Duds find new life in a box

“Simpsons” boxed sets? Sure. “Friends”? Of course. “Sex and the City”? Naturally. TV shows on DVD are the hottest category in the home entertainment business. And that’s before Season 1 of CBS’ sturdy hit “Everybody Loves Raymond” lands Sept. 14 and the first three seasons of “Seinfeld” hit the retail market Nov. 23.

In all, the TV-on-DVD business is expected to hit $1.2 billion in revenue this year.

By midyear 2003, there were 153 TV DVD titles available; at midyear this year, that number had risen to 415, according to data compiled by Fox Home Entertainment. Even with the presence of two cable channels devoted solely to repeats, and numerous others that feature a steady diet of older TV, audiences are flocking to their favorite shows on this new technology in ballooning numbers.

But what about NBC’s failed comedy “Lateline,” a parody of late-night news that featured real Washington politicos in cameos?

When the series netted miserable ratings in its 12-episode life span in 1999, the show’s star, co-creator and co-executive producer, Al Franken, didn’t need to be told it wasn’t coming back.

“I knew it was done,” recalls the comedian, who now hosts a daily talk show on radio network Air America. “I was very mad for a little while. But then I got over it and moved on.”

Turns out it wasn’t exactly over for “Lateline.” On Tuesday, Paramount Home Video is releasing the complete series -- including seven episodes that never aired on NBC -- in a three-disc boxed set.

It’s just one example of a surprisingly strong stream of this business: underachieving shows that find new life on DVDs.

Some are shows that faded into network TV memory. Universal has sold more than 150,000 copies, at $119 apiece, of the 1978-80 series “Battlestar Galactica,” which aired just 24 episodes on ABC. The Season 1 collection of “Sledge Hammer!,” which staggered through a 41-episode run in the late ‘80s, has sales approaching 100,000 copies, for about $30 apiece. “Boomtown,” which lasted just 1 1/2 seasons on NBC, has recently been issued in a boxed set.

Coming soon are complete collections of such short-lived Fox series as “Keen Eddie,” “Greg the Bunny” and “Harsh Realm,” none of which lasted more than a season.

Other releases are coming for shows that are still on the air but could use a boost. Season 1 of NBC’s “American Dreams,” which this season ranks 69th among network prime time shows, is being issued Sept. 7, complete with extended musical performances. (One of the show’s conceits involves contemporary artists playing ‘60s performers on “American Bandstand.”) And the first season of critically acclaimed but largely unwatched “Arrested Development” is due out Oct. 19, just in time to hype the show’s second season.

“For shows like ‘Arrested Development,’ ‘24’ and even ‘The Shield,’ they are part of a multiunit initiative,” says Steve Feldstein, senior vice president at Fox Home Entertainment. All three shows are produced and aired by Fox divisions. “When it comes to us releasing TV DVDs, we’re working closely with the network and the production unit. Events are coordinated. It just makes sense.”

Oh, and there’s the 12 episodes of Comedy Central’s “Chappelle’s Show,” a critical favorite to be sure, but still a show that ranks 581st among cable programs this year. Since it was released in February, “Chappelle’s Show -- Season 1 Uncensored” has sold 1.7 million copies; that’s more than the show’s average audience.

Thomas Lesinski, president of worldwide home entertainment for Paramount Pictures, which released the set, said he figured it would do well, given the rave reviews critics have given the sketch comedy show. “Of course we didn’t think it would sell 2 million. No one would’ve ever predicted that.”

Actually, some might have. Because while the all-time bestselling TV collection is Season 1 of “The Simpsons,” with more than 2.35 million copies, No. 2 is the first season of a far-less-successful Fox series: “The Family Guy,” which sold 1.86 million copies. Season 2 sold 1.12 million copies.

That persuaded Fox to order fresh episodes of the Seth MacFarlane-created animated series for the 2005 season. This for a show that in its first go-round aired fewer than 50 episodes in less than three seasons, ending in February 2002.

This isn’t to say that marketing DVDs of less popular or cult shows is the same as what’s done for the surefire hits like “CSI” or “Friends.” Typically, collections of the underperformers piggyback on other, more established releases or take advantage of stars’ higher profiles.

For instance, on Aug. 3, Sony’s Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment put out a single-disc complete-series collection of a short-lived 1998 Fox series, “Significant Others.” Among its stars was Jennifer Garner, who went on to much bigger fame -- and substantial DVD sales -- on ABC’s “Alias.”

“I Love Lucy” has been a strong seller, so on Tuesday the independent Shout Factory is releasing a best-of collection from Lucille Ball’s less beloved but still popular “Here’s Lucy.”

