Well it's probably at least 30 episodes but still I hate split seasons as well, I'll grab this as an opportunity to see the rearely seen B&W first season with William Frawley.
This one really caught me by surprise, and I must say it's a pleasant surprise. My only real gripe is the obvious one - split season set again. Dang it! Seems like Paramount is intent on torturing me like this. All my favorites from their catalog they seem intent on splitting. And it's a real killer with a show that ran as long as this one did. It'll take forever to get all these (assuming it sells well enough to warrant future releases).
Gary "Paramount continues to lead the pack on classic releases - they have lapped the competition big time!!!" O.
It will be 18 episodes (36 total), and I too hate this season splitting thing. For a 12 season series that's 24 sets? Be interesting to see what the MSRP is.
It will be interesting to see what the MSRP will be on this Jeff, especially when there are 18 half hour episodes, the equivalent of just 9 hour long episodes. Even Paramount's release of "The Fugitive" has 15 hour long episodes on 4 DVDs. Eighteen half hour episodes could easily fit on three discs; the MSRP should be less than a four disc set.
They are probably testing the marketing waters with the half-season release. If it does well they may start releasing entire season sets. Everybody buy this so we can get those! ;>
I must admit this announcement comes as a surprise, albeit a pleasant one. I haven't seen the first season in years. It'll be great to see Chip as a little kid and Bill Frawley as Bub.
Hope this means we may see Donna Reed someday, too.
What is it with these half season sets? Sony has been doing well with I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched with 30+ episodes per set. Even Paramount was able to include 30+ episodes for the I Love Lucy sets.
I guess Paramount needs to boost its profits and charge fans double the cost for season sets by splitting them up.
Great news! I hope they at least make it to season two so I can see "Robbie Valentino" again. That's the episode where Robbie gets to utter that classic line... "Please pass the Bunsen burner!"
why do split seasons for shows like this and Gunsmoke? My Three Sons ran 12 seasons as it is, that's already sufficient shelf space usage. And Gunsmoke ran for 20 years, who wants 40 sets when even 20 will take a lot of room?
I'm pleasantly surprised this is coming out. With the relatively low exposure this has had over the past couple of decades I figured it would be a longshot. In fact I had just recently looked at the Paramount syndication bible page for MTS and there was no indication on there that any kind of restoration or HD Transfer was taking place for this show.
Pricing will dictate the success or failure of this. (In other words, don't price as a complete season.) Also, while it's great that Paramount is releasing so much, I continue to be concerned that they are glutting the market with classic releases. I'd rather that they fast track some of their current releases to completion and then start on a new batch. Perhaps their market research tells them otherwise though?
I never thought I'd see the day when a major studio reached this far back to produce season sets of a show that's been out of the limelight for so long. Glad to hear this. Thanks to Paramount and CBS for picking up on this one. But splitting seasons for a half hour show is really stretching it. Hopefully sales will warrant releasing whole season sets, if that's the criterion.
For this show, unlike other sitcoms of this period, I think the early seasons are the best, although it really peaked in the 4th and 5th seasons.
I think this the best indication yet for this. CBS maintains ownership of a number of shows from the fifties and sixties.
Did anyone ever dream William Frawley's post-"I Love Lucy" series would make it to DVD before Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance's post-"I Love Lucy" series did!?
I'm glad to see this, but you'd think they'd have done "The Lucy Show" first.
I dunno, i have seen no evidence that volumes helps sales. If anything it hurts them in my personal belief. I would much prefer to have 2 full seasons then stop over 2 half seasons which equal 1 full season then stop