Best of Route 66

Re: Best of Route 66

Gotta keep the free review copies coming in?

DVD Verdict review.

Unbelievable..

Re: Best of Route 66

While I actually enjoyed most of Christopher Kulik's review (it's very obvious that he enjoys the show's writing), he has completely ignored the cropping issue. He does make some passing reference to volume 1 being released in full frame and the second volume in widescreen and, in my opinion, as a reviewer that should have prompted him to ask the question: Why the difference? Unfortunately, he does not address the issue at all and, as a consequence, the effectiveness of an otherwise well-written review is diminished. And the verdict of "Roxbury & Infinity are hereby acquitted of all charges" . . . . . surely he jests!

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That was a common theme on this forum a few years ago when nary a discouraging word was allowed to be uttered in criticism. Yes, that appears to be a common thread among reviewers. Keep the reviews positive so those free screeners keep rolling in.

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As much as I don't like the cropping issue, I am enjoying this release so much more than the first one. It is like night and day. It looks beautiful, and since I've never seen the show before, and have no other means of acquiring it, I'm not sending it back. After the first release I was thinking about giving up on the series, but after viewing the second release, I am now really into the show. I am however hoping that Roxbury fixes the cropping on subsequent releases.

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Doug, let your voice be heard . . . . . you can send Roxbury's distributor, Infinity Entertainment, an E-mail. The more people who voice their opinion on this issue, the better.

Infinity Entertainment Group

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Frankly, I didn't have any problem with framing (context and information) until I got to "Welcome to Amity" and the scene in the cemetary in which guest stars Martha Scott and Susan Oliver had their jaws virtually decapitated by the "letterboxing." My wife didn't notice anything until I told her about the brouhaha on HTF.

That said, its an amazing series and the quality of the scripts and their execution "almost" trumps these technical aberrations: Where else can you see the real Rin Tin Tin (Producer Leonard produced the actual tv series) playing a seeing eye dog to mambo teacher Martha Hyer?

My all time favorite episode from either NAKED CITY or ROUTE 66 is "Eleven the Hard Way". I usually cringe when either of the shows attempt whimsey but this may be the first time on film that Walter Matthau "became" Walter Matthau and Edward Andrews is equally superb. There is even a Rin Tin Tin reference when Buzz says that he won Rin Tin Tin comic books as a kid. ("Effigy in Snow" has a Nelson Riddle reference in it.)

Let's just make sure that they never do this again!

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I enjoyed the first set despite the picture quality issues, and I was very much looking forward to the second volume until the letterboxing news came to light. Now I have ordered the first disc from Netflix so I can survey the damage for myself before I decide to buy.

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I enjoyed the first volume despite the picture quality, and was very much looking forward to volume 2. After the cropping issue came up I decided to Netflix the first disc to survey the damage for myself before I purchase this set.

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New (March 5, 2008) George Maharis interview here:

Television | George Maharis, "Route 66" and that Corvette are back — on DVD | Seattle Times Newspaper

Mention is made of the season 2, volume 1 release for May.

Re: Best of Route 66

"Cool," as Buz would say. Thanks. Where do you find this stuff? This bodes well for a audio commentary on the next release since he seems to be of sound mind and talkative spirit.

I remember the hepatitis story about how he was written out of several episodes (they kept using the trick of Tod being on the phone to him), but there's definitely more to the story of why they finally replaced him with Glenn Corbett.

And his observation that Corbett was just a brunette Tod, personality-wise, was right on. He was supposed to be a Viet Nam vet, but there was no edge to him at all and no contrast to Tod. But, my mother loved 'Linc' and the blue eyes when she finally saw them in color. Also, remember his previous show, "It's a Man's World?" I doubt we'll ever see that on DVD.

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Route 66 News

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I love this comment from the guy running the website:

I received a one-disc screener of “Route 66: Season 1, Vol. 2″ several weeks ago that contained four episodes of the 1960s television show. I watched one episode and didn’t notice anything amiss; the picture looked crisp.

