Warner Home Video now distributing Sesame Workshop DVDs

[minor muppetz]

OH I am so fuming with rage, as this is the same company that has done barely little with the "Hanna-Barbera characters" besides Distrubtion their old Shows

You know, while Warner does own the rights to the characters from those properties, Warner doesn't own the Sesame Street characters or program, only video distribution and the rights to make Sesame Street video games.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm gonna side with mbmfrog on this one. I might be over-reacting, but I know what Warners does with their DVD's, and how annoying and frustrating their practices are. Sure, every company floods the market with DVD's of shows that are still on the air, and haven't even finished their season before their season sets are announced, then whine about how no ones buying them, leading the cuts to go to classic programming... but I still think WB takes it one step further. They have yet to complete a series on DVD (with the exception of What's new Scooby Doo? Even the classic show releases are unfinished), and they really are under the impression that it's 2001 and people are still willing to buy single disks at wallet UNFriendly prices. I'm still holding out, like an idiot for the announcement of Tiny Toons season 2 and Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries season 2... all while grimacing at each and every single disk Smurfs collection.

What really bugs me are those new "Looney Tunes Starring" DVD's with one single disk. I'm sorry... I know that the Golden collection had a pricetag that made it a vanity buy, but they can certainly do a LOT better for collectors than single disks this late in the game. Economy nothing, they just want to create things on the cheap and then complain how poorly they sell.

I'm sure they'll have something good planned later, but if this is their idea of making fans happy, one lousy skit, then I really want them to consider another company. It's a shame Genius is gone... their stuff WAS Genius.

 

[minor muppetz]

Sure, every company floods the market with DVD's of shows that are still on the air, and haven't even finished their season before their season sets are announced, then whine about how no ones buying them, leading the cuts to go to classic programming... but I still think WB takes it one step further. They have yet to complete a series on DVD (with the exception of What's new Scooby Doo? Even the classic show releases are unfinished), and they really are under the impression that it's 2001 and people are still willing to buy single disks at wallet UNFriendly prices. I'm still holding out, like an idiot for the announcement of Tiny Toons season 2 and Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries season 2... all while grimacing at each and every single disk Smurfs collection.

I wonder how much of the first season of Tiny Toons has been released on the two sets... I think Tiny Toons is one of the few animation properties that WB has released in a set of more than two discs.

The majority of Warner Home Video releases I have on DVD are the Looney Tunes Golden Collections and Peanuts decade sets. While I do enjoy Popeye and many MGM and Hanna-Barberra cartoons, I don't enjoy them enough to buy the DVD releases that Warner has put out (and I'm just one person... The lesser DVDs of those properties isn't my fault... right?). I have been tempted to buy the decade saturday morning boxed sets, but haven't... Is it too much to buy them just for episodes of The Bugs Bunny Show, The Road Runner Show, The Porky Pig Show, and so on? I do plan on buying the Looney Tunes Super Star sets... The announced price has changed a bit since the initial announcements, but if there are four a year, I wonder if buying them all will add up to the price of the Golden Collections.

With the Sesame Street releases, my spending decision will be the same as it had been with Sony Wonder and Genius... I'll buy the ones I'm really interested in (mainly ones with classic clips), and hope that my local library has the ones I don't plan on buying. The spring release does interest me, not just because of the Cookie Bunny clip, but I saw and liked two of the street stories included.

I don't want to let this thread go off-topic, but it seems like there have been changes regarding Warner Bros.' DVD releases of cartoons. The Looney Tunes Golden Collection always had four discs, and was cancled because sales of the last few weren't good enough. But before the last release, Warner seems to have limited it's multi-disc releases to two... Popeye went from being a four-disc collection to a two-disc collection (and there weren't any releases last year... I haven't heard of any releases for this year, either). Many Hanna-Barberra series boxed sets became half a season/series release.

I'm pretty sure that we'll get a mix of Sesame Street DVDs with and without bonus sketches, hopefully some two-disc sets intended for adult collectors/nostalgic fans, and maybe even some regular releases with classic clips in the main programs.

