Louie: The Complete First Season - June 21, 2011

[eyesonfire]

Louie: The Complete First Season

Louie: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Review



Flipper disc... ugh. I hate those nasty things.

[Der Spieler]

I love this show. Will get it.

[Scorpion Soldier]

I heard good things about this show, though i'm not getting it, the flipper discs make me sure about that even more.

[detective392]

Was considering getting this but it being a flipper disc has me skipping it unless I can find it for a very cheap price.

[eyesonfire]

Good to see that I'm not the only one disliking them. It won't make me cancel my order though. I like the show too much for that, and I feel like supporting it. But my verdict stands, it's a stupid decision to go with flippers. Please stop shoving DVDs down my throat - I do not want them.

[Space_Butler]

Still getting it, especially since the only difference between the "blu-ray" and "dvd" editions is the packaging. If my options are "buy flippers" or "go without the show on a physical format entirely", my choice is clear. This show is too good to pass up.

[McCrutchy]

I liked the show quite a bit; I would buy it, but I don't support flipper releases, period. Universal learned its lesson, now it seems Fox will, too.

[nateynate87]

Originally Posted by Space_Butler

Still getting it, especially since the only difference between the "blu-ray" and "dvd" editions is the packaging. If my options are "buy flippers" or "go without the show on a physical format entirely", my choice is clear. This show is too good to pass up.

Exactly. I mean yes flippers suck but not enough to skip out on a release entirely......seems kinda silly.

[Clark Kent]

This release is a very bad sign, for a studio outside of Universal has finally decided to release the dreaded flipper design on Blu-ray. It will be the first one by Fox. I doubt the flipper will be confined to one release by Fox, they will likely start using it on more titles.

The show was moderately funny, but I do not purchase flipper Blu-rays.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

This release is a very bad sign, for a studio outside of Universal has finally decided to release the dreaded flipper design on Blu-ray. It will be the first one by Fox. I doubt the flipper will be confined to one release by Fox, they will likely start using it on more titles.

This...

Originally Posted by nateynate87

Exactly. I mean yes flippers suck but not enough to skip out on a release entirely......seems kinda silly.

...is why I respectfully disagree with you. Buying this release just gives Fox license to use the method for other releases.

The idea of having a disc that you essentially cannot put down, and have to handle like a 78 RPM record, is a shockingly bad production decision--the product defeats its own purpose.

I hope, for the sake of rationality, that Fox are saving a significant amount of money by using flippers, especially considering that (to play devil's advocate), people who want the series on DVD only have to pay more for Blu-ray media they won't use, and are therefore less likely to buy this combo edition.

[42041]

I've yet to see this show, but I think Louis CK is one of the funniest stand-ups working today and I've heard good things about it, I'll probably pick it up.
Couldn't care less about it being a flipper, pretty much every argument against them other than reliability seems ridiculous to me, and I haven't heard anything about the Universal ones rotting away yet.

[McCrutchy]

[Show spoiler]

[Space_Butler]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

[Show spoiler]

Cool! Yet another person "reviewing" a product before it comes out instead of simply posting in the product discussion forum on that page. The plea for change is a nice touch, since those ALWAYS work out. I really wish Amazon only allowed reviews of verified purchases. Then people would have to air their grievances in the appropriate areas as it was intended.

If the "must handle like a record" thing is such a big deal, put a label over the dvd side. If you were prepared to buy a blu-ray set that had disc art anyway, it shouldn't bother you that much.

I frankly think we're lucky to get the set in HD at all, given Fox's abhorrent record of tv shows on dvd. If this is the only way to make it financially viable for release, I'm 100% content with it. If people aren't, that's their thing and they can go without if they don't feel it's up to their standards or worth the money. Personally, I'll be buying because I actually want more tv releases, and if they don't sell then more won't be made at all.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Space_Butler

Cool! Yet another person "reviewing" a product before it comes out instead of simply posting in the product discussion forum on that page.

EDIT: Just to comment on this, product discussion forums are not as effective as publishing "reviews". For example, in the Blu-ray listing, there has been a complaint about the flipper / combo nature of the package since March 27, 2011, which has generated a whopping one reply on April 16, 2011. Like it or not, "reviews" get read far more often than the product discussion forums at the bottom of the listings. And if Amazon wanted to put a stop to "reviews" then they could easily block the feature prior to the item release date.

Originally Posted by Space_Butler

I frankly think we're lucky to get the set in HD at all, given Fox's abhorrent record of tv shows on dvd. If this is the only way to make it financially viable for release, I'm 100% content with it. If people aren't, that's their thing and they can go without if they don't feel it's up to their standards or worth the money. Personally, I'll be buying because I actually want more tv releases, and if they don't sell then more won't be made at all.

I would be thinking the same thing if it wasn't for the fact that Fox were kindly offering the same discs in your choice of Blu-ray packaging or DVD packaging.

And let's break it down:

They're paying to produce the Blu-ray (encode, master, et al.)

Then they're paying to produce the DVD (encode, et al.)

