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A few years ago it wasn't practical to release most shows in a format for the home, because VHSing an entire season of a TV show was expensive and took up a lot of space. But now that it's affordable and practical to release seasons of Smallville and the Sopranos on DVD, networks should wonder if anyone would really buy a DVD of Temptation Island. I know several people, on the other hand, who'd be willing to buy a Wonderfalls DVD.
Actually, I think this would contribute to the swifter cancellation of non-reality shows because now you two completely seperate avenues of revenue.
a) Reality Shows That Cost Little To Produce And Generate Enormous Amounts Of Advertiser Revenue
b) Quality Shows That Air For A Few Days And Generate Enormous Amounts Of Pure Profit (Assuming The Network Produced The Show [Which Is Not Always True. To Wit: Buffy & Angel]) On DVD.
For example. I just picked up the Freaks & Geeks DVD set today and it joins the growing ranks of a library made up of a wildly increasing amount of DVD Television Box Sets.
By and large, most shows would not support any kind of release on DVD and, ironically, the ones that do best are often among the least popular, ratings-wise. This, however, in the long run, will probably be better for quality television in the long-run. I guarantee three years ago, Fox would not have ordered 13 episodes of Wonderfalls. They were keenly aware that most of the money made off that show would be on DVD. I can't vouch for its quality, but I'm sure that's why ABC is being so cavelier with its scheduling of Kingdom Hospital. They can afford to be. The show is going to make an outrageous amount of money on DVD. Then again, if ABC/Disney isn't actually producing the show, it might be a simply act of malignance since they won't be seeing any of the sweet sweet cash when the show hits DVD. Fox did this with Futurama, since Matt Groening owned the show and Fox simply distributed it.
Networks, or, at least Television Producers, have a new and robust source of revenue which I believe will allow them to take more chances on riskier shows, knowing that a cancellation won't hurt, and in most cases will undoubtedly help, DVD sales in the long run.
I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot more 13 Chapter series, connected more in the vein of an HBO show like Deadwood or Carnivale, being greenlit by networks, completely unafraid of cancelling it at the drop of a ratings point and releasing it on DVD later on. I've also heard that the first DVD set for Arrested Development is being prepped for release before the Second Season airs. This is truly brilliant and could result not only in huge sales profits, as everyone will have heard of it and will be buying it sight unseen, but it couls also prolong the shelf-life of the show on air, an industry first.
So, let the networks have their reality shows. If it didn't sell, it wouldn't exist. Thanks to DVD, though, I think TV is getting riskier than ever, even if we don't get to see all of it on network. Wouldn't you rather see it all together in a Boxset anyway?
Sounds a lot like the Comics' Trade/Issue debate, although I'm on the complete opposite end of the spectrum in that arena. |
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