"Blockbuster[5] formerly called Blockbuster Video is an American multimedia brand and former rental store chain. The business was founded by David Cook in 1985 as a single home video rental shop, but later became a public store chain featuring video game rentals, DVD-by-mail, streaming, video on demand, and cinema theater.[6] The logo was designed by Lee Dean at the Rominger Agency.[7][8][9][10] The company expanded internationally throughout the 1990s. At its peak in 2004,[11][12] Blockbuster employed 84,300 people worldwide and operated 9,094 stores.[13]

Poor leadership and the impact of the Great Recession were major factors leading to Blockbuster's decline, as was the growing competition from Netflix's mail-order service, video on demand, and Redbox automated kiosks. Significant loss of revenue occurred during the late 2000s, and the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010.[14][15] The next year, its remaining 1,700 stores were bought by satellite television provider Dish Network,[16][17] and by 2014, the last 300 company-owned stores were closed.[18] Although corporate support for the brand ended, Dish retained a small number of franchise agreements, enabling some privately owned franchises to remain open. Following a series of further closures in 2019, only one franchised store remains open, located in Bend, Oregon, United States.[11][12][13][19][20][21]
History
1985–1996: David Cook era and early growth
A Blockbuster store in Durham, North Carolina

Blockbuster's beginnings can be traced back to another company, Cook Data Services, founded by David Cook in 1978.[3][22] The company's primary goal was to supply software services to the oil and gas industries throughout Texas, but it was very unsuccessful.[22] Sandy Cook, David's wife, wanted to get into the video business, and her husband would soon study the industry and future prospects.[23] Using profit he made from the sale of David P. Cook & Associates, the subsidiary of his company, he decided to buy into a video store franchise in Dallas known as Video Works. When Video Works would not allow him to decorate the interior of his store with a blue-and-yellow design, he departed the franchise and opened the first Blockbuster Video in 1985 under his own company Blockbuster Video Inc.[24][25] When he realized the potential in video rentals, Cook abandoned the oil industry and began franchising the Blockbuster store.[26]

The first Blockbuster store opened on October 19, 1985, in Dallas, Texas, with an inventory of 8,000 VHS and 2,000 Beta tapes.[27][28][29] The chain's name is derived from the term blockbuster, a Hollywood term for a successful film. Cook's experience with managing huge databases proved helpful in driving innovation within the industry.[3] Following early success from the company's first stores, Cook built a $6-million warehouse in Garland, Texas, to help sustain and support future growth that allowed new stores to open quickly.[3] Blockbuster would often custom-tailor a store's inventory to its neighborhood, based on local demographics.[3]

In 1987, Waste Management co-founder Wayne Huizenga, who originally had reservations about entering the video rental industry, agreed to acquire several Blockbuster stores.[30] At that time, there were 19 stores, attracting Huizenga's associate John Melk's attention due to its efficiency, family-friendly no-pornography image and business model. Huizenga and Melk utilized techniques from their waste business and Ray Kroc's model of expansion to rapidly expand Blockbuster, and soon they were opening a new store every 24 hours.[31][32] They took over many of the existing Blockbuster franchise stores, and Huizenga spent much of the late 1980s acquiring several of Blockbuster's rivals, including Major Video. In 1989, Nintendo attempted to halt Blockbuster's ability to rent video games, filing multiple lawsuits and lobbying the U.S. Congress to ban the practice.[33] Nintendo ultimately lost the battle, which paved the way for future video game rental.[33][34]

Blockbuster sponsored the Blockbuster Bowl in American football, which began in 1990[35] and was played at Joe Robbie Stadium outside Miami. The first three editions were played under that name before Blockbuster withdrew its sponsorship.
Blockbuster membership card (c. 1990)

In 1990, Blockbuster bought mid-Atlantic rival Erol's which had more than 250 stores.[36] In 1992, Blockbuster acquired the Sound Warehouse and Music Plus music retail chains and created Blockbuster Music.[37][38] In October 1993, Blockbuster took a controlling interest in Spelling Entertainment Group, a media company run by television producer Aaron Spelling.[39] Blockbuster purchased Super Club Retail Entertainment Corp. on November 22, 1993, from Philips Electronics, N.V. for 5.2 million shares of Blockbuster stock. This brought approximately 270 Record Bar, Tracks, Turtles and Rhythm and Views music stores and approximately 160 video retail superstores into the corporation.[40] It also owned 35% of Republic Pictures; that company merged with Spelling in April 1994.[41]

Blockbuster became a multibillion-dollar company, but Huizenga was worried about how new technology could threaten their business, such as video on demand and the growth of cable television. In 1991, just three days after Time Warner had announced it would upgrade its cable system, Blockbuster's shares dropped more than 10 percent.[42] In 1993, he made an attempt to expand into other areas by investing in Viacom.[43][44] Huizenga also considered buying a cable company, but this was unknown territory for Blockbuster and he decided not to take the risk. He also had the idea of a 2,500-acre Blockbuster sports and amusement park in Florida, something Blockbuster was still considering as late as August 1994.[45] Unable to come up with a proper solution about how to face the growing threats to the traditional videostore, he made the decision to sell Blockbuster to Viacom and pull out.[46] Viacom acquired Blockbuster in 1994 for $8.4 billion to help finance its bid for Paramount in the bidding war with QVC Network Inc.[47][48] Blockbuster's stock trade had been dropping steadily the months before the merger, with a small rise after the deal was announced,[49] and by the latter part of the decade, its worth was estimated to have fallen to just $4.6 billion.[50]

The Blockbuster Block Party concept was test-marketed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1994. It was an "entertainment complex" aimed at adults, containing eight themed areas housing a restaurant, games, laser tag arena, and motion simulator rides, and was housed in a windowless building the size of a city block.[51]

During the 1990s Blockbuster expanded in the United Kingdom, purchasing the country's Ritz Video chain. The stores were rebranded to Blockbuster.[citation needed]

The original Blockbuster company, Blockbuster Video Inc., was merged into the parent company Blockbuster Entertainment Inc. which had earlier replaced the Blockbuster Entertainment Company. In 1996, Blockbuster Entertainment Inc. merged into a new Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation[52] and the retail stores, then called Blockbuster Video, were renamed Blockbuster. The logo changed slightly, but retained the ITC Machine font.[53] In November 1996 Blockbuster confirmed that it was moving its headquarters from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the Renaissance Tower in downtown Dallas.[54] Most of the workers at the Florida headquarters did not want to relocate, so Blockbuster planned to hire around 500 to 600 new employees for its Dallas headquarters. The company had offered various relocation packages to all of its Fort Lauderdale staff.[55] The second Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation was later merged into Blockbuster, Inc.[citation needed]
1997–2006: John Antioco era, Netflix sale turndown, and financial peak

In June 1997, Taco Bell president John Antioco resigned from the company to become CEO of Blockbuster.[56] Also that year, Warner Bros. offered Antioco an exclusive rental deal, seeing as DVDs were emerging as the new home video medium. Blockbuster was to have rights to rent new DVD releases for a period of time before they went on sale to the general public. The studio was to receive 40% of rental revenues in return, which was the same deal already in place for VHS rentals. Blockbuster turned the offer down, and the studio responded by lowering its DVD wholesale price in order to compete with the rental industry. Walmart seized the opportunity and in a few years surpassed Blockbuster as the studios' single largest source of revenue. Other mass retailers soon followed suit, selling DVDs below wholesale price as a loss leader in hopes of drawing more customers to their stores and selling them more profitable items. Unable to match prices, Blockbuster's business model was severely affected.[57]

In 1998, Blockbuster created DEJ Productions, which acquired 225 films primarily to provide exclusive content to its Blockbuster stores prior to being sold off to First Look Studios in 2005.[58] During that same year, Blockbuster bought the Irish video rental store Xtra-vision, with over 200 stores in Ireland and the United Kingdom. In 2009, Blockbuster sold off its Irish operations to Birchall Investments, with the few Xtra-vision stores in the United Kingdom being rebranded as Blockbuster.
A Blockbuster sign in Stamford, Connecticut, which stood until March 2023, when it was removed and listed for sale online[59]

In late 1998, Blockbuster launched a loyalty program called Blockbuster Rewards that allowed customers to earn free rentals, including one older title each month from the category of Blockbuster Favorites. After the 1998 test launch, the chain went nationwide with the program in 1999.[60]

In August the same year, Viacom sold the Blockbuster Music chain to Wherehouse Entertainment, which was subsequently purchased by Trans World Entertainment in 2003.[61]

In mid-2000, the company partnered with Enron in an attempt to create a video-on-demand service.[62] The agreement was supposed to last for 20 years; however, Enron terminated the deal in March 2001 over fears that Blockbuster would not be able to provide sufficient films for the service (Enron also filed for bankruptcy that year).[63] Also in 2000, Blockbuster turned down a chance to purchase the fledgling Netflix for $50 million (~$84.9M in 2024).[64]

In 2002, Blockbuster acquired Movie Trading Company, a Dallas chain that buys, sells, and trades movies and games, to study potential business models for DVD and game trading. Also that year, it acquired Gamestation, a 64-store UK computer and console games retailer chain, and purchased DVD Rental Central for $1 million, an Arizona father-and-son online DVD-rental company with about ten thousand subscribers. DVD Rental Central would eventually become Blockbuster Online.[65]

On or around October 14, 2004, Blockbuster was spun-off from Viacom. Online DVD subscriptions were introduced on Blockbuster.com, also known as Blockbuster Online.[66] Blockbuster also rolled out its "Game Rush" store-in-store concept to approximately 450 domestic company-operated stores. Blockbuster began game and DVD trading in selected U.S. stores.[67]

At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster had more than 9,000 stores worldwide.[12] In December 2004, Blockbuster announced its intention to pursue a hostile takeover of Hollywood Video, its major U.S. competitor.[68] After several extensions of the tender offer, Blockbuster withdrew due to FTC opposition.[69] To counter the Blockbuster offer, Hollywood Video agreed to a buyout in January 2005 by a smaller competitor, the Dothan, Alabama-based Movie Gallery. Since then, Movie Gallery has filed for bankruptcy twice and its entire chain of stores has been liquidated.