Then they're paying for whatever replication process can create the dual-sided discs (hope it's cheap, somehow, I doubt it, but you never know)

Then they pay to create unique packaging for both the Blu-ray and DVD formats even though they're putting the same discs in them...and if this isn't somehow cheaper than putting labeled discs into these packages, then it obviously entirely defeats the purpose of the dual-format discs.

This is all assuming that the content is identical on both the Blu-ray and the DVD versions. If, and I mean if, the DVD happens to have some SD content that is not on the BD--like stand-up routines, or anything--then you've got to keep that DVD scratch-free or you're in trouble. and remember, Universal were NOT above that practice with their flipper discs.

So now you have a nice conundrum--you can pay a premium for your Blu-ray set, and, provided it has all the extras on both sides, you can abuse the DVD side all you like, or, you only have DVD, don't want to pay $35.99 for a set that is obviously costlier because of the Blu-ray, so you're that much less inclined to buy it.

There is a reason why Universal dropped this method of releasing: it's awful, plain and simple. It has a marginal benefit--at best--for the consumer that a Blu-ray / DVD combo pack with separate discs does not have.

In fact, I bet the whole idea came about because some Universal Pictures Home Entertainment bigwig's 5 year-old child got a hold of Mommy/Daddy's movies and super-glued a Blu-ray to a DVD back-to-back, and from that seed...corporate inspiration.

[nateynate87]

hmmmm you do make some good points lol. I just don't have the will power to skip a release I'm really looking forward to. So I'll say I support your decision but can't participate this time. But hey if they ever release Big Momma's House or White Chicks flipper discs I'll be more than happy to support the boycott haha

[Der Spieler]

I'm not a big fan of flipper discs but I really feel like encouraging this show. I think it's funny, thoughtful, original and very well crafted. Rarely do we see shows of this quality on TV, so I'm gonna show proper support.

[540Blue]

Originally Posted by 42041

I've yet to see this show, but I think Louis CK is one of the funniest stand-ups working today and I've heard good things about it, I'll probably pick it up.
Couldn't care less about it being a flipper, pretty much every argument against them other than reliability seems ridiculous to me, and I haven't heard anything about the Universal ones rotting away yet.

If you like his stand up then you will like this show. Each episode starts off kinda like Seinfeld by showing him doing some stand-up and then the episode loosely follows the topic of the jokes.

[Space_Butler]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

EDIT: Just to comment on this, product discussion forums are not as effective as publishing "reviews". For example, in the Blu-ray listing, there has been a complaint about the flipper / combo nature of the package since March 27, 2011, which has generated a whopping one reply on April 16, 2011. Like it or not, "reviews" get read far more often than the product discussion forums at the bottom of the listings. And if Amazon wanted to put a stop to "reviews" then they could easily block the feature prior to the item release date.

Which they should because unless someone has the item in their hands it can't be considered a "review". Like you said, it's just about the real estate, so you have people abusing the intent of the review page for their own agenda or fanboyism. Look no further than the back and forth 1-star/5-star reviews for the Lord of the Rings or Star Wars blu-rays to see why the whole thing is insane. Not enough atttention brought to it in the discussion forum? Too bad, that's where it SHOULD be posted. That's like saying you'd get more people listening to you if you stood on a box and gave a speech at a crowded wal-mart over a public street corner, it may be true but it still doesn't mean it's 100% on the up-and-up. To be fair, the people voting 5 irk me as well, since they're judging the quality of the production itself and not the final release. The final release could look terrible and/or have massive defects to it, and they've locked in their votes as 5's. Like I said before, Amazon would be wise to make it a requirement that someone has bought the item from them as a verified purchase before they are allowed to review.

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

I would be thinking the same thing if it wasn't for the fact that Fox were kindly offering the same discs in your choice of Blu-ray packaging or DVD packaging.

And let's break it down:

When the amazon listing first went live, we saw it was intended to be 4 discs. Somewhere along the lines, despite the dvd's being extremely cheap to make, they probably decided it was either cheaper to make the flippers, OR they were concerned about people selling the discs they didn't want. In either case, their overall philosophy with this release is one that Disney has been employing in their classic releases: "If you want this, you're getting a blu-ray whether you like it or not because we want you holdouts to upgrade. If you have a blu-ray player already... bonus dvds!". I think this comes from MANY of their tv releases failing to be hits, but if dvd buyers are buying the blu-rays whether they want to or not, the blu-rays are going to sell MUCH better than if they let consumers choose one format or the other. You can blame the original root cause of this on the fact that blu-ray supporters haven't bought Fox TV titles enough to be financially viable.

[Clark Kent]

The move to flippers are for two reasons only, production costs are actually higher for a flipper than separate DVD and BD releases. Studios want to start shifting more product to one sku for a variety of reasons, as do the B&M retailers. It helps market Blu-ray to reluctant DVD owners who have yet to upgrade, and prevents a consumer selling the unwanted product (many people sell off the DVD version included in DVD/BD combo packs) on their own.

[owenstar]

Did not catch the first season...is this like a watered down version of his HBO series Lucky Louie? That show was hilarious and I would love to have it on blu...

Stupid flipper may stop me from blind buying as I dig CK's stuff