L&O fans: I read somewhere that there are now no plans to release the second season on DVD [the first season came out several months ago]. As most of you live in the U.S. and have access to reruns up the kazoo, this maybe isn't such distressing news. But for those of us living in the hinterlands this is VBN [very bad news]. Anyone know what's going on with future DVD issues?
Hard to imagine why they would stop after season one, unless they can make more money off syndication exclusivity than they could from the DVD release. A DVD release devalues the syndication property. First, by making episodes available to fans on demand commercial-free. Second, by reducing the number of unreleased episodes and shortening the syndication cycle. Considering the number of times LAW & ORDER is rerun daily, this may be an issue. I believe protecting syndication value is the reason that SEINFELD has not seen DVD release, and THE SIMPSONS DVDs will only be released after another season is in the can.
This explanation makes sense, Ron. Thanks. It's also possible that the first year set didn't sell as well as the producers had expected.
