morriscroy

Adding more fuel to the Fox fire, one can speculate on the fate of Fox's remaining bluray tv shows. Over the next year or so (late-2014 -> 2015), possible tv on bluray releases are:

Sons of Anarchy - season 7
Homeland - season 4

- I can see SoA and Homeland being released on bluray next year. (ie. Final season of SoA, and Homeland being on premium cable).


The Bridge - season 2
The Americans - season 2

- For these FX shows The Bridge and The Americans, I suspect it may be a toss-up. (I watched The Americans, but only saw the first episode of The Bridge). Hard to say whether either show will continue on with bluray.


Legit - season 2

- Legit was cancelled on May 14, 2014. I wouldn't be surprised if season 2 ends up suffering the same fate as the third seasons of Louie and Wilfred (ie. dvd-only and/or dvd-mod).


Archer - season 5
The Simpsons
Futurama

- I have never seen Archer. (So I can't comment on it).
- I don't watch The Simpsons or Futurama these days.
(Somebody else can speculate on these shows).

morriscroy

ie. Fox has an extensive track record of discontinuing the bluray of "basic cable" and network shows after releasing a single bluray season set.

2012
- The Killing (season 1)

2010
- Stargate Universe (season 1)
- White Collar (season 1)

2009
- The Unit (season 4)
- How I Met Your Mother (season 4)
- My Name Is Earl (season 4)
- Lie To Me (season 1)
- Burn Notice (season 2)

morriscroy

Perhaps the bluray/dvd/digital combo packs may very well be for enticing the first week/month buyers.

Been noticing most of Warner's 2012 -> early-2014 tv seasons sets which were originally released as bluray/dvd/digital combo packs, were re-released 5+ months later as bluray-only sets without the dvd and/or digital copies. In particular:

re-released on Oct 1, 2013
The Big Bang Theory - seasons 1 and 2 (originally released Jul 10, 2012)


re-released on Jan 28, 2014
The Vampire Diaries - season 3 (originally released Sep 11, 2012)


re-released on Feb 4, 2014
The Vampire Diaries - season 4 (originally released Sep 3, 2013)
Person of Interest - season 2 (originally released Sep 3, 2013)
Revolution - season 1 (originally released Sep 3, 2013)

The Big Bang Theory - season 6 (originally released Sep 10, 2013)
Arrow - season 1 (originally released Sep 17, 2013)


re-released on June 10, 2014
The Following - season 1 (originally released Jan 7, 2014)
Shameless - season 3 (originally released Dec 17, 2013)


After 5+ months on the market, there's probably no point anymore in "piggybacking" the bluray with dvd and/or digital copies.

Wezzo

Legit S2 will almost certainly be an MOD DVD set only.

Futurama is complete now, the remaining question is whether the original four seasons will get a Blu release somewhen (my guess is not, though; if they were going to do it I think they would've last year, in time for the Complete Series DVD release).

I suspect The Americans, The Simpsons and Archer will continue to get BD releases, but that's just a gut hunch.

In terms of Fox catalogue, I think The X-Files is extremely likely to be the only new-to-BD title from them this year/next year.

PhantomStranger

The available retail space is shrinking for these expensive television sets. The Blu-ray sets acted as free advertising to a certain demographic but the studios now feel putting a television show on Amazon Prime and the like is a better way to build support for a show among the same demographic.

If an independent distributor was handling them, they still likely sell enough to be profitable.

DJariya

Sons of Anarchy is one of FX's most popular shows.

Season 6 is getting a BD release on August 26th.



http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Son...Season-6/19966

I can 100% guarantee you that season 7 is getting one too, especially since it's the final season. No need to even speculate on that one.

Mike86

I would guess that The Simpsons will continue to get Blu-ray releases for their seasons. They've been doing both Blu-ray and DVD editions from season thirteen to sixteen plus the release of the twentieth season. My guess is the seasons sell well enough on Blu-ray or they wouldn't continue them this long.

Futurama as was stated is already over. The new seasons and the direct to Blu-ray/DVD films are probably all we'll get in Blu-ray form. I doubt Fox will revisit the older seasons.

morriscroy

In addition.

In principle it also gives Fox the opportunity to eventually produce a complete series bluray set with special exclusive limited edition packaging (such as what Sony did for Breaking Bad with the barrel).

