Coronet Blue coming from Kino Lorber (1 Viewer)

[Flashgear]

Coming Soon on DVD!
Coronet Blue (1967) (The Complete Series)
Created by Larry Cohen – Starring Frank Converse & Joe Silver

In this espionage thriller, Michael Alden (Frank Converse) is an amnesiac double agent in search of his true identity, while assassins of a mysterious syndicate are trying to locate and kill him.

Guest stars in the 13 episodes include: Alan Alda, Candice Bergen, David Carradine, Dick Clark, Denholm Elliott, Vincent Gardenia, Signe Hasso, Hal Holbrook, Sally Kellerman, Janet Margolin, Chester Morris, Juliet Mills, Patrick O’Neal, Mitchell Ryan, Roy Scheider, Daniel J. Travanti, Brenda Vaccaro, John Vernon, Jon Voight and Billy Dee Williams

• Includes a brand new interview with show creator Larry Cohen

View attachment 37143

Yay! Much Love for Kino Lorber! With a newly produced interview with Larry Cohen!
Thanks also to Neil Brock for first giving us the news it was coming.

 

[JamesSmith]

What other tv shows are likely to come from Kino Lorbo? Super President? The Farmer's Daughter? He and She? My World and Welcome to it? I think KL does have some of the DF properties.

James

 

[JamesSmith]

Garrison's Gorillas? Race for Your Life?

--james

 

[Ian K McLachlan]

Garrison's Gorillas? Race for Your Life?

--james

Run for your Life surely? I would like to see it on DVD also He and She and My World and Welcome to It.

 

[Bob Gu]

When the 1967 summer burn-off of CORONET BLUE took off in the ratings, a CBS executive said all they really accomplished was to make Frank Converse a star, just in time for the fall premiere of ABC's N.Y.P.D.

 

[Neil Brock]

Frank Converse is alive and well and living in Connecticut so it would be nice if they could interview him as well. The history of the show is as interesting as the show itself. Here's the theme song 45 which came out 2 years before the show was ever seen:

 

[DeWilson]

Since 2 episodes didn't air on CBS, and what aired didn't air in production order I wonder what order the episodes will be.

Also, too bad they couldn't get THE DEFENDERS episode that inspired the series.

 

[Rodney]

Frank Converse is alive and well and living in Connecticut so it would be nice if they could interview him as well.

Yes, I hope they would try to interview him for this. I have never seen this show, but it sounds great, and I am all in for a pre-order as soon as it is available!

 

[LeoA]

If I remember right and like was alluded to by Neil Brock in his post about the soundtrack LP, wasn't this produced in 1965?

While they sat on it for a long time before airing anything, it's yet another season from that impressive year of television history that has hit DVD/Blu-Ray since home video releases of entire seasons of classic tv content started to become commonplace 15 years ago or so.

Hopefully a few more from that year make it out before the end arrives. Certainly some worthwhile tv left there in the vaults, both for short and long-lived programs, including some that are still seen to this day on classic tv stations.

 

[Neil Brock]

The show was originally supposed to be on in the fall of 1965 on CBS but got pulled from the schedule. They didn't put it on in January 1966. Nor did they put in on in the fall of '66 or January '67. Finally, they gave up and threw it on as a summer burnoff on Monday nights at 10PM. With no promotion and no fanfare, the show did great ratings but it was too late as Converse was already shooting NYPD at this point. Another show deserving of a release by the way and produced by Bob Markell, the same man who produced The Defenders.

 

[Flashgear]

Coronet Blue certainly had a torturous route from film can to airdate...it must have been frustrating for Frank Converse, and everyone else associated with it's filming in 1965 to see it finally air nearly 2 years later in the summer doldrums...and as Neil Brock says, for Frank Converse, too late as he was already working in another series...

I only have 2 episodes in my collection...TV Land apparently aired some of these way back when...and I barely remember the premiere episode when it first aired... excerpts are on youtube (see below)...although when I watched the Naked City season 4 episode "The S.S. American Dream" a few years ago, I realized that the docks (SS France?, SS United States?... since scrapped) shown there were almost certainly the shooting location of Coronet Blue's pilot, filmed just 2 years later...scenes from the pilot which were seen, sometimes in flashback, in the run of the show...if you love period NYC scenery, Coronet Blue won't disappoint you (Central Park, Battery Park, Upper East Side and West Side)...if you love a higher quality, although cryptic and sometimes surreal spy show with good action and loads of great and upcoming guest stars, Coronet Blue is definitely for you...also, if you don't mind that the show was never allowed to fully explain it's mythology and wrap up all the loose ends...great Rosenfeld music on this show, and the Lenny Welch theme song is sure catchy...

I viewed my 2 complete episodes recently, after Neil Brock gave us the news that the series would be released complete on DVD...

