Simpsons DVDs Discontinued

[Leo656]

I'll give ya one. Few years ago, we got rocked by a massive hurricane, and our block and the surrounding area had the power knocked out for 12 days. Our internet didn't work, we had no cell service, but we had the generator, and we could plug in the TV and watch DVDs or play video games. Couldn't check emails, forget Netflix or whatever, but we managed to keep busy and stay entertained. Which is a huge deal when you're essentially trapped in your house and can't leave for almost two weeks, in the dark.

Allllthoooooough... I played a lot of Silent Hill, and the fact that right outside my window it looked exactly like that in real life, was aaaaawesome.

Anyways, that stuff is still important, and to some degree I do think that there are people in these companies who realize that as well. It's just an example as to why physical media should still exist in some form. Because stuff happens; if we'd had to "stream" our entertainment in that scenario, we would've been screwed. So, there's clearly, definitely a place for both physical and digital, absolutely. To me, that's the only thing that makes any real sense: having both available, for maximum convenience all around. If it were my company, I don't see any logic in NOT providing some kind of option for everyone. A few pennies here to print and ship. Oh well, I'm a publicly-traded global corporation; I'll deal with it and make the money back.

I don't buy the argument that companies lose all this money on manufacturing, because it's simply not true. The physical materials cost them a pittance on a DVD set they sell for $20-30. They make a profit on every single one they sell. It's really just "Eh, we don't feel like it, we make enough on digital, it's not gonna cost us anything to make discs but we just don't feel like going through the work of doing it." And I find that just really lazy and arrogant of them.

I mean, companies don't always do things that make any kind of sense when it comes to this stuff. Like Nick, with "Adventures of Pete & Pete"; they made money on the first two seasons, recorded a bunch of commentary tracks and Extras with the cast for the Season 3 DVDs, had them manufactured, ready to ship... and they've been sitting in a warehouse for almost ten years. No real reason; just "Eh, we don't feel like doing it." That's money on the table! Why would you do that? There are reasons... just no good ones. Not to mention those last few seasons of King of the Hill, etc. People want and will pay good money for that stuff... stuff that, in some cases, already exists, and could be making the companies a profit by 9am tomorrow if only they bothered to ship it. Companies just don't always pursue what makes the most sense.

I mean, even if DVDs and Blu-Rays are no longer the dominant source of revenue compared to digital, it's still revenue. So you spend 50 cents to make "only" $1.50; you still made a buck of profit, and why just leave it there just because you can make "a little more" on another angle? Why not work both angles and make ALL the money (and please all of your customers)? All profit is worth pursuing.

[Candy Kappa]

I'm more interested in complete series sets when I want physical copies, so it's no biggie on my part. And Simpsons reruns all the time over here.

[CyberCubed]

Simpsons Seasons 1-10 is really all you need though.

[Leo656]

That's not the poooooint. And some people disagree, besides.

I kind of wonder sometimes what CyberCubed would be like if he didn't have the internet to do all his thinking for him. I mean, c'mon, guy. Don't be such a parrot.

People over the age of 7 never watched Simpsons because it was super-high art in the first place; it's the cartoon version of macaroni and cheese. It's comfort food. You know going in what you're going to get, be it Season 10 or 20. That's all it's there for. People like it. It's "different" than it was when it was on fire, but whatever, it's fine.

Plus, if anyone said, "Season One of the Fred Wolf TMNT is all you need, anyway," you'd argue them on it, despite just as "strong" a case to be made from their perspective. SO HUH.

[TheBlueTurtle1]

This is such a shame. I like to actually own the stuff I pay for.....It's odd, I was checking around the net only a few days ago to see if I could pre-order season 18 anywhere, and thought it was odd when there was no signs, since was had been December time, that I got my hands on season 17. Been an avid collector of these since 2001 and was looking forward, one day to having them all.

I am well aware the show reached its peak within the first 8 seasons or so, but I still enjoy it.