In May 2005, financier Carl Icahn waged a successful proxy fight to add himself and two other members to the board. Icahn accused Blockbuster of overpaying chairman and CEO John F. Antioco, who had served in that capacity since 1997, receiving $51.6 million in compensation for 2004. Icahn was also at odds with Antioco on how to revive profit at Blockbuster. Antioco scrapped late fees in January, started an internet service, and decided to keep the company independent, while Icahn wanted to sell out to a private equity firm.[70] Also in 2005, Blockbuster began a campaign promoting its "No more late fees" policy.[71] The campaign proved controversial, with Associated Press reporting that the new policy actually charged users the full price of the movie or game after eight days which they could cancel by returning the product in question and paying a fee.[72] More than 40 states filed suit against the company for false advertising.[72] Blockbuster later settled the suit by agreeing to refunds, as well as promising to better explain the policy.[72]

Vintage Stock acquired the Movie Trading Company name from Blockbuster in 2006, and continues to use the name for Dallas-area stores.[73]
2007–2011: James Keyes era, financial decline, and bankruptcy
Blockbuster DVD-by-mail envelope

A billion-dollar campaign called "Total Access" was introduced in 2007 as a strategy against Netflix. Through Blockbuster Online, customers could rent a DVD online and receive a new movie for free when they returned it to a Blockbuster store. While it was a major success every free movie cost the company two dollars, but the hope was that it would attract enough new subscribers to cover the loss. Netflix felt threatened, and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings approached Antioco with a suggestion to buy Blockbuster's online business. In return, a new system would be introduced where customers could return their movies to a Blockbuster store. Before the deal could be realized, board member Carl Icahn intervened, refusing to let the company lose more money through Total Access. Antioco was pushed out in July and replaced with James Keyes, who rejected Hastings' proposal, raised the price of online DVD rentals and put an end to the free movie deal. As a consequence, Blockbuster Online's previously massive growth quickly stopped.[74] Antioco's departure reportedly also involved continued controversy over his compensation. He left with a $24.7 million severance package.[75]

On June 19, 2007, after a pilot program launched in late 2006, Blockbuster announced that it had chosen Blu-ray over HD DVD format to rent in a majority of its stores. In the pilot program, Blockbuster offered selected titles for rental and sale in 250 stores. Blockbuster stocked Blu-ray titles in almost 5,000 stores across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Australia.[76]

On July 2, 2007, the company named James W. Keyes, former president and CEO of 7-Eleven, as the new chairman and CEO. He introduced a new business strategy that included enhancements to existing stores. The following month in August, Blockbuster acquired Movielink for $6.6 million, forecasting a shift to streaming video.[77] Movielink was an online video service that allowed customers to download movie rentals from a library of over 6,000 films, created in 2002 by five major studios including Warner Bros, MGM Studios, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, and Universal Studios.[78] The move gave Blockbuster the opportunity to move away from the unprofitable Total Access (DVD-by-mail) service in favor of online streaming. Despite growing competition from Netflix and Redbox, the company downplayed the threat, choosing instead to focus on Apple and Walmart as their primary competition.[79]

On September 14, 2007, Blockbuster GB Ltd bought a number of retail stores from ChoicesUK plc. ChoicesUK is an AIM-listed multi-channel distributor and retailer of DVDs, computer games, and CDs. The sale secured employment for approximately 450 employees across 59 stores in the UK. As part of the transaction, Blockbuster GB rebranded the stores as Blockbuster.[citation needed]

On February 17, 2008, Blockbuster proposed a buyout of struggling Circuit City. However, following a due diligence review of Circuit City's financial books, Blockbuster withdrew its offer in July 2008. Analysts were not favorable to the proposed deal, viewing it as a desperate effort to save two struggling retailers rather than a bold turnaround initiative.[80] Subsequently, Circuit City filed for bankruptcy on November 10, 2008, and, after liquidating all of its stores, ceased operations on March 8, 2009.[81]

At the beginning of 2010, Blockbuster had over 6,500 stores, of which 4,000 were in the U.S.—[82] a number that fell to 3,425 in late October the same year.[83] In the United States it planned to close between 810 and 960 retail stores, and instead launch as many as 10,000 "Blockbuster Express" video rental kiosks by the middle of 2010.[84] It has been claimed that more than 43 million U.S. households had Blockbuster memberships.[85]

On February 10, 2010, Blockbuster announced that it would cease all its operations in Portugal, closing down 17 outlets and leaving over 100 workers unemployed. Blockbuster representatives in Portugal blamed internet piracy and the lack of government response to it as the key factors to the company's failure in the country.[86]

In March 2010, Blockbuster began "Additional Daily Rates", or "ADRs", for rentals not returned by their due date in the United States, having already used this procedure in other countries such as the UK for many years. An ADR was charged for each day a member kept the rental beyond the rental terms. On March 12, 2010, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Blockbuster's independent registered public accounting firm, issued its audit opinion disclosing substantial doubt about Blockbuster's ability to continue as a going concern. This report was included in Blockbusters's 10-K SEC filing. On March 17, 2010, Blockbuster issued a bankruptcy warning after continued drops in revenue threatened its ability to service its nearly $1 billion (~$1.36 billion in 2023) debt load. By April 1, 2010, Carl Icahn had resigned from Blockbuster's board of directors and sold nearly all his remaining Blockbuster stock.[87] Blockbuster paired up with Time Warner to have Warner Bros. movies made available in Blockbuster stores on the DVD release date and not be subject to a four-week delay.[citation needed] Similar agreements were also made with Universal and 20th Century Fox.

The liquidation of Movie Gallery began in May 2010, eliminating Blockbuster's primary competitor. During the same month a dissident shareholder, Gregory S. Meyer, in an effort to be elected to Blockbuster's board of directors, engaged in a proxy battle with Blockbuster's board, alleging that the board had been responsible for significant destruction of value to shareholders. Meyer was elected to the board at Blockbuster's shareholder meeting in Dallas on June 24, 2010.

On July 1, 2010, the company was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after its shareholders failed to pass a reverse stock split plan aimed at heading off involuntary delisting because of the stock's trading at well below $1 (~$1.00 in 2023) per share.[88] The stock was then traded on the OTCBB (over-the-counter bulletin board).
A Blockbuster store in the Midwest (2012)

Blockbuster was unable to make a $42.4 million(~$57.8 million in 2023) interest payment to bondholders and was given until August 13, 2010, to pay off the debt. The company hired Jeff Stegenga to be its chief restructuring officer (CRO) in an effort to satisfy bondholder demands and recapitalize the company. After failing to pay on August 13, bondholders gave Blockbuster until September 30, 2010.

On August 26, 2010, news media reported that Blockbuster was planning to file a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy in mid-September. In light of this news, the company's chief financial officer (CFO), Tom Casey, resigned on September 11. He was replaced by Dennis McGill, formerly CFO of Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc. On September 23, 2010, Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to challenging losses, $900 million (~$1.23 billion in 2023) in debt, and strong competition from Netflix, Redbox, and video on-demand services.[89][90] Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation earlier in 2010 for similar reasons.[91]

At the time of its Chapter 11 filing, Blockbuster said it would keep its 3,300 stores open;[92] however, that December it announced it would close an additional 182 stores by the end of April 2011 in attempts to emerge from bankruptcy.[93] It was reported in February 2011 that Blockbuster and its creditors had not come up with a Chapter 11 exit plan and that the company would be sold for $300 million (~$401 million in 2023) or more, along with taking over debts and leases.[92] Blockbuster admitted that it might not be able to meet financial obligations required under its Chapter 11 filing, a circumstance which could mandate conversion of the bankruptcy filing to Chapter 7 (liquidation).[94] On March 1, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a claim disclosing that Blockbuster did not have the funds to continue reorganizing and should liquidate.

On March 28, 2011, South Korean telecommunications company SK Telecom made a surprise bid to buy Blockbuster.[95] Dish Network had also expressed interest in bidding, as did Carl Icahn, despite calling Blockbuster "the worst investment I ever made".[96] Dish eventually won the auction on April 6, 2011, agreeing to buy Blockbuster for $320 million and the assumption of $87 million in liabilities and other obligations.[16] On April 19, 2011, it was announced that Dish would keep only 500 Blockbuster stores open. The acquisition was completed on April 26, 2011.[17][97] In April 2011, Dish Network told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court that it needed more time to negotiate with landlords in an effort to keep more than 600 Blockbuster stores open.[98]

In April 2011, Blockbuster's landlords objected to its assumption of leases that it sought to assign to soon-to-be-owner Dish Network Corp., claiming that they did not have adequate assurance that the new owner would honor those leases. Blockbuster signed a deal with ITV Studios Global Entertainment to launch ITV Programmes released on DVDs, Blu-rays, etc.[99] On May 6, 2011, Keyes resigned as Blockbuster's CEO.
2011–2015: Michael Kelly era

Keyes was replaced by Michael Kelly under the new title of Blockbuster's president. On August 31, 2011, the liquidators announced the closure of the remaining 253 Canadian stores and shutting of the entire Canadian unit.[100] In September 2011, it was announced that Blockbuster and Dish Network would launch a new service called Blockbuster Movie Pass that would compete with Netflix. For US$10 per month the members would have access to both a streaming service and movies and games-by-mail. The package was only available for subscribers of Dish Network's pay-TV service, and it eventually folded.[101][102]
A "now closed" Blockbuster store in Ypsilanti, Michigan undergoing a liquidation sale in 2013

On January 13, 2012, Dish CEO Joe Clayton announced that while Dish had planned to keep 90% of the stores in operation, meaning around 15,000 employees would remain employed, because of market factors "there are ones that aren't going to make it. We will close unprofitable stores. We will close additional stores." Clayton did not say when these additional closings would happen and only remarked that some stores were unprofitable. The Dish chief would not say which stores the company was planning to close, but that each potential closing was to be assessed on a "case by case basis".[103]

On October 4, 2012, Dish Network announced that it was scrapping plans to make Blockbuster into a Netflix competitor.[104] On January 16, 2013, Blockbuster UK entered into administration and Deloitte was appointed to run the business while trying to find a buyer while some of the stores remained open.[citation needed][105] Between November 6, 2013, and January 12, 2014, all 300 remaining corporate-owned Blockbuster stores in the U.S. were closed and the DVD-by-mail program was shut down.[106][107][108][109] The Blockbuster official website identified 51 franchise locations remaining in operation in the U.S. in 2014.[110] Dish maintained its video streaming services, Blockbuster on Demand and Blockbuster@Home,[111] until they were replaced by a new subscription service in April 2015 called "DISH Movie Pack".[112][113] In May 2015, Michael Kelly retired from Dish.[114]

Blockbuster's decline was attributed to poor leadership according to others in the industry. Franchise owner Ken Tisher said in 2015, "Blockbuster, if it isn't already, is going to go into the Harvard Business Review for how not to run a business, or how to run a business into the ground."[115] Keith Hoogland, owner of Family Video, attributed poor decision-making as a primary reason the company did not survive.[116] Jonathan Salem Baskin, a former Blockbuster marketing communications executive, stated, "Digital would have changed Blockbuster's business, for sure, but it wasn't its killer. That credit belongs to Blockbuster itself."[117] Commentators view Blockbuster as a main example of failing to change with the times.[118][119][120]
2015–present: Post-Kelly era and continual decline
Main article: Blockbuster (Bend, Oregon)
The last remaining Blockbuster located in Bend, Oregon

Although Blockbuster stores had the option of remaining open by paying a licensing fee to Dish,[121] a corporate entity was no longer available to provide supplies of branded products, forcing franchisees to design and produce their own.[122] Additional store closures continued.[123][124][125] By January 2018,[126] the company's website listed nine remaining franchise-owned stores in the U.S., including six in Alaska, two in Oregon, and one in Texas.[127][128] Eight of those nine had closed by August 2018, leaving only one store in Bend, Oregon.[21][129]

In January 2020, the last remaining store outside of the United States, located in Dargaville, New Zealand, closed its doors.[130] The Bend location became the last remaining Blockbuster in the world;[20] it serves as a tourist destination, housing Blockbuster memorabilia and Russell Crowe film props which John Oliver had donated to an Alaska store.[131] In August 2020, the location was listed as an Airbnb rental for a 1990s-themed sleepover on three separate nights in September; each were limited to guests from the area in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.[132][133]

The entity that operated Blockbuster prior to the sale to Dish remains nominally active under the name BB Liquidating Inc., and trades as a penny stock.[134] However, it no longer has any assets or ties to the Blockbuster brand or its remaining franchise location.[135] In activity related to the GameStop short squeeze of January 2021, the BB Liquidating stock surged, despite there being "no value for the common shareholders in the bankruptcy liquidation process, even under the most optimistic of scenarios."[136]

On September 21, 2022, the Blockbuster Twitter account revealed the Blockbuster World Video Game Championship 3. The event was held during the Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2022.[137] On March 23, 2023, the Blockbuster web page was re-activated, with the message "We are working on rewinding your movie".[138]
Business model