(If for no other reason, I suspect a secondary purpose of "complete series" sets, is another way of clearing out old inventory from the warehouse that has been collecting dust for several years).

morriscroy

On a similar line of thought, other long running bluray tv shows which are confirmed to be ending soon and might be viable as possible "complete series" sets (with or without special limited edition packaging).

- Mad Men (season 7) (Lionsgate)
- Justified (season 6) (Sony)
- Boardwalk Empire (season 5) (HBO)
- True Blood (season 7) (HBO)

(less certain)
- Cinemax's Strike Back (season 4) (Warner/HBO)
- The Newsroom (season 3) (HBO)
- remake of Being Human (season 4) (E-one)

morriscroy

Looking more closely at some Warner/HBO shows which have been confirmed to be ending soon, this may possibly also be happening.

Previous seasons of "Boardwalk Empire" (seasons 1 to 3) and "True Blood" (seasons 1 to 5) were all released previously as bluray/dvd/digital combo packs. But the next-to-final seasons of season 4 for "Boardwalk Empire" and season 6 of "True Blood", have only been (or will be) released as bluray + digital copy without any dvd copies.

Cinemax's Strike Back season 2 was released (on August 6, 2013) only as bluray + digital copy without any dvd copies, while season 1 was released as a bluray/dvd/digital combo pack. (Did Warner's home video division get wind that Strike Back was going to be cancelled, before the official cancellation announcement on October 28, 2013?)

With these observations, wonder if season 2 of "The Newsroom" will also be released as bluray + digital copy without any dvd copies. (Season 1 was released as a bluray/dvd/digital combo pack).


In practice, it probably wouldn't be too surprising if bluray/dvd/digital combo packs are not making much of a difference with first week/month buyers, once it is already known that a tv show is ending its run.

morriscroy

(Going on a tangent).

Over this year so far, there were many current (and potential) tv bluray season sets I have thought about purchasing, but in the end have passed (or will pass) on them. Not even at below $15-$20 each.

Stuff like:

Homeland - seasons 2 and 3
The Following - seasons 1 and 2
Under The Dome - season 1
Defiance - season 1
Helix - season 1
Agents of SHIELD - season 1
Revolution - seasons 1 and 2
Mad Men - seasons 5 and 6

The Americans - season 1
Continuum - seasons 1 and 2
Orphan Black - seasons 1 and 2
The Blacklist - season 1

With the exception of latter ^ four shows, I found the writing was rather lackluster in these shows. Especially "Under The Dome" and Defiance.

In the case of The Americans, as much as I liked watching the episodes in their original first-runs, I found that they didn't have much re-watch value for me. (Such as watching them again consecutively when they were ran as an all-day marathon on FX).

In the cases of The Blacklist, Orphan Black, and Continuum, I've seen just about every episode two or three (or four) times already. For these three shows, I've found they don't have much re-watch value anymore for me. (Such as watching Orphan Black or Continuum as consecutive episodes in some all-day marathons).

Over the rest of this year, the bluray tv season sets I plan on buying (or considering) are:

Nikita - season 4
Person of Interest - season 3

(considering)
Spartacus - complete series (if the packaging isn't complete shit)
Cinemax's Strike Back - seasons 2 and 3 (or maybe wait for a possible complete series set next year)

morriscroy

(Going offtopic and more elaboration on this).

When I first purchased a bluray player (back in late 2011), season 1 and the prequel of Spartacus were two titles I was looking forward to buying at the time. But after reading a lot of complaints on amazon about technical problems/defects for the season 1 blurays, I didn't end up buying them.

Since then, numerous additional complaints were piling up after 2011, about the season 1 blurays still being defective.

(I didn't really like seasons 2 and 3, and so I didn't really pay attention to the bluray sets of seasons 2 and 3). No point in buying only season 1, if it's the one with the most complaints about about technical problems/defects.


I'll be waiting for reviews after the upcoming Spartacus "complete series" set is released (on September 16, 2014), largely to see whether technical problems/defects still plague these bluray discs, and if the packaging is still in the crappy "digibook" style.

(I grew to really hate digibook style packaging, where it is difficult to take the discs out of the sleeves, with a high potential of the discs being scratched in the process. Other examples of this style of crappy "digibook" packaging are the Star Wars "complete saga" and Indiana Jones "complete adventures" bluray sets).


If technical problems/defects still plague these Spartacus bluray discs (from the upcoming "complete series" set), then I mind as well just buy the dvd versions (when they hit below $7 or $8), or watch it via streaming. No point anymore in wasting time and $$$ on defective bluray discs.

morriscroy

One glaring counterexample to this assertion, is the upcoming season 2 release of Revolution. Assuming Warner doesn't change the format at the last minute, it will be released as a bluray/dvd/digital combo pack next month (on August, 19 2014).

