Is there a reason why Disney dislikes releasing Muppet DVD's?

[jvcarroll]

Except that TMS Seasons 1-3 WERE best-sellers.

They just need to finish clearing all the gosh darned music and celebrity rights before they can release the remaining seasons.

I'm not so certain seasons two and three were best sellers - at least in terms of profit. They definitely made a profit, but season sets tend to taper off with each additional season. I'm not saying that these won't do well or that they shouldn't be on home video - THEY SHOULD ALREADY HAVE BEEN RELEASED. I'm just noting that such decisions are usually made by risk vs benefit bean-counters.

Personally, I wouldn't care if they just released the whole show in one boxed set and made us purchase it in its entirety. In fact, that might be the best way to go. But home video releases are becoming scarce in this day and age - at least the discs. Everything else is negotiated for streaming. But I want my hard copies on DVD or Blu-ray.

One thing to note is that the third and final set of The Tick animated program never saw release. That's one of those weird things. I don't know why they'd do that.

 

[Drtooth]

Please drop that attitude and conclusion-jumping. It's not healthy.

What the heck are you talking about?

Disney doesn't like DVD sets of anything. Their Disney Afternoon ones were oh well, at least it's something type releases that they didn't even finish. And Ducktales only had one set to go. Supposedly they are releasing the rest of Talespin somehow, but other than that, there's no DVD box sets of anything. It's not just a Muppet problem, and I wanted to point that out.

Also, I'd like to point out no Disney specials to my knowledge from the 1980's were released on DVD as well.

I'm not so certain seasons two and three were best sellers - at least in terms of profit. They definitely made a profit, but season sets tend to taper off with each additional season. I'm not saying that these won't do well or that they shouldn't be on home video - THEY SHOULD ALREADY HAVE BEEN RELEASED. I'm just noting that such decisions are usually made by risk vs benefit bean-counters.

Personally, I wouldn't care if they just released the whole show in one boxed set and made us purchase it in its entirety. In fact, that might be the best way to go. But home video releases are becoming scarce in this day and age - at least the discs. Everything else is negotiated for streaming. But I want my hard copies on DVD or Blu-ray.

Seems the only thing getting released these days, besides current TV shows are old crappy cowboy shows that nobody under the age of 70 has heard of or remembers. Streaming is the new thing, but it's a pain in the neck for those who want to collect hard copies. Far as I can tell, digital streaming doesn't come with free keychains or reproduction cels or anything like that. That said, there isn't even an effort to stream TMS at all either. If it's indeed a music clearance problem, nothing can be done. If it's not caring about non-movie based media released on DVD, that's all them.

 

[Duke Remington]

What the heck are you talking about?

Disney doesn't like DVD sets of anything. Their Disney Afternoon ones were oh well, at least it's something type releases that they didn't even finish. And Ducktales only had one set to go. Supposedly they are releasing the rest of Talespin somehow, but other than that, there's no DVD box sets of anything. It's not just a Muppet problem, and I wanted to point that out.

Also, I'd like to point out no Disney specials to my knowledge from the 1980's were released on DVD as well.


Seems the only thing getting released these days, besides current TV shows are old crappy cowboy shows that nobody under the age of 70 has heard of or remembers. Streaming is the new thing, but it's a pain in the neck for those who want to collect hard copies. Far as I can tell, digital streaming doesn't come with free keychains or reproduction cels or anything like that. That said, there isn't even an effort to stream TMS at all either. If it's indeed a music clearance problem, nothing can be done. If it's not caring about non-movie based media released on DVD, that's all them.

Just because they don't release them does not mean they hate them. Stop the un-healthy conclusion-jumping already.

 

[Nailwraps]

Duke is right about music and celebrity rights.

Disney is a caring a company than a lot of people realize. Lylle Breier said on MuppetCast years ago Disney is clearing the rights for the remaining seasons and it's not easy (don't know how it was easy for 2 and 3 though). This year marks the 60th anniversary so odds are this year maybe the year... maybe more. Who knows if they're clearing rights for anything else...

