ALF's Hit Talk Show Debuts

[Buck-Beaver]

There wasn't supposed to be a second episode (yet). It was just a pilot.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Well, I hope to get it on video tape soon; so far it's saved on a friends TeVo, or whatver that thing is called.

 

[Luke]

Fantastic news. The pilot was a success so it has now been picked up for a season beginning in October!!!!

"Alf's Hit Talk Show" (Premieres October TBD) Television's most popular alien has landed back on earth and is making his triumphant return to primetime as the host of his own talk show. Each 30-minute installment features signature Alf observations on pop culture, current events and interviews with celebrity guests. The show is executive produced for TV Land by Paul Fusco ("Alf") and Burt Dubrow ("The Tom Green Show," "Sally Jessy Raphael").

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040723/nyf025_1.html

 

[Iokitek]

Congrats to ALF! I'm curious already.

 

[Iokitek]

Bah! I just found out the ALF DVD does not contain the original episodes. They decided to cut them up for whatever reason. And the extra's are of a lousy quality apparently. I guess I won't be buying it then but instead I'll be downloading the old syndicated versions. They are burning their own bridges as far as I'm concerned.

Actually I kind of enjoy have all my media on harddisks instead of DVD. It's more durable and it doesn't take up so much space either. besides DVD's are way too expensive. I have a huge wishlist and no money to buy it all.

 

[Luke]

I have heard the quality of the extras is absolutely fine - there are original interactive menus from ALF which have been called the best ever on DVD by some reviewers, the pilot episode and gag reels are apparently of the same quality that any kind of dated extras are on DVD sets. There are some minor cuts - these ARE the syndication prints though and (i think) all the cuts did appear in the syndicated airings. All the episodes themselves are newly remastered and perfect. I agree it would have been preferential to have the original recordings though.

I don't think it is 'ok' to download them just because there are a few minor cuts, at about a dollar an episode these are certainly not expensive by any means. People downloading means less sales and little chance of further releases.

 

[Iokitek]

We've heard different stories then about the extra's. Well anyway, I agree with you that a dollar an episode isn't that much if you look at it as just a dollar. But it is alot to me if you concider that I would like to watch everything out there if I could. Even for one dollar an episode that would become a huge amount of money. Not to mention the DVD sets that are much more expensive than that. I'd just have to accept then that I can't buy those DVD's then while we all still pay the TV companies to produce and air these shows. But to me this is unacceptable. Once they are aired in my opinion they become public property. You can't stop that anyway and trying to do so would be foolish. This has also been the case with cassette tapes and everyone always felt that was normal. It's just that the sudden posibilities the internet provides in this aspect attracts more attention. maybe it's just time we accepted this and try to see what we can do with it then to atleast ensure that people get paid. Wich I don't think is and would be a problem anyway.

I see that there are people out there who are just plain and simple trying to make way too much money off their products then they have the right to. I concider this usury. Unfair business. To take a show such as ALF as an example. The show is already decades old. I believe they already made alot of money off it and are now just trying to get more. Now don't get me wrong. I don't mind paying for things ofcourse but why should I pay for something wich I theoretically already payed for? The TV channels over here don't give me much choice in what to watch so the result is already that I just start downloading stuff from the internet because that's the kind of stuff I want to watch. These companies could provide me with the same service if they wanted to for a reasonable amount of money each month or so. But they refuse to because it doesn't make as much money as the whole DVD scam. And everything fun that's aired here is dubbed in the Dutch language wich is horrible to watch and listen to. If you thought the English SpongeBob sounded annoying you should hear the Dutch version. You'd be begging for the English version again.

Then there is the matter of these companies searching the entire planet for series wich they have the rights to but they never bothered to secure the mastertapes. They gather their episodes etc. from people who share these things and try to preserve episodes in the best quality available. And finally when they have them complete they publish a DVD and start complaining to the people they actually got their episodes from. While they didn't seem to care enough atfirst to secure the mastertapes. I have no love for those kinds of people.

As I said before I also think DVD's are nonsense. They deteriorate too fast while you pay too much for them. It's crap. Nothing more than that. Instead we should all use harddrives that are much more durable and take up alot less space. I know alot of people with huge gastly looking closets full of DVD's. Not too mention those VHS tapes they paid good money for only a few years ago and aren't worth a dime nowadays.

I understand your view but these things are not that simple. I don't know where the future is going with all this. I just hope it will be better for the consumer eventually. Wich means some companies will have to give up a certain amount of unfairly gained profits wich they've gotten so used to in the mean time. What comes around goes around though.

