I Love Lucy First Season Re-Release DELAYED? (1 Viewer)

[ChadP2k]

Just curious if anyone on the board has heard anything new, or successfully pre-ordered the new I Love Lucy slimmer re-release of the complete first season scheduled for the same day as the Season 4 release?

Amazon.com had the Season 1 re-release up for pre-orders but it has disappeared, and the only other sites I can find it on now list a 12/20/05 date.

How does re-releasing something that already has been done take an extra SIX MONTHS!?!

 

[Scott Shanks]

I pre-ordered the re-release from amazon for $48. I was notified that it shipped last week. I'll let you know what shows up. A new search of amazon does not show the slimmer/cheaper package available for pre-order anymore, though. Strange. I assume I will probably be getting the original set at the cheaper price.

 

[Seymour Uranowitz]

I also pre-ordered from Amazon, but it's still in "Not Yet Shipped" status. The estimated shipping date has been mid-May from the start. I thought the original re-release date was May 3 or so?

When I click on the link to the set on my order page, it goes back to the original release, with a price of $95.99. Very strange.

 

[EricSchulz]

TV Shows On DVD

There's your answer!

 

[ScottR]

I read on a Lucy Fan board from G. Oppenheimer that the first season re-release will include additional production notes, a photo of a deleted scene from "The Fur Coat" and some of the re-broadcast flashbacks that were included on the Season Two set. AFAIK, there is no additional footage included.

 

[Colby]

I wonder if the option will be available to watch the episodes with the flashback intro directly leading into the episode.

 

[Erik_H]

I also pre-ordered the re-release of the first season from Amazon. Yesterday, I received the original release (the 9 DVD set), although I was charged for the (substantially lower) price of the re-release. The re-release is no longer listed on Amazon. I notified Amazon of the error and will be sending the set back for a refund.

 

[Scott Shanks]

I received the same set and the same pricing as Erik. I probably would return it as well, but with no firm date set on the re-release, I think I'll hang on to it.

 

[ChadP2k]

I had Gregg Oppenheimer's e-mail address handy from back when the ILL DVDs first started coming out from Columbia House so I e-mailed him about the status of the Season 1 Re-Release last weekend. Here's what he told me.


My guess is the "production delays" have to do with combining things. Back when the series began being released Columbia House did them as a "club" thing and started with four episodes on each disc. Later they switched to six, but Paramount stuck with 4 for their retail release. It appears that they're trying to create a "hybrid" here, using some of both the original Columbia House & Paramount disc layouts instead of re-authoring everything from scratch.

There were problems with some of the early Columbia House discs though because at the time TV on DVD was just taking off, and I remember Gregg posting a message to the I Love Lucy mailing list at the time that CBS wouldn't fork out the extra $$ for high definition transfers and full restoration. When complaints came rolling in about the quality CBS recanted and after they saw how much money TV shows could make decided to go back to episode #1 and remaster completely in high definition.

My guess is it has taken them more time to go back and redo those first few discs from the new HD masters and add the closed captioning. Plus Columbia House initially began their series with a group of episodes in the middle of season 1, and then went back to the beginning to help drum up sales. That complicated things when they decided to put more episodes on discs because it put things out of order.

Here is the info on the re-release from the Lucyfan.Com website:

Reissued DVDs May Be Delayed

Paramount Home Video's reissue of the Season One I Love Lucy DVDs (originally scheduled to hit the stores May 3) will most likely be delayed -- if only by a few weeks. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

As for the changes between the original releases and the new discs, producer Gregg Oppenheimer tells us:

EVERY episode is now closed captioned (on the previous release, only 5 of the 9 discs were closed captioned).

Discs 1 and 2 has 6 shows each, and includes all 12 episodes previously included on Paramount's Season One, Volumes 1, 2, and 3. They also have English closed captions and Spanish subtitles, neither of which were on the previous Paramount release. Also added are Production Notes/Script Excerpts, Production Credits menus, and additional Special Footage/Lost Scenes. The Scene Selection menus are also improved, with more scenes (the previous release only showed 5 scenes per episode on the Scene Selection menus).

Disc 3 (4 episodes) is the same as Paramount's previous Season One, Volume 4, except that English Closed Captions have been added.

Discs 4 and 5 have 6 episodes each instead of 4, and contain all 12 episodes previously included on Season One, Vols. 5, 6, and 7. Otherwise they are the same as the previous Paramount releases (which already had English Closed Captions, Spanish Subtitles, Production Notes, etc.).

Disc 6 (4 episodes) is the same as Paramount's previous Season One, Volume 8, except that English Closed Captions have been added.

Disc 7 (4 episodes) is exactly the same as Paramount's previous Season One, Volume 9 (which already had English Closed Captions, Spanish Subtitles, Production Notes, etc.).

The Season One Box Set has only four thinpaks (3 of the 4 thinpaks contain two discs each), which makes it only about 80% of the width of the Season 2, 3, and 4 box sets -- and less than a quarter of the width of the old Season 1 box set.

As reported earlier, Paramount plans to release the Season Five box set in late August.

 

[Scott Shanks]

June 7 appears to be the new release date for the re-worked Season 1 set.

 

[Andrew Radke]

Better late than never. I'm still overjoyed that Paramount even went back to re-release the first season. I'd wait another 6 months for it if I had to. I'm just glad I didn't break down and purchase the 9-disc release.

 

[DaveK]

I purchased it with a gift certificate I received last Christmas. Two months later I found out about the initial re-release, so I took it back for a refund. I got store credit instead, so I used it to buy Diff'rent Strokes, The Dukes of Hazzard and some other DVDs and CDs.

 

[TravisR]

Has anyone picked up this set yet? Are all the extras brought over from the individual discs?

 

[PaulP]

Travis, I just got this from Amazon, haven't had a chance to play any of the discs yet, but from reading online, yes, and not only that, there are additions even. Check TVShowsonDVD.com for detailed info.

 

[TravisR]

Sweet, thanks for the info

 

[Paul Miller]

I recently got the re-released I Love Lucy Season One in the DDD sale and I am shocked at how great this show looks on DVD. I've never seen the show look this good before whether I was watching the episodes on cable or satillite.

Paul

 

[PaulP]

I already got Seasons Two and Three on the DDD sale. Looking forward to going through those!