Leave it to beaver season 3?

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Yep.

Dr. Katz had season 1 in May 2006, then Season 2 in Nov 2006. Then a year later in Nov 2007 The Complete Series came out with all 6 seasons. There have been no indications of any individual releases being planned for seasons 3 through 6.

Of course there are also situations where the studio has skipped releasing the final season, to go straight to a Complete Series release. For Arts Alliance America, it probably made sense to do that with BL Stryker, to cancel the 2nd (and final) season set DVD release with 7 episodes, and just put all 12 episodes out onto a seven-disc Complete Series set coming out at the end of this month.

But for Fraggle Rock, where the studio (HiT! Entertainment, via distributors Fox and then Lionsgate) released seasons 1, 2 and 3 as individual seasons, only to skip releasing a promised individual 4th-and-final season set to go straight to an upcoming Complete Series release, seemed pretty ludicrous given the fact that many of the show's fans are not deep-pockets collectors but instead poor folks, including single parents, who just want to share with their kids a program that they enjoyed themselves while growing up. This seems to be in poor taste, and the reason given ("to have the complete series set out to celebrate the show's anniversary") isn't sitting well with fans who just don't intend to or can't afford to re-buy Seasons 1-3 after paying quite a chunk of change for them (i.e., the "Mike Frezon argument" ).

Finally, there are also a few shows out there which had a few single disc "best-of" releases running around, mostly kids shows (Liberty's Kids and The Real Ghostbusters come to mind, as recent examples), which switched over to a Complete Series release to finish out the run of the program on DVD.

And yes, I'll be addressing the Movies Unlimited stuff for all three shows mentioned there in news reports at TVShowsOnDVD. Don't get too worked up yet, folks.


David Von Pein: About David Levine's keen and insightful analysis of the industry: let's just say that he knows what he's talking about, and when you want a guy who's in-the-loop about the way this business works, he's clearly eligible to claim to everybody, "I HAVE THE POWER!"

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

A few more "Davids" in here and we might just have to contact Mr. Guinness for the record books.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Nope. Wishful thinking isn't against the law...but you realize what you're going to have to go through to break into Mr. Benny's vault to get those shows, don't you?!?

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

They could release it as a double show set with Wonder Years and I'd pay $600 for it. :d

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

If I am not mistaken Universal release 2 seasons of The Incredible Hulk on the same day.
Perhaps Universal could release seasons 3 and 4 of the Beav on the same day and then maybe 6 months later release seasons 5 vand 6 on the same day.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Good examples, Dave!

So there IS a precedent for it happening.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I am by no means a "student of the industry" but I did read something recently (although I don't recall where but I am sure it was not in a trade publication) about how complete series sets were the new bright spot for TV on DVD retail and that many more sets are being prepared for the upcoming holiday selling season.

The only reservation I have about a complete LITB series set is the price point. The first two LITB season sets still have an unusually high list price (when compared to similar programs with a high episode count like Bewitched, FKB, etc.) Let's hope they can release this at a reasonable price. For me to double dip (and of course when all is said and done I will) I have to somehow cost justify the fact that I already invested $80 in the first two seasons knowing I have to re-buy them to get my hands on the rest.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

If there is still anyone left, that still doesnt have the 2 seasons released,amazon has them on sale currently for 21.49 each.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I hope it will be good news, David.

Gary "if we could get this show out in a complete set I'd be extremely, extremely happy - this show is a top 5 favorite of mine" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

There are only 3 shows I would buy the complete series at once those shows are Dennis The Menace,Hazel and of course Leave It To Beaver.I do not believe this will happoen unless the studios have a change of the way they release classic tv on dvd. I hope i'm wrong.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Dennis the Menace and Hazel ... two of my all-time childhood favorites ... I beg for them every chance I get, and here I am doing it again.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Don't give up hope. Perhaps they could be licensed to different companies for release

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Except for the "only" this applies to me too. I haven't even taken the shrink off the one season of Hazel I have. I'm constructing a special shrine, not unlike what Jason does for his mother in Friday the 13 part 2.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

David gave us news quickly. Unfortunately it wasn't good.

Gary "very bummed, but not real surprised" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

What did The Beav and The Wally used to say back in the '60s instead of "Damn, this news sucks!"? Because I'm in need of those alternate words here:

Leave It to Beaver DVD news: Rumors about Leave It To Beaver | TVShowsOnDVD.com

EDIT: Beaten to the punch by 5 minutes by Gary "I'm sure he's as disappointed as DVP about this news" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

DAMN UNIVERSAL FOR NOT FOLLOWING THROUGH ON THIS CLASSIC.MAY THEY BURN IN CLASSIC ON TV DVD HELL

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Yikes. Watch out guys, or you may get your mouths washed out with soap by June - or taken to the woodshed by Ward. Then again, you might fall victim to the paddling machine.

