Netflix was convenient. You didn’t have to leave the house to pick the movie up or return it and you could keep it for as long as you wanted meaning you weren’t rushed to watch it. Admittedly I kind of missed going to the video store and browsing but I had the same problem when I switched to digital books.
A big advantage of the Netflix DVD-by-mail service was its really deep catalog. At one point, they seemed to have every title released on DVD, no matter how obscure. That wouldn’t work for a local store, but when you’re sending discs all over the country, there’s always someone who wants to see an obscure movie.
Alas, at the moment half my queue consists of stuff that may show up sometime, but don’t hold your breath. And not obscure stuff, famous old movies.
I was using the past tense to refer to the time when Netflix actually devoted money and resources to the DVD-by-mail service. Now Netflix doesn’t seem to care whether it lives or dies and seems to be starving the service.
One of the appeals of DVD’s (or Blu-ray) even today is the extras, and with the netflix model you can keep them long enough to watch the film with the director commentary or watch the behind the scenes documentaries. That is one thing that I miss from the streaming services because I will watch a movie or tv program and want to know more about what went into making it but doing so takes a lot more effort, whereas on a disk it is just a menu item.
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A big advantage of the Netflix DVD-by-mail service was its really deep catalog. At one point, they seemed to have every title released on DVD, no matter how obscure.
When we first signed-up for Netflix, one of the first movies I requested by DVD was a Bollywood movie from 1965, “Gumnaam.” (I am not of Indian derivation.) The reason I wanted to see that movie was that a musical segment from that had been used in another movie I’d really liked, 2001’s “Ghost World.” I just had to see the movie that musical number had come from, and I was beyond excited that I could actually get that movie from Netflix.
Similarly I wanted to watch some classic Brady Bunch episodes but for whatever reason a random 3 episodes every season were pulled on the streaming service I watched. Every single season was there, but the Hawaii episode (and it’s sequel) were both gone.
That has to be some weird thing to force completionists to buy the whole thing either physically or On Demand.
It usually has something to do with the rights to various parts of the episode, most commonly some music, that the streamer doesn’t have.
Either that, or there was something in those episodes (maybe Don Ho’s music) to which they didn’t have rights for streaming.
…and, @glowacks beats me to the punch.
There are some TV shows where the music is very important - but lots of other shows replace the music they don’t have/can’t get the rights to. If it was a couple of episodes of LA Law or The Brady Bunch that weren’t available, I might believe it was the music but I don’t remember either show having multiple episodes per season that depended so much on the music that it couldn’t be replaced. I can believe that it’s an attempt to drive DVD sales - but I doubt if it’s successful.
Depending on the licensing agreement, it might not legally be so easy to simply replace the licensed music with other music.
It would also take some amount of production work to find a different piece of music that would fit the scene, remove the licensed music from the soundtrack, and edit in the new, replacement music. And it probably wouldn’t be for any real benefit. The rights holders to the show probably wouldn’t get a significantly different streaming deal if they included a couple of episodes per season with re-mastered soundtracks.
There are any number of shows that have never even made it to DVD, or have made it to DVD but have never made it to streaming, due to music licensing issues.
And any number of shows have been streamed with ultra-cheap versions with no re-editing at all. Famously, Buffy the Vampire Slayer as it appeared on some streaming platforms was never re-edited or reformatted for HD widescreens, so the episodes included figures that were supposed to be concealed in deep shadows appearing fully visible, and crew members, equipment, and the edges of sets appearing in frame. Given that kind of attention to detail, it would not surprise me at all if the rights holders to LA Law or The Brady Bunch just didn’t think it was worth the time, effort, or cost to re-edit the soundtracks on a couple of episodes per season so they could be included in the streaming package.
WKRP In Cincinnati had horrible HORRIBLE replacement music in syndication.
I know that this “replacement music” stuff happens fairly often. Another thing that happens fairly often (based on what I see in IMDB’s “alternate versions” sections) is that TV broadcasters not only cut scenes so make the movie fit their time slot, but they also ADD deleted scenes for whatever reason.
My question (maybe this really belongs in Cafe Society) is how the producers and critics view these practices. To me, it just reeks of tampering, and I’m surprised I haven’t head any complaints. When They started colorizing old black-and-white films, many critics complained that it ruined a beautiful work of art, and many producers (especially of more recent b/w films) complained that these aftermarket forces were overturning artistic choices that the original artists had made.
Have such complaints been made against the music replacement and edited-for-tv guys, and maybe I just never heard about it?
One example of replacement music that really irritates is in an episode of “The Greatest American Hero” (in an episode called *Operation Spoilsport") in which “Eve of Destruction” is used both digetically and non-digetically (and referred to explicitly in dialogue) Replacing it with generic pop really destroys the tension.
They know editing for broadcast television is a necessary evil and even if they don’t like it, they do like the residual checks.
One story that went around was when NBC acquired the broadcast rights to the 1995 film Heat, its director Michael Mann apparently tried to work with NBC to deliver an acceptable broadcast edit that would keep himself and, he thought, the network happy. NBC rejected his edit and Mann so despised the network edit that he took his name off the credits and replaced it with Alan Smithee for broadcast.
I too only ever saw one in the wild, at a tiny indie grocery store in Dover, NH. At the same time Red Box kiosks were already everywhere.
Its business decisions such as these that drive people to just torrent things.
Not sure this is relevant but I think it is…
Many many Moons ago, when BB was doing well they hired the company I worked for to help them figure some stuff out marketing-wise. The analysis we did showed a possible blip on the horizon. I wrote it up and went over it with the Director in charge of the project. She chose to see it as an opportunity. In the results meeting with higher ups at BB, she pitched it hard. This, of course, was something remarkably similar to Netflix just before Netflix became a thing.
She ran into resistance. They just didn’t seem to like the idea which confused her and me. She tried again and again with disbelief on her face and mannerisms. They never seemed to really put substance behind their resistance. Finally, the meeting ended. They liked us, but wouldn’t accept her proposal.
In a meet and greet after the meeting, I got to know a couple of executives. I finally grew the nerve to ask them why they resisted what seemed to be a good idea? He looked around and then said…and I quote as I remember it like a movie…“Honestly, we have a good corporate culture here and we don’t want fucking geeks coming in and ruining it”.
Yes, BB COULD have been Netflix. They refused.
I heard (though can’t confirm) that Sears had the same hatred to ‘geeks’ as well back in the 80s…when they could have become Amazon.
good story. I always knew executives tended to be short sighted, greedy sociopaths. but the disdain they have for anything geeky is new to me. but I guess it fits with their image obsessed persona though.
When I was first starting in the corporate world, I found a ton of old white “Greatest Generation” men who were terrified about being out of touch. I think that’s partly where this comes from.