Aaron Sorkin's THE NEWSROOM The Complete First Season - HBO Pre-order on Amazon

[KilloWertz]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

HBO is doing the same thing they did with "Mildred Pierce," throwing in DVDs I don't want as a justification for their extortionate prices. Why can't they just offer the BD individually for maybe $10 more than the DVD.

The list prices are $60 for DVD and $80 for BD! I know, I know, almost nobody pays MSRP, but my point is that those high prices are the base from which the final price begins. A 10 episode TV series should not be $56 on BD on Amazon right now. It's insane. I can't see it ever getting much lower than $40-$45.

"Mad Men" seasons routinely sell for $10 at holidays on Amazon and can usually be found for around $20. I find it hard to believe that The Newsroom costs THAT much more to produce.

Actually, HBO shows have gone down in price on release day over the years, not up. So, in the end, the included DVDs aren't a justification for anything.

Also, as with every release, you won't have to pay anywhere near what the pre-order price is months before it releases. No reason to complain about the $56 price when you won't be paying anywhere near that much when it matters.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by KilloWertz

Actually, HBO shows have gone down in price on release day over the years, not up. So, in the end, the included DVDs aren't a justification for anything.

Also, as with every release, you won't have to pay anywhere near what the pre-order price is months before it releases. No reason to complain about the $56 price when you won't be paying anywhere near that much when it matters.

True, but as I pointed out, I was actually complaining that I won't be paying $10 to $20 but more like $35 for a show that only has 10 episodes a season when Mad Men, for example, has 13.

[Coasterghost]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

True, but as I pointed out, I was actually complaining that I won't be paying $10 to $20 but more like $35 for a show that only has 10 episodes a season when Mad Men, for example, has 13.

Would you complain if you had to pay for The walking dead season 3 and 3.5 for 20-40 dollar apiece like how syfy did that with ghost hunters many years ago.

[gettodamoofies]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

True, but as I pointed out, I was actually complaining that I won't be paying $10 to $20 but more like $35 for a show that only has 10 episodes a season when Mad Men, for example, has 13.

I think you're re-writing history there. Mad Men has never been $10 to $20 ON RELEASE on Amazon which is what you're comparing here. You need to compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges.

According to price tracking Mad Men Season 5 was $29.99 on release and has never been lower than $24.99 since release 4 months ago. Mad Men Season 4 was $29.99 also on release and took 6 months to go sub-$25. According to price tracking here season three was around $32.50 on release and season two was around $29 on release.

So, considering most HBO shows have been going for $35 on release week that means you're paying about $5 more. Considering the premium HBO shows have often attracted and the general high quality of the discs I don't think a $5 jump is too bad - it's certainly the smallest the price difference between HBO shows and series from other studios has ever been. Factor in the classy DigiPaks usually associated with HBO shows instead of the standard cases and the inclusion of the DVD and Digital Copies and I think that it's a damn good deal on release. Even if you're not a fan of the DVDs and Digital Copies the above info makes it pretty clear you'd have a hard time proving that their inclusion is the reason the price is "higher".

As for the number of episodes you also need to consider that traditionally HBO shows run longer than other shows. Generally the first episodes (and sometimes the last) run around 70 mins and the rest around 52-55 mins. Mad Men is usually around 45-48 from what I recall. That means an extra 7 or so mins on the regular episodes and about 22 on the first episode. That's a minimum of another 85 mins or basically two episodes of Mad Men so in reality it's less than an hour of content difference.

The fact is that HBO shows have never had a lower price than now and the price difference between HBO and other shows has never been smaller so if anything you're getting the best prices and more value for money with HBO shows than ever before. If you think $35 is too much for a season of TV on release week fair enough but that doesn't mean it's not a good price and good value for money - it may just not be worth that to you. Thinking of how much a season of a show like The X-Files or the Star Trek series went for on DVD when originally released makes this a steal. Hell, Star Trek: TNG is going for almost twice as much on Blu-ray when it's released! 10 hours of movie-quality content provided on three different formats in classy packaging for $35 on release day sounds pretty good to me...

[bluskies]

There is a live Paleyfest event tonight of The Newsroom creator and cast starting around 7:35 pm PST and it is goingto be streamed live over Livestream.com. Here's a link and you can probably figure out the way to join livestream.com (it doesn't cost anything.) I am currently watching the livestream of Once Upon A Time event and the video and audio are good.

http://new.livestream.com/paleycenter

[bluskies]

I just got back from the event and it was great.

It will be on Hulu tomorrow.

One thing that they didn't show on the webcast was a 10-minute clip we got to see from the first episode of the second season, which takes place one week after the American Taliban broadcast, and the reaction to it.

After the interviews, all the cast members were signing autographs. By the time I came down from the balcony, only Olivia Munn, Dev Patel, and one other were left.

And I think Olivia M. made a lot of new fans. She was gracious with everyone and literally crossed the stage from left to right on her knees, signing autographs and taking pictures with her fans. And must have been hard because she was very a short dress that was also very lowcut.





I was standing next to one guy who was aiming his cellphone at her, while video recording her, and asked if she would say hi to his son. She was great and pretended to be cross, saying the son's name and "Where are you?! I've been waiting three hours for you!"