Gary "it really is disheartening news" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

To try and look on the bright side (June Cleaver would like that, I'm sure) -- Possibly the "Movies Unlimited" quote is also accurate (in a sense):

David L. and TSoD talked to somebody "in the know", but the TSoD article only says that the "insider" was speaking about "Universal's plans" for a possible future LITB release. That certainly wouldn't exclude another company from acquiring the series from Universal and then releasing the whole series.

Perhaps "Irv" (at MU) knows something about Universal outsourcing The Beav to another company for DVD release.

Anyway, in desperation, I'm just throwing out DVD theories to see where they'll splatter. I'm just guessing. But it's certainly possible that both of these "insiders" are correct -- "Irv" and the person TSoD talked to, who apparently was only talking about Universal's plans for releasing LITB.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

That machine in Mrs. Rayburn's closet is called a "Spanking Machine", Gary.

Get your Beaver terminology correct next time, will ya? Geesh.

(BTW, I need a stiff drink about now, after hearing this news about The Beav from TSoD. Anybody want to join me in a "hunk" of milk?)

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Yikes. Now I'm in line for the Spanking Machine. Just goes to show you I haven't watched my dvds much lately. I'll take a hunk of cake with that milk, but make sure Larry isn't around.

Gary "guess I'll have to rev up my dvd recorder and start archiving" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I revised my "hunk of milk" comment above, Gary. (It's funnier now.)

(Oh, the humanities!)

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

All I can say is this: bear in mind that I am sometimes (well, maybe "often") in a position of really, truly understating who (and what) my source or contact is. Not because I want to misdirect my readers, but because I MUST misdirect the studio high-ups. Why? To protect the identity of my source, so somebody doesn't lose their job for speaking out of turn. And that could be a studio employee, or a subcontractor (I used to have a source that did closed captioning on DVDs; he was discovered and fired), or employed by a retailer who the studio would talk to about spilling beans and threaten retribution over. So I can't tell you how many conversations I have that begin with "you can't use my name, but..."! On other occasions, I often feel that I have to ask someone a question with the accompanied offer of "we don't have to use your name if you don't want us to" in order to have an even chance of getting any sort of answer!

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

...and so it goes.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Well, this is a bummer no matter how you look at it.

Thank you, David, for tracking down the information for us (no matter how bad the "news" turned out to be.)

Not to single out the Beav, but I can't help wonder how much of an adverse effect all of these stalled and abandoned TV on DVD series is having on the industry as a whole. A few short years ago the future was bright and it seemed like the sky was the limit in terms of titles being issued.

That was then.

Now... (as someone owns over of 200 TV on DVD sets) I think long and hard before I take the plunge on any new series, and even more-so on a vintage or classic title that somehow manages to sneak out.

The first thing I look at is who is releasing the set and what kind of track record do they have when it comes to completing their series sets. Next, how many seasons are we talking about. Finally, is it color, black & white or both (like My Three Sons for example.) More often than not, I simply pass because the likelihood of my ever getting the complete series is just too low. I am way more likely to jump in to a Shout! Factory or WHV set than a Fox, Universal or Sony series.

Granted, I probably own many more TV on DVD sets than the average consumer, but I have to think that some studios inability to release complete series sets is having an adverse affect on the industry as a whole.

At the start, the "promise" of TV on DVD has always been to watch your favorite programs in their original form, your way, whenever you want. Consumers responded to that promise with a resounding "yes." Somewhere along the way, the studios seem to have lost their way...

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Okay. Fine. I wish they'd just announce how many remaining from the cast have to die to get this!!!

*sharpens machete and heads to Friend's Lake*

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Even though I tried to include all the appropriate caveats, I feel really bad now for linking to the Movie Irv column that briefly gave BEAVER fans what has turned out to be false hope.

Since this isn't the first error he's made, one wonders what he's using for sources.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Steve, PLEASE don't feel bad for linking to Irv's column here. I wasn't going to mention it, but I had already gotten a few e-mails from folks prior to seeing your post here. A couple days before, in fact. So word was already spreading about this, and I was already trying to get the info. My quest was hampered by the fact of the holiday week and a needed person being on vacation, and also the fact of Gord being on vacation and me having to spend time backing up some of his duties as well as covering my own. Not that I'm complaining; we cover for each other all the time when someone needs time off. It just kept me from following up as soon as I would have liked after my contact had returned.

Anyway, nothing's your fault here. I felt a bit bad because I wanted to slow down the enthusiasm here a bit, without tipping my hand. But I couldn't figure out a great way to do that and satisfy both requirements. So I waited until I was sure, and until I could get my post up. Sorry for the delay!

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

If you have a membership to Netflix, you can watch almost all of the 256 episodes of Leave it to Beaver in good quality video free with your membership using Netflix's Play it Now feature. I haven't been successful in trying to download the video however.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Gee, they made 22 more episodes since '63 and I never even knew it, huh?

The real Episode Count = 234, not 256.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Are they edited or unedited?