No DVD? Unbelievable
What does and doesn’t get released on DVD in this country is often a bit of a mystery when you look at archive TV – that many people want to buy E Street? Really? – but things seem pretty cut and dry when you look at new shows: if it’s an ABC comedy it gets a DVD release. The as yet un-aired twentysomething, for example, is due out on DVD towards the end of its run. And to wind things back a year or several, everything from Double The Fist to Sleuth 101 to Sam Simmons’ The Urban Monkey is yours to own right now for the standard purchase price.
So, bearing that in mind, we’re currently wondering why there’s been no word about a DVD release of Lawrence Leung’s recent series Unbelievable. It’s not like it rated poorly, or was a particularly awful series; and it was on ABC1, in a good timeslot – not things you can say about some of the shows we’ve listed above.
Well, here’s our theory (a theory for which we have none of that evidence Lawrence Leung’s Unbelievable told us to look out for): the second series of Review with Myles Barlow didn’t come out immediately because a Christmas special was scheduled and the ABC wanted to include it on the DVD release…so, we’re wondering, could there possibly be more Unbelievable to come? Perhaps a Christmas special, where Leung goes and debunks Santa Claus in one of those nutty Christmas villages they have in Scandinavia or North America? We don’t know, we have no idea, no inside information – it’s just a guess – but you’re welcome to e-mail us if you’ve got any inside goss. Or just leave your thoughts on why some shows have or haven’t got DVD releases below, in your usual rabid and abusive manner. Bonus points will be awarded to the first person to tell us this blog is shit.
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Yer blog is shit. Prize? Please not an Urban Monkey DVD.
Another curious case is the hypothetical “A Quiet Word” DVD – including the mysterious bonus interview (my money is on Ethel Chop).
We may have lied about the prize. Oh wait, we have some preview discs of Rake lying around somewhere…
But yes, A Quiet Word…should be on DVD, but less surprising given there isn’t much of a history of interview shows getting a release. Enough Rope doesn’t count, as that rated its arse off.
The ABC seem to have two categories of DVD release – the ones that come out the week the final episode airs, and the ones that show up… eventually. Thing is, the “eventually” ones now aren’t coming out at all, and A Quiet Word With is firmly in that club. But if Tony keeps pushing and Joy of Sets is a profile-boosting hit…
(The Bazura Project is another one that doesn’t have a DVD release lined up as yet, but considering that’ll be using clips from various movies – I assume if it’s anything like the c31 version – the rights might prevent a DVD release there)
It took about 6 years for Welcher & Welcher to get released and they waited until Shaun Micallef was too busy over at Channel 10 to do a commentary track. (Although judging by his efforts on the Micallef Program dvds, I don’t think Micallef enjoys doing them very much, considering how the commentary track on one of the season 3 eps consisted of him reading the first chapter of H G Well’s War of the Worlds and another ep’s consisted entirely of a barking dog!)
Welcher & Welcher had a few different factors going on holding it up – for a while there Micallef himself was saying in interviews he didn’t think there was any interest in releasing it. It wasn’t until TAYG had bumped up his profile that releasing it became an option (and we’re still waiting for the “best-of” Newstopia that’s occasionally been mentioned…)