Best of Route 66

Re: Best of Route 66

A month or two back, Billy Ingram had posted a short message on his TV Party! blog site to the effect that Sony had relinquished rights to both "Route 66" and "Naked City." But what he didn't say is who picked up the rights from Sony. While we now know that Kirk Hallam's Roxbury Entertainment has the rights to "Route 66" (with Infinity Entertainment doing the DVD distribution), there's never been any mention of who now owns the rights to "Naked City." Once somebody is able to nail down who has the rights to NC, then that might give us a better indication of whether or not we'll see the remaining episodes, including the McIntire-Franciscus first season. Assuming that Billy Ingram's information is correct, it's very good news that NC is no longer with Sony. I'd say the chances for seeing more NC eps. are probably good, contingent on who has the rights . . . . of course, that's just an educated opinion, so take it for what it's worth.

Re: Best of Route 66

I am cautiously optimistic about the full series release of "Route 66." The good news is that Roxbury/Infinity does appear to be serious about the release of the entire series. As we all know, however, "money talks." If the first season doesn't sell well enough, then who knows? The fact that it's being released by an independent is, in my opinion, a good thing as most independents don't have the kind of overhead that the major studios do and they can work on smaller margins and still make some money.

Re: Best of Route 66

It helps too that companies like Rhino, Image and Shout! Factory are seemingly much more consumer savvy where fandom for nostalgia is concerned, something which barely registers a 'feeble blip' with studios like Sony and Fox.

Re: Best of Route 66

Looks like Roxbury's original "Best of" set is no longer available at Amazon. A message there says "Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock." I'm guessing that either it sold out, or it may have been pulled from the market in anticipation of the season 1, volume 1 release. Either way, those who picked up this set (and I'm not among them) just may have picked up a nice "Route 66" collectors item. As far as I can tell, this set was only sold at Amazon so the production run was probably quite small.

Re: Best of Route 66

Bob, just envision, if you will, my horror at reading that the "Best of" set is no longer available sans announcement for S1, vol. 1! The set would then really garner some "collector value".

I certainly hope Infinity decides to release the half season sets sooner than 6 months apart. I'm also of the mind that the studio is committed to releasing the entire series but if the tv/dvd market should markedly soften in the next couple of years, who knows?

Re: Best of Route 66

It would be nice to get them all and I'm pretty confident we will. But if not, it's no big deal to just transfer our VHS SP masters from Nick at Nite to DVD. The prints were pristine and they were complete and unedited. So it would not be the biggest tragedy in the world. Not like lets say some other shows that have not run in that form anywhere in the taping era.

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It would be to me, I'm afraid as I didn't purchase a VCR until R66 left the Nick line-up.

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I just saw the cover of the dvd over at tvshowsondvd.com and man does it stink. They went with a colorized picture.

Re: Best of Route 66

Only a month to go for "Route 66." Currently, it's a DVD "Spotlight" selection at DeepDiscount.com. Speaking of which, DD has raised the initial pre-order price of $18.29 to $18.84. This is still the lowest priced shipped for this set.

Counting the days . . . . .

Re: Best of Route 66

Just now ordered mine from DD before they creep it up any higher--thanks, Bob. I noticed that they also raised the price for "Wanted Dead or Alive" S3 from 21.95 to 23.52 in taking a glance at my wish list.

I can't wait to get my hands on "Route 66" next month and will no doubt really savor this one like I have "The Fugitive".

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Bob, Mike,

Thanks for the reminder on this one. I locked it in for the current price this morning.

This one will be another blind-buy from this era for me but I remember Dad was crazy about this show when it aired.

Re: Best of Route 66

Good going, Jeff. In essence, this is very nearly a blind purchase for me as well as I only managed to catch a handful of episodes back in 1984. But what an indelible impression this series made. The chemistry between Maharis and Milner is second to none, the writing is first rate and the dialogue has hardly been bested. I guarantee this one for you knowing how much you're enjoying "The Fugitive". Besides, how wrong could Dad be?

Re: Best of Route 66

As I surmised earlier, websites devoted to the lore of historic Route 66 wanting to showcase anything and everything related are featuring the upcoming S1, vol. 1 DVD set. Here's an example of one that's offering it:

https://www.route66magazine.com/Gift...4/Default.aspx

With as many books, maps, videos and other memorabilia out there associated with the old highway, there seems to be a sizeable audience for all things R66. A search for "Route 66" at wal-mart.com gives a listing of 124 items! Thinking about it, very few tv shows have this 'carry over' effect such that they can capitalize on the free publicity and ride the wave of nostalgia for a different but related hobby. I'll bet no one at Sony even remotely thought about this aspect.

Re: Best of Route 66

The thought process at Sony probably went something like this . . . .

"Route 66," what's that?

. . . It's a show about two guys traveling around America in a Corvette.

Hmmnn, sounds interesting. When was it made?

. . . Early 1960s.

Was it filmed in color?

. . . No, black & white.

Fuggedaboutit!

Re: Best of Route 66

Dangit Bob! You stole my response! Seriously, I was just about to post something very, very similar.

Gary "if Sony execs talked about it at all - you know the fact that it was a b&w show had to play a part in them wanting nothing to do with it" O.

Re: Best of Route 66

I think you have something there, Bob. I could also imagine that rather than press for details on the two main characters, you might see this:

. . . It's a show about two guys traveling around America in a Corvette.

