Members Wendy Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 With the advent of ATWT and likely upcoming DVDs of other P&G soap properties, with the genre as a whole on life support, are these releases - in your opinion - enough to generate interest as a fail-safe approach in keeping daytime's legacy alive? Or do you think it is a litmus test, and one sadly set up for failure due to its niche nature? After all, companies don't release out of love no matter the claim but for hoped-for revenue. Is this all a test? As in, if P&G can turn a profit, perhaps other soaps may have a chance to be sold, too? By the way, if you (the collective you) are lucky enough to own a multi-region/region-free DVD player, you'll be interested to know the P&G soaps are not the only soap game on DVD in town. Amazon.de (the German Amazon site) sells The Bold and the Beautiful, Knots Landing, and the first twelve episodes of Sunset Beach, as well. Me, I know I'll forever be waiting in vain - due to the myriad issues it has - for the other SB to ever see the light of day on DVD. Sigh. For that, I would be first in line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sindacco Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 B&B's first 25 episodes were released on DVD here last month. And in February another DVD with weddings will be released. But I would rather have seen they continued with episodes 26-50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SFK Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 I'm unwilling to purchase anything I can watch on YouTube, and many of the classic episodes that would be included in a DVD release are most likely available online. There are entire chunks of s/l that I would like to watch, or watch all over again, and I think P&G was right on the money with their now defunct AOL channel. If they did that for AMC and OLTL from their earliest available, I would be on cloud nine. And I would pay to stream/download. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wendy Posted December 23, 2011 Author Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 SFK, in theory, I agree with you about already having things on YT but the thing is, the quality of some of that stuff is less than ideal. I realize beggars can't be choosers and it is kind of people to post at all - no question - but wouldn't it be worth it at all to buy if just for great quality? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 I will pay if the release also contains episodes I haven't seen. I mostly just want them to not take down the Youtube episodes, which I always worry they will with these new releases. For instance, the ATWT DVD release had 4 episodes I'd never seen before, one of which was a total surprise (the 1992 Christmas episode). That's not necessarily enough for the price, but since I wanted to help prove that these can make a profit, I went ahead and bought. Hopefully future releases will have more rare material, as there is a shitload of 1979-1986 that is not on Youtube, and a good amount of 1986-1989. Very little of 1990-1996. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SFK Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 Wendy, I see what you mean, but presently there aren't any special episodes already available online that I would "need" to see in better quality. I'm more interested in the work that someone like VickRobCal or HamiltonBernique does, like an anthology set. OTOH, I have some episodes of Another World from the seventies that are poor quality/Kinescope, and I would gladly pay to see originals if they magically appeared. If AMC and OLTL released Best of the Seventies & Eighties dvd sets for instance, I would buy them in a heartbeat just on general principle, even if there was some overlap of stuff online... and hopefully there wouldn't be too much. The thing is, I am not big on clutter and accumulating a bunch of dvds anyway so I'm really in love with the idea of streaming all of the episodes in the vaults. The fact that Texas got shown in its entirety online is pretty amazing, I think. There's no reason why we couldn't get that for The City, along with AMC and OLTL as they started with AW, SFT, and EON, say, starting at three different intervals streaming in tandem: the earliest available, the late eighties, the new millenium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 I like the idea of streaming. I think that right now there are still so many people who don't watch on the computer, or who can't, because of Internet issues, and hopefully moderately priced DVD releases will start on that path. There are some GL Christmas episodes from the early 80's that I watch, and even put on a DVD for myself, but they're such bad quality that I can't show them to some of my older relatives, who might enjoy them. I'd love to see clear copies of these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ~bl~ Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 I think it is a passing fad just because who knows how long DVDs will still be made due to the technology changes like television series being available for purchase on VHS. While I appreciate that a lot of episodes are available online for free, I like to own physical copies of things, because youtube channels come and go. Also for some shows, it is easier to find edits than full episodes, so you may have to go more than one place to be able to follow a story. I like edits, but sometimes you run the risk of only being to find couple scenes and nothing else. I have VHS tapes I got from others like that of GL, I have one with one story and one with another that was going on at the same time. It would be easier if I just had the full episodes, then trying to piece together which parts match. As someone who has watched every soap at one time or another, a lot of money could be made on me. Part of it is that while there are some things I like more than others, a DVD set at least gives me the opportunity to see things I may have not sought out myself. Also for movies and other television shows, the special features are a major component of why I buy. Commentary tracks, the ability to watch things back (and fast forward what I don't want to watch or pause it) are main draws. If soap releases gave new content or less available content like interviews about the material, I can see people being more willing to buy them if they had seen the episodes online for free. For me DVDs are a good way to gauge interest. If no one buys the P&G ATWT set, the chance they would stream any of that show or others may be lower. (For the record, I couldn't tell you the last time I watched ATWT on youtube, if I watch things on youtube that are soap related it tends to be interviews and such and not show clips or full episodes.) Due to what Netflix did with the price changes, I was wondering how many people in the US (as we have numbers for that) use that service? I'm just asking because as streaming is a forward leaning thing, how many people pay to regularly view content. Some companies putting caps on Internet usage could hurt any pay for programming streaming service. I don't have a regular fast connection, but eventually I will bite the bullet. If the Nixon soaps had been continuing online, I would have so I am postponing it until there is something that I "need" to watch. I would have liked to see the P&G soaps that were available via AOLTV, but I couldn't justify the cost when they ran. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alphanguy74 Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 I just want everything to be available in some form, I don't care what it is. Since the production and everything on these shows has already been paid for, i'm sure the cost to release, either on DVD or streaming, is minimal. If it's full episodes, that is. If you do compilations, you have a whole other ketle of fish to deal with for licensing issues... but if they are full episodes in original form, those releases have already been signed years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EricMontreal22 Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 The way I see it is they have nothing to lose. I know niche DVD releases like this don't have much of a life for those releasing them, but to hold on to the properties with no release feels like money wasting away. Then again if the networks cared they would have milked the finales for all they were worth (trailers after AMC its last month saying "Own your own favorite AMC memories on DVD at this number" etc) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alphanguy74 Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 Exactly. Money wasting away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P.J. Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 I think it'll be a limited kind of thing. I think fans of more recently cancelled shows will have a better chance to get some kind of dvds. I'm almost postive if ABC can figure out a way to make a buck, they will. Iconic shows that already got some limited reruns (like Ryan's Hope/Another World/Dark Shadows) may benefit. Older shows like Capitol, Love of Life, The Doctors and Edge of Night I would think would need to see a sustained interest before (or if ever) they'd become available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 Dark Shadows is already fully on DVD. A show like The Doctors, which is supposedly fully available - I'd love to see that on DVD, just a special edition to see if there's interest. I doubt it would move big sales to have someone like Alec Baldwin or Kathleen Turner interviewed, but you never know. It would be nice to see Liz Hubbard interviewed too. They might even be able to market it that way in the Netherlands, since ATWT is popular there. The caps are a big reason why I'm not sure if streaming would be a success. I guess it depends on the promotion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P.J. Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 Dark Shadows? Really? I had no idea. Who even owns Capitol? I wonder how much of Y&R is available. If Bell had a brain in his head, he'd start doing that all in house..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted December 23, 2011 Members Share Posted December 23, 2011 Supposedly all of DAYS and Y&R are fully available. I thought CBS owned Capitol outright but I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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