The Honeymooners "Classic 39" On Blu-ray October 15th

I guess if one is patient we may see pricing like that down the road.
I have no patients! I cannot wait I want a favorite TV on DVD series the day it gets released only on DVD.

 

well its already on DVD,I guess you mean Blu Ray

 

I'm the same way...but it's wayyy past ridiculous even for me. $99 is the high price, gotta have it now limit to me for a set like that. I also want Columbo on blu ray....but $600. My favorite show in the world but nope, won't do it!

 

adding insult to injury many of us bought those TV on DVDs for a high price per season years ago! and now even more outrageous on BR! I'm glad I already own most of the TV Shows I wanted on DVD...can't imagine the stress of wanting BR on TV these days!

 

You know, I watched a movie on my Roku tonight. $3.99 regular or $4.99 blu ray...it was a new release and I watch most things on a Sony 46" TV. I went with regular and it was a darn nice picture. I'm just not convinced we NEED blu ray. Nice for some things, but I'm with you. Glad to have all those great shows on reg DVD at fair prices. Maybe that's good enough! Time to just enjoy what we have and stop worrying about having the absolute best. But I still want that Columbo blu ray box set!

 

for me it's not how one can see the beads of sweat on someone brow, but the quality of the story and on DVD that's usually sufficient..heck it's way above VHS! I grew up on antenna TV before home video...and still have great, great memories of my favorite TV shows and movies in less than perfect clarity.
my wife and I are going to have a Twilight Zone Marathon...we are watching the TZ Definitive Box sets on DVD from the beginning all in broadcast order...

 

Sounds like a whole lot of fun! Yes, I think standard dvd is good enough for that kind of show. Not even tempted at that price. And if the talent is there, a kinescope even works! Glad though we have moved far beyond that.

 

yes, we've finished the first dozen...still great.

 

The Honeymooners Classic 39 Episodes Blu-ray dropped $ 45.03 - 35 minutes ago, bringing the price down to $ 74.96 !

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/The-Honeymooners-Classic-39-Episodes-Blu-ray/ref=&%74%61g=%62l%75r%61y%2d080%2d20?SubscriptionId=AKIAIY4YSQJMFDJATNBA&tag=bluray-080-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00E5G03BQ&ASIN=B00E5G03BQ&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

You know, that isn't bad. I would love to get it but I just can't justify rebuying it when it just can't look all that much better. I mean, they made the sets look crappy on purpose. I am such a sucker for rebuying things...just don't think I can justify it in this case. I'm curious if the preorders have been extremely low due to the ridiculous price and the studio is trying a reduction?

 

The other question I have is, the costs of licensing a show as old as this can't be that incredibly expensive. As far as I know, only Gleason and Audrey Meadows got royalties (plus the DGA director and WGA writers). A show like this would cost 1/10th what something like Star Trek would cost. Granted, the mastering costs are never cheap, but I'd bet you could do two B&W episodes in a 12-hour day. At that rate, the whole series would take less than a month to master.

Realistically, the list price on a box like this (18 hours) should be more like $50, not $129 (!!!), and the discount price should be maybe $39 tops. There's a reason that Paramount Home Video is towards the bottom of the heap of all the Hollywood studios in terms of profit.

 

after they clean up on this they will drop the price...

 

the pricing can going anywhere but down...patience is a virtue! I should talk!
years back I invested in all the Little House On The Prairie Box sets only to have them re-release remastered complete uncut episode season box sets...I am extremely pissed.

 

The price has to come way down on this for me to even consider it. I think I paid under $10 for the DVD set used, and I'd be willing to upgrade to Blu if it was $40 MSRP, with a sale price around $30. Most other studios sell single seasons in that range.... Paramount is NUTS.

 

I'm happy with DVD at the moment...I find they satisfy my movie needs...AND for me, it's not how great the movie looks it's how much I enjoy the content...

 

I didn't think I'd be interested in a upgrade, but this trailer makes it quite tempting...

 

Unfortunately, you're right...

 

I'll wait until they start dumping them cheap, $35 is my price point.

 

Wow, that looks extremely good!

 

That looks amazing, and I've seen these more times than I could ever count. Too bad the "Lost Episodes" weren't shot through the Electronicam too.

 

Here's Matt's picture of the Electronicam again:



It must have been a nightmare to change negative film rolls in the camera magazines on the live commercial breaks! Even the 2000' rolls only last 20 minutes or so.

Note that each camera used a separate lens, so the framing was "vaguely" identical, set like a range finder. In truth, it would've made a lot more sense for them to shoot it like I Love Lucy and just avoid the live telecast completely, but I think a) that would've been more expensive, and b) Dumont probably demanded a live show just because all their other shows were done that way. Note that The Honeymooners is one of the very few Dumont shows that survives.

 

Well I've added it to my Amazon cart so at least I can track the price. It is going to have to drop before I bite, but now I do want the bite.

 

It was probably part of the excitement of the live performance too - making sure everything is right, without much allowance for a mistake.

 

Wait a minute, these weren't used for any live Gleason broadcasts, were they? I thought the video was just for control room reference and not for telecast...

 

No, according to Wikipedia, Electronicam was live on the air:

Without Electronicams, the half-hour The Honeymooners episodes in the 1955-56 season may have been broadcast live, and would only exist as poor-quality kinescopes.

Gleason was a great vaudeville and nightclub performer, so he understood how important it was to perform live on TV with the immediate impact of a real audience.