Soaps on DVD - possibility or never going to happen?

[daysgoby]

I was thinking (and hoping) that TPTB would consider releasing Santa Barbara on DVD. Does anyone know if this is ever likely to happen? What are the factors for and against this happening? What about other soaps - I realise that for those more than 10 years running the chances are slim to release the entire series but rather best of DVD sets?

[BoldBeauty]

I think the possibility is very slim. Unfortunately. I would want Santa Barbara on DVD cause I LOVE Santa Barbara, at least the first 2 years which were the only years I got to watch thanks to re-runs in Sweden.

It´s just too many episodes.

The only soap I could ever see going to DVD is Sunset Beach as the show only lasted 3 years. About 700 episodes. But I don´t see that show getting to DVD in full lenght.

However, a soap may choose to do a best-of DVD with some favorite moments. I hope that will come soon.

[Cashton]

I posted this a few months ago - and many of the comments said that the costs were too prohibitive. Music and actor royalties as well as everyone having to sign releases and such. I think someone COULD/SHOULD try it for some of the big s/l's and edit it very carefully. i'd pay money to see have the first couple Lauren/Sheila s/l's on DVD.

Hell, it seems downright stupid that one can purchase Season 8 of Walker: Texas Ranger, but we can't see some of soaps biggest storylines.

[daysgoby]

So how was ABC able to release Dark Shadows? At least with Santa Barbara it only ran 3 years longer than DS so it shouldn't be an impossbility to release the entire series.

[Cashton]

I have no idea - I do know that it was syndicated at one point cause SyFy had it. So it's possible. But then SyFy also had Passions at some point. I bet they'd release that pathetic show on DVD just to screw with us soap fans!

It also could have to do with unions and such - AFTRA does the soaps, but I don't know if DS was part of it. there's rules in the union about work being used again.

[y&r_fan]

It has already happened for B&B...

[RomeAt50]

If you ever get an opportunity to see the entire available run of a soap series it would be on the internet not on DVD. There are currently over a hundred episodes each of AW ATWT and GL on the Telenext soap channel on Youtube and I think Hulu has some soap episodes too. But I don't see that happening on DVD or Bluray unless they eventually invent a disc that can hold hundreds of episodes.As Cashtonpointed out there would be royalty issues so a lot of musical moments might have to be replaced or cut out.

[Soapsuds]

I wish we could get some classic ATWT on DVD. But to plug it...lol

Falcon Crest coming to DVD....YAY!!!!!

[DRW50]

I think that some of the DS actors said that their contracts didn't really give them anything for future airings. Everyone at the time believed they would never be seen again.

There was also no music on the show, aside from themes composed for the show. The one exception was a hilariously random bit where Carolyn Stoddard was listening to "Theme from A Man and a Woman" on the radio when the Frankenstein broke into Collinwood.

I do wish the soaps would release some of the older stuff.

[SFK]

See, I always wished they'd just appeal to the enthusiast and release some of the short-lived cancelled soaps, on either dvd or on Hulu-like sites. I loved that P&G aired all of Texas on its AOL channel, that was a real gift. But The City, Lovers and Friends, For Richer For Poorer, Generations, Capitol, all worthy... No one's asking for a 50 lb. box set of Guiding Light.

[alphanguy74]

For those who didn't see my reply last time...here's how it works. Soaps are FAR too large in content to be released on DVD, therefore a "best of" set is the only way to go. However, this would consist of entire episodes... and not "storylines" edited together. If you release entire episodes, then you must pay minimum residual, but you do NOT have to get any actors to sign off on it, as their original contracts are still in force for the episode as it stands. If you edit together more than one clip into a documentary or something similar, that is legally considered a NEW show, and releases must be re-signed. Like when soapnet re-aired AW, they did not have to get any actors to sign releases. As far as music goes, any show (Like Dark Shadows and Y&R) that had their own scores, music rights would never be an issue, because when a show commissions it's own score, it's what's considered a "Work for hire" agreement, and the show retains the rights to the score. Only when pop music is used that music rights become an issue.

[EricMontreal22]

ABC has had nothing to do with Dark Shadowns being syndicated, reran or released to DVD and video. Dan Curtis kept hold of the show from the get go and it's all been him and his production company--nothing one way or the other even slightly conncted with ABC.

[Jane1978]

You could easily put an entire soap season on a BluRay disk. BD disk has a capacity of 25 GB, or 50 GB for a double layer disk, and you need around 500MB space to store one episode in full SD quality using modern MPEG4 compression. So, to store the entire season (260 episodes) on BluRay you just need 3 double layer disks and there is still even space for some fancy menu as well.

But I agree there is no much reason to publish the episodes physicall way when they can be very easily put on online. The video services already exists, so all the producers/network have to do is digitalize the old episodes (if they didn´t do that already for archive purposes), recompress them into some web-friendlier resolution and upload them on the media storage. Only very few episodes is using some fancy copyrighted song on background and the producers have a database of every piece of music ever used, so it´s very easy for them to find these episodes and replace the song with some cheap casio version. Most of the DVD´s with less popular shows does that as well.

[daysgoby]

Well following on from what everyone has said then why don't they stream the shows for free and then have a paid subscription for those who wish to actually download the shows?

This way there are no costs for manufacturing of DVD's, as someone pointed out if the shows are run in their entirety there are no residual issues, fans can download the shows they want as many or as few as they wish. The shows for downloading could be watermarked to limit the episodes simply being uploaded to torrents etc.

If think that sounds feasible.

[Chris B]

Oh please. Cartoons, game shows and even some talk shows are being released on DVD. Why shouldn't soaps?!?! Dark Shadows is a daytime soap and was successful enough for the entire series to be released. Twice. Once on VHS and now on DVD. They also went through the expense of putting extensive extras on each boxed set. Now the show is being re-released in edited mini-series style condensed storylines. If a soap canceled for so many years can have that success, what makes anyone think a current soap couldn't????

Based on Dark Shadows, ABC should've released Port Charles when it went off the air. Even right now you can promote it via Julie Pinson, Kelly Monaco, Jon Lindstrom, Marie Wilson and some others who are in frontburner storylines on other soaps. In addition to their loyal fanbase you'll get lasped Port Charles fans, some GH fans and if you play up the Sci Fi angle you can get that audience as well. Like Shadows, it didn't last too long so it wouldn't be an overwhelming undertaking. Of course they'd release the arcs first and depending on the success could go back and release the early years.

For longer running shows they will pay someone to write and promote these books (which sell very well), so why wouldn't a DVD sell? At least fans KNOW they would enjoy a DVD as opposed to a book they'll forget in a month. Just like they promote those books air promos for them five days a week and you have success. For the current soaps I'd release B&B, Y&R, DAYS and GH first. Those are the most high profile soaps with the most to gain.

Canceled soaps like Santa Barbara, Ryan's Hope, etc. could be released in Best Of collections and if there is an audience, start releasing the entire series. If you feel it's too many episodes to release an entire series, pick a spot and start releasing there. Similar to how SOAPnet began Another World in 1987 despite having episodes from 1979 on.

Internet is easier and I'd love it, but the lack of DVDs make no sense. It's more money that they're losing out on and they need money right now. PGP owns their soaps so what do they have to lose? Sony owns Y&R/DAYS and has their own DVD company. What's the hold up?