The standard business model for video rental stores had traditionally been to pay a large flat fee per video, approximately $65, and offer unlimited rentals for the lifetime of the medium itself. Sumner Redstone, whose Viacom conglomerate then owned Blockbuster, personally pioneered a new revenue-sharing arrangement for video. Blockbuster obtained videos for little cost and kept 60% of the rental fee, paying the other 40% to the studio, and reporting rental information through the global media measurement and research company Rentrak. In addition to benefiting from a lower initial price, Blockbuster also capitalized on the fact that movies were generally not available for purchase at affordable price points during initial release periods. Thus customers had a choice to rent, wait, or buy the film on tape at the much higher manufacturer's suggested retail price targeted at other rental chains and film enthusiasts, which at that time ranged between $70–$100 per title.[citation needed]
Quantity and selection of titles

Blockbuster stores followed a strategy of emphasizing access to the most popular new releases, obtaining early access and stocking many copies of the new-release titles, with a relatively narrower range of selections than traditional independent video stores.[139] Much of the shelf space in the stores was devoted to popular titles that were placed relatively sparsely on the shelves with the entire front cover visible, so customers could browse casually and quickly, rather than having a more diverse selection with fewer copies of each title. Blockbuster sometimes contracted with studios to obtain earlier access to new titles than other companies could achieve. Examples of such contracts were those in which Blockbuster became the exclusive rental chain for new releases from WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment, formally WWF, World Wrestling Federation), Funimation, Rhino, Paramount, DreamWorks, DWA, Universal, Lionsgate, Summit, Anchor Bay, Manga, The Weinstein Company, Dimension, Miramax, Hollywood, Touchstone, Disney, Buena Vista, 20th Century Fox, MGM/UA, Orion, Sony, Columbia, Tristar, Image, Shout! Factory, Warner Bros., HBO, New Line Cinema and Allumination FilmWorks.[140][141] As one commentator complained:

    Blockbuster was once an unstoppable giant whose franchises swept across the country putting mom and pop video stores out of business left and right by offering a larger selection of new releases, pricing them at a lower point due to the volume they worked in... Gone were the fragmented, independently owned shops that were often unorganized treasure troves of VHS discoveries. In their place were walls of new releases: hundreds of copies of a small handful of films. Everyone watching the same thing, everyone developing the same limited set of expectations... They put focus entirely on what was new rather than on discovering film history ...[139]

When a title was no longer a new release, each store would retain a few copies of it and typically sell off the rest as "previously viewed" for discounted prices.[142] Older movies would be re-categorized as "Blockbuster Favorite" titles and placed in a different area of the store.[143] Most Blockbuster locations also accepted trade-ins of used movies, TV shows, and games....International operations
Australia
A Blockbuster Video store in Wagga Wagga Marketplace, New South Wales, Australia
A Blockbuster store in Sandy Bay, an inner suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

In Australia, the first Blockbuster store was opened in 1991 in Melbourne. In 1992, the Virgin Group and Blockbuster Inc entered into a joint venture to set up Australia's first Virgin Megastores in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. This lasted until Virgin sold its interest in the six stores to Blockbuster, which promptly rebranded them in 1993 as Blockbuster Music. In 1994, Australian store numbers rose to 54 with the acquisition of Major Video and Focus chains in both Victoria and South Australia. In 1995, the growth continued with the opening of the 100th video store in the country. By the end of 1998, Blockbuster Australia opened over 125 stores. In July 1998, Blockbuster Australia launched into franchising with the conversion of the former Video Flicks franchise group in Queensland, and the former Movieland group in Western Australia six months later. Also in 1998, the company sold its last two Australian Blockbuster Music stores in Pitt Street, Sydney, and Chapel Street, Melbourne to Brazin Limited, which incorporated them under its Sanity Entertainment brand. Throughout 1999 and 2000, Blockbuster Australia quickly expanded its franchise store network through the conversion of smaller groups and the granting of individual franchises. Before 2005, this was done through the acquisition of the Movies Plus Group and the conversion of some individual Movies 4U and Movieland outlets.[159][160][161]

In February 2007, Blockbuster sold its entire Australian store network to Video Ezy. At the time, Blockbuster Australia comprised 370 outlets nationwide—29 owned by the company and 341 owned by franchisees. Video Ezy had 518 Australian outlets, all of them being owned by franchisees, pushing the combined group's market share to 40% of the country's video rental sector. Video Ezy committed to the master franchise agreement with Blockbuster for 10 years operating the brand with the possibility of renewal for a further 10 years after that. As a consequence of the deal, the company changed its name from Video Ezy to Franchise Entertainment Group (FEG).[162][163][164][165] In October 2010, FEG transferred control of the Video Ezy Australia and Blockbuster Australia online businesses to its newly acquired and reorganized company, Elan Media Partners, leaving FEG to manage the franchise relationships with individual Video Ezy and Blockbuster outlets.[166][167]

Despite the two brands coming together, Video Ezy and Blockbuster franchises closed 270 stores across Australia in the four years to August 2011. Additional store closings would go on for several years,[168][169][170][171] until all the stores in Australia had closed, although vending kiosks with the Blockbuster logo were still in operation until early 2021.[172][173][174] Australia's last Blockbuster store, in Morley, Western Australia, was closed at the end of March 2019.[175][176]
Brazil

Blockbuster was the largest video rental chain in the country, but finances were not good enough due to high rental prices. Lojas Americanas, the largest Brazilian department store, acquired half of the shares and now it is named under "Americanas Express Blockbuster". The store layout was similar to a regular American store with a Game Rush, but instead of games it offers electronics goods like computers and DVD players, groceries like candies and microwave popcorn, and even toys from Mattel and Hasbro's board games. In January 2007, when Blockbuster had 127 stores across Brazil, it sold its Brazilian stake for $87.4 million (~$124 million in 2023) and gave Lojas Americanas exclusive rights to the Blockbuster brand in the country for 20 years. The average store has an interior on about 400 m2, where 80-100 m2 is dedicated to movies.[177][178]
Canada
A Blockbuster store in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, which featured the 1985–1997 logo

In Canada, Blockbuster Canada (established in 1990) had operated independently, and it initially remained financially stable.[179] It began a partnership with Wind Mobile in December 2009, selling mobile phones at all stores in cities where Wind's service was available. Phone sales began in Toronto and Calgary, later expanding to other cities with Wind coverage. Some stores even featured a full Wind "store-in-a-store" for postpaid activations and a larger selection of devices.[180] However, on May 3, 2011, it was announced that the company had gone into receivership.[181] On May 25, 2011, it was announced that 146 stores, accounting for approximately 35% of the company's stores in Canada, would be shut down effective June 18, 2011. On August 31, 2011, Blockbuster Canada announced that no buyer could be found for its remaining stores that were acceptable to the court-appointed bankruptcy receiver, and that it would wind down operations and close all stores by December 31, 2011.[182] The company had acted as a guarantor towards Blockbuster's remaining debt.[182]
Denmark

Blockbuster came to Denmark in 1996 with the acquisition of the 29 Christianshavn video stores.[183] In 2009 they were on its peak with 72 stores across the country.[184] Blockbuster Video Denmark sold the rights for the Blockbuster brand to the Danish telecommunications corporation TDC in 2013, excluding the 46 remaining brick and mortar stores which continued as RecycleIT A/S, diversifying in refurbishing and reselling consumer electronics in addition sale and rental of games and movies.[83][185] The original goal was to rename all the stores before July 1, 2014, when TDC would get the exclusive rights to the brand name in Denmark, but only 12 of them had been renamed at the end of June and RecycleIT A/S filed for bankruptcy the same year.[186][187] The 12 RecycleIT stores were bought by the company Blue City.[188] The new owners planned to gradually phase out game and movie sales and rental within 2016, but due to the fast changes in the market it happened almost immediately after the takeover, and seven of the stores, therefore, closed in 2015. In 2017, the five remaining ones had started to make some profit, and focus exclusively on second-hand consumer electronics[189]

However, the Blockbuster On Demand service is still active in Nordic Countries, offering both unlimited streaming and 48-hour rental of films online. Several Smart TVs have the Blockbuster app pre-installed out-of-the-box, and it is available on a variety of streaming devices such as Google's Chromecast.[190] The rights to the Blockbuster brand are now in hands of Nuuday.[191]
Germany

Blockbuster opened 20 stores in Berlin and Munich and announced plans to open 250 more.[when?] The chain presented itself as family-friendly by not renting pornographic films. However, that decision adversely affected the profitability of the stores. Blockbuster left the German market in 1997.[192]
Hong Kong

In 1998, after the closure of KPS Video Express, Blockbuster saw an opportunity to enter into the Hong Kong market, and entered into negotiations with KPS's receivers Ernst & Young to buy the KPS operations. Blockbuster re-opened 15 of 38 former KPS stores by February 16, 1998, [193] and re-employed 145 former KPS staff.[194] KPS members were given special offers to join Blockbuster, but the video pre-paid coupon system was not retained.

Blockbuster pulled out of the market in 2004 after high operating costs and losses to copyright infringement.[195]
Ireland

In March 2010, Blockbuster announced that it intended to sell all operations in Europe. The company once had an Irish subsidiary, Xtravision, which did not operate under the Blockbuster brand name. Blockbuster sold Xtravision at a loss in August 2009 to Birchhall Investments Limited. All remaining stores were closed in 2016, leaving only its online business and vending machines. In June 2021, Xtravision Xpress was placed into voluntary receivership.[196][197]
Israel

In the late 2000s at its peak, Blockbuster Israel had 40 branches and more than 260 automated video rentals.[198][199] In December 2011, Blockbuster closed off its last branch store, and had only 80 automated video rentals left.[199]
Japan

In March 1991, Fujita Den Trading (which was the master franchise owner of McDonald's in Japan) and Blockbuster Inc. entered into a joint venture to establish Japan's first Blockbuster Video stores. By October 1992, Fujita and Blockbuster opened 15 stores in the country – four of them next to McDonald's outlets and most being located in the greater Tokyo area. Unlike Blockbuster's U.S. stores, each Japanese outlet only occupied about half the floor space at 5,000 square feet due to the country's more limited available real estate.[200][201] By June 1996, 32 stores were in operation with a public aim for 150 by 1998. Blockbuster Japan faced heavy competition from Osaka-based video rental chain, Tsutaya, with its 817 outlets, but the company saw opportunity in the population having high VCR ownership levels (at around 75%), low satellite TV penetration (at around 27%), and well-ordered store layouts (unique for most local video stores).[202] However, Blockbuster's business strategy of "wholesome home entertainment" saw it refuse to stock adult entertainment, which accounted for 35% of the Japanese video market, or the extreme horror films that were also popular. All of which meant Blockbuster was unable to fit adequately into the Japanese market, and was immediately put at a disadvantage compared to competitors that had no such ethical stance. Blockbuster handed its remaining shares over to Fujita Den Trading in 1999, and exited the Japanese market.[203]
Mexico

In September 2015, all remaining Blockbuster retail stores (263 in total) in Mexico had been converted to "The B Store", and the floor space dedicated to video rentals reduced from 70% to 20%, the remaining space being used for general technology and electronics sales. The re-branding occurred with the owners not renewing their license with Blockbuster and the imminent expiry of the existing license.[204][205] All remaining B-stores closed by July 2016.[206]
New Zealand

The chain also operated for many years in New Zealand,[207] but over the years lost customers to other retailers like United Video and Video Ezy, as well as the rise of streaming services. While the store in Bend, Oregon was generally regarded as the last Blockbuster store, there was one in Dargaville, north of Auckland, that managed to stay open until finally closing at the end of January 2020.[208]
Norway

In December 2002 the first Blockbuster store opened in Norway, and was followed by another store some months later in 2003, both located in Oslo. The hope was to acquire an already existing video chain. When that failed, it was made an attempt to build a Norwegian blockbuster chain from scratch. But both stores closed in the spring of 2004.[209]
Peru

Blockbuster opened its first store in Peru in 1995, and by 2002 it had ten stores in Lima. However, in 2006, Blockbuster announced that it plans to shut down its stores in Peru due to poor revenues, which it blamed on the effect of movie piracy.[210] The last store in Peru was closed on January 3, 2007. The company had already closed down its stores in Ecuador, Portugal and Costa Rica. El Salvador followed in 2010, and Argentina in 2011.[211]
United Kingdom
A Blockbuster store in Moor Allerton, Leeds
A "Blockbuster Express" shop in Harrogate, Yorkshire, typical of the smaller UK stores often located in established urban and suburban areas

In March 1989, Blockbuster opened their first store in the United Kingdom on Walworth Road, London.[212] In February 1992, Blockbuster purchased Citivision PLC, the biggest home-video company in Britain, for $81 million (~$173 million in 2023). At the time, Citivision operated about 775 stores in Britain branded as Ritz.[201]

Blockbuster UK operated trade functions in all their stores, buying and selling pre-owned DVDs, console games, and gaming accessories. Stores offered either store credit or cash for trade-ins, and would price-match with competitors. At its height in 2002, Blockbuster UK operated out of over 800 stores.