Really pi**ed off with this.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by sdp

But they don't sell just fine, I've seen the numbers.

OMG. Of COURSE they won't sell if they aren't being produced!! Seriously?! THAT'S your argument?! When you only SHIP ten copies of something, and they are all gone after a few days, OF COURSE the numbers are going to be low. Big movies like The Hobbit get a few dozen copies, but everything else? You're lucky if they ship out a dozen or so, and after that- "Well, they just aren't selling, so we're just going to do it on-line." That's the DUMBEST excuse EVER. Again, they can't SELL what they don't make or ship. It's that kind of thinking that drove places like Blockbuster out of business- and they HAD been converting over to the "new ways". When the companies that make the movies decide they'd rather force everyone to buy it digitally instead of shelling out a few pennies to make DVD's that will sell for more, they can't complain when the sales figures are low- because they shot themselves in the foot by not making them to begin with!

Numbers only reflect what's sold, NOT what the original supply consisted of- and if it's five copies of Adventure Time or Sleepy Hollow, and no more are ordered or shipped once those are sold, where exactly is the "proof" of your so-called "lack of demand"? There isn't any. Because I can walk into the store and SEE where the sales are, and they ARE there- it's just that the supply is a mere "trickle" compared to the demand. People can't buy what you're NOT selling. It's THAT simple. And that's a decision made by the companies. NOT the consumers, who would certainly buy it if it was, oh, I dunno, available.

As a side-note, many stores now have bargain bins, too, so what doesn't sell right away, will often sell out once it is no longer "hot", and people snatch it up in the clearance bins. I can't stop by the movies section without seeing at least two or three people going through the bargain DVD's looking for something to watch. Trust me, they WILL make their money back on the "unsold" copies- just not as fast. Can't count the number of times I've found something good in those bins, and gone back the next day to find the only copy they had is gone.

[Cure]

It's tragic how the people who have the knowledge of the inner workings of business and how to make a buck are the ones who have nothing to show for it. Wonder why.

[Leo656]

Not sure if you're implying "people who have friends in the entertainment business should in turn use those connections to work in that business", but if so, I'm fairly certain it doesn't quite work that way. Can't speak for anyone else, but in my case, just because I casually know a greater-than-average number of rich people in a number of fields, that in no way puts them in a position to in turn make me rich. They're just people I know and talk about business with. It's not like they owe me a favor or a living because we worked a show and had dinner together, or anything like that.

I mean yeah, probably should've gone to film school and been a millionaire. Oops. You should've too, though, along with everybody else, so... yeah, not sure where that comment even came from. I'unno if anyone ever mentioned it, but you're a little passive-aggressive, dude.

[The Stryker]

Blockbuster didn't die because of studios not putting out a set amount of dvds. It died because people stopped going. They were all pretty well stocked until it went under.

I wanna know what retail stores are going to go away because of dvds being phased back. Walmart? Target? Best Buy? I doubt it! It just feels like this paranoid doomsday chatter. We will live. Things will change. You're not being eradicated, you're just not being catered to anymore. Doesn't mean you won't get ANYTHING.

I really wanna see the sales figures for the last few Simpsons sets. If they're actually bad, again I cannot blame them for this decision. The sets are probably more expensive to produce than most think. Designing the boxes, designing the menus and testing them. Assembling extras and paying whatever VA's they can wrangle into a commentary booth. The Simpsons releases are not bare bones gray label dvds. Even then the manufacturing process is a decent amount of money.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Blockbuster basically died because of Redbox and its supposed "convenience" which has itself become a passing thing with digital copies and online viewing. Used to be, you could walk into a video rental store, pay a buck or two, and watch whatever you wanted to. Now they charge you online for the same thing- only with no physical product exchanging hands, no human interaction, and no one doing a job that contributes to the economy by providing that service. Now it's a computer server somewhere handling files and taking payment for an imaginary item. Yeah, that's really progress- taking away the jobs that used to go hand in hand with such services, by making them unnecessary(read- useless.). All in the name of "convenience". Spent enough years behind a video counter to know that wiping out an entire industry for the "next big thing" is NOT progress.