 

[dwayne1115]

Duke is right about music and celebrity rights.

Disney is a caring a company than a lot of people realize. Lylle Breier said on MuppetCast years ago Disney is clearing the rights for the remaining seasons and it's not easy (don't know how it was easy for 2 and 3 though). This year marks the 60th anniversary so odds are this year maybe the year... maybe more. Who knows if they're clearing rights for anything else...

Well that is the thing we don't know what they are planning with Muppet merchandise at all. In fact the only thing we know that is going on with the Muppets is that they will have inserts on Disney Jr. I'm not saying I want Disney to come out and share every single thing they are planning with the Muppets in the next 5 years,but just that they are still working on getting the Muppet Show out there to us fans.

 

[jvcarroll]

The Muppet facebook page and some of the character pages were given new imagery to reflect the Muppets brand. Nothing new or big. It's basically just character stills from the 2011 movie rather than MMW. That seems to now have its own separate page. I don't know how they did that, but that's how it is.

One one hand it makes me feel that Disney is tending to the Muppets. On the other hand, it seems like they might be trying to steer the brand back to the 2011 depiction rather than the superior MMW humor that has its roots in the more classic Muppet tradition. Maybe the MMW cycle is merely over. Who knows?

So they're doing something. Disney's definitely showing some love. Yay that. Maybe that will translate in the release of the remaining Muppet Show episodes.

 

[WalterLinz]

The Muppet facebook page and some of the character pages were given new imagery to reflect the Muppets brand. Nothing new or big. It's basically just character stills from the 2011 movie rather than MMW. That seems to now have its own separate page. I don't know how they did that, but that's how it is.

Aww I just saw those!! They are beautiful. They updated their Twitter too.

 

[muppetlover123]

Awesome!! Hopefully good things are in store

 

[Drtooth]

Just because they don't release them does not mean they hate them. Stop the un-healthy conclusion-jumping already.

You really need to bother reading the whole thing. The only unhealthy attitude around here is yours. End of discussion.

Now, point made in bold Disney isn't in the market of putting anything in a box collectors' set, it isn't some anti-Muppet conspiracy. Toy Story is one of their cash cow franchise, no Buzz Lightyear of Star Command set. They aren't exactly beating down the door to release Droids or Ewoks either, and they intend to get back every penny with friends for the purchase of Star Wars from Lucas. This isn't an unhealthy attitude, but rather a market realization. With the advent of streaming, no doubt many companies are backtracking from DVD season by season releases unless the thing is incredibly popular. Sometimes not even then. Not to mention the fact is that when the market was flooded with DVD box sets of series that no one wanted, asked for, or even remembered. The bottom line is Disney makes more money off of Movie releases than it would off of full sets of programming, so naturally there would be a bias. Not to mention the revelation years back that they refused to sell the 90's Spider-Man on DVD because they felt it would hurt the ratings for their rebroadcasts (remember, this is before they owned Marvel, but after they had the rights to Saban programming). Then they just never released it for no apparent reason, even though Spidey prints his own money, especially when a movie is released.

So they're doing something. Disney's definitely showing some love. Yay that. Maybe that will translate in the release of the remaining Muppet Show episodes.

Which We can all hope is what's going on. Disney actually put care and time into The Muppet Show DVD's (more than I can say for any of their other "oh well, at least it's something" releases). Anyone remember the long list of special features they couldn't get the rights to for season 3? And they worked really hard securing those music rights for the 2nd and 3rd seasons. They didn't even bother trying to get the original masters for The Tick, and went for the Comedy Central edits. That says something.

 

[Nailwraps]

I haven't heard about The Tick animated series (and I never heard of it airing on Comedy Central).

Look like I said, it's been 5 years, this year marks the Muppets 60th anniversary, it's a very safe bet we're going to be getting Season 4. You think all this time, Disney is going to miss this chance?

Which more, time to time, ask Disney about the status and if it is music and celebrity rights, we'll understand if they need more time.