In early 2013, the company had 528 locations in the United Kingdom. On January 16, 2013, Blockbuster placed its United Kingdom subsidiaries in administration, putting over 4,000 jobs at risk. Non-UK stores were unaffected by the administration, and continued to trade as normal. On February 1, 2013, a large number of Blockbuster stores in the UK were closed, and the UK business was purchased out of administration by restructuring firm Gordon Brothers Europe on March 23, 2013.[213]

Blockbuster UK then traded as TS Operations, with only 264 branches retained. On October 29, 2013, Blockbuster UK announced it was to go into administration for a second time.[214] On November 14, 2013, 72 store closures were announced,[215] with another 62 made on December 5.[216] A week later, with no success in finding a buyer, it was announced by Moorfields Corporate Recovery that all remaining stores in the country would cease operation on December 16, 2013, with stock to be cleared the day before this.[217]

In September 2018, to coincide with the digital release of Deadpool 2, a pop-up retail store in the style of an original 1989 Blockbuster outlet was opened for two days in Shoreditch in East London. The store gave away 1,989 copies of the film in reference to Blockbuster's entry year into the UK market."(wikipedia.org)

 

"The VHS (Video Home System)[1][2][3] is a standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by the Victor Company of Japan (JVC). It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period in the late 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and early to mid 2000s.[4]

Magnetic tape video recording was adopted by the television industry in the 1950s in the form of the first commercialized video tape recorders (VTRs), but the devices were expensive and used only in professional environments. In the 1970s, videotape technology became affordable for home use, and widespread adoption of videocassette recorders (VCRs) began;[5] the VHS became the most popular media format for VCRs as it would win the "format war" against Betamax (backed by Sony)[6] and a number of other competing tape standards.

The cassettes themselves use a 0.5-inch magnetic tape between two spools[7] and typically offer a capacity of at least two hours. The popularity of VHS was intertwined with the rise of the video rental market,[8] with films being released on pre-recorded videotapes for home viewing.[9] Newer improved tape formats such as S-VHS were later developed, as well as the earliest optical disc format, LaserDisc; the lack of global adoption of these formats increased VHS's lifetime, which eventually peaked and started to decline in the late 1990s after the introduction of DVD, a digital optical disc format.[10] VHS rentals were surpassed by DVD in the United States in 2003,[11] which eventually became the preferred low-end method of movie distribution.[12] For home recording purposes, VHS and VCRs were surpassed by (typically hard disk–based) digital video recorders (DVR) in the 2000s....VHS development

In 1971, JVC engineers Yuma Shiraishi and Shizuo Takano put together a team to develop a VTR for consumers.[17]

By the end of 1971, they created an internal diagram, "VHS Development Matrix", which established twelve objectives for JVC's new VTR:[18]

    The system must be compatible with any ordinary television set.
    Picture quality must be similar to a normal air broadcast.
    The tape must have at least a two-hour recording capacity.
    Tapes must be interchangeable between machines.
    The overall system should be versatile, meaning it can be scaled and expanded, such as connecting a video camera, or dubbing between two recorders.
    Recorders should be affordable, easy to operate, and have low maintenance costs.
    Recorders must be capable of being produced in high volume, their parts must be interchangeable, and they must be easy to service.

In early 1972, the commercial video recording industry in Japan took a financial hit. JVC cut its budgets and restructured its video division, shelving the VHS project. However, despite the lack of funding, Takano and Shiraishi continued to work on the project in secret. By 1973, the two engineers had produced a functional prototype....Technical details

VHS has been standardized in IEC 60774-1.[33]
Cassette and tape design
Top view of VHS with front casing removed

The VHS cassette is a 187 mm wide, 103 mm deep, and 25 mm thick (73⁄8 × 41⁄16× 1 inch) plastic shell held together with five Phillips-head screws. The flip-up cover, which allows players and recorders to access the tape, has a latch on the right side, with a push-in toggle to release it (bottom view image). The cassette has an anti-despooling mechanism, consisting of several plastic parts between the spools, near the front of the cassette (white and black in the top view). The spool latches are released by a push-in lever within a 6.35 mm (1⁄4 inch) hole at the bottom of the cassette, 19 mm (3⁄4 inch) in from the edge label.[citation needed] The tapes are made, pre-recorded, and inserted into the cassettes in cleanrooms, to ensure quality and to keep dust from getting embedded in the tape and interfering with recording (both of which could cause signal dropouts)

There is a clear tape leader at both ends of the tape to provide an optical auto-stop for the VCR transport mechanism. In the VCR, a light source is inserted into the cassette through the circular hole in the center of the underside, and two photodiodes are on the left and right sides of where the tape exits the cassette. When the clear tape reaches one of these, enough light will pass through the tape to the photodiode to trigger the stop function; some VCRs automatically rewind the tape when the trailing end is detected. Early VCRs used an incandescent bulb as the light source: when the bulb failed, the VCR would act as if a tape were present when the machine was empty, or would detect the blown bulb and completely stop functioning. Later designs use an infrared LED, which has a much longer life.[citation needed]

The recording medium is a Mylar[34] magnetic tape, 12.7 mm (1⁄2 inch) wide, coated with metal oxide, and wound on two spools.

The tape speed for "Standard Play" mode (see below) is 3.335 cm/s (1.313 ips) for NTSC, 2.339 cm/s (0.921 ips) for PAL—or just over 2.0 and 1.4 metres (6 ft 6.7 in and 4 ft 7.2 in) per minute respectively. The tape length for a T-120 VHS cassette is 247.5 metres (812 ft).[35]
Tape loading technique
VHS M-loading system

As with almost all cassette-based videotape systems, VHS machines pull the tape out of the cassette shell and wrap it around the inclined head drum, which rotates at 1,800 rpm in NTSC machines[36] and at 1,500 rpm for PAL, one complete rotation of the head corresponding to one video frame. VHS uses an "M-loading" system, also known as M-lacing, where the tape is drawn out by two threading posts and wrapped around more than 180 degrees of the head drum (and also other tape transport components) in a shape roughly approximating the letter M.[37] The heads in the rotating drum get their signal wirelessly using a rotary transformer.
Recording capacity
The interior of a late-generation VHS VCR showing the drum and tape

A VHS cassette holds a maximum of about 430 m (1,410 ft) of tape at the lowest acceptable tape thickness, giving a maximum playing time of about four hours in a T-240/DF480 for NTSC and five hours in an E-300 for PAL at "standard play" (SP) quality. More frequently, however, VHS tapes are thicker than the required minimum to avoid complications such as jams or tears in the tape.[24] Other speeds include "long play" (LP), "extended play" (EP) or "super long play" (SLP) (standard on NTSC; rarely found on PAL machines[38]). For NTSC, LP and EP/SLP double and triple the recording time accordingly, but these speed reductions cause a reduction in horizontal resolution – from the normal equivalent of 250 vertical lines in SP, to the equivalent of 230 in LP and even less in EP/SLP.

Due to the nature of recording diagonally from a spinning drum, the actual write speed of the video heads does not get slower when the tape speed is reduced. Instead, the video tracks become narrower and are packed closer together. This results in noisier playback that can be more difficult to track correctly: The effect of subtle misalignment is magnified by the narrower tracks. The heads for linear audio are not on the spinning drum, so for them, the tape speed from one reel to the other is the same as the speed of the heads across the tape. This speed is quite slow: for SP it is about 2/3s that of an audio cassette, and for EP it is slower than the slowest microcassette speed. This is widely considered inadequate for anything but basic voice playback, and was a major liability for VHS-C camcorders that encouraged the use of the EP speed. Color depth deteriorates significantly at lower speeds in PAL: often, a color image on a PAL tape recorded at low speed is displayed only in monochrome, or with intermittent color, when playback is paused.[citation needed]
Tape lengths
VHS cassette with time scale for SP and LP
VHS cassettes of different play time labelled both for NTSC and PAL

VHS cassettes for NTSC and PAL/SECAM systems are physically identical, although the signals recorded on the tape are incompatible. The tape speeds are different too, so the playing time for any given cassette will vary between the systems. To avoid confusion, manufacturers indicate the playing time in minutes that can be expected for the market the tape is sold in: E-XXX indicates playing time in minutes for PAL or SECAM. T-XXX indicates playing time in minutes for NTSC or PAL-M.

To calculate the playing time for a T-XXX tape in a PAL machine, this formula is used:

    PAL/SECAM recording time = T-XXX in minutes × 1.426

To calculate the playing time for an E-XXX tape in an NTSC machine, this formula is used:

    NTSC recording time = E-XXX in minutes × 0.701

Since the recording/playback time for PAL/SECAM is roughly 1/3 longer than the recording/playback time for NTSC, some tape manufacturers label their cassettes with both T-XXX and E-XXX marks, like T60/E90, T90/E120 and T120/E180.

SP is standard play, LP is long play (1⁄2 speed, equal to recording time in DVHS "HS" mode), EP/SLP is extended/super long play (1⁄3 speed)[39] which was primarily released into the NTSC market....Decline

The video cassette recorder was a mainstay in television-equipped American and European living rooms for more than twenty years from its introduction in the late 1970s. The home television recording market, as well as the camcorder market, has since transitioned to digital recording on solid-state memory cards. The introduction of the DVD format to American consumers in March 1997 triggered the market share decline of VHS.[10]

DVD rentals surpassed those on the VHS format in the United States for the first time in June 2003.[75] The Hill said that David Cronenberg's movie A History of Violence, sold on VHS in 2006, was "widely believed to be the last instance of a major motion picture to be released in that format".[76][77] By December 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported on "the final truckload of VHS tapes" being shipped from a warehouse in Palm Harbor, Florida, citing Ryan J. Kugler's Distribution Video Audio Inc. as "the last major supplier".[77]

Though 94.5 million Americans still owned VHS format VCRs in 2005,[10] market share continued to drop. In the mid-2000s, several retail chains in the United States and Europe announced they would stop selling VHS equipment.[78][79][80] In the U.S., no major brick-and-mortar retailers stock VHS home-video releases, focusing only on DVD and Blu-ray media. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment along with other companies ceased production of VHS in late 2010 in South Korea.[citation needed]

The last known company in the world to manufacture VHS equipment was Funai of Japan, who produced video cassette recorders under the Sanyo brand in China and North America. Funai ceased production of VHS equipment (VCR/DVD combos) in July 2016, citing falling sales and a shortage of components.[81][82]
Modern use

Despite the decline in both VHS players and programming on VHS machines, they are still owned in some households worldwide. Those who still use or hold on to VHS do so for a number of reasons, including nostalgic value, ease of use in recording, keeping personal videos or home movies, watching content currently exclusive to VHS, and collecting. Some expatriate communities in the United States also obtain video content from their native countries in VHS format.[83]

Although VHS has been discontinued in the United States, VHS recorders and blank tapes were still sold at stores in other developed countries prior to digital television transitions.[84][85] As an acknowledgement of the continued use of VHS, Panasonic announced the world's first dual deck VHS-Blu-ray player in 2009.[86] The last standalone JVC VHS-only unit was produced October 28, 2008.[87] JVC, and other manufacturers, continued to make combination DVD+VHS units even after the decline of VHS. Countries like South Korea released films on VHS until December 2010, with Inception being the last Hollywood film to be released on VHS in the country.

