THE DONNA REED SHOW: SEASON 5 (1 Viewer)

[Greg2356]

I feel the same way Jay, I remember mostly all of the scenes I had a problem with which took away from some of my enjoyment in the viewing of my favorite show! So I too would be very thrilled with having some improvements in the technical quality when it comes to Seasons I-3. The packaging to me would just be like icing on the cake, but I surely would welcome it!And you're very welcome Dave and Bob for the update!

 

[HunterMan]

Hello from "The Donna Reed Show" insider. lol.. Mary Owen has let me know that Seasons 6-8 are still being held up! MPI had a very positive meeting with a man from Sony Pictures, but then they turned over negotiations to someone else concerning MPI getting the rights to release seasons 6-8 on DVD. The person they turned over these talks to appears to have a poor attitude and lousy disposition in general. She doesn't want to talk about this subject and won't even answer any emails from MPI. She says if they don't make a big deal about getting these Donna Reed Show seasons and make a simple agreement, Sony will consider letting MPI release seasons 6-8 on DVD. MPI will try to negotiate again with "Sony Pictures" in the month of March. And the reason for this delay with MPI trying to convince Sony to let them release these seasons is because "Sony Pictures" right now is in the middle of downsizing and will be firing a lot of their employees. So this month of February is pretty much a mess for "Sony Pictures" studio.

In the meantime, there is some better news to report: MPI is going to be working on Seasons 1-3 in regards to "The Donna Reed Show" and re-releasing them on DVD. Some fans didn't really approve of the technical quality on Seasons 1-3 which were done by another studio, so MPI is planning to improve the technical quality of these first three seasons which concern "The Donna Reed Show." I am excited about this...

Mark,

Thanks for the update! That's very discouraging...but sadly not surprising news about Sony and how they operate. They've always been known to have problems or be rude/defiant about releasing seasons of the older TV shows they own --they only want to mess with the current or brand new ones. However, that is somewhat ridiculous about Sony having a poor attitude towards releasing these last 3 seasons...if they're having that many internal problems then I'd think they'd want to do a little business and/or generate some more money...but, whatever! I'm always hopeful but I'm not holding my breath for releases of Seasons 6-8 anytime soon.

But, maybe in the next couple months I'll be pleasantly surprised. Sony has recently made deals with Mill Creek Entertainment...to re-release some of their older shows, such as "Charlie's Angels", "Starsky & Hutch", and a few others. However, I already have Sony's original releases of those shows...which took them forever to finally release all the seasons . Other shows they never did return to or finish putting out. But, those deals were probaby made before all the "poop" hit Sony's perverbial fan...so now who knows?

That is interesting that MPI is working on re-releasing Seasons 1-3...that were originally put out by Alliance America (Season 1) and Virgil Films (Seasons 2-3). I wasn't that upset or bothered by the technical quality...however, the packaging/art work on Season 1 could definitely have been better! But, if MPI can improve everything--I'd re-purchase those seasons for sure!

 

[LeoA]

I hope the later seasons see release. I like this show quite a bit and would love to see the final few seasons. Only have ever seen the first few shows after Patty Petersen joined the cast and 1 or 2 with Bob Crane which is season 6 if i'm not mistaken.

How regular are appearances from Shelley Fabares in the later seasons after she stopped being a regular member of the cast? Once or twice a season or every few episodes?

I hate it when a main character all but disappears.

 

[LeoA]

Looks like that was season 5 actually.

Doesn't look like much but at least she does pop up from time to time. I count three appearances in season 6, two in season 7, and 1 in the final season.

Always thought the interaction between her and Jeff was one of the most believable sibling relationships on tv.

 

[Kasey]

I'd be delighted with improved versions of S1-3 from MPI and some packaging consistency to boot.

I will be re-buying Seasons 1-3 for sure. I love this series and would love better quality episodes and nicer cover art.

I sure hope Sony will relent and strike a deal with MPI. When they were having financial problems and downsizing about five years ago, Sony began licensing alot of shows to Shout Factory (Designing Women, Facts of Life, All in the Family) so perhaps this is what's needed to get them to acquiese. If they let Seasons 6-8 of Donna go, maybe they will also give up The Farmer's Daughter.