Merchandice is another issue with me though. if I decide to print Kermit shirts and try to pass them off as official Muppets merchandice then that's just plain wrong. Just like burning ALF episodes on DVD for instance and selling those to others with a profit. I don't think I need to explain that.

Well this post became quite long. Sorry. But I guess I said what I had to say about this though.

 

[Luke]

I get what you are saying and you're entitled to your opinion - i don't think it makes it any more 'right' or 'justified' though but i'm not trying to stop you by any means. Saying that you feel it's right to download DVD rips because if you wanted to buy everything you desired it would cost a lot is nonsense. I might want a Ferrari but just because i can't afford it that doesn't mean i go and steal my next door neighbours. You can't have everything you want in the world. Saying once a TV company has made the money they spent on making a show they shouldn't be able to make any more is a little unrealistic too. If you owned a house and rented it out to tenants once they had paid you enough rent to cover the cost of the house would you give it to them? I doubt it. Besides, nowadays big TV shows can cost more to make than the companies initially profit and they are commisioned on the potential to make more back in the longterm. TV shows aren't public property at all, i don't get why they should be. With network shows other people pay to make them, not the viewers, and it's a business - why shouldn't someone profit from all the time/sweat/creativity/planning they have put in? Not to mention by putting shows out on DVD the people buying the rights to do that have to pay the TV company (and so should be able to profit) and the TV company has to pay the actors residuals etc. The media isn't a charity. It's not as straightforward as there just being some mass rip off putting old shows onto DVD to make mass profit. If there was some regulated way of downloading this stuff on the internet on a pay-per-view basis it'd all be the same, nothing is free. Again i'm not trying to stop anyone from downloading, it's their business. I just don't see point in justifying doing it. We all know it's wrong, but it's easily done, free, low risk and easily accessible. I can't blame people for doing it, but it doesnt make it right. At the end of the day my real concern is for fans, i want the sales to be high enough for there to be a Season 2 !

Still, i'd be interested in hearing what you have been told about the ALF discs and where from. I have seen four reviews so far. Three gave it almost top marks and said how great it looked/sounded and that it was good value. The one poor review complained about the technical quality, but this was written by someone who called the family the 'Turners', didn't know the show had gone into syndication, and criticised the disc because some of the jokes seemed a bit dated - which they would because the show was done in the 80's and it's the whole point of a cult show like ALF being released.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

All that, and Willie and Kate Tanner are absolutely NOT a likely couple. Me and Kate Tanner...heh heh...plus, WE'D have had cuter kids.

 

[Iokitek]

Well to be honest, about the bad quality of the extra's was hearsay. So I can't say that for sure. Just heard it from someone I trust in these matters. I don't know where he got it from exactly though. But ofcourse the news about the cut episodes is offcially confirmed. I'm already not very thrilled about that.

I think your comparison to the ferrari was not entirely correct actually. Since I would not be stealing someones stuff but rather making a copy of it. And ofcourse I could only copy a DVD from my next door neighbour if he'd give me permission. So I fail to see the logic in that. DVD's and cars are two very different products. And like I said I already have a problem with DVD's as it is so I even think those are a waste of money.

Then again opinions may vary on this entire subject. Until recently I would've agreed with you and I urged others not to spread "illegal" copies of whatever they owned. But after having done alot of research I found that the consumer is being treated unfairly. I'm not saying that I'm always entirely justified with what I do. But I've thought it over very hard and I am not the kind of person to knowingly rip off other people. But I won't let myself be ripped off either. I also found that in some cases it's actually perfectly legal to make copies and has always been so. So I don't even get what the big deal is then if I'm not even breaking any laws. This is different in every country though.

I never hear small production companies complaining about these things. It's always the big companies who are obviously not doing that bad at all actually. So what are they complaing about then? The actors got paid, the crew got paid, the writers got paid, etc. Everyone got paid with a big profit left and still that's not enough. And even if they get a bigger profit...what does cameraman #4 for instance actually get to see of that huge profit? Just his set fee. And nothing more. Maybe just a Christmas bonus if he's lucky. And so with all these downloads going on everywhere worldwide, do you notice any change in the quality of programming? Are they so poor that they cannot produce series such as Smallville etc anymore? They are already working on the next season for this series. So they must have enough funds to cover it. And there is always such a thing as merchandice.

Once I see a company like the Time-Warner Company actually take heavy losses and being on the verge of bankrupcy, maybe then they've proven to me that they are in serious trouble. But since they do not provide us with this kind of specific information I will not take their word for it and rely on my own findings.

heh I'll stop talking about this now though. Gives me a headache.