 

[minor muppetz]

I've been thinking more about this upcoming springtime release... I'm not bothered by it having just one bonus classic clip... The Cookie Bunny sketch is one of my favorites, and I hoped it would have been on the Old School or anniversary sets... I know I can see it for free at sesamestreet.org, but I like to have physical copies of old sketches as well (just in case). But then again, I've read that next season will focus on bath time... I won't be surprised if there's a bath-related DVD release... but let's say theoretically that there's a bathtime DVD containing three of next season's street stories, and it includes a bonus skit or more... Now, I don't think there are many classic segments relating to springtime, but considering all of the classic bath time sketches over the years, I'd be disapointed if only one were included as a bonus feature, unless it was something truly holy grail-like, like the true original first season version of Rubber Duckie... But there are plenty of great bathtime inserts that haven't been released commercially... Brad's bath, Professor Grover's bathtime tips, I've Gotta Be Clean, Sing in the Shower (the original with Olivia would potentially be a good way to honor Alania Reed Hall), Ernie planning his bath, Ernie trying to remember what he forgot to do, Forgetful Jones planning Buster's bath.... So many that can be included....

Man, I hope that the people in charge at Sesame Workshop and Warner Home Video are reading this.

 

[minor muppetz]

I found out that on April 5, there's going to be a chat with people from Warner Home Video. Details here: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Site-News-2010-HTF-WHV-Chat/13319

I wonder if one of us could participate and ask about whether there are plans for any Sesame Street DVDs aimed at adults and nostalgic fans.

 

[minor muppetz]

Well, I bought the Elmo's Rainbow DVD, which is the second Sesame Street DVD by Warner (third if you count Follow That Bird... And higher if you count all the rereleases from Genius and other past video companies). I must say, it's hardly different from the average single-disc Sesame release from Genius or Sony Wonder. It still inclues that international "Sesame Street" promo seen on all home releases since 2004, and still includes a "preview other Sesame Street DVDs" feature. The only real difference from the average Sesame DVD of the past is that there's also a forced promo for a Sesame Street DVD, but it's just one. At least there aren't previews for unrelated DVDs from Warner Home Video.

 

[minor muppetz]

Well, I bought the Elmo's Rainbow DVD, which is the second Sesame Street DVD by Warner (third if you count Follow That Bird... And higher if you count all the rereleases from Genius and other past video companies). I must say, it's hardly different from the average single-disc Sesame release from Genius or Sony Wonder. It still inclues that international "Sesame Street" promo seen on all home releases since 2004, and still includes a "preview other Sesame Street DVDs" feature. The only real difference from the average Sesame DVD of the past is that there's also a forced promo for a Sesame Street DVD, but it's just one. At least there aren't previews for unrelated DVDs from Warner Home Video.

When writing that I wanted to point out that there were no known upcoming Sesame Street releases, and wanted to ask when the last time was when there were no known upcoming releases (besides 1984, of course). But I just read at Muppet Wiki that there's going to be a Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures DVD, featuring 11 segments (more than I would have included... Beleive it or not I would have put in just 6 or 7). I also read that there's already been a Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures compilation released in the UK. But still, we'll finally get a non-Elmo's World DVD compiling a recurring sketch series.

Oh, and like with the first Elmo's World video, this one is just titled "Bert And Ernie's Great Adventures". And it comes out in April.

 

[Drtooth]

I think I might just pick that one up, though I REALLY want to see them release ones that haven't previously been seen on the show. Plus, I don't see why they couldn't release 13 segments, since then they'd only need to release 2 volumes of 13 segments each to release the entire run.

Plus, there seems to be NO bonus features of any kind. I'm really not liking the lack of bonus features on this and the last release (that threw one lousy classic segment at us and said "Happy now?")

 

[minor muppetz]

Plus, I don't see why they couldn't release 13 segments, since then they'd only need to release 2 volumes of 13 segments each to release the entire run.

Do we know that there won't be any more segments? There could be a third "season". Of course I think there are still many that haven't been shown on Sesame Street yet.

 

[minor muppetz]

I am a bit mixed about whether I'll get the Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures DVD. I feel tempted, but then again, I don't watch the B&EGA clips that are at sesamestreet.org very often, and usually when I do I usually switch to another video clip before it's over. And I also rarely watch the segment that's included on the 40th anniversary DVD. But then again, it would be interesting to see if the opening is included in every episode or just the first one on the DVD, and also if the closing sequence is featured with every sketch. I guess the opening would be more likely to be featured only once, and there'll probably be closing credits. It will also be interesting to see if Bert's "This is kinda kicky" line will be intact (it is on some of the clips at sesamestreet.org, as well as on the 40th anniversary DVD). Of course if the opening is only featured once then I would expect the "kinda catchy" line to be used instead.

Man, there sure are a bunch of exciting Henson DVDs planned for this year. This, the Dog City and Song of the Couldforrest DVDs, and most likely The Muppet Show: Season Four.