Most Episodes with no Season Set DVD Releases (1 Viewer)

[Tony Bensley]

Would love to see Empty Nest finally make it as a complete series on DVD and hoping this is one of the two series expected to come out. Would also love You Bet Your Life/Best of Groucho in its entirety too.

Hi Richard!

Unfortunately, I believe that some of the "You Bet Your Life" episodes are considered lost, though I agree that it would be nice to see all of the existing ones released (Perhaps with a disclaimer, explaining the missing episodes from each affected season?), as would a complete "Empty Nest" series set!

CHEERS!

Tony

 

[Neil Brock]

Both show are in black and white.

 

[maskedmala]

Both show are in black and white.

Good news! Both B&W, that's really good news!

 

[FanCollector]

My guesses, at this point, would be The Defenders and Our Miss Brooks.

 

[Darby67]

I know it's a long shot but a complete series release of The Defenders would a godsend! It is truly my ultimate grail tv series..

 

[Joe Lugoff]

There's no point in guessing; you're only setting yourselves up for disappointment, which is what these teases do.

Let's face it. Only very, very special people know what the shows are, and the rest of us very, very unspecial people will just have to sit back and wait (and, as I said, likely be disappointed).

 

[phenri]

I don't get my ho

There's no point in guessing; you're only setting yourselves up for disappointment, which is what these teases do.

Let's face it. Only very, very special people know what the shows are, and the rest of us very, very unspecial people will just have to sit back and wait (and, as I said, likely be disappointed).

I don't get my hopes up any more. With the recent disappointments of cancelled releases, I just take them as they come these days.

I'd be shocked if The Defenders, Ben Casey, or any more of my holy grail B&W shows will be released. They are definitely a long shot.

It will probably be Our Miss Brooks, since I'm not interested in that one.

 

[Frank Soyke]

Out of these, Ben Casey and The Defenders would be two of my top choices as well...along with Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye (a grail show for me)....but if my own luck holds that way it has, I'm expecting yet more westerns

 

[Likecats]

I hope it is Our Miss Brooks too. I have some episodes from Youtube and 3 public domain ones from Echo Bridge, I did get to tape two holiday episodes off MeTv last year. I hope there will be an official release soon.

 

[Gary OS]

LOL, everyone has the same pessimistic philosophy about what will and won't be coming based on personal preferences. I too expect what I like won't get released, but what I have no interest in will. With that in mind I DON'T expect to see Lassie, Ozzie & Harriet, Our Miss Brooks, Bachelor Father or any more westerns (my favorite genre by far). I DO expect The Defenders and something like East Side, West Side.


Gary "no longer one of the 'privileged' insiders - the era and genres I'm keen on have really dried up, release wise, and consequently so have my contacts" O.

 

[maskedmala]

Good to see you back Gary. So I guess your cristal ball isn't working anymore.
Contrary to you, I hope these two series won't be westerns (not my favorite genre)

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Yuck, shows about social justice? No interest. What WE like is shows where people shoot each other with guns. Now, that's entertainment!

 

[Gary OS]

This is what I love about HTF. It's just like coming home after a long journey and realizing nothing changes. People don't change. It's reassuring and strangely pleasant, kind of like feeling uncomfortably bloated after eating a huge meal at the Golden Corral.


Gary "I love 'social justice' shows, especially when they end with the bad guy getting 'justice' via a shotgun" O.

 

[Gary OS]

Good to see you back Gary. So I guess your cristal ball isn't working anymore.

No, the crystal ball is still working. I'm just not asking it for any information because I can see that shows I'm interested in aren't being released much any more. Not enough to keep me consulting it like I used to.


Gary " " O.

