2-S7 (S1: 2005-11)
Sentinel, The (1996), S2-S4 (S1: 2006-04)
Superboy (1988), S2-S4 (S1: 2006-06) (poor sales)
Too early to panic, but fans are worried:
Drew Carey Show, The (1995), S2-S9 (S1: 2007-04)
Picket Fences (1992), S2-S4 (S1: 2007-06)
Shaky series, but have future releases scheduled
Party of Five (1994), S3 (S2: 2005-12) (S3 scheduled for 2008-03)
Sliders (1995), S4-S5 (S3: 2005-07) (S4 scheduled for 2008-03)
SHOWS FROM THE 2000s
American Dreams (2002), S2-S3 (S1: 2004-09) (expensive music)
Boomtown (2002), S2 (S1: 2004-07)
Everwood (2002), S2-S4 (S1: 2004-09) (poor sales)
Jeremiah (2002), S2 (S1: 2004-01)
Joey (2004), S2 (S1: 2006-05)
King of the Hill (1997), S7-S12- (S6: 2006-05)
Loop, The (2006), S2 (S1: 2007-03)
Malcolm in the Middle (2000), S2-S7 (S1: 2002-10) (music rights)
Mind of the Married Man, The (2001), S2 (S1: 2005-08)
Mole, Celebrity (2003), S2 (S1: 2004-03) (S1: Yucatan, S2: Hawaii)
Mole, The (2001), S2 (S1: 2005-03) (S2 is a.k.a. Mole II: The Next Betrayal)
Monkey Dust [Region 2] (2003), S2-S3 (S1: 1900-01)
Once and Again (1999), S3 (S2: 2005-08)
Reba (2001), S5-S6 (S4: 2006-11)
Son of the Beach (2000), S2P2-S3 (S1&S2V1: 2003-04)
Survivor (2000), S3-S6,S11-S15- (S9: 2006-12) (released out of order; Vanuatu was the most recent release)
Too early to panic, but fans are worried:
War at Home, The (2005), S2 (S1: 2007-05)
Without a Trace (2002), S3-S6- (S2: 2007-03)