Tuesday, April 14, 2009

When does 1 + 1 = 1?

Welcome to my blog!

OK, the title to this entry isn't from some weird math course that you took in college and never used again. It has to do with DVD releases - specifically, single TV seasons that are split into 2 Volumes. Thus 1 (volume) + 1 (volume) = 1 TV season!

Is there anything more annoying than having a company take a TV series and split it into 2 volumes for each season release? So far, the only company I am aware of doing this consistently is CBS/Paramount. They have done it with The Mod Squad, The Untouchables, The Fugitive and Dynasty, to name just a few off the top of my head.

It's not so much that they split one season into two volumes, it's the fact that they charge about the same price as a full season set for each volume! So Dynasty at $25.99/volume is equal to $52/season! That's outrageous! It's not like this is for a current series like Lost or even a Blu-Ray release!

Another insult is that your TV series can suddenly be stopped if "sales slip". OK, I know that any TV series (from any distributor) can suddenly be stopped without all the seasons being released, but it's so much more of an outrage when you've faithfully been paying volume by volume for a series and its release is suddenly stopped mid-series. I mean, you're paying double for each season -- isn't that enough to keep the series being released to the end??

While I haven't purchased The Fugitive (or the Untouchables), it looks like these series may not see a full release. It's been 9 months between The Fugitive's Season Two Volume 1 (June, 2008) and Volume 2 (March, 2009) releases. That's outrageous, too!

Come on CBS/Paramount - STOP THE INSANITY! Please release TV series season-by-season (like you do for Mission: Impossible!). If you must release a TV series volume-by-volume, then please keep the price LOW - like no more than $19.99/volume! Please!

Whew. Sorry for the rant, but I needed to get that off my chest!

Are you buying a TV series "by the volume"? Perhaps refuse to buy a series by the volume? Rant all you want in the comment section below! Maybe if enough of us rant and rave (here and elsewhere), CBS/Paramount may listen to us - the customer!


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