 

[swan4022]

And maybe the re-releases of earlier seasons will include the announcer at the end, "This has been a Screen Gems film presentation..."

 

[Greg2356]

I hope the later seasons see release. I like this show quite a bit and would love to see the final few seasons. Only have ever seen the first few shows after Patty Petersen joined the cast and 1 or 2 with Bob Crane which is season 6 if i'm not mistaken.

How regular are appearances from Shelley Fabares in the later seasons after she stopped being a regular member of the cast? Once or twice a season or every few episodes?

I hate it when a main character all but disappears.

Leo, Shelley Fabares returned sporadically as a 'Guest Star' in episodes for two more seasons which were the 'Sixth' and 'Seventh Season' of "The Donna Reed Show." Here are the titles from episodes that Shelley Fabares had appeared in for the 'Sixth Season,' Ep. 194, "Mary Comes Home" Ep. 197, "What are Friends For" Ep. 200, "Moon Shot" and Ep. 213, "Day For Remembering."Now here are the titles from episodes that Shelley Fabares had appeared in as a 'Guest Star' for the 'Seventh Season,' Ep. 223, "The Daughter Complex" Ep. 228, "Anyone Can Drive" Ep. 233, "Old Faithful" and Ep. 248, "Indoor Outing." In this last episode, they were actually flashbacks of Shelley and the rest of the cast taken from various past episodes of the series. Also, there was a rather Special Episode from the 'Sixth Season' which was Ep. 202 entitled, "First Addition," in this episode Donna Stone reminisces about Mary's birth and goes back in time, which finds Donna lying in a Hospital Bed with baby Mary in her arms and with Alex by her side. Shelley Fabares doesn't actually appear in this particular episode, but indeed- the baby is supposed to be Mary Stone.
Shelley did not appear at all in the final 'Eighth Season' of this series.

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

And maybe the re-releases of earlier seasons will include the announcer at the end, "This has been a Screen Gems film presentation..."

Seasons 1-2 didn't have the announcer at the end, for the endcard read with the clouds in the background and captioning surrounding the torch lady, "A SCREEN GEMS Film Presentation, Television Subsidiary, Columbia Pictures Corporation." Seasons 3-5 will have an endcard with a different background surrounding the torch lady where it would say just SCREEN GEMS, and you'll have a voiceover announcemenr.

 

[HunterMan]

Leo, Shelley Fabares returned sporadically as a 'Guest Star' in episodes for two more seasons which were the 'Sixth' and 'Seventh Season' of "The Donna Reed Show." Here are the titles from episodes that Shelley Fabares had appeared in for the 'Sixth Season,' Ep. 194, "Mary Comes Home" Ep. 197, "What are Friends For" Ep. 200, "Moon Shot" and Ep. 213, "Day For Remembering."Now here are the titles from episodes that Shelley Fabares had appeared in as a 'Guest Star' for the 'Seventh Season,' Ep. 223, "The Daughter Complex" Ep. 228, "Anyone Can Drive" Ep. 233, "Old Faithful" and Ep. 248, "Indoor Outing." In this last episode, they were actually flashbacks of Shelley and the rest of the cast taken from various past episodes of the series. Also, there was a rather Special Episode from the 'Sixth Season' which was Ep. 202 entitled, "First Addition," in this episode Donna Stone reminisces about Mary's birth and goes back in time, which finds Donna lying in a Hospital Bed with baby Mary in her arms and with Alex by her side. Shelley Fabares doesn't actually appear in this particular episode, but indeed- the baby is supposed to be Mary Stone.
Shelley did not appear at all in the final 'Eighth Season' of this series.

Yeah, even though I knew she did and had always heard about it...I don't remember seeing any of the "Mary-Return" episodes back when the show was on Nick-at-Nite. Did they air any of those episodes? So, I really wish Sony would shape it up and just let MPI release these seasons!

But, I am glad to hear that MPI will most likely be re-releasing the first 3 seasons--hopefully with improved sound/picture as well as packaging art quality!

