At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!! (1 Viewer)

[Mitchum22]

How 'bout dog poop?

 

[Elena S]

It wouldn't be dog poop to me. And you can't scare me -- I have 12 cats!!!

I respect others' decision on this, but no matter what anyone says I'm not going to change my mind. If it means having to buy syndicated prints to get this set, I will do it, just to have it. Yes, unedited would be best. But I'm not going to quibble over a few minutes here and there. To me it would be a miracle just to see it on DVD.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

If the show was so important to you people that you'll take it in any form, then why didn't you tape them or get someone to tape them for you from Nick at Nite? They ran the show complete for at least 5 years. Why would it be so important to have in now in 2008 in any form but it wasn't important to have in 1988?

 

[Gary OS]

Come on, buddy. Let's not go through this song and dance again. There are numerous reasons a person may not have been able to tape the show in the 80's. I shared my personal history from that time period on the FKB thread (and I've shared the same info on other threads) detailing why I couldn't tape things then.

Gary "boy, this 'issue' of cut prints seems to bring out the worst in people" O.

 

[Professor_Echo]

Cur·mudg·eon (kr-mjn)
noun

1. A crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas

Nyah Nyah Nyah

1. An interjection with a meaning and use similar to "so there" or "eat your heart out". For example: I have everything and you don't, nyah nyah nyah!

 

[Steve...O]

I agree with Gary that we need to give some slack to smaller companies with regards to what they can put out. This assumes that they've made a good faith effort to obtain uncut material.

For example, I really enjoy the Shout! Ironside DVDs. The transfers are not pristine but they're more than adequate. The shows are occasionally timesped but otherwise complete. This is a series that is not going to move big numbers and Universal wasn't going to go back to retransfer all the episodes so Shout made the best with what they were given.

Having said that, for these independents to continue surviving in a crowded and economically recessed marketplace they are going have to deliver a value added product. The definition of "value" will vary by consumer but I think most classic television buffs will have reasonable expectations given the small market for this material. Again, the assumption is that the studio has done their due diligence in assembling the best looking and most complete prints available.

I don't begrudge anyone for settling for edited episodes if the series is very important to them; that's entirely their right and I would probably do the same. My earlier point is simply that with purchases being decreased due to gas prices, food costs, etc. my dollars are more likely to be spent on releases where I get the biggest bang for the buck.

But all this discussion is premature...there's still been no official announcement of Donna Reed and it is still entirely possible that the episodes are uncut.

 

[MatthewA]

I've gotten burned by good faith before (don't need to reiterate the examples). Nonetheless, even if the economy was better, there's still the fact that the retail market for DVDs is down, and the closure of stores like Tower Records probably has a huge impact on catalog titles like this one.

 

[DeWilson]

When did Columbia do this - When they put together the 'edited for syndication' package of the mid/late 1980's?

 

[Elena S]

It's always been important to me to have it. But I no longer have my Beta machine that taped it. The machine died before I could transfer the shows. I don't see anyone volunteering to offer me copies.

 

[Michael Rogers]

If you kept the commercials in those shows, I know someone that would be perhaps be willing to make copies for you in return for making one for himself. He's a ravid collector of vintage w/commercial broadcasts and if your tapes are from the 80's or early 90's he's probably interested.

If you want to be put in touch with him, contact me privately

 

[Gary OS]

Our good pal David Lambert of TVShowsonDVD.com has posted some new info about a forthcoming release of this show. All the info can be found here. Basically he says that according to AAA the show is coming, but not to expect it until near the end of the year. No info yet about how it will be presented.

Gary "good news - but we will have to wait for further details" O.

 

[MARC1]

Great news on The Donna Reed Show. I will be buying this one.Hopefully in a season sets format.I'd love to see some extra's.vintage commercials etc.
The two episodes I have now from the general mills promotion some 4 years ago.Have definately been used I have probably watched those two episodes at least 8 or 9 times.It will be great to get some more Donna Reed on dvd.
Now if we can just get seasons 2 through 5 of Hazel and Dennis the Menace.Wishful thinking.:frowning:

 

[MARC1]

Great News.Iwill be picking this one up when its released hopefully in season sets.With extras like vintage commercials.Interviews etc.
The 2 episodes I have from the general mills promo some 4 years ago.I have viewed those 2 epoisodes at least 8 or 9 times.So I will be eargerly waiting for this one.
Now if we can just get the remaining seasons of Hazel plus dennis the menace.
Not holding my breathe on those two.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

As crazy as this sounds, ill be getting the donna reed dvds, because if this sells well enough , this company that is releasing the dvd ,might consider Dennis . Im not saying I dont like the Donna reed show, if that was the case I wouldnt purchase it.Im just a little suprised that its making its way to dvd before dennis.

 

[MatthewA]

Dennis might still be under Sony's control, in which case it might as well be buried forever.

 

[mrmike898]

According to The Official Paul Petersen Website, dated 8/17/06, Paul writes "The "rights" to the DR Show, the first five years, are now in the hands of Donna Reed's adult children (Penny, Tony Jr., Timothy and Mary), and Donna Reed's former-husband/Producer, Tony Owen's widow. The last three years of the show are, I believe, still in the hands of Sony Pictures, which purchased Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems". This would make sense as to how AAA got the DVD rights, at least presumably, for the show.

But, that's trusting what Paul Petersen says. He also says "Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures have already put their entire libraries on the Net, every title now available for downloading". WTF? How or where that came from I have no clue, but hopefully his knowledge about the tv series he starred in is better than his creative false knowledge about other studios' properties.

Now, we'll just have to sit back and wait until the end of the year to find out...

 

[Bob_S.]

WOOOOOHOOOO!! Please let this happen! You don't know how close I was to buying this series through "other means". Like Marc, I only have the General Mills dvd and I've spun that MANY times. Glad to see all the interest about The Donna Reed Show!

 

[Michael Rogers]

I have that DVD too. I was irritated about how edited the shows were I think it was 20-21 minutes per show.

 

[MatthewA]

Are you kidding me? Most modern syndicated edits of most shows (pre-1990s) are about 22 minutes.

 

[Tom.W]

It's really surprising how quickly this show has disappeared, although probably a lot of people still have syndicated episodes in their collection. A Gary, IN station ran the heavily edited (22 minutes) syndicated episodes about 10 years ago. I was fortunate to have someone tape some of the first season from NICK at NITE. Those were just about perfect, 25 minutes complete, proper fade ins and fade outs. Too bad digital media wasn't available to the public back then. I had heard that the reason Columbia left out the Bob Crane episodes was because of the circumstances surrounding his death. Seems odd that they would pick those eps to cut down the size of the package by coincidence.