Posted by lorincantrell on 01/15/28 11:57

Jim Waggener wrote:
> For example "ER" they have been on televison for 13 seasons, but you can
> only get season 5 in the USA and season 6 in Europe. Why don't the powers
> to be realease all seasons up to their current?

I would say the main reason is that, premiering in 1993, it preceded
the DVD era by 4 years and the "whole seasons of TV shows on DVD" era
by even longer. It was also a show that used a fair amount of popular
music, so there were probably clearance issues there. Justin has a
point about springing a lot of seasons on people all at once too.

10 years ago you were lucky if a few key episodes of a show you liked
were available on VHS or maybe Laserdisc. We're living in the land of
plenty today. Contracts are written with DVD release in mind, and
studios have an incentive to release previous seasons right before new
seasons air as a promotional tool, and if the series is cancelled a
quick DVD release while it's still in people's minds is a good way to
recoup costs.

I for one believe this is the golden age of TV, what with all the cable
channels doing original series and the networks improving quality to
compete.

-beaumon

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