MovieChat Forums > Mr. Belvedere (1985) Discussion > Mr. Belvedere on DVD is in trouble (plea...

Mr. Belvedere on DVD is in trouble (please read and follow)

posted 14 years ago by vnisanian2001
13 replies | jump to latest

It appears that Shout! Factory doesn't have the rights to the final two seasons, and to make matters worse, doesn't plan on getting them in the foreseeable future. Why? Because season 4 was not a big seller.

And the only reason why season 4 isn't a strong seller is because many of you people aren't doing your part. I encourage anyone who hasn't gotten season 4, or any of the other seasons yet, to do so right now.

And if you already got seasons 1-4, try buying multiple copies of them. Hopefully, that will be enough to greenlight season 5. And don't let the price get to you.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] mike_7857 13 years ago

Unfortunate situation. Small wonder is only up to season 2 so far but we'll see if 3 gets released. Im sure who ever owns mr belvedere seasons 5&6 is asking a pretty penny for them.

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[–] vnisanian2001 13 years ago

It's 20th Century Fox that owns Mr. Belvedere. They also own Small Wonder. And the way I see it, I doubt they're happy to be associated with both of those shows.

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[–] Set-Abominae 13 years ago

To be totally honest I'm sort of surprised that 20th Century Fox didn't destroy (or purge as they call it in the industry) the original prints of the episodes of both shows.

That being said for the price that Shout Factory is selling the DVD's at I'm not all that surprised that they aren't selling especially considering they didn't do any remastering of the picture or audio and the "special features" are more or less non existent on the third and fourth season sets.

If they really wanted to sell these sets they should have priced them at a lower rate $15-20 instead of $35-40 or they should have digitally remastered them to justify the higher price.

"Do as you're told, like a good lackey."
(Serpentor)

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[–] vnisanian2001 13 years ago

I can't speak for all the Mr. Belvedere sets that have been released so far, but there's a reason season 4 is a little pricey, and you gotta understand it just as much as I do.

Season 4 was released as a direct-to-consumer online exclusive, similar to Warner's Manufacturer-on-Demand service. Except unlike Warner's MOD titles, Shout Factory's online exclusive releases are fully-produced discs, much like the ones that they normally release in stores. Therefore, they have to sell the sets at their suggested retail price in order to to help make up for the sales lost via a lack of wide distribution. They don't sell direct-to-consumer titles to the public, they sell them to retailers like amazon, and because they're selling these one at a time, they can't afford to make them much cheaper.

As for the episodes themselves, to be honest, they look and sound fine really. Considering that this was a videotaped show, and not a filmed one, they can't get much better than that.

What's more important is that they're uncut. Believe me, it could have been worse. They could have used the same edited-for-syndication versions that we've been seeing since 1989 instead.

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[–] Set-Abominae 13 years ago

I bought the G.I Joe DVD's that shout factory released a couple of years ago and for what I paid for each set ($35-40) I felt ripped off.

There aren't really any special features to speak of except for the "knowing is half the battle" psa's and a couple of interviews (which are not presented in their entirety but broken up over the disc's in one set) the audio is uneven with the show audio being fairly low (even on a good home theater system) while to commercial bumpers are at full volume.

If shout factory is going to sell commercially released DVD sets that are sold in stores for that price they should at the very least remaster the audio or even just bring it up to current standards even if it's just 3 channel stereo.

"Do as you're told, like a good lackey."
(Serpentor)

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[–] vnisanian2001 13 years ago

Mr. Belvedere was shot on 1'' inch videotape, like virtually all videotaped shows in the 1980s. And given that 1'' inch videotape is an obsolete format, there's no in the world is Shout! Factory or 20th Century Fox going back to the original 1'' inch masters. The costs would be astronomically high, and would have rendered the sets even less profitable.

You gotta understand these economics.

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[–] hollywoodnorthreport 13 years ago

WE NEED SEASON 5!!! :)

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[–] vnisanian2001 13 years ago

There's currently two copies of season 4 on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/MR-BELVEDERE-SEASON-4-DVD/dp/1603993428/ref=pd_c p_mov_2

You want them? It's yours.

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[–] sbruns9 13 years ago

This is one of my favorite shows especially seasons 5&6. I had to order My Favorite Martian overseas just to get the complete series. I'm still waiting for season 3 of The White Shadow as well. It's a shame that some of these classics won't see the light of day. I ordered a boot leg of Belvedere but of course, all the disks don't work properly. This has been a problem with all of the bootlegs I ordered. Bring all of Mr.Belvedere to DVD!

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[–] vnisanian2001 13 years ago

After watching back to back old and new episodes, I have to say that I prefer the last three seasons. The first three were good, and had a charm of their own. But in the last three, they really pulled out all the stops.

I mean, you had episodes where George finally becomes a TV anchor, Wesley getting molested by a counselor, the Owenses and Belvedere having different accounts of what happened to Marsha's pillow, George stooping so low as to become a TV clown for hire, Kevin becoming a nurse, Wesley and company busting out an old man to Atlantic City, whilst George and Marsha go there for their wedding anniversary, Kevin finally moving out, George, Wesley, and Belvedere playing hooky, Marsha becoming a singing waitress, Belvedere's midget cousin taking over, George and Belvedere dressing in drag to serve as decoys for a bandit, George and Marsha getting trapped on a pirate ship, Belvedere nearly dying and clinging onto every last moment of his life, an all-star cast on George's birthday party at a ball park, Wesley and Belvedere on a game show, George and Belvedere as truckers, the Christmas Carol parody, oh man, could it have gotten any better than this?

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[–] Edermike 10 years ago

Well now that it is being aired again, maybe the DVD's will happen. It made me pick up the first four. BTW 4 is out of print and I got the last one I could find.

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