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Any chance "The New Leave It to Beaver" will be released? (2 Viewers)

Rodney

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With the passing of Frank Bank this past week, I am hoping that someone releases this series before more of the cast is gone, and we don't have the opportunity to get some great commentary material.

It ran for 4 seasons, so I would be surprised if a company could not make money releasing this. I only saw a few of the episodes on the Disney Channel, and would jump at the chance to watch them all.

-Rodney
 

Jeff Willis

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Rodney said:
With the passing of Frank Bank this past week, I am hoping that someone releases this series before more of the cast is gone, and we don't have the opportunity to get some great commentary material.

It ran for 4 seasons, so I would be surprised if a company could not make money releasing this. I only saw a few of the episodes on the Disney Channel, and would jump at the chance to watch them all.

-Rodney
Rodney,

"Shout" Factory studio released the complete series set (all 6 seasons) in '10. Amazon link is here

It's a great set, recommended.
 

Rodney

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Jeff:

I am referring of "The New Leave it to Beaver" from the 1980's, not the original LiTB.

I do own that complete set you mention, and I agree, it is great stuff!
 

Jeff Willis

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Rodney said:
Jeff:

I am referring of "The New Leave it to Beaver" from the 1980's, not the original LiTB.

I do own that complete set you mention, and I agree, it is great stuff!
Oh ok :lol: Shows how out of touch I am. I never heard of the new LITB show but then, I missed several 80's shows in that decade. I'm watching some of them on dvd for the first time.
 

Gary OS

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I'd definitely purchase a release of the New Leave it to Beaver series. Of course nothing can top the first series, but the new show did try to stay true to the basic premise of the original. And it did bring back all the old cast (other than Hugh Beaumont, who had sadly passed away just before this new series got started), and they did well. It was a pleasure watching Frank Bank, Ken Osmond, and the others work together again.


Gary "now I'm in the mood to watch some original LITB again - which is always a good thing" O.
 

Mark-P

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You can read about the rights situation here. Apparently Universal sold the distribution rights to a company called Qintex which went out of business and the rights are now in limbo. It's a real shame because The New Leave it to Beaver was an excellent show and now it may never be seen again.
 

moviepas

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I have read the Wikipedia link and find it hard to believe that Universal would sell master tapes(was it only taped? and not filmed?) to another company. Lease distribution, maybe? Anyway I have no knowledge of screenings in Australia "from time to time" but then I watch only one network here and have a wealth of my own material to watch from all eras.

Quintex(I shuddered when I saw that name) was an Australian company and was involved in a resort in the State of Queensland that went under. It was helmed by one Christopher Skase, who father was Charles Skase. Charles was a religious man who made records of that sort of material and was a radio announcer/presenter on a radio station attached, at the time, to the Melbourne newspapers owned by the Murdoch clan. Charles lived to a rip old age. He won an annual Sun Aria singing competition run by the same newspaper(Sun was one of our three morning papers then, we still have two) in 1948, the year Christopher was born, six months before I was born in 1949. Skase was sent to two of Melbourne's prestigious Grammar Schools. Grammar schools are usually Church of England(Anglican) colleges from Year one to Year 12 as private, and expensive, schools.

Skase bought a small Tasmanian company called Quintex and started to develop it into a larger corporation getting into a resort in Queensland that started to go under and ended with Japanese investors taking control. Japanese were prolific visitors to Queensland and they had many a honeymoon there.

Skase got involved in a TV station owned by the newspaper & involved the same 3DB radio station. Then came the one that nearly lost more than a lot. He was involved in getting into MGM and a colorization company which might have spelled the end of the a lot there in the way of the films etc. As we know about the Italian guy in France & his Pathe interests who muscled in there as well. All duds. Ted Turner did us all a big favor with that archive.

Skase had started moving money out of Australia(illegally) and eventually ran away to Majorca where he resisted arrest(with Spanish help and their laws) and pleaded life threatening illness and did die in Spain in Aug 2001. He had had his Australian passport cancelled by authorities here and had become a citizen of Dominica. Proceedings were well in hand against him when he died at 52. His wife, Pixie, and family came back here and I have not heard of them for a long time. I think she was older than him and had a previous family.