A market for pre-recorded VHS tapes has continued, and some online retailers such as Amazon still sell new and used pre-recorded VHS cassettes of movies and television programs. None of the major Hollywood studios generally issues releases on VHS. The last major studio film to be released in the format in the United States and Canada, other than as part of special marketing promotions, was A History of Violence in 2006. In October 2008, Distribution Video Audio Inc., the last major American supplier of pre-recorded VHS tapes, shipped its final truckload of tapes to stores in America.[12]

However, there have been a few exceptions. For example, The House of the Devil was released on VHS in 2010 as an Amazon-exclusive deal, in keeping with the film's intent to mimic 1980s horror films.[88] The first Paranormal Activity film, produced in 2007, had a VHS release in the Netherlands in 2010. The horror film V/H/S/2 was released as a combo in North America that included a VHS tape in addition to a Blu-ray and a DVD copy on September 24, 2013.[89] In 2019, Paramount Pictures produced limited quantities of the 2018 film Bumblebee to give away as promotional contest prizes.[90] In 2021, professional wrestling promotion Impact Wrestling released a limited run of VHS tapes containing that year's Slammiversary, which quickly sold out. The company later announced future VHS runs of pay-per-view events.[91][92]

The VHS medium has a cult following. For instance, in February 2021, it was reported that VHS was once again doing well as an underground market.[93] In January 2023, it was reported that VHS tapes were once again becoming valuable collectors items.[94] VHS collecting would make a comeback in the 2020s....Legacy

Often considered an important medium of film history, the influence of VHS on art and cinema was highlighted in a retrospective staged at the Museum of Arts and Design in 2013.[99][100][101][102] In 2015, the Yale University Library collected nearly 3,000 horror and exploitation movies on VHS tapes, distributed from 1978 to 1985, calling them "the cultural id of an era."[103][104][105][106]

The documentary film Rewind This! (2013), directed by Josh Johnson, tracks the impact of VHS on film industry through various filmmakers and collectors.[107]

The last Blockbuster franchise is still renting out VHS tapes, and is based in Bend, Oregon, a town home to under 100,000 people as of 2020.[108][109]

The VHS aesthetic is also a central component of the analog horror genre, which is largely known for imitating recordings of late 20th century TV broadcasts." (wikipedia.org)

 

"The Education of Max Bickford is an American drama television series that aired Sundays at 8:00 pm (EST) on CBS from September 23, 2001, to June 2, 2002, during the 2001–02 television season. After a strong initial launch, the show's audience 'dropped sharply afterward' despite its prime time slot following 60 Minutes.[1] Within a month, two of its three executive producers were removed and reports claimed the show was being 'overhauled', though CBS denied this, preferring the term 'creative adjustments'.[2] In May 2002, Touched by an Angel was returned to its Sunday 8 pm slot, bumping the second-to-last episode of The Education of Max Bickford to Monday.[3] In June 2002, the final episode aired and the show was not renewed.
Overview

The series starred Richard Dreyfuss as the title character, a college professor of American Studies at Chadwick College, an all-women's school in Massachusetts. The series follows Max, a recovering alcoholic trying to rebuild his life, as he tries to prove that his teachings still carry relevance to a generation far different from his own. Often Max finds himself challenged by the faculty over his unorthodox style and his often cantankerous personality. Also starring was child actor Eric Ian Goldberg, who portrayed the young Lester Bickford, Max's son. Max's colleagues included Marcia Gay Harden as Andrea Haskell, his former student (and lover) who had recently joined the faculty, and Helen Shaver as his best friend, Erica, previously known as Steve before her transition. Max's daughter, Nell, played by Katee Sackhoff, attended the college.

The series was one of the first to be produced in High-Definition. Cinematographer Michael Mayers was brought in to pioneer this move into Hi-Def.[4]
Cast
Main

    Richard Dreyfuss – Max Bickford
    Marcia Gay Harden – Andrea Haskell
    Regina Taylor – Judith Bryant
    Helen Shaver – Erica Bettis
    Katee Sackhoff – Nell Bickford
    Eric Ian Goldberg – Lester Bickford
    Meredith Roberts – Brenda Vanderpool
    Molly Regan – Lorraine Tator
    Stephen Spinella – Rex Pinsker
    David McCallum – Walter Thornhill

Recurring

    Jayne Atkinson – Lyla Ortiz
    Stefanie Bari – Anna
    Natalie Venetia Belcon – Rose Quigley
    Craig Bonacorsi – Adam
    Brennan Brown – Ron Zinn
    Lynn Collins
    Angel Desai – Jardie
    Ylfa Edelstein – Isabelle
    Angela Goethals – Danielle Hodges
    Donna Murphy – Esther Weber
    Coté de Pablo – Gina
    Ellen Parker – Noleen Bettis
    Robin Raven
    Kristen Schaal – Valerie Holmes
    Chris Stack – Alec
    Kellee Stewart – Yolanda

Episodes
No.    Title    Directed by [5]    Written by [5]    Original air date    Prod.
code [5]
1    "Pilot"    Rod Holcomb    Dawn Prestwich & Nicole Yorkin    September 23, 2001    1AFB79
2    "Herding Cats"    Rod Holcomb    Dawn Prestwich & Nicole Yorkin    September 30, 2001    1AFB01
3    "Who Is Breckenridge Long?"    David Long    Jan Oxenberg    October 14, 2001    1AFB02
4    "Hearts and Minds"    Rod Holcomb    Rob Thomas    October 21, 2001    1AFB03
5    "In the Details"    Rod Holcomb    Dawn Prestwich & Nicole Yorkin    October 28, 2001    1AFB04
6    "Do It Yourself"    David Jones    Tom Garrigus    November 11, 2001    1AFB05
7    "Revisionism"    David Platt    Sharon Lee Watson    November 18, 2001    1AFB08
8    "A Very Great Man"    Martha Mitchell    Dianne Houston    December 2, 2001    1AFB06
9    "It's Not the Wrapping, It's the Candy"    Elodie Keene    Anya Epstein    December 9, 2001    1AFB07
10    "The Good, the Bad, and the Lawyers"    Rob Holcomb    Jan Oxenberg    January 6, 2002    1AFB10
11    "Save the Country"    Don Scardino    David Yorkin    January 13, 2002    1AFB09
12    "The Cost of Living"    David Jones    Tom Garrigus    January 20, 2002    1AFB11
13    "I Never Schlunged My Father"    Michael Schultz    Joe Cacaci    January 27, 2002    1AFB12
14    "Money Changes Everything"    Martha Mitchell    Richard Dresser    February 24, 2002    1AFB13
15    "Genesis"    Don Scardino    David Black    March 3, 2002    1AFB14
16    "An Open Book"    Matthew Penn    Story by : Grace McKeaney & Kate Milliken
Teleplay by : Grace McKeaney    March 10, 2002    1AFB15
17    "Past, Present, Future"    David Jones    Tom Garrigus    March 17, 2002    1AFB16
18    "Murder of the First"    Rob Holcomb    David Yorkin    March 31, 2002    1AFB17
19    "The Bad Girl"    David Platt    Linda Burstyn    April 14, 2002    1AFB18
20    "The Egg and I"    Michael Fields    Story by : Kate Milliken
Story & Teleplay by : Grace McKeaney    April 21, 2002    1AFB19
21    "One More Time"    Don Scardino    Joe Cacaci    May 12, 2002    1AFB21
22    "The Pursuit of Happiness"    David Platt    Story by : David Black & Lorin Dreyfuss
Teleplay by : David Black & Lorin Dreyfuss & Richard Dresser & Tom Garrigus & Joe Cacaci    June 2, 2002    1AFB20


Reception
[icon]   
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2023)

On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an aggregated score of 79% based on 11 positive and 3 negative critic reviews. The website's consensus reads: "Bolstered by intelligent writing and a strong supporting cast, The Education of Max Bickfordfinds Richard Dreyfuss commanding the small screen with ease."" (wikipedia.org)

 

"The Agency is an American action-spy television series that followed the inner-workings of the CIA.[1] The series was aired on CBS from September 27, 2001 until May 17, 2003, lasting two seasons.

The series was created by Michael Frost Beckner and was executive produced by Beckner, Shaun Cassidy Productions, and Radiant Productions in association with Universal Network Television and CBS Productions. The program featured unprecedented filming from the actual CIA headquarters.
Premise

The series was controversial in its exploration of contemporary international affairs and its treatment of the ethical conflicts inherent in intelligence work. Beckner's pilot script, written in March 2001, posited a re-invented CIA tasked with a "War on Terror" after Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist organization plots a lethal attack on the West. The pilot was to premiere at CIA headquarters on September 18, 2001, and set to air on CBS September 21, 2001. The actual 9/11 attacks convinced the network to hold the pilot and instead air a later episode. That first episode was broadcast later as the fifth episode of the first season.

The September 11 attacks changed the way Americans viewed topical entertainment and The Agency, at the time, was one of the most topical offerings on network television. The producers of the series quickly responded to this new American perspective on world affairs, but CBS canceled the show shortly after the second season's final episode.
Cast

    Gil Bellows – Matt Callan (season 1)
    Daniel Benzali – Deputy Director Robert Quinn (episodes 14–44; recurring previously)
    Beau Bridges – Senator/Director Tom Gage (episodes 14–44)
    Rocky Carroll – Carl Reese
    David Clennon – Joshua Nankin
    Ronny Cox – Director Alex Pierce (episodes 1–10)
    Jason O'Mara – A.B. Stiles (season 2)
    Will Patton – Jackson Haisley
    Gloria Reuben – Lisa Fabrizzi (episodes 1–13, 21–22)
    Richard Speight, Jr. – Lex (season 2; recurring previously)
    Paige Turco – Terri Lowell

Episodes
Main article: List of The Agency episodes
Season    Episodes    Originally aired
First aired    Last aired
1    22    September 27, 2001    May 9, 2002
2    22    September 28, 2002    May 17, 2003
Home media
DVD Name     Region 1     Region 2
The Agency (2 Episodes from Season 1)     N/A     October 4, 2004" (wikipedia.org)

 

"The Guardian is an American drama television series created by David Hollander which originally aired on CBS from September 25, 2001, to May 4, 2004. The show stars Simon Baker as Pittsburgh corporate attorney Nick Fallin, with Dabney Coleman as his father and boss. When Nick is convicted of drug use he is sentenced to 1,500 hours of community service as a guardian ad litem; the show focuses on this, his recovery from drug addiction, and his strained relationship with his father. It includes guest stars such as Farrah Fawcett, and featured scenes with the Pittsburgh Police in multiple episodes.
Episodes
Main article: List of The Guardian episodes
Season    Episodes    Originally aired
First aired    Last aired
1    22    September 25, 2001    May 21, 2002
2    23    September 24, 2002    May 13, 2003
3    22    September 23, 2003    May 4, 2004
Cast and characters
Main

    Simon Baker as Nicholas "Nick" Fallin, a lawyer sentenced to community service for drug-related crimes. The central protagonist, he is a driven individual whose work and relationships are the focus for the series.
    Dabney Coleman as Burton Fallin, Nick's father and the senior partner at the law firm where Nick works. Another central protagonist, the two do not have a close relationship. Starting in season two he fosters Shannon Gressler.
    Alan Rosenberg as Alvin Masterson, the head of Legal Services of Pittsburgh, where Nick serves his community service. Later in the series, Alvin dates Laurie Solt, a social worker.
    Wendy Moniz as Louisa "Lulu" Archer, Nick's de facto boss from mid-season one and his main love interest. She marries another man, but Nick can't seem to move on, partially because she can't seem to either, even after her marriage.
    Raphael Sbarge as Jake Straka, Nick's closest friend and a law colleague.
    Charles Malik Whitfield as James Mooney, an attorney at Legal Services of Pittsburgh and a friend of Nick. He has a gang and drug background.
    Rusty Schwimmer as Barbara Ludinski, the secretary for Legal Aid where Nick is doing his community service. Jake has an ongoing somewhat ambiguous relationship with her that teeters on the edge of becoming romantic. He likes and respects her but he remains tentative.
    Amanda Michalka as Shannon Gressler, a troubled child.
    Erica Leerhsen as Amanda Bowles, an ambitious but caring associate.
    Kathleen Chalfant as Laurie Solt, a hardworking social worker who provides guidance for Nick.

