As of 10:23 EST, the survey is over. Anyone know when it started? How long did it last?
I can understand Sony's decison to feature all four main characters on the cover, and I concur with that decision, but why not do four covers, each with a different main character in an amusing situation? For the first DVD, perhaps the generic cover choices presented here are good, but later on, individual character covers (which have been done before) would be better. Offhand, I'm thinking Kramer as the pimp in the Technicolor Dreamcoat, the close-up of Jerry looking up in horror as the knife descends upon him (in The Blood), &c., &c.
Beginning with Season 3/the second DVD, Sony could find plenty of these kinds of images, and they'd make a great display in the Borders/Barnes & Noble-type superstores that would sell a hefty amount of these. Eye-catching Kramer images are, of course, plentiful, but one could find loads of close-ups of the others... George getting angry, Elaine looking desperate, Seinfeld looking... well, whatever. (Jerry running away with the rum cake and Jerry sitting at his table smugly smoking a cigar and laughing as Elaine pays him off for sleeping with Puddy are two winners.)
As the series progresses, the covers could feature each main character with a memorable secondary character, e.g., Kramer with Mickey, Elaine with Peterman, Seinfeld with Banya making a face, etc. Using these extra folks would help work out the imbalance of popularity of having certain characters on the cover (otherwise, there would too heavy of a demand for Kramer covers, for example). Such covers would also stimulate sales, as such individualized covers would remind borderline fans of favorite episodes.
Considering the multimillion production involved with these DVDs, the cost of having four covers instead of one would be negligible. Even the possibility that Sony might have to pay royalties to various actors for having their pictures appear on these covers would be made up by the sales generated by the more dynamic cover style. Impluse buyers would be more swayed, after all, by seeing four scenes from memorable episodes than by bland promo shots.