"The Rebels"...Richard Kiley, David Carradine, Jon Voight, Candice Bergen guest star...Michael Alden (Frank Converse) is working as a security guard at a University where Professor Kiley is conducting experiments on hypnosis, memory recovery and treatment of amnesia...maybe "brainwashing" too? At least that's what the student experiment subjects and angry Vietnam era protesters think...Michael Alden is just hopeful that Richard Kiley can help him to recover his memory and figure out, as always, what the hell "Coronet Blue" refers to...and why that code word is stuck in his head...and, of course, why all these guys are trying to kill him...filmed at City College of New York...Larry Cohen's Alma Mater...

"Six Months to Mars"...Alan Alda, Patrick O'Neal, Billy Dee Williams...has surreal elements...reminds me a little of The Prisoner...with Michael Alden (Converse) as a kind of "Number 6"...strange experiments and mind games, complete with a "Monitor" and "Technicians"...is Patrick O'Neal kind of like a "Number 2" or is that Alan Alda?...some nice plot twists in this one...

I don't know how much truth there is to the story that the season 2 The Defenders episode "The Traitor" with Fritz Weaver is the original inspiration for Coronet Blue...and we've all heard the nice coincidental reference to The Nurses with the hospital that Frank Converse is taken to in the pilot and from which he derives his alias..."Alden Memorial Hospital"...actually Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan...

Old stalwarts and familiar faces from The Defenders are in evidence...Chester Morris, Ed Binns, Richard Kiley, Viveca Lindfors...veterans Hal Holbrook, Jack Cassidy, Phyllis Thaxter...up and comers like Lynda Day George, Roy Scheider, Brenda Vaccaro, Sally Kellerman, Juliet Mills, Marisa Berenson (Kubrick's Barry Lyndon) and Janet Margolin...offbeat appearance by "America's Oldest Teenager", Dick Clark...playing a disc jockey, natch...

Apparently the two unaired episodes featured Michael Alden breaking out of NYC and on the run to North Carolina...those episodes guest starred Laura Devon, Vincent Gardenia and "Number One Son" Keye Luke...

From what I've seen from my 2 episodes, Coronet Blue should look great on DVD...here's the 5 minute beginning excerpt from the pilot on youtube...Chester Morris (Boston Blackie) seen here...

 

[Darby67]

Since there is no sign at this point of any further season releases of The Defenders from Shout, I wonder if Kino Lorber would be interested in negotiating a deal with CBS to releases seasons 2, 3, and 4.

 

[Bob Gu]

The wiki page on CORONET BLUE lists the airdate order and production order of the show. It shows the two unaired shows were scheduled two and three times each, but were pre-empted every time. A reviewer at IMDB suggests watching the Keye Luke episode, "Tomoyo", last because of something Michael Alden says at the end of the episode.

The complete series was recently removed from youtube. Thirteen episodes were from broadcasts on Australian TV and the two unaired episodes were from a different source and had an onscreen counter running.

 

[Bert Greene]

It's certainly an odd series. I watched all the episodes about a decade ago, and was bouncing back and forth between finding it brilliantly fascinating and ridiculously flaky. Anyone who is remotely a connoisseur of the offbeat should love it. The location filming adds a lot, in terms of atmosphere, although sort of aloof and brittle at times. I definately preferred the series to Brodkin's preceding social-issue shows ("Brenner" remains my favorite of his shows, however). Quite uneven, from episode to episode, though.

 

[Dave Lawrence]

Since the series ended without a final episode/resolution, hopefully Cohen's interview will include discussion of how he would have ultimately resolved Alden's search for his true identity.

I wonder if Kino would have any interest in The Nurses, as Coronet Blue has a slight connection to that series.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Since there is no sign at this point of any further season releases of The Defenders from Shout, I wonder if Kino Lorber would be interested in negotiating a deal with CBS to releases seasons 2, 3, and 4.

That's a nice thought, but if Shout can't make the numbers work, what's the likelihood that Kino could?

 

[Darby67]

That's a nice thought, but if Shout can't make the numbers work, what's the likelihood that Kino could?

Zero to none, I'm sure.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Zero to none, I'm sure.

If it majkes you feel better, that was my first thought as well.

"Hey, The Defenders! Maybe Kino couldowait Shout already tried. Bummer."

Anyway, I'm always glad to see someone new try TV on DVD, I hope this leads to more from Kino, and I've never seen the show but it looks interesting enough to try..

 

[Doug Wallen]

I remember a man climbing on a ladder out of some water whispering "Coronet Blue". I believe it came on to late for me to watch. It seems interesting.

 

[Bob Gu]

There are a bunch of Larry Cohen interviews on youtube where he probably reveals who Michael Alden was, and it is mentioned on the show's wiki page too. And if you have the old Timeless Media BRANDED releases Cohen relates the reveal of CORONET BLUE there too, during his DVD extra interview.