I thought, I read,that the whole series was withdrawn from syndication because of the Victor De Costa lawsuit. Maybe his estate is the cause of the delay in more HGWT on DVD.
Those Victor De Costa lawsuits are interesting. Although he lost the first and won the second (but died before he could collect any money), what happened in 1991 was years before Have Gun Will Travel was released and sold on VHS tape. There is no connection between the DeCosta estate and this series in recent years, and the fact that the first 3 years of HGWT are already available on DVD is proof.
What Columbia House put on DVD is what is in stores now, the first three seasons. Those discs are the exact same discs Columbia House offered. There was no new digital remastering; just transfers from old VHS. To see the difference, compare Gunsmoke Season 1 where new transfers were done with HGWT Season 1.
This is even more reason for companies to put out entire series on DVD. Not to dismiss Paramount's attempts, but making us wait for seasons year after year does tend to kill the casual buzz to get all the seasons of one show. Time/Life has the right idea with their Get Smart and Man from UNCLE releases. The days of separate seasons is something that should be reexamined closely.
I think this whole discussion isn't getting us anywhere.
Have Gun, Will Travel was an interesting and often enjoyable classic TV western series....but it is not the most important in the annuls of television, so what's the hurry? We've gotten half of the series already, and that is a generous helping. There are so many better shows I'd rather get first, and apparently CBS / Paramount agrees. They include more seasons of The Wild Wild West, Hawaii Five-O, GUNSMOKE, and the non-CBS showd they now own: ABC's The Streets of San Francisco and I think they have The Fugitive too. Although I'm not collecting Mission: Impossible, that's another top seller on their list.
I believe the rest of the HGWT series will eventually be distributed, and when it happens....it will happen.
Assuming the info on Amazon is correct, Season One was released in May, 2004, Season Two in May, 2005, and Season Three in January, 2006. Season One is listed at #3,761 in Amazon's DVD sales; Season Two is #8,927; and Season Three is #12,296. The numbers maybe skewered a bit by the fact that Paramount also released a three-season box set at the same time that Season Three was released.
It's now been 18 months since Season Three was released and Season Four has not been announced, so there is reason for concern. In the meantime, I'm hanging on to my Columbia House VHS tapes.
The CBS Distribution Bible is reporting that they are in the process of transferring Season Four of HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL to HD. That probably bodes well for a dvd release in the near future, although nothing is set in stone (obviously).
Gary "CBS/Paramount is blowing me away with these updates to their Syndication Bible" O.
The syndication bible is a must-bookmark for me because of news like this. I'm glad to see the show is getting restarted as I've just started to go through it from the beginning. The fact that they are starting with the first *unreleased* season on DVD I think is pretty much the ultimate giveaway that this preparing this season for DVD.
It will be nice to have season 4, no doubt as a split, in remastered condition, but I hope one day they go backwards and remaster seasons 1, 2, and 3. Those were all transferred onto DVD from video masters and look horrible.
I hope it won't be split. I've enjoyed the first 3 seasons and really have no complaints. Yeah there were some episodes in Season 3 where the trivia part was left blank, but to me it was minor. As long as it's the complete season. If they start splitting the rest of it up and charging the same price for half the episodes, then Season 3 will remain the last one I buy.
I believe it was Rich Gallagher who talked with a lady at CBS/P during a HFT meet not too long ago who told him that they were looking at reviving the HGWT releases. One of the options being considered was the split season format. This syndication bible update would indicate that they are moving ahead with reviving the DVD franchise.
(Rich, apologies if I'm remembering incorrectly. I know you posted something somewhere on this, but I don't remember the thread.)