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Q: Is the sitcom series "Still Standing" with Jami Gertz and Mark Addy out on DVD?

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

It's not, though I can't see a clear reason why.

"Still Standing" was never a smash hit or anything, but it got four seasons on CBS, from 2002 to 2006, which is enough to fill out a box set. It also features a couple of fairly prominent stars, albeit prominent at different times.

Jami Gertz, who plays the show's matriarch, was an '80s film bombshell who had leading roles in mid-'80s touchstones "Quicksilver" (1986), "The Lost Boys" and "Less Than Zero" (both 1987), and a smaller role in the 1984 classic "Sixteen Candles."

Mark Addy, who played Gertz's husband in "Still Standing," only really gained attention in 1997 with his leading role in the stealth-hit comedy film "The Full Monty," made in his native Britain. He's best known now for a role he played after "Still Standing" was canceled -- King Robert Baratheon in "Game of Thrones." Granted, he was only in it for the first season (spoiler alert: he dies, like most other characters in that show), but still, a high-profile turn like that must certainly have raised interest in his previous work.

The fact that there are no plans to release "Still Standing" on DVD may have less to do with the show, and more to do with the industry. The DVD business isn't what it used to be, apparently thanks to the Internet.

DVD sales in general have declined steeply in the past decade or so, a fact which industry watchers used to attribute to piracy but now tend to blame on legal streaming services such as Netflix.

Andrew Furtaco of the industry-news site Now Streaming chalks it up to the economics of disc-buying versus a Netflix subscription. "Who would buy a box set for 40 bucks when they could pay eight and get everything?" The "eight" he's referring to is the monthly Netflix charge; the "everything" is the fact that it gives you access to dozens, or even hundreds, of TV shows and movies, not just one.

Of course, what he doesn't mention is that you're technically paying for different things. Buy the DVDs and you can watch your show whenever you want, forever. A Netflix subscription is technically a rental -- the company adds and drops shows from its catalogue all the time.

 

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