One semi-plausible explanation I can guess offhand for this final season of Revolution being released as a bluray/dvd/digital combo pack (and not as a bluray/digital set without a dvd copy), is that season 1 possibly sold well enough, but Warner is still not confident of the season 2 bluray selling on its own without a dvd copy. (In addition to Walmart/Target possibly only willing to carry it as a bluray/dvd/digital combo pack).


If I had to guess of other Warner bluray tv shows which might end up falling into this same pattern, it would be shows like "Person of Interest" and "The Big Bang Theory". Both are CBS network shows where the former is a procedural while the latter is a very popular sitcom, with a slight sci-fi or nerdy/geeky themes.

My Other Self

The official press release for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 9 was released today and it is DVD only. I think it's safe to say Fox is pretty much abandoning TV on BD.

morriscroy

It will be even more interesting to see if and when Warner also finally abandons tv on bluray.

Possible future discontinuation candidates to watch closely would be those tv shows released as bluray/dvd/digital combo packs, such as: The Big Bang Theory, Person of Interest, The Following, etc ...

At the present time, the only continuing shows on bluray which Warner has (so far) never went the bluray/dvd/digital combo pack route, are: Supernatural, Falling Skies, and Longmire. (I strongly suspect there is no point in doing bluray/dvd/digital combo packs for "Warner Archive" titles, such as Longmire seasons 1 + 2).


I suspect many of these Warner bluray/dvd/digital combo pack tv shows would probably have never been released on bluray, if the bluray/dvd/digital combo pack wasn't an option.

Supermallet

I think The Big Bang Theory will be one of the last shows to be dropped from BD. It's the most popular show on TV (or is that Two and a Half Men?).

hanshotfirst1138

It's kind of perversely ironic that now that home video has finally reached such a high standard, the market has difficulty supporting the format .

morriscroy

In the case of Warner/HBO, tv on bluray is possibly on "life support" with the bluray/dvd/digital combo packs.

From the other studios, it's been mostly slim pickings outside of some cable shows and sci-fi/fantasy.

Why So Blu?

There's a PR release (recent one) for Twilight Zone: The Complete 80's Series and that one is getting a DVD only release.

I also saw that Cinedigm took over a bunch of TV properties (from Mill Creek, maybe?) and those are also just DVD only versions. This is definitely not restricted to JUST FX.

Supermallet

I'm confused as to why people are saying that WB/HBO has TV on life support. They're releasing tons of shows on Blu-ray. Not sure why a combo pack is a sign of imminent demise.

morriscroy

Why do they have to resort to doing combo packs in the first place?

Adam Tyner

To be fair, that's from an era when even stuff that was shot on film was almost always edited on video. That'd require a heckuva lot of time and money to bring to Blu-ray...basically reconstructing everything from scratch. Very few series can justify that expense, and the '80s-era Twilight Zone isn't one of 'em. (That said, even if HD masters were somehow already available, I bet it still would've been a DVD-only set.)

I agree about the general point, though, not that anyone was really arguing otherwise. I haven't counted or anything, but it sure seems like more series than not are DVD-only, even when zero additional effort would be required. To name just a few examples from a bunch of different studios, Parks and Rec (Universal), The New Girl (Fox), Community (Sony), and Pretty Little Liars (Warner) are DVD only, despite being available in high-def in basically every other medium.

Looking at the July release schedule on TVShowsOnDVD, 34 season/collections/whatever are being released this month. Only 8 are coming to Blu-ray, and many (most?) of the other series did originally air in high definition.

morriscroy

In the case of Warner/HBO, I don't believe the demise of tv on bluray is imminent.

If and when Warner eventually gives up on tv on bluray, hopefully it will be after "Person of Interest" is over and all the seasons are released on bluray

("Person of Interest" is the only current tv on bluray show I still buy).

morriscroy

Disappointing, but not surprising at all.

A few years ago, I was hoping the revived Dallas would be released on bluray. But no dice.

PhantomStranger

As far as I know, Warner is still fully committed to television on Blu-ray. It's a much dicier proposition at the other studios. Don't expect much outside fantasy/sci-fi/premium cable series on BD in the future. Multi-disc Blu-ray sets were always a much larger financial commitment than DVD for the studios and sales are slipping when all these shows hit free streaming.