The Official Network Thread

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by Martyghost

Probably !

Do we know that clearance issues was the reason then? Or just the excuse?

Clearance is never just an excuse.

These are individual plays with different cast and crew which makes clearance more complex. Not impossible, but it adds to the cost of producing a release.

A "complete" release of Play For Today is finacially unviable. Hell, so are the curated volumes because not enough bought them.

Best we can hope for are individual releases of "big hitters" again, like Robin Redbreast or Penda's Fen did.

[Wendell Armbruster]

Clearance was definitely an issue for Play For Today - there was one that was supposed to be on Volume 1 and had to be pulled, my memory tells me it was Dennis Potter's Traitor.

[MasterCollector07]

Originally Posted by Martyghost

You're probably right - the bubble has burst.

I like archival television and I want to generally support titles but I didn't go near The Play For Today release as I don't like cherry picked collections. If Network had still been around and had had the licence for that, we know they would have followed a series by series or year per set approach. That would have been far more appealing to the archive collector in my view. Unfortunately some of these bigger organisations just don't understand the collector's market so they end up doing their own thing, it fails and then they blame that on the fact it is old material.

The lady I spoke to told me that BBC isn't that bothered with releasing archival material because of licensing agreements with music and family estates. The legal wrangling is obviously a major issue. I would imagine, much further down the road, streaming will be the only viable outcome for past television.

[MasterCollector07]

Originally Posted by Wendell Armbruster

Clearance was definitely an issue for Play For Today - there was one that was supposed to be on Volume 1 and had to be pulled, my memory tells me it was Dennis Potter's Traitor.

I agree partly, but the sale side of things put the spanner in the works. That said, the BFI did try to find some gems in those three box sets.

[albabe]

I just wanted to chime-in here with some info - in case someone had a similar problem:

I picked-up the Supercar BR Set (not the Box, unfortunately) in 2023... and had a blast reliving all those episodes that I watched as a little tyke... and then it turned-out that the Fourth Disc wouldn't mount on my old LG BP550 - All Region Player... and I asked someone in here if they knew anything about getting a replacement disc, and they basically said I was "sh!t outta luck" because Network was defunct.

Well... I picked-up a Sony UBP-X700 recently and just for farts and giggles I tried the Fourth Disc in it last night... and voila, it mounted and played. Yay.

[fatboyslim142]

I got the following Network titles (along with a handful of other things) at last month's London Film Fair.

The Best of Benny Hill (DVD)
Chessgame: The Complete Series (DVD)
The Champions Original Soundtrack (CD)
The Vise Volume One (BD)
The Vise: Mark Saber Volume One (BD)

Would've got more of The Vise/Danzigers stuff on BD had the seller I got them from had them. Said seller did have more of what I wanted but the release was only the DVD version of which I think they sold the BD of it prior to the June London Film Fair. Will see the seller at the nest London Film Fair in September & hopefully they'll have copies of The Vise/Danzigers stuff I want by then but if not then hopefully at the final fair of the year in November.

Can anyone help explain what the each of the two BD of The Vise are in terms of what episodes/series they contain etc & what the other BD/DVD releases of The Danzigers productions Network released with info of the ones that connect to The Vise series?

Was wondering about the above as Talking Pictures TV started showing The Vise (Renown are now releasing this series / Danzigers productions series that Network previously did according to the seller I got the two BDs, mentioned above, from) last week, on Sundays I think, & I wanted to know what episodes network never got round to releasing before they went under.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by Wendell Armbruster

Clearance was definitely an issue for Play For Today - there was one that was supposed to be on Volume 1 and had to be pulled, my memory tells me it was Dennis Potter's Traitor.

Wish someone would release the Traitor episode especially John Le-Mesurier considered the role as "the best part I ever had on TV".

[cutback73]

Originally Posted by fatboyslim142

I got the following Network titles (along with a handful of other things) at last month's London Film Fair.

The Best of Benny Hill (DVD)
Chessgame: The Complete Series (DVD)
The Champions Original Soundtrack (CD)
The Vise Volume One (BD)
The Vise: Mark Saber Volume One (BD)

Would've got more of The Vise/Danzigers stuff on BD had the seller I got them from had them. Said seller did have more of what I wanted but the release was only the DVD version of which I think they sold the BD of it prior to the June London Film Fair. Will see the seller at the nest London Film Fair in September & hopefully they'll have copies of The Vise/Danzigers stuff I want by then but if not then hopefully at the final fair of the year in November.

Can anyone help explain what the each of the two BD of The Vise are in terms of what episodes/series they contain etc & what the other BD/DVD releases of The Danzigers productions Network released with info of the ones that connect to The Vise series?

Was wondering about the above as Talking Pictures TV started showing The Vise (Renown are now releasing this series / Danzigers productions series that Network previously did according to the seller I got the two BDs, mentioned above, from) last week, on Sundays I think, & I wanted to know what episodes network never got round to releasing before they went under.

The synopsis on Renownfilms for The Vise says there were 65 episodes. Of which there are 21 listed on the blu ray set, so presumably Network were aiming to release the series in 3 volumes if it had been successful.

