Muppet Show Season 4 coming in 2013

[Whatnot1988]

To be honest, sometimes I will only buy DVDs just for the bonus features. It's mostly the bonus features I am looking forward to for season 4. But since Buena Vista is taking its time on this release, I just have to wait patiently.

 

[Duke Remington]

It's times like this that it would be nice if Gelfling Waldo of The Muppet Newsflash would pop around again and give us some answers.

He doesn't seem to be so active anymore and his Muppet Newsflash site is very rarely updated these days.


EDIT: Sometimes, I think another possible reason for the delay of Season 4 could be if they're trying to put certain bonus features on it. To this day, I've been predicting that "The Muppets Go to the Movies" might be a possible Season 4 bonus feature--and if that's the case, that would mean more copyrights (music, celebrities, occasional film clip usage, etc.) needing to be cleared.

Regardless, I can still see the main reason for this delay being the same reason why Seasons 2 and 3 took so long to come out--so much legal red tape!

And the fact that we're still in the middle of a major economic recession certainly doesn't help things either.

 

[Drtooth]

And the fact that we're still in the middle of a major economic recession certainly doesn't help things either.

But it doesn't stop companies from releasing new shows that weren't even hits. not even cult shows like Pushing Daisies. Unmitigated crap that barely lasts a season (again, Accidentally on Purpose). And of course weird out of left field 1970's British TV shows no one remembers (not even the Brits). The Muppet Show sets have always sold solidly. And there's no doubt we'll get it, but the long wait isn't making season 5's potential look any good. If they are holding out for Behind the scenes footage of the movie, it's a nice push for the film, but entirely unnecessary, and just their to make us wait longer. If they shoot a special teaser FOR the DVD release, that would be great, but we should still see it by the end of the year. A long gap in between sets does nothing but kill sales of both back releases and future ones.

 

[bazooka_beak]

Ahh... I'd been wondering why I hadn't seen it in stores yet and 2010 is almost over :/

 

[tlee1]

Season 4

It's been a while since I've logged on to this forum, so forgive my ignorance, but will there ever be a Muppet Show Season 4 released?

 

[David French]

It's been a while since I've logged on to this forum, so forgive my ignorance, but will there ever be a Muppet Show Season 4 released?

Yes. Eventually. For all we know the people behind the DVDs are plundering the US and UK archives for some material that can be cleared for inclusion for special features.

 

[Muppet Man]

Michael Jackson's Music Publishing Rights Catalog

I heard a rumor that the reason for the holdup is the death of Michael Jackson in June, 2009. Apparantly he owned the rights to some of the songs which were performed in season four. I do not know whether or not this is true. I'm just telling what I heard.

 

[Drtooth]

If it is, it's only proof that "estate" owners are greedy little grave robbers that don't care about the fans. If they do not clear up these rights this will either be chopped up upon release, or we'll have to wait forever to get it back.

Sigh... didn't they negotiate this prior to that? If this is indeed true, this is a violation of a prior contract. Again, if that is true.

But really... song music rights are the DUMBEST thing in the universe. if you use it once for a show, you should have the RIGHTS to that specific performance with a prenegotiated royalty amount.

Half of all songs aren't even owned by the original artists. And seeing how Michael's estate owns songs that were owned by him.... well, owners of something owning something that someone bought is just... UGH! Really, we're supposed to feel SORRY for these guys when someone downloads something?

 

[MelissaY1]

If it is, it's only proof that "estate" owners are greedy little grave robbers that don't care about the fans. If they do not clear up these rights this will either be chopped up upon release, or we'll have to wait forever to get it back.

Sigh... didn't they negotiate this prior to that? If this is indeed true, this is a violation of a prior contract. Again, if that is true.

But really... song music rights are the DUMBEST thing in the universe. if you use it once for a show, you should have the RIGHTS to that specific performance with a prenegotiated royalty amount.

Half of all songs aren't even owned by the original artists. And seeing how Michael's estate owns songs that were owned by him.... well, owners of something owning something that someone bought is just... UGH! Really, we're supposed to feel SORRY for these guys when someone downloads something?

Dr. Tooth, music licensing/catalog rights are not that simple. My sister worked in music publishing (the part of the business that owns the rights to sell songs for various uses) for almost 2 years, and not only is it a tangled mess of an industry, it also has to do with different uses of what these songs were originally intended for. Back when the Muppet Show bought the rights to use the songs on the show itself, there was no "crystal ball" that these song rights were going to be needed for use again for home video in the future. Television music licensing rights and home video licensing rights are two separate entities from what I've been told. That is why the Wonder Years still has never been (and probably won't be) officially released on DVD. Because of all the music ownership involved with the classic songs that were used on that show regularly.

Also, music rights are owned by several different people. The songwriters, the song publishers (which is what my sister worked for) the musicians in some cases, etc.So they change ownership hands very frequently and there's a lot of red tape before each change off. Why do you think the Beatles catalog being relased to Itunes took so long? Because Michael Jackson did own the rights to some of those songs at one time, two of the Beatles that have passed, their estates had to sign off on it, their record label, the two surviving Beatles, etc.

It's a long legal process that sometimes gets resolved and sometimes it doesn't.

 

[anytimepally]

My guess is they'll release Seasons 4 and 5 as part of the promotional lead up to the new movie.

Maybe something like S4 in May, S5 in Sept. Then, Muppets Tonight! around the time the movie's DVD comes out in 2012.

Anyway, I'm trying to stay optimistic.