Muppet Show Season 4 coming in 2013

[muppetsforlife]

me too!

 

[ploobis]

I'm just hoping that this will be the year The Muppet Show season 4 will be released on DVD! Especially with this being the year of the new Muppet movie.

 

[Reevz1977]

I'm gonna hazard a guess and say that season 4 will not be out in 2010...thats just a hunch

 

[Drtooth]

I think it's high time to either close or lock or delete this thread or something until we have any actual news about the season's release. Pining over it and complaining about it is not going to make it come any faster, and any new posts would suggest someone has any actual info... but instead we get pages of "why isn't it out yet" questions.


That said, the least Disney could do is actually give a press release saying why it's been delayed. Other companies do it all the time on TVshowsondvd.

 

[eday2010]

Ddisney is planning to relaunch the Muppets this year, so perhaps they are waiting for that to release Season 4; get some hype going for hte Muppets first.

 

[Quesal]

It's 2011 and The Muppet Show has not done a darn thing!

 

[frogboy4]

I think this is the calm before the Muppet movie storm this fall. As much as I'd like to see the remaining Muppet Show DVDs out right now, we might have to wait until 2012. Disney seems to have a long-term strategy with the Muppets so maybe it's best they refrain from releasing any media until the movie launches. Then next year they'll release the DVD of the new film along with subsequent Muppet Show DVD releases that are advertised on the movie's DVD previews. Just a thought. To me - the sooner the better. I'll take this stuff whenever they decide to put it on the market.

 

[j3h]

it would not surprise me to see season 4 get released a few weeks before the new film hits theaters, and then tie season 5 with the new film's dvd/Bluray release. At that point we might also see the older Muppet films get Bluray releases too.

 

[Drtooth]

I think this is the calm before the Muppet movie storm this fall. As much as I'd like to see the remaining Muppet Show DVDs out right now, we might have to wait until 2012. Disney seems to have a long-term strategy with the Muppets so maybe it's best they refrain from releasing any media until the movie launches. Then next year they'll release the DVD of the new film along with subsequent Muppet Show DVD releases that are advertised on the movie's DVD previews. Just a thought. To me - the sooner the better. I'll take this stuff whenever they decide to put it on the market.

Let's say what I forget who, but someone said earlier in this thread said there might be a rights issue they have to renegotiate.

Now, we can't be sure this is true, but it seems like a possibility. Seeing as how season 4 was announced 2 years ago to come the following year, movie or no movie, that sounds like welshing on a promise. I don't see why season 4 couldn't have been released that year, with season 5 due in time for the movie, and a complete series collection and further releases of other media when the DVD comes out. So it is very likely that music rights renegotiation with Michael Jackson's estate seems to be the actual problem. I'd hate for them to have to release this near the movie without solving that problem and having large gaps in the program like season 1 did.

And as I said, even if they DID want to hold this over 2 more years for the movie, it's not like they have a shortage of Muppet past projects to release. TV specials, rereleases of movies with special features about a movie that's about to come out, with a special movie ticket coupon (If we can get 8 releases of Big Momma's House in a year, we can certainly get the Muppet Movies rereleased with more bonuses). Not to mention the potential for single disk "Best of" Muppet Show compilations, similar to the Time Life/Sony ones.

Again, I think we should close this thread unless we get actual news. This is all circulatory at this point, and asking "Why?" to questions we don't have answers to.

 

[Whatnot1988]

I have my own theory for the delays:

What I know so far:

1. LucasFilm probably DID grant Buena Vista the rights for the Mark Hamill episode, since they allowed C3PO and R2D2's Sesame appearance to appear on the Sesame Street 40th Anniversary compillation.

2. I cannot recall if there are any Sesame guest appearances in S4, but I am sure they are no big deal since CTW allowed Ernie, Bert and Big Bird to appear on the S1 and S3 boxsets, respectively.

My Theory:

With Blu-Ray surpassing DVD, they'd probably want to release S4 on DVD and Blu-Ray simultaneously. However, to take advantage of Blu-Ray's higher-resolution image capabilities, they needed new high(er)-resolution transfers from the old masters (which would later be downsized for DVD). They would have also prepared the first three seasons for Blu-Ray re-issues, and also make a second attempt to secure the song rights for the missing bits from S1, and add new bonus features to all 3. This explains the longer delay because of all the extra work involved.