[Candy Kappa]

After the vhs tapes got cheaper then $200, and was more available for people, it was only a matter of time until video rental stores outlived their use.

[TheBlueTurtle1]

I would think most Simpsons DVDs sell well??? surely, even the mix DVDs aimed at kids do aswell?

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by The Stryker

I wanna know what retail stores are going to go away because of dvds being phased back. Walmart? Target? Best Buy? I doubt it!

Actually Best Buy is in huge trouble for exactly the reasons I laid out, as are other "dedicated" sellers of physical entertainment such as FYE, etc. Many of those stores are being temporarily replaced in the physical location space by Targets and Wal-Marts, but you simply cannot compare the selection available at a Wal-Mart to a store like Best Buy that "just" sells electronics and physical media, and it's those dedicated retailers that are going under in large numbers. Which isn't just bad for consumers, it's bad for jobs.

And like I said, I'm well aware that manufacturing costs money but I highly, highly doubt they go broke doing Simpsons DVDs. Although I will agree that the packaging etc. on the Simpsons sets, specifically, is needlessly extravagant and they probably do themselves no favor with that. Still, I doubt it's breaking their bank.

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

All in the name of "convenience". Spent enough years behind a video counter to know that wiping out an entire industry for the "next big thing" is NOT progress.

Not to mention, about 15 years ago "identity theft" wasn't a thing, because the amount of people who owned and used credit cards for anything but super-huge purchases was quite small. Meanwhile, at the gym the other day, I had to get new credit card info from three people in the same day who had had their ID stolen and credit cards misused after using their credit cards for various purchases. It even happened to my wife a couple years back. This is the new reality of everything being at the push of a button, and it's a huge problem, but we're supposed to just "deal with it" because "technology". Well, that's wrong, because like you said, it's not "Progress" if it's creating new problems. Corporations insist people push a button and pay with plastic because it's easier to monitor consumers AND the credit card companies get to keep people poor and in debt. If I walk into a physical store and buy something with cash, I don't have any of those issues. BUT, you pretty much can't do that anymore, for BS reasons.

People kinda gotta be asleep at the wheel not to recognize these as real problems, or to write them off as "acceptable". No, someone getting their credit info stolen because they wanted to buy a record or a TV show is never acceptable. It's easy to say "Just deal with it" until it happens to you. It's a huge BS hassle. So, no, an all-digital, push-button society does nobody any good except the banks and the corporations, who have long made a habit of screwing people and calling it "convenience". This is just the latest way. It's really not at all hard to see or figure out.

[Katie]

When the world changes, adapt or die.

There was once a company which made a product that cleaned soot from wall paper. Because back in the day, coal burning furnaces were how you heated houses and coal soot was everywhere in houses. Eventually electric heaters became common and the company with the wall paper cleaner was in financial trouble. The reason they had prospered had ended with an advancement in technology.

However that company was smart. They did not staunchly insist that the world stop technological innovation...they figured out a new way to be prosperous. They discovered that their product was pretty fun to play with and they began to produce their gummy wall cleaner as a toy. And they still exist today

If the market dictates that digital media is the way of the future, then companies will adapt to that market direction or they will go the way of Betamax, Laser disc, and Cassette tapes. When was the last time you used a typewriter? Or a floppy disc, or rode in a wagon to work?

Innovation changes how we live. It isn't a bad thing, just a change. Change is uncomfortable. But change is inevitable so you need to learn to adapt.

[Leo656]

Common Sense Translation:

"Big companies have money and you don't, so bend over."

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by TheBlueTurtle1

I would think most Simpsons DVDs sell well??? surely, even the mix DVDs aimed at kids do aswell?

I imagine most hardcore Simpsons fans stopped collecting the DVDs after Season 10. Only the "completists" probably continued to buy every season.