The Vise was the first series with a rotating cast, this then morphed into The Vise: Mark Saber with a single fixed main character, and then it was renamed Saber of London (note these are the UK series titles, I believe there were different titles in the US).

The Renownfilms synopsis on The Vise says there were over 150 episodes in total, so The Vise: Mark Saber and Saber of London must amount to about 90 episodes in total.

Re the missing episodes of The Vise, this will eventually be known via the Talking Pictures listings, for example the first 2 episodes on the blu ray are episodes 4 and 5 according to TPTV.

At 150 episodes, if they show one episode a week, we should have the full episode listing by 2029

[Nitroes]

Budgie: The Complete Series getting a re-release from Spirit https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...5#post23360035

That'll help dampen down the £70+ price of Network's release. Although the DVD graveyard that is CeX have it for £28.00 https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=5027626255848

[Steedeel]

Retro post, but just started The Intruder. Right up my street, fantastic, off kilter atmosphere and intriguing characters. How the heck did I miss this all those years ago?
Already hooked.

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Retro post, but just started The Intruder. Right up my street, fantastic, off kilter atmosphere and intriguing characters. How the heck did I miss this all those years ago?
Already hooked.

If you were a young teen at the time you were possibly watching The Long Chase, also starring Simon Fisher-Turner, on BBC1. Inexplicably, the two adventure serials aimed at adolescents were broadcast at exactly the same time on Sundays.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by RossyG

If you were a young teen at the time you were possibly watching The Long Chase, also starring Simon Fisher-Turner, on BBC1. Inexplicably, the two adventure serials aimed at adolescents were broadcast at exactly the same time on Sundays.

Yeah, that sounds familiar. It’s a blessing really, it’s great going in fresh.

It’s amazing how mature kids/family stuff was back then, respected its audience. Obviously talented people, too.

I sometimes think we really have regressed as a society, scary.

[Steedeel]

Added ‘Chicken’. That one passed me by, for £6.99 can’t go wrong.

[dublinbluray108]

The Golden Discs website in Ireland are doing a clearance sale of some older Network Blu-rays. I got The Playboy of The Western World & Brief Encounter for €10 each along with the Oppenheimer 4K Ultimate Collector's Edition & Joker Foile Le Deux 4K Steelbook just over a week ago. This is probably the first time ever that I had purchased Network Blu-rays from Golden Discs. They are usually sold in Tower Records shops in Dublin and on their own website. Do HMV sell Network Blu-rays in their Irish stores in Dublin & Limerick?

[T4ffer]

Originally Posted by dublinbluray108

The Golden Discs website in Ireland are doing a clearance sale of some older Network Blu-rays. I got The Playboy of The Western World & Brief Encounter for €10 each along with the Oppenheimer 4K Ultimate Collector's Edition & Joker Foile Le Deux 4K Steelbook just over a week ago. This is probably the first time ever that I had purchased Network Blu-rays from Golden Discs. They are usually sold in Tower Records shops in Dublin and on their own website. Do HMV sell Network Blu-rays in their Irish stores in Dublin & Limerick?

The Playboy of The Western World is 8,95€ on Rarewaves (but Brief Encounter is 16,95€)

[Deadend45]

Originally Posted by dublinbluray108

The Golden Discs website in Ireland are doing a clearance sale of some older Network Blu-rays.

Do you know how the 2 FOR €20 blu-rays are priced adjusted on that site?

[dublinbluray108]

Originally Posted by Deadend45

Do you know how the 2 FOR €20 blu-rays are priced adjusted on that site?

The 2 for €20 Blu-ray deal has individual Blu-rays priced at €12 each. A €4 discount is applied when both of them are in the checkout.

[Deadend45]

Originally Posted by dublinbluray108

The 2 for €20 Blu-ray deal has individual Blu-rays priced at €12 each. A €4 discount is applied when both of them are in the checkout.

Stays the same price at checkout for me.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by cutback73

The synopsis on Renownfilms for The Vise says there were 65 episodes. Of which there are 21 listed on the blu ray set, so presumably Network were aiming to release the series in 3 volumes if it had been successful.

[Show spoiler]The Vise was the first series with a rotating cast, this then morphed into The Vise: Mark Saber with a single fixed main character, and then it was renamed Saber of London (note these are the UK series titles, I believe there were different titles in the US).

The Renownfilms synopsis on The Vise says there were over 150 episodes in total, so The Vise: Mark Saber and Saber of London must amount to about 90 episodes in total.

Re the missing episodes of The Vise, this will eventually be known via the Talking Pictures listings, for example the first 2 episodes on the blu ray are episodes 4 and 5 according to TPTV.

At 150 episodes, if they show one episode a week, we should have the full episode listing by 2029

It'll probably be a similar year with how long it'll take Talking Pictures to show the surviving black and white episodes of Z-Cars (hoping they'll start in September or October).

Unless someone can do a deal with Renown Pictures to release the other surviving episodes of The Vise that Network didn't get to before they closed, my hope is Renown will do at least a DVD boxset release (but I'm not holding my breath).

[Deadend45]

The Lime Light site has old Network releases:
https://limelightcollection.co.uk/co...rice-ascending

Not sure if this has been post about before.