NBC Series coming to DVD

[Highlander25]

copied from www.thefutoncritic.com

NBC Enterprises Pacts to Bring 10 Series to DVD
By Brian Ford Sullivan

CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- NBC Enterprises plans to bring 10 of its series to DVD by the end of 2003 as the network has signed distribution deals with MGM, Lions Gate, A&E Home Video, Starlight Home Entertainment and Imavision Direct.

Lions Gate will distribute the bulk of NBC Enterprises' releases, with "Will & Grace: The Complete First Season" hitting stores on August 12 as well as the retail debut of the limited series "Kingpin" on July 22. (NBC Enterprises had previously offered the product only on its ShopNBC.com web site.) Following those two releases will be "Saved by the Bell: The Complete First and Second Seasons" on September 2.

The company will also be behind a host of "Saturday Night Live" releases including a five-disc 25th anniversary set in July. Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler and Molly Shannon will also get their own "spotlight" releases that month as well as re-issues of the Time Life Video showcases of Chris Farley, Mike Myers and Dana Carvey.

Other distribution deals in the works:

-- A&E Home Video is set to release "Homicide: Life on the Street - The Complete First and Second Seasons" on May 27 while the company will also be behind "Profiler: The Complete First Season" in June.

-- Canadian-based Imavision Direct will release complete seasons of the beloved 1974-83 series "Little House on the Prairie" later this year. A portion of series' run had previously been released in non-season format on DVD.

-- MGM Home Entertainment will be behind the DVD bow of the network's telefilm "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie," also later this year.

-- NBC Enterprises plans to issue "Providence: The Complete First Season" through a yet-to-be-announced distributor in October.

-- Also in October, episodes of the syndicated home improvement series "Rebecca's Garden" will be released by Starlight Home Entertainment.

More announcements are expected in the coming weeks as NBC is in talks with such companies as Artisan Entertainment to distribute even more product. Among the possible titles: "Crossing Jordan," "Ed" and "The Pretender." For a complete listing of NBC Studios' titles, click here.

[SkottDMD]

Originally posted by Highlander25
["Saved by the Bell: The Complete First and Second Seasons" on September 2.
[/b]

Oh...my. I will so be getting that!

[Marq]

indeed.
Holy shit.... Saved By the Bell, in all its DVD glory.... and you KNOW Dustin Diamond will be all over some commentaries- that dude will do everything for a buck.

[orf]

Saved by the Bell...

[mlemmond]

The Pretender and The Profiler hot damn 2 more to buy

[Unicorn]

All of this info actually came from Variety!

Posted: Sun., Apr. 6, 2003, 10:00pm PT

NBC spinning DVD deals

Peacock expanding sales into retail world

By DANIEL FRANKEL


NBC has slated an ambitious 2003 DVD release schedule that includes collector's titles of everything from "Saturday Night Live" and "Little House on the Prairie" to full-season packages of "Will & Grace" and "Homicide."
As it attempts to expand its DVD sales beyond direct-response and into retail, the Peacock has lined up almost as many different distributors as it has product, signing deals with companies as big as MGM, Lions Gate and A&E Home Video and specialty distributors like Starlight Home Entertainment and Canadian-based Imavision Direct. It continues to talk with other companies, such as Artisan, about even more output deals.

"We'll talk to all of our distributors and see which one is best for that particular project," said Kim Niemi, senior VP of video, music and product development at NBC Enterprises, the merchandising and backend programming sales arm of NBC Studios.

A previous homevid deal with Lions Gate, which distributed some "Saturday Night Live" product, among others, expired last year.

"A lot of rights are just coming back to us, and it's just timing," Niemi said, explaining the flurry of DVD releases.

Under new terms, Lions Gate will continue to distribute a large portion of NBC Enterprises product, releasing into retail season one of "Will & Grace" on Aug. 12, the limited series "Kingpin" on July 22 (NBC offered the series on its shopping channel last month) and the first and second season of "Saved By the Bell" Sept. 2.

Lions Gate will also continue to bring to retail newly produced special editions of "Saturday Night Live," including a five-disc 25th anniversary set in July. These will feature hours of new extra features, especially memorable music performances by the likes of Bruce Springsteen.

Other "SNL" titles coming in July will spotlight specific performers such as Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler and Molly Shannon, along with titles featuring Chris Farley, Mike Myers and Dana Carvey to be distributed through Time Life Video.

Even though many episodes have been distributed for years at bargain bin prices on VHS and DVD, NBC is expecting big results from a full-season collector's compilation of the 1970s beloved series "Little House on the Prairie." Niemi said NBC chose Imavision Direct to distribute the repackaged gift packs because Imavision Direct has expertise with this kind of family-oriented product and with discount merchandisers, where it is likely to sell the best.

In an unusual deal, NBC went to MGM Home Entertainment to handle the release this October of last year's holiday TV movie "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie" instead of to Columbia TriStar Home Video, which handles most Henson productions.

A&E Home Video will distribute past NBC dramas "Homicide: Life on the Street" (seasons one and two) on May 27 and "Profiler" (season one) in June. A&E will also release the full 1950s war docu series "Victory at Sea."

NBC is also planning to release season one of its recently canceled series "Providence" in October through yet another distributor.

But NBC Enterprises isn't all about primetime network scripted programming: In October specially produced episodes of its syndicated home improvement series "Rebecca's Garden" will be released by Starlight Home Entertainment.

(Daniel Frankel is a reporter for Daily Variety sister publication Video Business.)

[soxrule]

Wahoo for Saved by the Bell.

[UserNameUndecided]

I'm looking forward to that SNL set. Though I'll probably want to know more about what's on it before I say that I'm buying it.
Five discs!

[TheGoodGirl24]

No way! Finally, Saved by the Bell on DVD! whoo hoo!

[SilentBob]

Man i hope for a SNL dvd they release a Jeopardy Edition. Those skits were the only reason to watch the show for the past few years.

[Icon769]

I'm hoping Saved By The Bell is packed with extras with full cast commentary.

[Hellboy]

SNL and Saved by the Bell!!! YES!!! There are reasons to live...

[MiddleEarthGirl]

Yes! Profiler and Pretender on DVD finally

[MrTony]

I might be checking out those SNL sets, unless there's a lot of material from that horrible mid-'90s period.

[Unicorn]

Originally posted by MiddleEarthGirl
Yes! Profiler and Pretender on DVD finally

[TwistedByDesign]

*joy overload* Saved by the Bell AND THE BEST OF WILL FERELL!?!?!?

[jjunker]

DAMN!!!

When are we gonna see an R1 West Wing set!?

J.

The company will also be behind a host of "Saturday Night Live" releases including a five-disc 25th anniversary set in July. Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler and Molly Shannon will also get their own "spotlight" releases that month as well as re-issues of the Time Life Video showcases of Chris Farley, Mike Myers and Dana Carvey.

SCREW THESE BEST OF SETS!!!

Release individual episodes or complete seasons sets only. I don't really care about the more recent cast members. I just want to see complete episodes with the original Not Ready For Prime Time Players (and yes, I'm including Bill Murray even though he didn't start until the second season after Chevy left.)

[wahlers]

It would be a rights nightmare, but I would love a disc (or discs) of a collection of SNL music guests.

If nothing else, they could give us the "Saturday Night Live Goes Commercial" special expanded to include new commercials since the original release... I'd love that.

In the meantime, I plan on buying the 5-Disc SNL Anniversary set (unless the final stats turn out really bad).