Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - (Page 12) TV DVD Edited by John Latchem www.homemediamagazine.com COM I NG The Emmy Bounce Studios are aggressively promoting TV DVDs of programs with Emmy noms By John Latchem tudios in eager anticipation of the Emmy Award ceremony Sept. 21 in Los Angeles are using the event to promote the home video editions of the nominated shows. Marc Rashba, VP of catalog and television marketing for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, said the 29 nominations earned by Sony Pictures Television were the most in the studio’s history. Nominees currently available on DVD from Sony include Damages: Season One, which earned seven nominations, including for best drama series and best drama actress for Glenn Close; Rescue Me: Season Four (two nominations); The Company (six nominations); the Western Comanche Moon (five nominations), a Lonesome Dove prequel; and best made-for-TV movie nominees A Raisin in the Sun (three nominations) and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter (one nomination). Memory Keeper’s Daughter streets Oct. 7 (prebook Sept. 4) at $24.96. Two shows, “Breaking Bad” (four nominations) and “Canterbury’s Law” (one nomination) have yet to be announced for DVD. S Rashba said Sony is supporting its Emmy-nominated titles with additional advertising, as well as stickers on the packaging to call attention to its status as an Emmy nominee. This includes putting stickers on new units being shipped to retailers, or sending teams to work with retailers to update current inventory. “The Emmys are becoming more and more important at retail,” Rashba said. “Many retailers do the obvious thing and put signage indicating the Emmy nominations. Online retailers (such as Amazon.com) are doing that more.” Rashba said sales of DVDs of Emmy-nominated programs tend to jump the week of nominations and the week after the awards ceremony, especially if the show wins. The show with the most nominations — HBO’s John Adams with 23 — enjoyed a 45% spike in sales the week after the nominations were announced, according to Nielsen VideoScan data. HBO Video June 10 released the DVD set of the miniseries, based on David McCullough’s book and starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney (both of whom were nominated) as John and Abigail Adams. “We recently ran television ads for the DVD following the Emmy nomination announcement,” said Sofia Chang, SVP of retail marketing for HBO Video. “Emmy acclaim certainly brings great consumer awareness to the program.” Other HBO Video titles on DVD that received nominations include best TV movie nominees Recount (11 nominations) and Bernard and Doris (10 nominations), the comedy special Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale (six nominations), the first season of “Flight of the Conchords” (four nominations), the second season of “Big Love” (one nomination), and the fourth season of “Entourage” (five nominations), which debuts on DVD Aug. 26. “Given HBO’s history and long list of Emmy-recognized programs, we develop programs at retail annually to promote those shows on DVD,” Chang said. Lionsgate is refocusing its efforts on “Mad Men,” the AMC show that earned 16 nominations, including best drama series. The first season was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc July 1. Lionsgate plans on putting a sticker on the discs to herald the Emmy tie-in. The latest series to receive exclusive online DVD distribution from Time Life is the animated The Real Ghostbusters: The Complete Series. Based on the hit 1984 film, the 1986-88 series chronicles the further adventures of a group of scientists dealing with paranormal activity in New York City. The show used the “Real” label to distinguish itself from a Filmation cartoon that aired at the same time. Time Life’s 25-DVD set includes all 147 episodes of the series, plus more than 12 hours of extras, including unseen footage, 21 on-camera episode commentaries, five documentaries, extended interviews, episode introductions, scripts and art. The set is available for $179.99 at www.realghostbustersdvd.com. Orders received before Sept. 1 receive a 10% discount. The set is expected to ship starting Nov. 15. Time Life previously released complete-series sets of “Get Smart” in 2006 and “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” in 2007. “The Real Ghostbusters” is licensed from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which previously released compilations of episodes on DVD. – John Latchem UP I TIME LIFE GOES WITH ‘GHOSTBUSTERS’ I SHOUT! FACTORY DEBUTS ‘MST3K’ 20TH ANNIVERSARY SET Critically acclaimed (and fan-worshipped) TV series “Mystery Science Theater 3000” is getting a 20th anniversary boxed set release from Shout! Factory Oct. 28 (prebook Sept. 30) at $69.99. The four-DVD set includes never-before-released episodes covering First Spaceship on Venus, Laserblast, Werewolf and Future War, as well as new special features including interviews with “MST3K” cast and crew and footage from the 20th anniversary reunion panel, held at San Diego Comic-Con International 2008. The set also includes a figurine of Crow, one of the show’s robots subjected to viewing bad ‘B’-movies on the Satellite of Love. Comedian Patton Oswalt moderated the Comic-Con panel July 25, addressing the crowd by saying, “Hello, sweaty shut-ins!” Panelists discussed everything from the worst movies the show’s commentators had to watch, such as Sidehackers and Manos: The Hands of Fate, to films even they wouldn’t lampoon, such as The Child Bride, which a panelist described as “Appalachian kiddie porn.” – Billy Gil © Adult Swim A&E Offers ‘Biography’ DVDs on McCain, Obama By John Latchem ith America’s presidential campaign in full swing, A&E Home Video is releasing two DVDs to help voters better know the candidates: Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. Biography: John McCain and Biography: Barack Obama street Aug. 5 at $12.95 each. The hour-long programs are taken from A&E’s “Biography” series, which is now the flagship show of its own channel, Bio. “People have a concept of ‘Biography’ being fair and impartial,” said Kate Winn, VP of sales and marketing for A&E Home Video. “There W really isn’t another resource like ‘Biography’ that presents their service as public servants in the context of their background. We know them through the news, but you get to know them as people through ‘Biography.’” The programs have been updated for the DVD to include information about the presidential campaigns. The release date is timed with the upcoming national convention for each political party. The Democrats gather Aug. 25 in Denver, and the Republicans meet a week later in Minnesota. “We don’t do a lot of releases for ‘Biography,’” Winn said. “It’s usu- ally only for important events such as this. We don’t often have the opportunity to pull something like this that appeals to the masses.” Winn said sales for many titles related to American history and politics are surging, including several years-old History Channel DVDs about the presidency. “People are seeking out this subject matter,” Winn said. “This campaign is really capturing the attention of the country.” The campaign also has garnered interest abroad. “As much interest as there is in this country, there is a lot of interest overseas to license this content,” Winn said. “There’s a lot of curiosity about whoever our next president is.” I ‘ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS’ REDUX In the midst of promoting the July 22 DVD release of Robot Chicken: Star Wars, the show’s creators announced a second compilation of parody sketches will air Nov. 16 on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Fans of the show can log on to AdultSwim.com to enter a sweepstakes to win a copy of the original Robot Chicken: Star Wars script autographed by series creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, plus DVDs of the show and a T-shirt. The contest runs through Aug. 8 and winners will be announced Aug. 12. Five runners up will receive the DVDs and T-shirt package. – John Latchem Home Media Magazine August 3–9, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.realghostbustersdvd.com http://Amazon.com http://AdultSwim.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 Contents News In Focus TV DVD Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - News (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - News (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - In Focus (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - In Focus (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - In Focus (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - In Focus (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - In Focus (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - In Focus (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Reviews (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Reviews (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Reviews (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Reviews (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Reviews (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Pipeline (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 25) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 26) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 27) Home Media Magazine - August 3-9, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 28)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.