 

[Bert Greene]

Oh, I always liked the social-conscious shows. But they were admittedly sometimes a bit too talky, and too lame in the action department. A few shootings and killings would have helped out. Especially on shows like "Channing.". I always envisioned in my mind a cool episode in which Channing and his students are held hostage in the classroom by a couple of gas-station bandits, played by guest-stars Robert Wilke and Jan Merlin. The latter would leer menacingly and make unsavory propositions to comely female student Sherry Jackson, who would look appropriately terrified. At the end, Eduard Franz bursts through the doors with a shotgun in hand, and blows apart the villainous duo. But not before a dramatic scene in which he states to them "you trash are a cancer on society, and I'm here with a double-barrelled cure.". Boom! Close-up death grimaces as Wilke and Merlin fall and writhe around on the floor before stillness settles in.

"Channing" might have even made it to a second-season, if it had just cut loose a little that way.

 

[Gary OS]

Oh, I always liked the social-conscious shows. But they were admittedly sometimes a bit too talky, and too lame in the action department. A few shootings and killings would have helped out. Especially on shows like "Channing.". I always envisioned in my mind a cool episode in which Channing and his students are held hostage in the classroom by a couple of gas-station bandits, played by guest-stars Robert Wilke and Jan Merlin. The latter would leer menacingly and make unsavory propositions to comely female student Sherry Jackson, who would look appropriately terrified. At the end, Eduard Franz bursts through the doors with a shotgun in hand, and blows apart the villainous duo. But not before a dramatic scene in which he states to them "you trash are a cancer on society, and I'm here with a double-barrelled cure.". Boom! Close-up death grimaces as Wilke and Merlin fall and writhe around on the floor before stillness settles in.

"Channing" might have even made it to a second-season, if it had just cut loose a little that way.

Post of the Week, my friend! Post of the Week!


Gary "I can always count on my long-time friend Bert for bringing something great to a discussion like this" O.

 

[Flashgear]

Gary, good to see you back, glad to hear from you again!

I also would love to have official and complete releases of CHANNING, THE DEFENDERS, EASTSIDE / WESTSIDE, MR. NOVAK, SLATTERY'S PEOPLE, BUS STOP etc...all with early '60s subtleties and constraints, but effective nonetheless ...and before I felt like I was being hit over the head with the sceptre of righteous social justice advocacy (the dreadfull '70s)...ROUTE 66 is one of my favourite shows from that earlier era, entirely in keeping with the others...yes, they're often talky and sometimes histrionic, and some would have benefited from a little more appropriate action perhaps...

Bert, I love your hilarious and sarcastic envisioning for CHANNING...Robert Wilke and Jan Merlin for sure... throw in Steve Ihnat and Skip Homeir too!... and have Van Heflin or Ed Begley help out Eduard Franz, ha, ha...perhaps Yvette Mimieux and Yvonne Craig could also be in jeopardy...all this while milquetoast Henry Jones hides under a desk and Jason Evers jumps out a window...

Joe, I appreciate your comment too, but unless you're a fan you might not know that the westerns of that era were often also surprisingly involved at times with transposed social commentary of a liberal vein...RAWHIDE, BONANZA, WAGON TRAIN, GUNSMOKE, BROKEN ARROW etc... and in my opinion, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL especially...those who look for the earliest and most positive depictions of African American, real Native American, Asian American and Hispanic actors on American TV should check these out...just watch the fifth season (1961) HGWT episode "Hanging of Aaron Gibbs" ...just one of many episodes I could cite...before you dismiss the Western genre entirely...

As to whatever Shout or others have coming on B + W TV, I almost feel obligated to buy it regardless of whether it might be my most desired...just to support the effort and maybe discover an unknown gem...

 

[Gary OS]

I think the western genre often receives hyperbolic rhetoric for being too violent and unkind by those who view things in - how shall I say it - a more "shades of gray" world. And by those that are always looking for TV series in general to teach the untrained and stupid masses instead of simply entertain them. But I've come to loathe the way that so many TV shows feel the need to remind us that everyone is both good and bad. That we should feel empathy for the 'bad' guy and find things to dislike about the 'good' guy. There was plenty of nuance and thought-provoking points made in quite a few of the 50's and 60's westerns (as Randall mentioned above). But I think it's also nice to watch a half-hour or hour of television, as a means of pure entertainment, and see a straight up Good Guy/Bad Guy episode where everything doesn't have to be so gray and muddled that you can't even figure out who's who. Westerns did a fine job in making that distinction and allowing us to just sit back and enjoy that most basic of storytelling - good triumphs over evil in the end.

