paulringodaman

I consider myself a pretty "tough" guy...and every ending of The Wonder Years almost makes me cry...The best use of a song, in my opinion, is the Bar Mitzvah of Paul while everyone dances and Simon and Garfunkel's "Bookends" plays....

ASAPadam

Well said, Puzznic. Do you know how many times I've bought a CD because of a song I heard in a TV show or movie, or how many artists I've been introduced to in the same way?

It's funny, cuz it seems like record labels PAY to have their music put into some current TV shows (at the close of some WB shows, for example, there are "promotional consideration was paid for by" announcements that replay the song used in the show.) It's great advertising for little-known acts.

With The Wonder Years, this is old music we're talking about -- music that's probably not much in demand anymore, or music that many younger people haven't ever even heard! Wouldn't allowing the original music to appear on Wonder Years DVDs -- which are bound to be popular with former fans who are now parents with young children -- in effect keep the music alive, and introduce it to a new generation of potential fans/consumers?

I mean, where else are people gonna hear some of this music today? Remember what "The Big Chill" did for Motown music, or what "Dirty Dancing" did for '60s pop/R&B or what "Muriel's Wedding" did for ABBA? (OK, so maybe some music should stay dead...)

Cameron

^gotta disagree...were talking Beatles, Rolling Stones, Hendrix...All of these acts still sell thousands of albums per year...The cost of beatles publishing alone has to be through the roof.

don't get me wrong, i want it out...but I think the musicians have just as much right to their slice of the pie as Fred Savage and the rest of the gang

Michael Corvin

^ but we're talking 30 second clips of music. It would be different if we were talking full songs but we're not.

The artist got paid once to use it, that should be enough. I don't think DVD sales should fund McCartneys divorce and go to Heather Mills, add to the Stones bankroll(who are currently charging $160 a ticket) and Hendrix? Well he didn't stick around long enough for any of this to matter.

marcellusk

Anymore news on a release for it? or even another region release??

wewantflair

The UK version of season 1 was supposed to drop this week, but it appears as "unavailable" on Amazon UK.

marcellusk

yeah i tried to pre order that on monday and it said unavailble.

Cameron

but fred savage & the gang, and the studios also got payed once for the show...should they forfeit all profits as well. Music makes a big diffrence to the style and feel of the show (or any movie for that matter). People cry foul all the time when original music isn't used. Whether they are rich or not, has no bearing on what they should gain for work that is their own. They created it, and should be payed accordingly to use it. Publishing rights, and original recording rights are through the roof on classic rock songs...but they have been for years, and the studio knew this when they payed for the songs through syndication.

Dalvin

This is only show where I must have the original music....NO EXCUSES! I don't care if they charged HBO prices for the sets....IT must include every single song that was every played throughout its career. I don't mind paying...but I want it done right!

Michael Corvin

Poor analogy, very poor. "fred savage & the gang, and the studios" actually worked full time on the show, day in and day out for years and deserve a cut of the profits. The artists never stepped foot onto a soundstage, wrote scripts, directed anything or provided any input what-so-ever on the show(any show). All they did was tell their business manager to liscence the song and cahsed a check. That's it. They were paid for zero work. Which is a pretty sweet deal if you think about it. How the song was used(style, feel) is irrelevant, the artist collected their fee(s) years ago and walked away. It shouldn't boil down to a contract lacking 20 years forsight in technology. The artist did nothing and got paid handsomely for it. Anything more is just greedy, but that is typical fashion for the music industry.

justbarelymovin

I love you. Thank you for posting this. I have been waiting for The Wonder Years to hit DVD since... as long as I can remember! Yay. This makes me really happy!

Cameron

but fred savage never went into a recording studio and spent months perfecting tones, and overdubbing tracks to record the song. Fred Savage isn't printing up dvds, neither is McCartney or the stones... Its the same thing if another movie had a scene of the wonder years playing on a tv, everyone involved in the wonder years would get a check...they never came to that movie set, but they deserve it.

they are both intellectual properties, and everyone involved from top to bottom should be compensated. Its the right thing to do, and the law agrees. They either need to pay the price and pass it to the consumer, or leave the songs out, and take the backlash.

Breakfast with Girls

I agree. DVDs should be around $300 a piece, and people should be compensated for their one-time contribution for ever and ever.

calhoun07

Perhaps some compensation is in order, but not so high that it makes putting the DVDs out nearly impossible. I have no idea how much compensation has to be for a few second clip, but geez, it should be a helluva lot less than if they used a full song. I get the feeling that there are hold outs who are are demanding high dollar amounts for their music, and that is greed, pure and simple. But then again, I don't understand why they can't get the contracts to agree that once a song is in a show, it's always going to be in the show regardless of the format the show is released on in the future. But that's all water under the bridge, and nothing we can change now.

JAA

I completely agree and my wallet is already open.

rw2516

Also to consider are the artists who won't allow their songs to be used no matter how much money you throw at them. There is a difference between an artist allowing a song to be used in a tv show broadcast/syndication as opposed to dvd. With a tv broadcast you are not mass producing a physical product for sale that contains the artist's work like you are with dvd. Coincidently, recently read that Supertramp turned down an offer of $5 million to use the song "The Long Way Home" in a Greyhound commercial back in '79-80. With inflation that would be what today? $20-30 million?

A good barometer to songs/artists that are difficult, if not impossible to get rights to are compilation cds. The "Hits of the 60s, 70s, 80s" type stuff. You never find any of the big rock artists represented on these even though they had many of the biggest and most memorable hits.

Colleen

Sorry to raise a dead thread, but for those who are interested, the ION station (255 on DirecTV) is about to start airing the Wonder Years weekdays from 10pm-11pm (ET). It starts this Monday 4/2. They just finished a full run of Growing Pains which I was able to record ALMOST all of, I'm hoping to do the same for the Wonder Years!

Cameron

any idea if growing pains were syndicated cuts? and I assume they were watermarked as well...

DVDsAreMyLIFE

Bah, I wish I had directTV.

nateman

Awww...
seeing this thread got my hopes up that the DVD was coming!
oh well.
TVTropolis (canadian tv channel owned by global) shows syndicated episodes of the show.

ericmylad

I live in Milwaukee and the ION channel is one of our regular cable channels (Ch. 15). I went to their website to take a look at the episode order and it seems most are going to be played in order. There are 2 episodes in season 2 that get skipped over but it continues on in order. Hopefully they will all be played. This ION channel was not a channel I ever paid attention to before or even knew I had but after seeing the original post above, I just happened to look in the paper tonight and sure enough, there it was. They had Superman II on tonight so I watched it and they showed several ads for the Wonder Years starting tomorrow. I encourage those who really want some form of this show on DVD to check your local listings. This may be all we get for awhile.

DVDsAreMyLIFE

Yea I also live in Milwaukee and just discovered the ION channel because of this. I have it set to DVR.

jmj713

Wow, Colleen, thanks a ton! Just stumbled on this post and set my DVR to secord the show. Just found out in time, huh? Didn't even know about this channel at all. This will be fun.

reubs82

Anyone know if this channel is available on Comcast in Northern Virginia? That would really make evening TV something worth watching if this show was available.

Gizmo

Nothing for California yet, eh?