Recurring

    Denise Dowse as Judge Rebecca Damsen, who presides over the cases in family court
    AJ Michalka as Shannon Gressler

Notable guest stars

    Farrah Fawcett as Mary Gressler, a troubled grandmother and love interest of Burton Fallin. Appeared in four episodes in season 2.
    Rita Moreno as Caroline Novak, mother of Lulu (Louise Archer played by Wendy Moniz), for three episodes in 2003.
    Lolita Davidovich as Victoria Little, a social welfare advocate and love interest of Alvin Masterson. Appeared in two episodes.
    Zac Efron appears in episode 15 of season 3.
    Bethany Joy Galeotti as Claire Stasiak. Appeared in two episodes: "What It Means to You" and "My Aim Is True".
    Chris Pine as a troubled teen, Lonnie Grandy, in the season 3 episode "Hazel Park".
    Will Ferrell, credited as "Phil Weston",[3] in a cameo appearance as Larry Flood, a new lawyer at LSP, in the season 2 finale, "All the Rage".
    Corey Feldman as a former child actor, Gavin Putinski, in season 2's "You Belong to Me".
    Erik Estrada made a cameo appearance in a restaurant in season 3, episode 18, "The Bachelor Party".
    Joseph Campanella as Ralph Longo, the sick grandfather evicted from the home he had squatted in for 21 years, in season 3's episode 9, "Let God Sort 'Em Out".
    Aaron Paul as a gay teenager in the season one episode "The Men from the Boys"
    Chloë Grace Moretz as Violet in the season three episodes "The Watchers" and "Blood in, Blood Out". This was her first ever acting role.
    Danielle Panabaker as Samantha Gray in the season three episode "The Daughter-Father Dance", for which she won a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series—Guest Starring Young Actress.
    Anna Gunn as Meghan Barstow, a lawyer for a pharmaceutical firm in season one episodes "Home" and "Reunion".
    Viola Davis as Suzanna Clemons' attorney in the season one episode "The Men from the Boys".
    Kerry Washington as Drea Westbrook, a client in the season two episode "The Next Life".
    Jesse Plemons as Lawrence Neal, a disabled child in the season one episode "Paternity".
    Lee Thompson Young as Levi Mooney, James' nephew whom he briefly has custody over.

Production and location
The fictional offices of Fallin & Fallin is located at the Frick Building

The show was set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was filmed in the city from time to time. Beginning in season 2, the theme song was "Empire in My Mind" performed by The Wallflowers. The fictional offices of Legal Services of Pittsburgh are located at 121–123 Seventh Street, Pittsburgh, while Fallin & Fallin's offices are located in the Frick Building, 437 Grant Street, Pittsburgh.
Broadcasters

In the United States, as of September 2018, it was being broadcast in re-runs on Heroes & Icons and Paramount+. The Guardian has aired in the United Kingdom on the Hallmark Channel, ABC1 (April 2006) and, more recently, 5USA (May 2009) and Five (August 2009). In Turkey, the show aired on TNT and in Australia on Network Ten; as of 2011 re-runs are airing on the Nine Network following episodes of Simon Baker's 2008–2015 vehicle The Mentalist, but before on free-to-air television, the show has also aired on Foxtel's defunct station TV1 (now TVH!TS) in 2003 during the Saturday Night's Crime Time Block before Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: SVU. In India and Pakistan the show airs on Animax from June 2010 and AXN and FX. In Singapore, the show airs on AXN through Starhub Cable Television. In New Zealand, the show airs on Vibe, channel 7, via sky TV. In Latin America, the series premiered in October 2012 on the Sony Spin channel.
Home media

CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment) has released all three seasons of The Guardian on DVD in region 1.

On February 6, 2018, CBS Home Entertainment released The Guardian-The Complete Series on DVD in region 1.[4]
DVD Name     Ep#     Release Date
The First Season     22     October 27, 2009[5]
The Second Season     23     September 7, 2010[6]
The Final Season     22     February 8, 2011[7]
The Complete Series     67     February 6, 2018

CBS/Paramount controls video rights only in the USA (where CBS Television Distribution has ancillary rights). Outside the US, Sony Pictures Television controls distribution rights, and international DVD releases will be mostly from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

In Germany Koch Media has released the first two seasons on DVD and Blu-ray.[8][9][10][11]
Awards
Year     Award     Category     Result
2002     ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards     "Top TV Series" – Jakob Dylan     Won[12]
Family Television Awards     "Actor" – Simon Baker"     Won[12]
"New Series"     Won[12]
GLAAD Media Awards     "Outstanding Individual Episode (In a Series Without a Regular Gay Character)" – "The Men from the Boys"     Nominated[12]
Golden Globe Award     "Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama" – Simon Baker     Nominated[13]
Young Artist Award     "Best Performance in a TV Drama Series - Guest Starring Young Actor" – Erik Knudsen     Nominated[14]
"Best Performance in a TV Drama Series - Guest Starring Young Actor" – Jesse Plemons     Nominated[14]
2003     ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards     "Top TV Series" – Jakob Dylan     Won[15]
Emmy Award     "Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series" – Farrah Fawcett     Nominated[16]
Environmental Media Awards     "Drama - TV Episodic" – "Assuming the Position"     Nominated[17]
2004     ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards     "Top TV Series" – Jakob Dylan     Won[18]
Environmental Media Awards     "Drama - TV Episodic" – "Big Coal"     Nominated[19]
Young Artist Award     "Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Young Actress" – Danielle Panabaker     Won[20]
2005     Prism Awards     "Performance in a Drama Series Storyline" – Simon Baker     Nominated[21]
"TV Drama Series Multi-Episode Storyline" – "Beautiful Blue Mystic" and "Amends"     Nominated[21]
Young Artist Award     "Best Performance in a Television Series - Recurring Young Actress" – Scout Taylor-Compton     Nominated" (wikipedia.org)

 

"Danny is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS. The series was created, executive produced and starred Daniel Stern. It was one of the last comedies to air on CBS's Friday night lineup airing along with The Ellen Show which premiered at the same time. The series premiered on September 28, 2001, and was abruptly canceled after two episodes were aired, making it the first series of the 2001 U.S. television season to be canceled.[1]
Premise

Danny is recently separated father struggling to raise his two teenage kids. Despite just turning 40, he still wants to pursue his lifelong dreams all while running the town's local community center.
Cast

    Daniel Stern as Danny
    Julia McIlvaine as Sally
    Jon Foster as Henry
    Roz Ryan as Chickie
    Robert Prosky as Lenny
    Vincent J. Burns as Vince
    Joely Fisher as Moly
    Mia Korf as Rachel

Episodes

The first two episodes of the series were directed by Peter Lauer.[2]
No.    Title [3]    Directed by    Written by    Original air date    Prod.
code [2]
1    "Pilot"    Peter Lauer    Daniel Stern    September 28, 2001    62554-001
2    "Donuts and Beer"    Peter Lauer    Bob Nickman    October 5, 2001    62554-002
3    "The Dress Mess"    TBD    TBD    Unaired    TBA
4    "Forget About Your Boss"    TBD    Allen J. Zipper    Unaired    TBA
5    "Danny's Night Out"    TBD    TBD    Unaired    TBA
6    "Algebra I"    TBD    TBD    Unaired    TBA
7    "The Trojan Wife"    TBD    TBD    Unaired    TBA
8    "The Kid Stays in the Picture"    TBD    TBD    Unaired    TBA
9    "Daughters and Pigs"    TBD    TBD    Unaired    TBA" (wikipedia.org)

 

"The Ellen Show is an American television sitcom created by and starring Ellen DeGeneres that was broadcast during the 2001–02 season on CBS, airing from September 24, 2001, to January 11, 2002. It also starred Cloris Leachman, Martin Mull, Kerri Kenney, Jim Gaffigan, and Emily Rutherfurd, with Diane Delano recurring.

It was DeGeneres' second attempt at a sitcom, following Ellen on ABC (1994–98), but it was unable to attract strong ratings and was cancelled after 13 episodes, leaving 5 unaired. Unlike many short-lived sitcoms, which often disappear and are hard to find, it lives on somewhat as it was released on DVD (twice) and is also available digitally in some markets.
Plot

After her internet company Homelearn.com goes bankrupt, Ellen Richmond decides to move back to her hometown to live with her eccentric mother, Dot, and scatter-brained sister, Catherine. At home, Ellen becomes reacquainted with her senior prom date, Rusty, who thinks they can pick up where they left off (which, since she is gay, seems unlikely), and her befuddled high school teacher, Mr. Munn. Though worlds apart from the people who love her, Ellen begins to adjust to a very different way of life and takes a job as a guidance counselor at her former high school.
Cast
Main

    Ellen DeGeneres as Ellen Richmond
    Jim Gaffigan as Rusty Carnouk
    Emily Rutherfurd as Catherine Richmond
    Martin Mull as Ed Munn
    Kerri Kenney as Pam
    Cloris Leachman as Dot Richmond
    Diane Delano as Bunny Hoppstetter (recurring)

Notable guest stars

    Jennifer Irwin as Meg (episode: "Pilot" - the character became Pam played by Kerri Kenney instead)
    Regan Burns as Officer "B" Arthur (episodes: "Walden Pond", "Joe"")
    John Francis Daley as Erik (episode: "Walden Pond")
    Susan Yeagley as Waitress (episode: "Chain Reaction")
    James Patrick Stuart as Guy, the Vanity Fur pet groomer/stylist (episode: "Vanity Hair")
    Marissa Jaret Winokur as Tina (episode: "Vanity Hair")
    Tom Poston as Joe (episode: "Joe")
    Betty White as Mrs. Gibson (episode: "Missing the Bus")
    Dakota Fanning as Young Ellen (episode: "Missing the Bus")
    Mary Tyler Moore as Aunt Mary (episode: "Ellen's First Christmess")
    Ed Asner as Santa Claus (episode: "Ellen's First Christmess")
    John Ritter as Percy Moss (episode: "Gathering Moss")
    Maureen McCormick as Rita Carter (episode: "Shallow Gal")
    Seán Cullen as two different characters (episodes: Guitarist in "Just the Duck" and Christian Snee in "One for the Roadshow")
    Kaley Cuoco as Vanessa Carter (episode: "Shallow Gal")
    Ellen's real-life mother Betty DeGeneres and her brother Vance DeGeneres appeared in an episode (episode: "Just the Duck")