Seasons 1-2 didn't have the announcer at the end, for the endcard read with the clouds in the background and captioning surrounding the torch lady, "A SCREEN GEMS Film Presentation, Television Subsidiary, Columbia Pictures Corporation." Seasons 3-5 will have an endcard with a different background surrounding the torch lady where it would say just SCREEN GEMS, and you'll have a voiceover announcemenr.

I remember the Screen Gems announcer at the end with some of the episodes on Nick-at-Nite back when. It would be cool to actually include that with MPI's re-releases. But, we'll see--if MPI uses the same copies from Virgil Films for Season 3 (according to you the first season to include the Screen Gems announcer) but just "cleans" them up then probably we won't see that. At least I don't remember the announcer with Virgil Film's Season 3 release??

 

[Greg2356]

Yeah, even though I knew she did and had always heard about it...I don't remember seeing any of the "Mary-Return" episodes back when the show was on Nick-at-Nite. Did they air any of those episodes? So, I really wish Sony would shape it up and just let MPI release these seasons!

But, I am glad to hear that MPI will most likely be re-releasing the first 3 seasons--hopefully with improved sound/picture as well as packaging art quality!

Drew: "Nick at Nite" did air just one of the these episodes with a guest appearance by Shelley and had just stuck it in with the 'Fifth Season' episodes. It was episode 197 from the 'Sixth Season' entitled, "What are Friends For" It wasn't a very good guest appearance by Shelley Fabares anyway, It was almost like a walk through- Mary comes downstairs and she says a few words to Jeff and her Father in the living room, walks back upstairs again and then the camera comes in very close with Mary turning her head sideways towards the camera with a 'Movie Star Pose' on her face. It was kind of an odd appearance by Shelley almost like she was somehow very emotionally distant from the characters Jeff and Alex. MPI studios had replaced this episode with a real 'Fifth Season' episode with Shelley Fabares which hadn't aired in syndication for decades... It was episode 153 entitled, "Mr. Nice Guy" which I thought was a rather good episode with Paul, Shelley, Donna, and Carl.

 

[HunterMan]

Drew: "Nick at Nite" did air just one of the these episodes with Mary and stuck it in for some reason with the 'Fifth Season' episodes. It was episode 197 from the 'Sixth Season' entitled, "What are Friends For" It wasn't a very good appearance by Shelley Fabares anyway, It was almost like a walk through- Mary comes downstairs and she says a few words to Jeff and her Father in the living room, walks back upstairs again and then the camera comes in very close with Mary turning her head sideways towards the camera with a 'Movie Star Pose' expression on her face. It was kind of an odd appearance by Shelley almost like she was somehow very emotionally distant from the characters Jeff and Alex. MPI studios replaced this episode with a real 'Fifth Season' episode with Shelley Fabares that had never aired in syndication before... It was episode 153 entitled, "Mr. Nice Guy" which I thought was a rather good episode with Paul, Shelley, Donna, and Alex.

Mark,

Yeah, I remember reading or hearing somewhere that "Mr. Nice Guy" had not been aired in decades (possibly since its original airing)...so that was a superb treat on the 5th Season set! I've never seen "What Are Friends For"...so I wouldn't know about that Mary-return episode...but as for her it sounds kind of silly or "odd". But, I would still like to see/have it someday if Sony will see reason and allow 6-8 to be released.

 

[LeoA]

Is that the one where Mary is confused that Jeff is being nice to her and it turns out he's bothered she's going away to college and is going to miss her?

Good episode

 

[Greg2356]

Donna Reed's Daughter Mary Owen would like your prayers concerning the softening up of this person who is stopping the process of Sony Pictures from licensing out to MPI the 6 through 8 seasons from "The Donna Reed Show." If any of you have the inclination to pray for this situation, then please do so... It would be greatly appreciated!! Mary is hoping by March when it comes time for MPI to try again to negotiate with Sony Pictures regarding these final three seasons of her Mom's show, that this person will have been softened up by your prayers and will at least be more reasonable about licensing out to MPI these final seasons from "The Donna Reed Show." Thanks in advance for any prayers you might send out in regards to this very frustrating matter! Thank you so much!!!