HBO has mastered its own particular brand of cross-promoting. Shows like “Sex and the City,” “The Sopranos” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” are shows with buzz and a built-in hook, given how few households subscribe to the premium channel. HBO typically releases a season’s worth of shows on DVD just before the next season premieres on the network.

And in the case of “Lateline,” Paramount is taking advantage of Franken’s recent notoriety as a host on the liberal Air America to reintroduce the series.

“It was the show and the book [‘Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right’] and the publicity from the launch of the network,” Franken says.

Recent events have also worked to make “Lateline” at least a bit more appealing: The guest cameo in the final episode on the third disc just happens to be Sen. John Kerry.

It may just be network programmers’ itchy trigger finger that spurred this TV-on-DVD torrent. Shows often get pulled off the air just at the point when they’re entering the consciousness of many viewers.

“Certain shows get a buzz around them,” Lesinski says. “Some people don’t get to see the first episodes, or they catch it in midseason, second season. They lose continuity and they want to get the whole flavor.”

Research by several studios has shown that consumers are drawn to TV DVDs because they’re commercial-free, they make it easy to watch as many -- or as few -- episodes as you choose, and because they’re a new form of collectible, from the big hits to the cult favorites.

And as a result it has created a whole new type of DVD consumer, quite different from those who buy feature films.

“For someone to want to buy the entire season of ‘Law & Order,’ these are people who’ve missed some of it,” notes Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of marketing for Universal Home Video. “Our research shows 85% of buyers are familiar with and have seen the shows. When you look at a movie, by contrast, 55% never saw it.”

The market for TV shows on DVD caught nearly everyone by surprise, precisely because the shows were already so available.

“Initially, none of the studios thought anyone would be interested in TV shows on DVD,” Lesinski says.

But that all changed after the success of the various “Star Trek” series, along with HBO’s “Sopranos” and “Sex and the City,” which sold particularly well to audiences that didn’t subscribe to the channel.

“The first releases were the obvious ones,” notes Scott Hettrick, editor of DVD Exclusive and Video Business, trade magazines that closely chronicle the DVD realm. “It was sci-fi. ‘Buffy,’ ‘The X-Files’ and ‘Star Trek’ took off first. That led right into younger-skewing comedies like ‘The Simpsons,’ ‘Friends’ and ‘Sex and the City.’ Those were the perfect demo for the DVD market: young upscale consumers, more male than female, though that’s changing.”

It’s worth noting that as popular as TV DVDs are, they’re nowhere close to matching the biggest films in sales. The 2.35 million copies sold for the first season of “The Simpsons” pales next to the 22 million copies of Disney’s “Finding Nemo” DVD, the best seller so far.

Meanwhile, New Line Home Entertainment’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy has done well: “The Fellowship of the Ring” selling just under 19 million copies, “The Two Towers” 17.3 million more, and “Return of the King” about 12 million copies.

Now, New Line has entered the TV market with a boxed set of its 2002-03 revival of “The Twilight Zone,” which aired on UPN. According to Matt Larosa, executive vice president of marketing for New Line, early enthusiasm for the “Twilight Zone” set has encouraged his company to buy rights to other series.

“It seems there’s a lot of good material,” Larosa says. “But it’s about setting expectations; not all shows will sell hundreds of thousands of copies. If we can hit a bunch of singles, we’d be happy with that.”

And no wonder -- particularly for TV series that didn’t make it into syndication. As Hettrick notes, “This is all found money.... You can spend a few bucks and put it on DVD, and even if you just make $5 million a set, it’s $5 million more than you had before.”

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TV sells in DVD

Television programs are finding a new market in the DVD format. Top-selling series as boxed sets:

*--* Title Units sold (Supplier) (in millions) ‘The Simpsons -- The Complete First Season’ (Fox) 2.35 ‘Family Guy Vol. 1 Season 1 & 2’ (Fox) 1.86 ‘Chappelle’s Show -- Season 1’ (Paramount) 1.7 ‘The Simpsons -- The Complete Second Season’ (Fox) 1.65 ‘Sex and the City -- The Complete First Season’ (HBO) 1.35 ‘The Simpsons -- The Complete Third Season’ (Fox) 1.3 ‘Sex and the City -- The Complete Second Season’ (HBO) 1.21 ‘The Sopranos -- The Complete First Season’ (HBO) 1.13 ‘Family Guy Vol. 2 - Season 3’ (Fox) 1.12 ‘Friends -- The Complete First Season’ (Warner) 1.1

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Source: Video Store Magazine