Why Lionsgate?

[UmbertoRobina]

Hey, I was just wondering if any of you are IN THE KNOW so to speak, on why Lionsgate released the ALF dvd's? You would think that since ALF ran on NBC that the rights to the show were owned by Universal?

Unless Paul Fusco owned the rights to it,and didn't get a good enough deal with Universal, or Universal wasn't interested in releasing it, so he decided to take it elsewhere to get it released?

I'm just curious if anyone here can answer that for me. If you ask me, Lionsgate is probably the worst company I could think of to release such a high quality show. Lionsgate is known for releasing and/or distributing some of the worst movies I have ever seen! This is no lie. They release really low budget, poorly done horror movies. Ones that are so bad, I can't force myself to watch it for more than about 2 mins.

[ALFanatic]

I'm sure whoever gets paid clearly knows the rights they own, but for the general public the question of rights to "ALF" become most confusing. As example, here is list (probably only partial) of "ALF" rights owned by different parties.

TV series
Animated series
TV movie
Merchandise
United States
International

Regardless of who actually owns U.S. and International rights to ALF TV series, I doubt many distributors were of the opinion that the prduction, promotion, and distribution of ALF TV series DVD sets would be huge money-maker; therefore, we end up with "LIONSGATE" - a company looking for business and willing to undertake some risk.

Mike

[UmbertoRobina]

Lionsgate seems to be a lazy company though to say the least. They don't put much money at all into the promotion of their movies, they just throw it out there and hope it makes them money. Probably what they did with ALF. They probably just said okay, we'll distribute it, but won't do anything to promote it. We don't lose money, and it's all win/win for us.

I just wish Universal would have put it out instead. Oh well.

[Delorean Dude 17]

Universal would have done a great box set. (Back to the Future Box set was really good ) Quantim leap was marketed pretty good by universal. ALF would have turned out better though.

[UmbertoRobina]

Oh I totally agree. I love Universal's boxed sets. I have The A-Team, Airwolf,Miami Vice and Magnum P.I. and they were done great. Only complaint I have is the picture and sound aren't the best, but are still better than watching em on tv. I do wanna get Quantum Leap. That was an awesome show. I'm hoping the price will go down though. My Magnum P.I. season 1 cost me 60 bucks canadian, and the other sets are about the same price, which is a bit steep. Quantum Leap is around that price also.

The next show on my list is Greatest American Hero, which I think is Universal, not sure though. Back to ALF though, I did get an email from someone at Maple, who distributes it,and I'm gonna get a free replacement which rocks. I Can't Wait!

[melmacian56]

Universal is a great company for TV-DVD's but one complaint I have as well as the TV-DVD community is that they don't produce any bonus features with their releases. They have been criticized for this over the years because they only put advertisements for their other TV-DVD releases as bonus features in their sets. On the bright side, Universal did add a bonus feature on the Seasons 5 and 6 set of "Murder She Wrote" featuring interviews with cast and crew. Could be the beginning to something bright for Universal TV-DVD's in the future.

To get back to ALF, I would have liked to have seen Warner Bros. release ALF on DVD. I have the Dukes of Hazzard and Smallville sets that they released and in my opinion they were top notch box sets. Warner Bros. does an excellent job with their DVD releases and do not dissapoint.

[UmbertoRobina]

Well I think the reason they don't add any special features is because they don't have any. Universal spends so much money on music rights for shows like Miami Vice, that I think they'll only invest more money into it if it sells well. So I think in the future if these shows sell they'll have some of the stars come back and do interviews and/or commentary. But for the most part I love Universal the most. The picture seems nice and clear compared to the versions that play on tv, but could use some remastering. I wish they would also take shows like The A-Team and remix it in 5.1 surround like they did with Miami Vice. 2.0 Mono on dvd is just a waste.

As for Warner Bros though, I have a sort of love hate relationship with them. I find them cheap. Ever notice when they release movies on dvd they give em those really crappy cardboard cases? those things are so cheap, and break so easily, and just look awful. As for Dukes though, I was really disappointed with my Dukes sets because the episodes are so out of whack. I had to go to epguides and find the production order just in order to be able to watch em and not get mad. Have you noticed this?

In season 2, you watch some episodes, and Daisy has her car, and then the car gets trashed,and she gets her jeep,and you watch more episodes, and some has her jeep, and some has her car. Even an episode in season 3 has her car again. It's really annoying. I wish they would forget about the airdates, and put them in a proper order so that the storyline makes sense. And the artwork on Dukes is horrible. They have pictures from season 1 on the cover for the first 3 seasons, and on season 4 they have a pic which looks like it's from season 2. They don't do their homework when designing the covers. But other than that the Dukes sets are cool.
I need seasons 6-7 still. I might get 6 on friday.

[melmacian56]

Well the episodes are in order on the Dukes sets. They are on the DVD's in the order they were originally aired which is the way they were meant to be seen. The only problem I had with the artwork was Season 5 and I understand why they did it but in my opinion they could have used another picture.

[UmbertoRobina]

yeah they were in the proper order according to airdate, but isn't the proper order, storywise. Know what I mean? they were filmed in a certain order, like say they filmed x amount of episodes with the car, and x amount with the jeep. They went and jumbled em all around during that season, so you get confused. So to me that's not the proper order. I never consider airdates to be the correct order to watch them in because if they don't air an episode for whatever reason it becomes a lost episode of sorts, and they go and throw it on somewhere down the line. Like for instance i think it's the second episode of season 3, watch it carefully, cuz it's actually from season 2, and features daisy's car, and Enos. Enos just left the show one episode before on the season 3 premiere episode Enos Strate To The Top. Don't you find that weird?

I think they should rearrange it in the proper order and i'll seem more interesting. Like did you know this? The season finale for season 2 was supposed to be the 2 parter, Carnival Of Thrills?, and the season premiere of season 4 was supposed to be the 2 parter 10 million dollar sheriff? That is what a season premiere is supposed to be like. But I guess ya could always just grab your dvds and watch em in whatever order ya want, so it's not bad. I would just prefer them to be in that order on the dvd.

[melmacian56]

Well I'll admit, there's lots of things in the Dukes of Hazzard that I could pick out that shouldn't be. Those kind of things happen when shows are made.

[UmbertoRobina]

yeah i know what ya mean. I guess I'm just picky when it comes to these things. I just like to watch something through as a story,and not have to worry about going back and forth to figure something out. To me it's all about the story because Dukes doesn't really tell a story. It's pretty much the same thing in every episode. I just think small details like a car, should be taken into consideration, that's all.

[ALFanatic]

TO ALL,

Enough hijacking the Topic which is "Why Lionsgate?" Should you wish to continue on with posts about other DVD distributors and/or other non-ALF TV series, please move future posts to appropriate Topic in the Kitty Kat Lounge Forum specifically intended for non-ALF related content.

Thanks,
ALFanatic - Asst Admin

[UmbertoRobina]

sorry, I guess I let it get out of hand.

I think we're done with this topic anyway.

I have a tendency to ramble at times, and this is living proof lol