It needs some detective work to find out who actually, then, owns the rights to this show and I assume that the cast get no residuals for these mentioned screenings. What else might this Quintex business have acquired rights or masters to?
 

Mr. Handley

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I'm all in for the 1980s Beaver series too. I'm currently making my way through the original box set and loving every minute!
 

Jeff Willis

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rmw650 said:
Jeff, I think he's talking about the NEW Leave it to Beaver show with Mathers all grown up and divorced with kids and stuff, not the original series.
Thanks. Rodney replied earlier in the thread.

I looked up the new show at IMDB for some info. I don't remember it airing, not sure how I missed that one but I was traveling some on business back then and also watching a lot of sports on tv. The "disconnect" thing from network shows in the 80's was the culprit, I guess.
mojts.jpg
 

Mark-P

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Jeff Willis said:
Thanks. Rodney replied earlier in the thread.

I looked up the new show at IMDB for some info. I don't remember it airing, not sure how I missed that one but I was traveling some on business back then and also watching a lot of sports on tv. The "disconnect" thing from network shows in the 80's was the culprit, I guess.
mojts.jpg
Well for one thing, it wasn't a regular network show. It started out as a Disney Channel original, was cancelled, then picked up by Ted Turner on TBS.
 

Gary OS

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I created a mini-marathon of LITB episodes to watch this weekend, all featuring Frank Bank as Lumpy. What a great character he created. Some of the best things he did were non-verbal. He cracked me up numerous times with just facial reactions and silly gestures. RIP Mr Bank.


Gary "wish we could see a release of NLITB, but it sounds doubtful at this point" O.
 

TravisR

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Gary OS said:
I created a mini-marathon of LITB episodes to watch this weekend, all featuring Frank Bank as Lumpy. What a great character he created. Some of the best things he did were non-verbal. He cracked me up numerous times with just facial reactions and silly gestures. RIP Mr Bank.
I'm sure I said it in another thread but the episode where Wally and Eddie tie a tow chain to Lumpy's car axle is one of my all time favorite Beaver episodes.
 

Gary OS

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TravisR said:
I'm sure I said it in another thread but the episode where Wally and Eddie tie a tow chain to Lumpy's car axle is one of my all time favorite Beaver episodes.
Yep, I watched that one. A S6 episode that's one of my favorites as well. It's got Eddie and Wally both being pranked by Lumpy at the beginning, and then both of them pranking him back. And when you add Richard Deacon to the mix it's really hilarious. He and Frank Bank always worked well together. Classic episode for sure.


Gary "great, great show" O.
 

Rob_Ray

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I watched "Lumpy's Scholarship" on Saturday to honor Mr. Bank. He did a fine job in that episode, which showed what a multi-faceted actor he was. Hugh Beaumont did a fine job directing that one too.
 

Walsh61

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jimmyjet said:
boy, i dont get the fascination for lumpy !!
Well considering that Frank Bank just passed away it isn't surprising that fans of The Beaver would be remembering his contribution to the series.

I'll never forget the episode where Lumpy and Eddie were riding the roller coaster together. Cracks me up everytime I think about it despite the fact I haven't seen that episode in quite a while.
 

jimmyjet

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other than eddie and possibly larry, i dont think any other non-cleaver had that much contribution to the series.

i think all this lumpy talk is merely because he died.

lumpy is barely on at all in the first year, and he only slowly becomes a friend.

i am still on the second year, as it is the show i am currently watching.

the thing that really makes the show is that it is well written.

ward and june have great dialogue. and while i think ward is actually a good actor, june is good some time. and other times, the writing saves her.

of the boys, i think beaver does better acting than wally.

the only slightly irritating aspect of wally's acting is his constant action of looking down. it is not normal, in the sense that i have never seen a real person do this. although i suspect that it is intentional. so while it may not be a defect in wally's acting, i dont think it helps the character of wally.
 

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