OK...so what model Corvette are we talking about here...? A '90, perhaps?

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Somehow I was envisioning a room full of young, nerdy looking guys that started sneezing uncontrollably when told "Route 66" was a early 60's black & white show.

Gary "I'm just thankful another group got hold of this series" O.

Re: Best of Route 66

From the product page at Deep Discount:

"When Todd Stiles’s rich father dies and leaves him only a little bit of cash, but a flashy new blue Corvette, he decides to hit the road and find out what awaits him on the American highway."

Re: Best of Route 66

My understanding is that from the Jim Rosin book that one of the two Corvettes used had a distinct 'baby blue' color (the other being a 'fawn' or light tan). As seen on the box, the car is certainly not depicted in the true color. What bugs me more is that the photo of Tod and Buz with the car is from a scene where the car is being transported by ferry (hence the cold weather clothing, which looks rather out of place in the sunny desert as shown). This is one of the more blatant photoshopped shots I've come across for a DVD set. Not matter, I guess--I'm just grateful the series is getting released, with pristine prints to boot.

Re: Best of Route 66

Season 1, Volume 1 just shipped from Deep Discount. I ordered mine with free media mail shipping, so I'm not holding my breath waiting for it to arrive...

Re: Best of Route 66

I just now discovered that my copy shipped on 10/16! Based on past experience with DD I would expect mine to arrive before official release date. Really, really looking forward to seeing "Route 66" again, after being enthralled with the episodes I watched on Nick at Nite nearly 25 years ago(!). After devouring Jim Rosin's companion guide to the series, I'm more than ready.

Re: Best of Route 66

Grrrr.....

Order Date: Jul 11, 2007
Order Status: Processing

Re: Best of Route 66

I received my shipping notice from DD, so I hope to see the set sometime around the official release date, maybe a few days later. This and "The Fugitive" were two of my most wanted series. I just hope both will sell enough to merit the release of both series' entire runs.

Re: Best of Route 66

Bob, that makes two of us (c'mon, Sales #'s )

I was going to wait for the DD sale for R66 but I think I'll get it ordered this weekend. If it's on Bob's all-timers with the Fugitive, it's a guarantee for me That "Fugitive" set has been a big-time hit for me.

Besides, I had a couple of other sets in the cart at DD that I forgot about..."Wanted, Dead or Alive S3" and a WB Film Noir Collection.

Jeff "Thanks Bob, Gary, Mike KS, Hank for the great info on series in this era" W.

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Yay!

Shipping Method: 5 - 10 BUSINESS DAY DELIVERY
Estimated Arrival date: 10/27/07 - 11/01/07

Quantity Item # Description Price
-------- ------------ ---------------------------------------- ----------
1 ROX002017 DVD : ROUTE 66-1ST SEASON V.01 $ 18.29


Merchandise Total: $ 18.29
Tax: $ .00
Shipping & Processing: $ .00
Total for Shipped Items: $ 18.29

Re: Best of Route 66

I got the same e-mail confirmation, except mine says 10/26-10/31 arrival date.

Re: Best of Route 66

Currently this set is sitting at #291 in the Amazon rankings and is #1 in the '1960s tv series' category. Considering that Deep Discount is offering the set at 30% below Amazon's price, potentially losing a sizeable number of customers for this release, I imagine that sales overall are quite strong for "Route 66" S1 vol. 1.

This is my most anticipated release of the year since "The Fugitive" was announced--which is saying a lot!

Re: Best of Route 66

Well my shipment from DD was waiting for me when I returned home this evening and naturally I was very excited to put the first disc of "Route 66" in my dvd player. Oh man, my heart sank when I put "Black November" (ep. 1) on. I really, really hate to be the bearer of bad news here but these prints are nothing like "Naked City" or the more recent "The Fugitive". This was a major shock and at first I couldn't believe what I was seeing in light of what I had read in this thread earlier about the quality of the prints represented in the "Best of" set. Even the sound quality is poor, with warbling heard in Riddle's theme played over the opening credits in several episodes with a decidely flat soundtrack with muffled dialog throughout.

The first three episodes are disappointing indeed in terms of picture quality with low contrast, softness of image, shifting gray tones and some high grain/poor texture. The fourth episode, "The Man on the Monkey Board" is excellent, however, closely approaching the best of what has been released for black and white shows from this era. So I thought perhaps just the first three episodes are sub par. But in scanning through all 15 episodes it's apparent that it is a real hit and miss affair. So now I'm wondering if Infinity's "best of" set was comprised of 11 of the very best episodes in terms of print quality. Gary, can you confirm that "Man on a Monkey Board" and/or "Play it Glissando" (ep. 14) was included in that earlier release? I think you'll agree with me that when you view these you'll consider the bulk of the remaining episodes in the S1, vol. 1 set to be no better than "Daniel Boone" S1. Obviously, a major and completely unexpected disappointment especially since the packing and screen menus were overall quite well executed.

After the stellar print and sound quality witnessed in "The Fugitive", this is a major letdown. I'm still glad to have "Route 66" as I may never get a chance to see it outside of a DVD release, but how my viewing enjoyment has been negatively impacted with this. I would have gladly paid double for this set if the episodes had truly underwent a decent remastering process.

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Hi Michael, are the original commercials included?

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Well this is very discouraging particularly as a few folk 'raved' over the quality on the 'Best of' set.

The old Columbia House videos were very good so I guess I will hang on those for a while.