Take care, everyone!


Gary "I see enough of the real world in modern gray-toned TV, on the news, and in my own personal life - give me some nice escapism in my entertainment choices and don't try to pound me over the head with the 'lesson of the week' all the time" O.

P.S. To bring this back on track - I really do wish Lassie, Ozzie & Harriet, Dragnet, The Millionaire, The Lineup, or one of the many other long-running series mentioned earlier in this thread would see a nice release.

 

[jperez]

I think the western genre often receives hyperbolic rhetoric for being too violent and unkind by those who view things in - how shall I say it - a more "shades of gray" world. And by those that are always looking for TV series in general to teach the untrained and stupid masses instead of simply entertain them. But I've come to loathe the way that so many TV shows feel the need to remind us that everyone is both good and bad. That we should feel empathy for the 'bad' guy and find things to dislike about the 'good' guy. There was plenty of nuance and thought-provoking points made in quite a few of the 50's and 60's westerns (as Randall mentioned above). But I think it's also nice to watch a half-hour or hour of television, as a means of pure entertainment, and see a straight up Good Guy/Bad Guy episode where everything doesn't have to be so gray and muddled that you can't even figure out who's who. Westerns did a fine job in making that distinction and allowing us to just sit back and enjoy that most basic of storytelling - good triumphs over evil in the end.

Take care, everyone!


Gary "I see enough of the real world in modern gray-toned TV, on the news, and in my own personal life - give me some nice escapism in my entertainment choices and don't try to pound me over the head with the 'lesson of the week' all the time" O.

P.S. To bring this back on track - I really do wish Lassie, Ozzie & Harriet, Dragnet, The Millionaire, The Lineup, or one of the many other long-running series mentioned earlier in this thread would see a nice release.

A very interesting opinion. It reminds me of what the creator of Naked City and Route 66, Stirling Silliphant, said in a long interview about his career that can be seen in YouTube: he was astounded when the interviewer asked him if he also wrote for The Defenders, and he said (I'm paraphrasing), "No... we were competitors, enemies, the complete opposite".
And then he relates an anecdote about a Naked City episode where (I think) Lee Marvin and a woman companion go on a killing spree, and, after killing Marvin, the policemen ask the woman why they did it. "Why? For the heck of it!" she answered, defiantly.
And Silliphant was very proud about that phrase, saying that in The Defenders the script maybe would've said that both criminals had a tough childhood, had been abandoned as orphans, etc., in trying to explain their actions sociollogically..
Having said that, I would say that, depending on my mood, I certainly enjoy both, the 'juvenile' 'black and white' 'good vs. evil tone of many early series (and some late ones) -not just Westerns- and the more serious,nuanced and, yes, socially conscious ones.
By the way, even though it can be grouped in the 'socially conscious' side because it attempted to discuss some mature subjects -drug addiction, teachers seducing or raping students- I think Jason Evers, as the teacher protagonist, in Channing, is just as solid and transparent as the protagonist of any escapist series. The antihero hadn't been invented yet... at least on television.
(One possible exception: the Maverick brothers, who openly rationallize their cowardice and their avoidance of a regular job).

 

[Gary OS]

(One possible exception: the Maverick brothers, who openly rationallize their cowardice and their avoidance of a regular job).

I'd add China Smith to the early anti-hero list.

Just so there's no misunderstanding on my position, I'm not against psychological drama studies in westerns or other genres. HGWT and Rawhide, two of my absolute favorites, had many examples of this. And I loved them. I think the difference for me is that they never came off as "preachy" about the subject matter. They were just presented as part of the storyline. Not a huge "cause" the writers were advocating for. That's where they lose me.


Gary "fun discussion" O.