Production

The show was created by Carol Leifer and Mitchell Hurwitz, who co-wrote the pilot episode. The original title was Ellen Again.[2] DeGeneres came out as a lesbian in the later seasons of her sitcom Ellen. Her character on The Ellen Show, Ellen Richmond, was also a lesbian, although it was more of an aside, the show not focusing much on the character's sexuality.[citation needed]

Four cast members from The Mary Tyler Moore Show featured in the sitcom - regular Cloris Leachman, plus guest stars Betty White, Ed Asner, and Mary Tyler Moore herself,[3] the latter two reuniting in the same episode alongside Leachman (White appeared in a separate episode).[4] Moore had also appeared in two episodes of DeGeneres's previous sitcom, Ellen, and would also later appear as a guest on her talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show.[3]
Episodes

The Ellen Show produced 18 episodes, but was canceled 2/3 of the way through its season. The final 5 episodes were never broadcast, but are available on DVD.
No.    Title    Directed by    Written by    Original air date
1    "Pilot"    Andy Ackerman    Carol Leifer & Mitchell Hurwitz    September 24, 2001
An Internet entrepreneur returns to live in her hometown after her new business venture suddenly collapses.
2    "Walden Pond"    Andrew D. Weyman    Carol Leifer    September 28, 2001
Ellen decides to make some decisions about her future, hoping to find inspiration by sitting by a pond and reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
3    "Chain Reaction"    Andrew D. Weyman    Carol Leifer & Chuck Martin    October 5, 2001
Ellen tries to rally the town against a new restaurant that features scantily clad waitresses.
4    "Vanity Hair"    Andrew D. Weyman    Ric Swartzlander    October 12, 2001
A profile in Vanity Fair gets Ellen thinking about a new hairdo.
5    "The Move"    Andrew D. Weyman    Rob LaZebnik & Mitchell Hurwitz    October 19, 2001
Ellen's moving home causes friction, leading to her sister Catherine moving out to live with a new boyfriend.
6    "Muskrat Love"    Andrew D. Weyman    Carol Leifer & Chuck Martin    October 26, 2001
As she looks to rid the yard of a pesky raccoon, Ellen is asked to help a lovesick high school student.
7    "Joe"    Andrew D. Weyman    Mitchell Hurwitz & Rob LaZebnik    November 2, 2001
Ellen's search for the perfect cup of coffee reveals some disturbing news about her mother Dot's new boyfriend.
8    "Cathy's Taffy"    Andrew D. Weyman    Story by : Sue Kolinsky
Teleplay by : Carol Leifer & Chuck Martin    November 9, 2001
Ellen launches a new business to sell her sister Catherine's delicious homemade taffy.
9    "Missing the Bus"    Andrew D. Weyman    Story by : Jim Gerkin & Ric Swartzlander
Teleplay by : Ric Swartzlander    November 16, 2001
Ellen's efforts to honor a longtime district employee ends up costing the aging school bus driver (special guest star Betty White) her job.
10    "Alive and Kicking"    Andrew D. Weyman    Carol Leifer & Chuck Martin    December 10, 2001
Ellen tries to counsel the school's troubled kicker on the eve of a championship football game.
11    "Ellen's First Christmess"    Andrew D. Weyman    Darin Henry    December 17, 2001
Ellen's plan for her Aunt Mary's (special guest star Mary Tyler Moore) surprise Christmas appearance exposes some ill will between Dot and her famous sister. (Also features a special appearance by Ed Asner in a nod to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which starred Moore, The Ellen Show regular Cloris Leachman, and Asner.)
12    "A Bird in the Hand"    Andrew D. Weyman    Sue Kolinsky    January 4, 2002
When Dot gives Ellen an heirloom brooch, Catherine is jealous and Ellen is less than excited. Matters only get worse when she loses the brooch and has to fess up.
13    "Just the Duck"    Andrew D. Weyman    Jim Gerkin    January 11, 2002
Ellen discovers Catherine on a secret date with Rusty and is invited to join them; with an imminent breakup, a surprise rebound may be in the works.
14    "Shallow Gal"    Andrew D. Weyman    Harold Kimmel    Unaired
When Ellen realizes she was the unpopular geek in school, she gets desperate and befriends the ex-head cheerleader. Is Ellen now the snob? (Guest star Kaley Cuoco also played a young Ellen in her previous sitcom Ellen.)
15    "Gathering Moss"    Andrew D. Weyman    Bill Kelley    Unaired
Catherine and Ellen attend a self-actualization session where they learn to "see it, want it, take it." They instead discover they can't take each other! Special guest star: John Ritter.
16    "A Matter of Principal"    Andrew D. Weyman    Darin Henry    Unaired
After Ellen is left in charge of the school, her alternative approach leads to chaos. With a student body in complete anarchy, Ellen finds out a secret.
17    "Where the Sun Doesn't Shine"    Andrew D. Weyman    Chuck Martin    Unaired
When Ellen lobbies for her mother Dot to receive the annual town Sunshine Prize, Ellen discovers that she's also up for the prize, and is the favorite to win.
18    "One for the Roadshow"    Andrew D. Weyman    Story by : Mitchell Hurwitz & Rob LaZebnik
Teleplay by : Darin Henry & Bill Kelley    Unaired
Ellen discovers that the board game her Aunt Mary gave her years ago that has never been opened is worth thousands of dollars, enough for Ellen to move out.
Home media and streaming

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 in a 2-disc box set on July 11, 2006.[5]

In 2014, Mill Creek Entertainment acquired the rights to the series and subsequently re-released the complete series on February 4, 2014.[6]

Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, in partnership with CBS Home Entertainment, owns the international rights. The complete series was released in Region 4 (Australia) as a 2 DVD set on February 1, 2017 by Umbrella Entertainment.

As of 2023, all episodes can be seen for free on Crackle and Fubo in the US and on CTV in Canada.[7][8] The show is also available for purchase on Apple TV and Amazon in the US." (wikipedia.org)

 

"Wolf Lake is an American supernatural drama television series that originally aired on CBS from September 19 to October 24, 2001. Nine episodes were produced, but only five aired before the series was canceled by CBS. The full series, including the four unaired episodes, was later picked up and broadcast on UPN in April–May 2002.[1][2] Wolf Lake depicts a pack of werewolves living in a Seattle suburb.
Summary

Seattle policeman John Kanin proposes marriage to his girlfriend, Ruby Wilder, and she accepts. However, as she gets into her car, she is attacked. The only thing Kanin finds of his now fiancee, is a severed hand. He travels to her hometown of Wolf Lake to find some answers. However, his experiences there raise even more questions. What John doesn't know is that some of the inhabitants of Wolf Lake are actually werewolves. The werewolves, or the ones who survive the change, live on the "Hill" and enjoy special treatment, separated from the normal humans.[3]
Cast
Main

    Lou Diamond Phillips as Detective/Officer John Kanin
    Tim Matheson as Sheriff Matthew "Matt" Donner
    Graham Greene as Mr. Sherman Blackstone
    Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Sophia Donner
    Sharon Lawrence as Vivian "V" Cates
    Scott Bairstow as Tyler Creed
    Mia Kirshner as Ruby Wilder/Cates/Creed
    Paul Wasilewski as Lucas "Luke" Cates

Recurring

    Bruce McGill as Willard "Will" Cates
    Kellie Waymire as Miranda Devereaux
    Fiona Scott as Presley
    Carmen Moore as Deputy Molly
    Christian Bocher as Buddy Hooks

Guest stars
   
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    Bill Mondy
    Gregory Itzin
    Sam Anderson
    Levi James
    Craig Olejnik
    Sarah Carter
    Ralph J. Alderman
    Craig Bruhnanski
    Steve Makaj
    Kelly Dean Sereda
    Deanne Henry
    Ryan Robbins
    Jodelle Ferland

Episodes

The first five episodes of Wolf Lake aired on CBS in September–October 2001, before CBS pulled the series from the air. The series later was reaired on UPN, with the final four episodes debuting on UPN in April–May 2002.
List of Wolf Lake episodesNo.    Title    Directed by [4]    Written by    Original air date [4]
CBS
1    "Meat The Parents"    Bryan Spicer    Alex Gansa & Rick Kellard    September 19, 2001
2    "The Changing"    Dwight Little    Daniel Knauf    September 26, 2001
3    "Soup to Nuts"    Joe Chappelle    Roger Director    October 3, 2001
4    "Tastes Like Chicken"    Rachel Talalay    Philip Levens    October 10, 2001
5    "Excitable Boy"    Po Chih Leong    Toni Graphia    October 24, 2001
UPN
6    "Four Feet Under"    Winrich Kolbe    Roger Director & Daniel Knauf    April 10, 2002
7    "Leader of the Pack"    James Head    James Duff    April 17, 2002
8    "Legend of Lost Lenore"    Joe Chappelle    Rick Kellard    April 24, 2002
9    "If These Wolves Could Talk"    Thomas J. Wright    Story by : Roger Director & Rick Kellard
Teleplay by : James Duff & Philip Levens    May 1, 2002
Broadcast

ITV bought the rights to show the series in the United Kingdom.[citation needed] In August 2006, the Sci Fi Channel bought the syndication rights to reair the series in the United States.[5]
Home media

The series was made available on DVD in 2012.[6]
Reception
[icon]   
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2023)

On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an aggregated score of 20% based on 2 positive and 8 negative critic reviews. The website’s consensus reads: "Wolf Lake's ill-defined story and uninvolving sense of mystery make it a yawn-inducing watch."[7]

While Ron Wertheimer of The New York Times said it was "a promisingly quirky pilot",[8] Variety's Michael Speier remarked that it "sometimes works as high drama but sometimes comes off as extremely silly".[3]

While the series was poorly rated, it received two Emmy nominations, for Outstanding Main Title Design and Outstanding Main Title Theme Music." (wikipedia.org)

 

"The Amazing Race is an adventure reality competition franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The Amazing Race is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in foreign areas, interact with locals, and perform physical and mental challenges that often highlight aspects of a location's culture, history, or economy. Over the course of the Race, teams travel by airplanes, helicopters, trucks, bicycles, taxicabs, cars, trains, buses, boats and by foot. Teams are progressively eliminated at the end of most legs for being the last to arrive at designated Pit Stops, until only three remain. The first team to arrive at the finish line is awarded the grand prize.

Created by Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster, the original series has aired in the United States since 2001 and has earned thirteen Primetime Emmy Awards, ten of them for "Outstanding Reality-Competition Program". Emmy-award-winning New Zealand television personality Phil Keoghan has been the host of the American version of the show since its inception. The show has branched out to include a number of international versions following a similar format.
The Race
Unless otherwise indicated, the seasons are referring to the original American version of the series, hosted by Phil Keoghan.

Each race depicted in The Amazing Race is broken up into a number of legs. In each leg, teams generally leave the pit stop of the previous leg and travel to a different location, where they perform two or more tasks – often including one Detour and one Roadblock – before being given instructions to go to the next pit stop. It is every team's goal to complete each leg as quickly as possible, as the last team to arrive at the pit stop is usually eliminated from the competition.
Teams

Typically, each cycle of the Race features eleven teams, each composed of two people with a pre-existing relationship. Original Race rules required that teammates have a pre-existing relationship of more than three years and no previous acquaintance with other racers during that cycle.[1] Individual racers must be of a specific nationality and meet specific age requirements; this is necessary to allow teams to obtain the necessary passport documentation to travel across the world without incident.[2]

The team format has varied in some seasons. Five seasons featured twelve teams of two rather than eleven, while the Family Edition featured ten teams of four racers, some of whom were young children. The twenty-sixth and twenty-ninth seasons included teams made up of people who met for the first time just prior to the start of the race.

