Tscott

Last year I picked up How I Met Your Mother Season 1 on a whim and a sale. I liked it. Then How I Met Your Mother Season 2 just came out on DVD, I bought it on release day and finally got to the last episode yesterday. I really like the show now, but season 3 started a week before the DVDs came out and I'm 3 or 4 episodes behind if I start watching the episodes as they air. If I had been able to watch the whole season before season 3 started they'd have another viewer for this season.

Same thing with NCIS, I bought the first 3 seasons on DVD last year, and I'd like to see season 4 before watching the current season, but they're 3 or 4 episodes in now and the DVD for season 4 won't be released for two more weeks. Now that Gilmore Girls is over, this is a strong contender for that timeslot, but not if I'm a season behind on my viewing.

I know there's other examples out there too. Why don't they release these over the summer to try to get more viewers when the fall premiers come around?

cactusoly

One simple answer... Money. The networks make more money on the commercial time for reruns then DVD sales. The DVDs are make available when the rerun time is over.

RobCA

For a while, they were releasing shows just before the new season started, instead of after, which made more sense. Not sure why they changed it.

My suggestion: get a DVR if you can.

Rob

Silverscreenvid

As a practical matter, they can only release so many titles a week, because there are only so many major releases that stores can feature and that can be effectively advertised in one week. So they can't release twenty different series seasons on Labor Day. For the same reason, you don't see twenty different new releases premiering at the theater or on DVD each week.

I do think there is more of a reason to release serialized shows like Heroes, Lost or Desperate Housewives before a season starts (to let people "catch up") than more-or-less standalone shows like NCIS. I personally watched the first season DVD of Prison Break over the summer, then caught the second season DVD in early September and have been watching the show live this season.

nateman

Well the first season of NCIS didn’t get released until June 6th of 06, which was after the third season has originally aired on CBS. CBS/Paramount caught up pretty quick with the NCIS DVD releases, releasing season 2 (Nov. 14th/06) & season 3 (April. 24th/07) & the 4th season is being released Oct 23rd so I think they’ve caught up pretty fast; all things considered.

I don’t know why you don’t just record the episodes of this season & when you’re finished watching the 4th season DVD, watch the once you’ve recorded. Or just wait ti’ll the 5th season comes out, in September of 08’ most likely.

I like how 30 Rock, etc… got released a month prior to its new season premiere. My Name is Earl-season two only came out 2 days before its third season premiere.

rdclark

I'd imagine there isn't one simple reason. Sometimes the release date for the DVD is set in stone before the network premiere date is. Sometimes there are more series sets being released than the manufacturing and distribution channels can handle, so they have to be scheduled when they can. Sometimes shows are aired on networks that don't actually own the studios that produce them, so the coordination is less than perfect.

I bless the invention of the DVR, that lets me start saving up episodes of a new season when I haven't finished watching the previous seasnon's DVDs yet.

nothingfails

I think late July/early-mid August is a perfect time to do these releases. Gives the audience a month or more to get through the seasons (if you work 2 jobs or go to college or something, you can't just breeze through a 15-16 hour season in two or three days). For example, a good idea was Dexter, season 2 premiered on September 30th, season 1 was released on August 28th, people had one month to catch up on the show, and season 2's premiere was the biggest season premiere ratings in Showtime's history.

DVDMagic

I hear ya. I started getting into some shows over the summer that I never really bothered with before. Now granted, some might not say they are the best shows out there, but I enjoy them and like to watch them in order so as not to miss out on anything.

CSI: Miami -Managed to watch the first 4 seasons over the summer thanks to Netflix, yet Seasopn 5 is released at the end of October, whilst Season 6 started at the end of September. Therefore I have the DVR set up to cover 6 while I catch up.

CSI: NY - Same thing. Watched Season 1 + 2 on DVD recently and just picked up Season 3 to watch whilst Season 4 started recently.

Numb3rs - same here. Watched Seasons 1 & 2 and am waiting to get Season 3 while I still DVR Season 4 which also just started.

I guess it depends on the studio and the show in question since the more popular shows the past year or so got a DVD release at least a couple of weeks before the new season started - Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Jericho, Lost, Prison Break.

jjcool

Yeah, I am in the same boat as you. The summer is usually pretty dead TV wise, and would be a prefect time to catch up on the dvd releases before the new season starts in september. My guess is the studios want us to watch reruns or whatever crap show they are airing than dvds, as that means more advertising dollars for them.

DJariya

I'm assuming it takes some time to get all the bonus material for the TV on DVD sets ready as well.

Plus, with the glut of DVD's released on a weekly basis, the studios probably want to find the best time they can sell the most copies and as mentioned above watching re-runs over the summer is preferrable to the networks and studios since they are making some ad dollars off them.

critterdvd

Another thing about HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER is that it airs on CBS, yet is owned by FOX, so there are a lot of legal issues to deal with as well. And since its a sitcom, many people don't think about continuity being a large problem (which is wrong).

bookcase3

I would watch more TV if DVD releases were timed better. As it is, I only watch TV on DVD because I can never catch up in time to tune in. Plus, I'm beginning to like shows better when you can watch them in batches with no commercial breaks. The only risk involved is finding out certain plot lines before the DVDs comes out.

nateman

First off, you deserve a round of applause for watching four seasons of CSI: Miami in a short time period without killing yourself.

I’m a ‘like to see the other seasons before I start the new one’ guy but season five was absolutely terrible; You’ll probably want to see it anyway but it will bore you to tears, watch out for the season finale as well, snooze! That’s just my opinion though & if you enjoyed having a ‘summer’ CSI: Miami marathon you’ll probably get some enjoyment out of it. I could never buy CSI: Miami on DVD. Although, it’s a hilarious show!

For CSI: NY on the other hand, please watch the third season before you watch any of the new, season four episodes.

In CSI: NY’s third season, it really became a different show & you’ll definitely enjoy it. The last few episodes of the season, kicked-ass & the season finale, although not original, was damn entertaining & you get some classic Gary Sinise moments.