 

[Bob_S.]

She has mine, Mark!

 

[Jay*W]

Mine too!

 

[HunterMan]

Donna Reed's Daughter Mary Owen would like your prayers concerning the softening up of this person who is stopping the process of Sony Pictures from licensing out to MPI the 6 through 8 seasons from "The Donna Reed Show." If any of you have the inclination to pray for this situation, then please do so... It would be greatly appreciated!! Mary is hoping by March when it comes time for MPI to try again to negotiate with Sony Pictures regarding these final three seasons of her Mom's show, that this person will have been softened up by your prayers and will at least be more reasonable about licensing out to MPI these final seasons from "The Donna Reed Show." Thanks in advance for any prayers you might send out in regards to this very frustrating matter! Thank you so much!!!

Mark,

I'm a very strong and serious Christian...so of course my prayers are with Mary and the situation! But, is there a specific reason why this "Sony person" is so against the last 3 seasons of "Donna Reed Show" being released? It just seems odd that they would be that against or "angry" about it?? I'm not surprised at all that Sony would be hestiant or not really seem that interested in it (at least at first)...but it almost sounds like even the mere mention of the show seriously angers them or sends them into a "fit". Just wondering?

 

[Greg2356]

Hi Drew! If there might be another reason other than Sony is too big to care about a B/W Show from the bygone years, Sony has given no indication of what may, or may not be involved in their reluctance to license it out to MPI. Antenna TV was planning to air these final seasons from "The Donna Reed Show" two years ago, but then I received an email from them saying they were having trouble with the distributors of this series and they might not be able to air it. And as a final result, "Antenna TV" ended up not broadcasting it on their station.

 

[Kasey]

You would think that Sony would be pleased that a company such as MPI was expressing interest in one of their 'stagnant' properties that hasn't been rerun anywhere or doing anything but rotting in the vaults. At least this is a chance for them to make some profit from it, instead of nothing.

I really hope this deal comes to fruition.

 

[HunterMan]

Hi Drew! If there might be another reason other than Sony is too big to care about a B/W Show from the bygone years, Sony has given no indication of what may, or may not be involved in their reluctance to license it out to MPI. Antenna TV was planning to air these final seasons from "The Donna Reed Show" two years ago, but then I received an email from them saying they were having trouble with the distributors of this series and they might not be able to air it. And as a final result, "Antenna TV" ended up not broadcasting it on their station.

Mark,

Yeah, I figured probably it's just they don't care about a show as old as "DRS"...but it just seemed like from what Mary Owens was saying, that they were getting angry or upset about being asked about it. Sony has always had problems releasing or showing that much interest in older TV shows--even the popular or iconic ones. They are not one of my favorite studio companies--as I have had this issue with them with several other older shows they either won't release or started to release them but then dropped them after the first season or two! Maybe down the road Sony will figure out their internal issues and be more willing to work with some other companies about releasing more seasons of shows...but sadly I would say it's not very likely. But, I can hope!

You would think that Sony would be pleased that a company such as MPI was expressing interest in one of their 'stagnant' properties that hasn't been rerun anywhere or doing anything but rotting in the vaults. At least this is a chance for them to make some profit from it, instead of nothing.

I really hope this deal comes to fruition.

Could not have stated this any better...totally agree! If interest in the last 3 seasons of this show has been shown, why would you pass on making at least some $ off of them? Very bad and even stupid business!

 

[Ron Lee Green]

I also wonder why Sony is reluctant to license out the Donna Reed Show to MPI.
The only thing I can think of is that Sony has attempted to go into the DVR on demand route like Warner Archive. They released some obscure series like Ghost Story/Circle of Fear, Born Free, Bridget Loves Bernie, and Charlie's Angels season five this way. I wonder if it was profitable for them? Maybe they got their own plans for Donna Reed? I was hoping they would eventually release the Farmer's Daughter, too! I would rather have MPI release it but DVR on demand is better than nothing at all.