LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - One of the most popular TV series of all time is about to go out with a bang -- again.

When "Seinfeld" went off the air in May 1998, its two-part finale scored huge ratings, with more than 75 million people tuning in. TV Land paid tribute to the celebrated sitcom about a neurotic New Yorker and his bumbling pals by airing no programming that night in the show's time slot, instead showing a photo of a closed office door.

Now, "Seinfeld" is about to end its complete-season run on DVD. Season 9, a four-disc set with all 24 episodes from its final season, will be released November 6 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

That same day, consumers will be able to buy an elaborate boxed set with all nine seasons. "Seinfeld: The Complete Series" weighs in at 32 discs and carries a suggested list price of $283.95. That buys consumers not just all 180 episodes but also a wealth of bonus features, both electronic and physical.

The highlight: a 226-page coffee-table book filled with photos, quotes, trivia and personal reflections from star Jerry Seinfeld.

"When the show wrapped, the book, which had taken years to assemble, was privately shared with only the cast and crew," said Marc Rashba, vp marketing at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. "When we were launching the TV-DVD series sets five years ago, we loved it so much, but we took a look, and it was ridiculously expensive to put it out. Now, we reshaped and redesigned it, and we were able to make it happen. It's the first time the public will get to see it."

The book comes with a bonus DVD featuring a first-ever cast reunion round-table discussion with Seinfeld, co-creator Larry David and co-stars Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards. The hourlong discussion finds the cast and David together again on the ninth anniversary of the series finale.

Other special features in the boxed set are documentaries on all nine seasons, bloopers, deleted scenes, commentaries and more.

"We talked about this from the beginning, when we launched this," Rashba said. "We always knew we wanted to wrap up with something special."

From the start, Sony Pictures' "Seinfeld" DVD season sets were lauded for their innovative special features. Season 9 is no exception, including such novel extras as a restructured version of "The Betrayal," the notorious reverse-playing episode, shown going forward.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

I hope this will be made available (at a decent price) to those who have bought most (if not all) the sets already. It'd also be nice if the box itself would be for sale separately (like Friends).

might get this when it gets to the DD 20% off sale.

Not very surprising anymore...will have to see the final specs to see if it's worth double dipping. I'm sure I could sell the first 7 releases for a decent amount.

yes i'll start the bitching and moaning this time.i always hate it when someone complains that a "complete set" is announced but this time it's different because SONY released 2 Seinfeld "limited" gift sets,so i hade to buy those 2 sets.what about someone like me who spent all that money on those 2 boxsets? they better have a way for letting consumers like me have the following:

1)that 226-page coffee-table book.
2)and the box that will house all the 9 seasons.(including a space for the 2 gift sets)


thanks.

I don't really care. I'm happy just to get the Season 9 set. If they make the bonus disc available separately, then I might grab it. Otherwise, no worries. These complete series sets only piss me off when they have some knockout exclusive feature, like the Twin Peaks Gold Box having the remastered version of the Broadcast Pilot - that's something I just have to have. A big paperboard box, a coffee table book and a roundtable interview, on the other hand, I can easily live without.

I'm not buying unless the coffee table book folds out into a coffee table.

It's not worth buying individual season sets anymore. With Cheers, Frasier, ect... about to release their final seasons on dvd, There will most likely be a box set for the entire series released. Example: Friends, Sex in the City and M*A*S*H.

The only way I buy individual season sets of a show is if it is a current show still going strong (South Park for example). Everyone knows that a complete set will be coming and will usually have new stuff with it.

Why do people still buy individual sets of series that are dead and gone when this has been proven time and time again?

This makes me glad I never picked up any of the seasons.

here's Ezydvd.com.au picture/price for R4

http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/795105

guess most will double-dip for the deluxe package. i hate this. now the previous LEs are gonna get orphaned (i think).

Maybe because if nobody buys the damn sets, then the studio will assume there is not enough interest in the series and not release any more seasons. Among other reasons...

Would have been nice if they'd told the consumers this at the beginning as well.

Will the coffee table book have little legs so you can use it as a coffee table?

Why?


Why?

See, I'm going to hold off now and wait for them to release this in HD. No sense in triple-dipping.

I'll order the extra parts separately in Dreamy Dreamworld where they do that for people.

In a perfect world they would just make the new bonus features and the big multi-set-holding box available separately by order like they did with the Friends and LotR mega boxes. Then everybody's happy. Why don't they do that, anyway?

I'm guessing I'll bite on this depending on the actual cost once it is released

I'm not surprised at this announcement, and thankfully most of these extras seem pretty superfluous for me to warrant another crack at this.

because!...i NEVER buy individual seasons NEVER,no matter how special the series is.but with Seinfeld, i had to buy those 2 gift sets cos: 1-they were too special to pass 2-they were labled "limited",so i had to buy them before they go OOP.i find it hard to believe that Sony will be as good as Warner and offer the box and the book to the older fans.fuck em.

Seinfeld was shot on 480i video right? Wouldn't they have to redo all the special effects in HD to make this work?

This is the main reason why a lot of TV shows don’t get all their seasons released on DVD. I always get a little angry when someone says “I’ll wait for the Complete Series”, guess what? It won’t come if no one buys the individual seasons. Personally I buy seasons of TV shows individually on their release date so more seasons will come out. With TV ON DVD, every copy sold counts.

I just bought all the Seinfeld seasons individually on DVD recently after years of hating the show. I have found a special place in my TV lovin’ for Seinfeld, just like a sh*tload of other TV series. It’s easier in the long run to buy the seasons individually because paying $283.95 in one day plus other DVD releases will be a small blow to the ole’ wallet.

I really hope that they sell the 226-page coffee-table book with the bonus DVD separately. I bet more than likely, book stores will carry it & it would probably become a huge selling on its own. I for some reason that doesn’t happen (don’t know why it wouldn’t) I will be a little upset, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.

On an off-topic (sort of) not, while watching the seasons of Seinfeld on DVD I have too say that when it comes to comedy, Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer is fu*king genius.

I don't think that word means what you think it means.

Hmm... I stopped getting these after the third set. I've seen them so many times on TV it was never that high a priority. Now I guess I have to decide whether to buy this or pick up the inevitably discounted individual sets.