Mike86

The thing is though while it probably is true that the earlier seasons were going to be the best sellers it seems like everyone has a different opinion as to what point in the show's history they think it went downhill. It seems like a lot of people (not including myself) dislike the show after season ten or in some instances before that. So they still went a long ways with releasing the so called unpopular seasons and actually the ironic thing is that they released a lot of the unpopular seasons and were getting close to when a lot of fans think it went through a rejuvenation (seasons twenty and beyond).

Some people had to have been buying the seasons for them to keep coming as long as they did. The sales may have been less for the later seasons but I'm guessing they were decent enough or I don't see why they would have kept them going as long as they did. Either way though I definitely agree that Fox really screwed up and fucked over the fans by going with only one release a year rather than getting them out quick and capitalizing on people making impulse buys.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I think FOX is fine with the massive amount of money they got for putting it all on streaming recently.

LorenzoL

The international customers are going to be screwed by this since we have no access to the app. Another DVD set I no longer will be buying.

Mike86

I'm sure they are but at the same time it is kind of a fuck you to fans who have been buying the sets all along. A lot of the diehard fans like myself wanted a complete collection someday.

Double_Oh_7

No studio is ever happy. They always want MORE money.

davidh777

I agree that they should have released more seasons earlier, when TV on DVD was a huge business. Just a few years later, the TV-watching business dramatically shifted, and now physical discs are considered an albatross by some consumers and many retailers.

I agree that digital has a lot of advantages for studios, but it's not all related to conspiracy theories about rebuying and altering content. Fact is, multi-disc sets are expensive to replicate, ship, and store. If you end up with too much stock, you might run into a Big Lots-like situation (and that was back when DVD was popular).

For all we know, Fox could've wanted to pull the plug two seasons ago but didn't do it until now.

Mike86

I don't think it's a conspiracy against consumers but fourteen years is a long damn time to devote to something that isn't working out. If the sets weren't selling well and they kept churning them out its on them. I'm still pretty stuck on thinking that if they couldn't come up with realistic sales expectations over that amount of time and that many releases the people in charge at Fox aren't the brightest.

I don't understand why more studios don't go the route of something like the Warner Archives Collection truthfully. It seems like a win-win model as the studios can sell product to consumers who want it without having to mass produce and risk products not selling and consumers who still want physical media copies of shows/films get what they want as well.

davidh777

That's entirely possible, but wouldn't you agree that the market has changed drastically over the last few years? I'm certainly no fan of Fox and some of their decisions, but it may not be entirely on them. Their major retail partners (outside of online like Amazon) just don't want to stock this stuff anymore.

SterlingBen

Well, at least the best seasons made it out.

Mike86

There are still ways to release the sets if they'd think outside the box a bit and adapt to changing times. Release the sets exclusively through their own web site or partner with someone like Amazon. Satisfy your base of fans who have bought the product being sold for years and utilize online services. Instead just pulling the rug out from under their fanbase seems like their way of saying it was good while it lasted but screw you.

PhantomStranger

Not on Blu-ray...

Nick Danger

That was true ten years ago.

Pizza

Who knows. After the show is canned and they're looking for a few extra dollars maybe they'll release a complete series set. How many discs would that be? Yikes!

Alan Smithee

This seemed to be one of the better-selling shows, plus they started putting it out on Blu-Ray, even the seasons that weren't produced in HD originally! I'm betting this is just because they want everyone to subscribe to that SimpsonsWorld thing- the first thing I thought of when I heard of that coming out was "why would I need that when I've got all the shows on disc?" If anyone's subscribing to that now, they should cancel as a matter of principle, unless they like having that be the only way to see it.

Mike86

Well The Simpsons World app is free that's the one benefit. Still sucks for those of us who've been buying the seasons all this time. Also that's another good point about the series being released on Blu-ray. Fox has shown in the past that they'll abandon the Blu-ray releases of a series at first sign of seasons of a series not selling well. They released seasons thirteen through seventeen plus twenty on both Blu-ray and DVD so again it points to the fact that the sets must have been selling somewhat. I just don't entirely get what sparked this decision.

Alan Smithee

It isn't for me- says I need a cable subscription which I will have when hell freezes over. Don't want to have to watch it through my computer anyways.

I wonder how The Simpsons (or any other show for that matter) has been selling on Vudu? The current season is $44.99, though you get each new episode as they come out. Checked the other seasons that haven't been on disc and they range from $39 to $49- no way would I pay that much for anything that's online-only, and I've paid less than that for any of the disc sets!

Mike86

Ah right I did forget it's with cable only as its part of FXX. Yeah it's absolutely ridiculous how much studios want to charge for digital downloads only.

majorjoe23

Isn't there a free random Simpsons episode channel on Roku? I thought I remembered a mention of that in streaming talk.

Edit: Nevermind, looks like that's a feature of the FX now app.

mythmaker18

If it's what I'm thinking of, it's probably one of the shady (illegal) "private" channels (JustinTV maybe?).

PhantomStranger

The huge syndication deal with FXX is definitely a part of this radical decision. It's not a coincidence that another beloved show from the 90s still raking in big bucks through syndication, Seinfeld, hasn't even hit Blu-ray. The studios do not want hardcore fans tuning out syndicated broadcasts for these mega-popular hits.

bossman284

The truth of it is I own all the Simpson sets and Seinfeld, but do most of my viewing of both of these shows on syndicated broadcasts. Rarely to I find myself saying I want to watch an episode of either show and go and grab the dvds, but when I'm channel surfing I usually stop when I get to either show and watch at least one episode. Fox has made more money with the Simpsons that releasing the remaining sets even in limited numbers would not hurt their bottom line. Saying that maybe someday their will be a complete series set does me no good, because i have all of them already and why would I want to buy them again? The best thing they could do is if they do decide to release the whole series at some point is to break up the sets in 5 year chunks, then the lot of us that have been collecting all along don't have to double dip on too many seasons.

Really all they have accomplished is pissing of the collector fan base...the average consumer will care less. However as someone that collects a lot of tv on dvd, it will give me pause on jumping in any other long term releases by Fox, and I'll probably wait for complete series sets rather than buying individual seasons, to avoid getting burnt again. I do realize that lack of sales on the individual sets might mean there will never be a complete series, but hasn't that always been the case.

MScottM

I agree with the releasing sets in 5 year batches but they should start from the newest and work backward. Otherwise they will run into the same sort of issues with sales they are having now. Most people that are likely to collect them already have seasons 1-15 so those would not sell well. But if they started at season 21-25 and then 16-20 those would sell well and when the 11-15, 6-10, and 1-5 didn't sell well and they stop producing then, who would care?

Mike86

I still think the best option would be doing a limited run of future seasons and making them available online. Either have Fox Connect directly sell the sets or make a deal with an online retailer like Amazon or someplace to give them exclusive rights. That way fans who still want the sets can get them but Fox doesn't have to mass produce and end up with overstock and have to sell them at a loss. It seems pretty much like a win-win scenario to me.

Chrisedge

This. I have not bought a single season show since Amazing Stories S1, because they screw you over. Either by abandoning later seasons (A.S. only had two seasons!) or by offering more content in the complete package.

I bought the first four seasons of the Simpsons as that is the period I really watched, but we are quickly moving to a "no physical media" world where streaming and mp3's are the acceptable norm.

MScottM

Which is sad since this way someone else controls what is available and when.