Normally unseen, a two-person production crew, one recording audio and the other recording video, accompanies every team. Generally, teams may not travel without their production crew, who are switched among teams after each leg to avoid biases from developing.
Money

At the beginning of each leg, each team receives a cash allowance with their first clue, which they must use to cover all expenses except for airfare, which is covered by a production-provided credit card. In the eighth season, this card could also be used to purchase gasoline.[3] Allowance money is usually given in U.S. dollars regardless of location. The amount of money varies from leg to leg. Teams are allowed to keep any unused money for future legs, barring certain penalties for finishing last.

If team members spend all of their money or have it taken away in a non-elimination leg, they may then attempt to obtain more money in any way that does not violate local laws; this includes borrowing money from other teams, begging from locals, or selling their possessions. Since the seventh season, teams have been prevented from begging at United States airports, and teams may not use their personal possessions to barter payment for services.[citation needed]
Route markers
A standard Route Marker looks like this.

Route markers are uniquely-colored flags that mark the places where teams must go. Most route markers are attached to the boxes that contain clue envelopes, but some may mark the places where the teams must go in order to complete tasks, or may be used to line courses that the teams must follow.

The route markers used in the first season were yellow and white. They were changed to yellow and red in the second season, and this has remained the standard color scheme since. Occasionally, different color schemes are adopted for certain legs, seasons, or versions of the race.
Clues

When teams start a leg, arrive at route markers, or complete tasks, they normally receive a letter-sized tear-away envelope that contains their next clue inside a vertical-fold folder. The envelopes are usually yellow, but in the first two seasons of the Latin American version, the envelopes are blue. The clues themselves are typically printed on a vertical strip of paper, although additional information is often provided inside the clue folder. After retrieving the clue, teams open the envelope and must read aloud the instructions given on the clue sheet, then follow those instructions. Teams are generally required to collect every clue during each leg and keep that information with them until they reach the next Pit Stop, surrendering them once they have checked in. Teams may not take an additional clue from the clue box should they lose their first one; teams who do so are assessed a penalty. Teams are not directly penalized for misplacing their clue but will lose time either searching for it or trying to learn from other teams of where to go next.[a]

At route markers, clue envelopes are placed inside a box mounted to the marker. In early seasons, the box contained exactly the number of clues for teams on that leg, allowing teams to indirectly determine their current placement in the leg by counting envelopes. In more recent seasons, extra envelopes are left in clue boxes to prevent this from occurring.

In some cases, clues – most often of the Route Information type – have been provided by more unorthodox means, such as in an advertisement in a local newspaper or on some item related to the task just performed. A common unorthodox means in the American version is to place the clue at the bottom of the Roaming Gnome, the mascot of Travelocity, the former sponsor of the American version....Rules

While the complete set of official rules has not been released to the public, certain rules have been revealed during the various versions of the race:

    Unless otherwise stated, such as during Roadblocks, team members must stay within 20 feet (6.1 m) of each other and stay close to their assigned camera and sound crew. When using any form of transportation, unless otherwise stated, teams must be able to travel with the camera crew. Teams are recorded requesting only two tickets after they have made their initial request for four.[29]
    Teams are required to purchase economy class airfare when they fly, using the credit card provided by the show.[30][31] The airline, at its discretion, however, may upgrade the team(s) so long as there are no additional costs.[32] Teams may use their cash stipend to purchase first-class fares for other modes of transportation.[33] Teams may be forbidden from flying on certain airlines or restricted to specific airlines or restricted to transit in certain countries varying on seasons.[k]
    Teams are prohibited from contacting friends, family, and acquaintances during the Race without supervision. The Race however may provide them with an opportunity to contact them at select times.[34] When this happens while the Race is going on, teams are not allowed to proceed to their next task.[l] In special circumstances, the production team will allow racers to contact family members outside a race-required task.[m]
    Unless otherwise stated by the clues, teams are allowed to use the help of locals for navigating and during tasks. Teams are required to have any locals who appear on camera sign release forms that legally clear the footage for use; some teams have avoided or reduced contacts with random local strangers because the release process can take a very long time to complete.
    Teams are free to work together at any point unless otherwise stated by the rules.[35][36] Excluding the use of the Yield and U-Turn, teams are prohibited from hindering the performance of other teams such as by taking extra clues from a clue box, taking another team's assigned vehicle, altering the equipment for other teams at a task or using more than one Yield or one U-Turn at a time.
    In any tasks that provide the teams with equipment, tools, animals, guides, or other props, teams are forbidden from changing these mid-task. Teams are forbidden from interfering with such equipment for other teams. When teams are given rental cars, and the car breaks down outside the team's control, they will be given a replacement vehicle but given no additional time credits for the time it takes to make the changeover.
    Teams are prohibited from possessing maps, guidebooks, cell phones, personal digital assistants and other similar aids at the start of the Race, but may use the provided money to purchase these as they progress. These may be provided by the show if required for a certain task.[37]
    Teams are prohibited from using their personal items to barter for services on the Race, though they are not necessarily prohibited from selling them for cash. The teams' bags may be subject to review during Pit Stops by production. Teams are free to sell or barter any items they have purchased during the Race.
    In cases where teams are instructed to walk or drive themselves to a destination, teams are not allowed to hire a taxi to guide or take them through the route. In early seasons of the original series, teams frequently employed this tactic; several exchanges of dialogue in the 17th American season indicate that it is now prohibited.
    Except for The Scramble, teams are required to pick up clues in the correct order. Should a team collect the wrong clue, they are required to cease whatever task(s) they are performing and backtrack to wherever the correct clue was and then perform its associated task(s).
    Teams are expected to keep the Race fanny pack containing their cash, passports, clues, and other documents with them at all times. Other items mandated by clues are subject to this requirement. Teams that do not have these upon check-in at a Pit Stop are required to go back and retrieve the pack and any missing mandatory contents (e.g., passports) before being checked in. In one case, during 21st American season, a team had one of their passports stolen by a cab driver during a non-elimination leg that was followed by a leg in the same country. The team was checked-in last for a non-elimination finish and allowed to race in the following leg but would be eliminated if they still lacked their passport by the time they were required to produce one for international travel. Teams may check in after losing or abandoning any non-mandatory items (e.g., items of clothing), but they must continue the Race without them.
    Teams must complete each challenge as specified by the clues given to them throughout the Race. Should a team fail to properly complete a challenge, violate any provisions made in a clue or task description, or miss a clue altogether (unless specifically allowed to do so, e.g., by winning the Fast Forward, or by using an Express Pass), they must either go back to the location of the challenge and complete the challenge, or incur a penalty when they check in (see Penalties and time credits).
    To check in, all team members must step on the mat. As seen in the 30th American season and later on the eighth Israeli season, legs may end in a photo finish (and in both cases, the close finish was between the last two teams); the last team to step onto the mat was declared last-place team. This rule was also alluded to orally by teams on the fourth Australian season.[n]
    Teams are forbidden from touching another team's belongings, such as removing them from a taxi to use the new taxi. However, if the taxi driver removes the items, the team will not be penalized. Teams also may not intentionally hinder another team by hiding materials needed for a task.
    Teams are prohibited from begging where it is illegal. On the American version, teams are additionally prohibited from begging at U.S. airports.
    Team members may not smoke during the Race.
    Teams are required to abide by all local laws of the country where they are racing.
    Starting in the 25th American season, teams may only book one travel itinerary for themselves. They were no longer able to book a second set of tickets if they subsequently discovered a second flight that they preferred once they purchased the first booking. DVD commentary for the first season reveals that this was originally a rule, but was dropped for the second season.

The teams are often given additional rules and instructions that apply specifically to a given leg or to a task supplied with one of the clues; these are usually not explained to the viewer unless they affect the Race results....Production

The production of The Amazing Race is a challenge due to its premise being a race around the world. Among the difficult duties that producers face, scouting out locations, designing tasks, selecting teams, and planning logistics for the entire course are the most important to accomplish in pre-production. During the Race, the camera crews need to keep up with the movement of the teams and the host. And when the footage for the entire season has been recorded and edited, team members, production crew as well as the local staff who hosted or facilitated the tasks are obliged to keep the details of the race confidential and not leak out anything that hints at locations, events, or outcomes of the Race. An exception is the television network that airs the show in a country which hosted one of the legs where they can air teasers such as "Who among the teams will come here to (the network's home country name)?"[citation needed] However, in recent American seasons, CBS had released a map to show the locations that the racers would be visiting.

The show is broadcast on CBS in the United States and simulcast via satellite in various networks around the world.[43]

Through its efforts, the American version has received many accolades, including Primetime Emmy Awards and nominations in categories for audio and video production and editing. In 2010, CBS announced that season 18 of the show would be broadcast in high definition." (wikipedia.org)

 

"Citizen Baines is an American drama television series created by Emmy Award-winning producer Lydia Woodward, that stars James Cromwell. The series premiered on CBS September 29, 2001 and ended on November 3, 2001.
Synopsis

Cromwell starred as Elliot Baines, a former three-term U.S. Senator who loses a re-election for the Senate and goes back home to Seattle to re-establish his relationships with his three grown daughters Ellen (Embeth Davidtz), Reeva (Jane Adams), and Dori (Jacinda Barrett).
Cast
Main

    James Cromwell as Elliot Baines
    Embeth Davidtz as Ellen Baines Croland
    Jane Adams as Reeva Baines Eidenberg
    Jacinda Barrett as Dori Baines
    Arye Gross as Shel Eidenberg
    Scotty Leavenworth as Otis Croland
    Matt McCoy as Arthur Croland

Recurring

    Tom Verica as Andy Carlson
    McCaleb Burnett as Claude Waverley
    Easton Gage as Sam Eidenberg
    David Kriegel as David Goldman
    Bryn Lauren Lemon as Ruthie Eidenberg
    Emmett Shoemaker as Otis Croland
    Paul McCrane as Sherman Bloom

Episodes
No.    Title    Directed by    Written by    Original air date
1    "A Day Like No Other"    Christopher Chulack    Lydia Woodward    September 29, 2001
2    "The Whole Thump-Thump-Thump"    Unknown    Unknown    October 6, 2001
3    "Days of Confusion"    Unknown    Unknown    October 13, 2001
4    "Three Days In November"    Unknown    Unknown    October 20, 2001
5    "The Appraisal"    Lesli Linka Glatter    Patty Lin    October 27, 2001
6    "Lost and Found"    Dwight Little    Will Scheffer    November 3, 2001
7    "Out in the Rain"    TBD    TBD    Unaired
8    "A Song That Never Ends"    TBD    TBD    Unaired
9    "Safe at Home"    TBD    TBD    Unaired
Reception
Critical

PopMatters wrote that, "Citizen Baines showed genuine signs of bucking the CBS feel-good Saturday night orthodoxy, by assuming the complex task of creating family-friendly entertainment without soaking in sentiment the raw textures of domestic life... But Citizen Baines symbolizes the lack of imagination driving so much of prime-time, whether drama or sitcom, cable or network..."[citation needed] USA Today's Robert Bianco gave the series a negative, one-and-a-half star review, and stated, "After all, the only interesting thing about Elliott Baines is his job as a U.S. senator — and he loses that at the end of Saturday's premiere. Don't worry: I'm not revealing anything that the "citizen" in the title didn't already tell you."[1]
Ratings

Scheduled on Saturdays following Touched by an Angel,[2] the series ranked #90 (the lowest rank for a regularly scheduled series on one of the Big Four networks), and averaged 8.2 million viewers.[3][4] Due to the low ratings, CBS canceled the series in October 2001 after six of the nine episodes produced were aired.[5]
Award nomination
Year     Award     Category     Recipient     Result     Ref
2002     American Society of Cinematographers     Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Movies of the Week/Miniseries/Pilot for Network or Basic Broadcast TV     Ernest Holzman
(for pilot episode)     Nominated     [citation needed]" (wikipedia.org)