Somebody on the MST3K Discussion Board brought up a good point, one that now puzzles me the more I think about it.  The release date for Volume 16 was announced back in late July, and the planning of what would consist of this set assuredly went further beyond that month.  While I'm happy to see this available in time for Christmas, I still have to ask:  why would this come out the first Tuesday after the big holiday shopping weekend?

Think about it: here is a product that can be marketed as both a Thanksgiving and Christmas item.  Move the release of this to November 24th - a mere week before the planned 12/1 date and two days before Turkey Day - and MSTies would have the opportunity to buy the set and watch those 1995 Thanksgiving bumpers, and celebrate the holiday that we as fans tie the show in with.  Then, over the next month, we'd be going back to it again to enjoy "Santa Claus" and all the extras that are associated with it.  How many products out there have that ability to be a part of both holidays like this?  Even factoring out the Turkey Day angle, not having this in stores for "Black Friday" and the ensuing weekend alone baffles me.

In this tough economy, you have to take every possible selling angle you can to market your product. MST3K is one of those shows where, while they have a loyal fan base, needs every possible consumer to buy SF's dvds to help keep its commercial distribution going. Shout! has an unbelievably strong dvd set here, imo their best one to date, and, because of the time of year, a limited-edition figurine of Tom Servo, and the inclusion of two holiday-themed eps, a chance to promote this volume in a more ambitious manner.   

I'm fully aware that anything I or anyone else says about its day of release won't sway SF from changing their minds.  I'm just very curious as to why December 1st was chosen as the date of release.