I think a lot of you don't actually realize how much Simpsons fans absolutely hate the newer seasons, or rather the show over the last two decades. Go visit Nohomers.net where most of the Simpsons fandom is, you'll see how much they hate the show on the forums there.

Season 9 is technically considered the last "good" season, but some make an exception for Season 10 as well. After that the show decayed with maybe only a handful of decent eps each season.

[TMNT_Guy]

Originally Posted by sdp

The problem is solved by buying it digitally, in this case you own it now and can watch it forever, make back up copies in case your HDD fails etc, play at any moment with just a click making it far better than DVD's,

I know you said you were done with this topic, but I would like to say you can already technically do that with DVDs/Blu-rays. All you have to do is download a program, insert the disk, and click a button. Ignoring the legality of that, a lot of Home Video releases today include a digital copy so you have a backup of the movie on disk and a backup on your computer to do with as you please. I can understand if you personally prefer digital only, but I don’t see how it’s any better than physical media.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I can say I won’t be giving of home video releases anytime soon. There are so many DVDs/Blu-Rays out there I can’t keep up! I just got the Great Mouse Detective(My favorite Disney movie), The Rescuers + The Rescuers Down Under, The Land Before Time and Charlotte’s Web 1973 last week. I already preordered Sailor Moon R Part 1(Had to get the little booklet with It.), and I already have my sights on Swat Kats, All in the Family, Samurai Pizza Cats, and the Adam West Batman series, just to name a few.

Speaking of lack of demand, anyone know where I can get Volume three of Adventure of Sonic the Hedgehog? I’ve been searching over a year for a copy. I might just have to get the R2 release of the series where it was released in a complete series box, though that means I’d have to get a region free player…or just rip the missing episodes off the set.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I think a lot of you don't actually realize how much Simpsons fans absolutely hate the newer seasons, or rather the show over the last two decades. Go visit Nohomers.net where most of the Simpsons fandom is, you'll see how much they hate the show on the forums there.

Pssst. Pssst. Hey. HEY.

The amount of people who care about something enough to whine about it on the internet? Really, really small piece of the general population.

Most "normal" people like the show fine regardless. Judging the popularity of a thing by what the internet fans - the nerdiest of nerds - say about it is flawed. Ask most anyone else, they'll say they just haven't bothered to keep up with it in forever for various reasons, not that they think it suddenly sucks. More like when something's been around forever, you just kind of lean away from it. Besides, there have been people saying it jumped the shark and was "unwatchable" past Season Two. People over-sell everything; that's why they're fanatics.

The fact that there are people who hate it enough to complain about it online doesn't make them representative of the overall population. Just sayin'.

[TheBlueTurtle1]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I imagine most hardcore Simpsons fans stopped collecting the DVDs after Season 10. Only the "completists" probably continued to buy every season.

I think a lot of you don't actually realize how much Simpsons fans absolutely hate the newer seasons, or rather the show over the last two decades. Go visit Nohomers.net where most of the Simpsons fandom is, you'll see how much they hate the show on the forums there.

Season 9 is technically considered the last "good" season, but some make an exception for Season 10 as well. After that the show decayed with maybe only a handful of decent eps each season.

I actually consider the first 8 seasons goldust, but I still enjoy the newer stuff also, just on another level. I guess fans need to understand things never stay the same, maybe stuff that worked in the early 90s wouldn't go down so well with younger generations, plus the world and tech is always changing, and I guess the show went with the flow.

I still want the DVDs, I am not a fan of all this digital stuff. I like to own stuff I pay for. I love the box art, and the DVD interactive menus are so cool.

[CyberCubed]

Simpsons did have an overall decline in quality though, its not just that people got tired of it. The first decade of the show is genuinely one of the funniest comedies/sit-coms ever made, and then Seasons 11-26 are extremely hit or miss, mostly miss.

Not only did the humor decline, but the characterisations of the characters took a dive as well and many of the characters started to feel like parodies of themselves. Not to mention some characters just became downright unlikeable over time due to terrible writing.