A few days ago, informed about the widescreen format, I watched another episode and watched for any intrusive crops. Frankly, I got caught up in the acting and storyline instead. I had to keep reminding myself to look for any obvious problems. I found none.

Unless you are one of the few who have an extraordinary memory about “Route 66″ or are a finicky home-movie aficionado, you may have a problem with this current re-release of the program.

But if you’re like the rest of us, you probably will be greatly satisfied with these newly available episodes.


He must be a really observant guy to not notice the black bars on the top and bottom of the picture and the fact that 25% of the image is missing. Are people blind or just clueless? I don't know, if there was a big red circle in the middle of the picture would he notice that?

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LOL. If you read the posts on his comment on his own website, you will see that several of us reamed him big time for downplaying the butchery.

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That is a good interview with Maharis, but I really feel like Rahner brought up the "off-screen lifestyle" thing just to show off that he knew Maharis is gay, and to see if he'd take the bait and out himself (actually, I'm not sure I wouldn't have tried that myself). I've heard a lot of different speculation on why Maharis left "Route 66" from a lot of different people, and nobody ever brought up the gay thing. A number of '60s TV stars were gay, and known to be so by their close co-workers, and didn't lose their jobs over it. It would've had to hit the scandal mags to be an issue.

If Maharis is still sticking with the hepatitis story after all these years, I'm inclined to believe it. If there was another cause, or an underlying one, I'd guess it was more prosaic: a clash of outsized egos or resentment over salary.

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I heard he also didn't get along with Milner or the producers, but I have never heard anything about him being fired for being gay. Filming a one hour TV show on location is a bit of a grind and I can imagine plenty of reasons why he might have had enough or people could get on each others nerves to the point where they all might agree to make a change.

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My thought was 'swelled-head-syndrome' - he started feeling he was the star of the show more than Milner and overplayed his cards for money and or attention. You'd think at 80 he'd be past vanity and wouldn't have a problem coming clean, or even coming out for that matter.

I guess after listening to Robert Culp's very honest and enlightening commentary on the squabbles behind I Spy (with producer Sheldon Leonard, not Cosby) and how they lead to the end of the show prematurely, I was hoping for the same kind of revelations from Maharis when his commentary appears.

To me, knowing the real stories behind the struggles that went into putting these classic shows on adds a whole other layer to enjoying them again these many years later. They're not just remote icons anymore; I also relate to them as people and as peers overcoming personal demons and obstacles to create their art.

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Yet more news from the Infinity Entertainment Group; they will be releasing the complete season 1 on May 20. No word on whether or not the first 15 episodes will feature improved audio/visual quality or whether the second 15 episodes will feature the correct, full screen aspect ratio. I'm guessing that this will be just a repackaging of what has already been released, similar to Fox's handling of "The Fall Guy."

Infinity Entertainment Group

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They really are milking this in every permutation. But I will be anxious to hear on this board from someone on the release whether they went back and improved the image on the first 15 episodes. And it's probably too much to hope that they drop the fake widescreen on the second half. But you would think that a complete season box would be an item more sought by enthusiasts and not the casual buyer like the best-of sets, and this would be the perfect opportunity for Infinity to "make good." And get us suckers to double-dip. I guess we'll see.

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I'd be surprised if Infinity will "make good" on the errors of the first two volumes, but if they do, then they might regain some lost consumer confidence. If Infinity REALLY wants to regain consumer confidence, they'll redo the first two volumes in this complete season 1 set AND offer an exchange to those dissatisfied fans who bought the first two volumes. Realistically, I don't think that will happen and there's no way that I'll double dip on this one. At this point, I'm more interested to see what they will do with season 2, volume 1 (which, incidentally, is rumored for a May 20th release date along with the complete season 1 release). If they can issue that one with solid transfers in the correct full screen aspect ratio, that'll make me happy and I'll continue with the series. I've pretty much written off season 1 at this point.

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I don't know if this means anything or not, but Infinity Entertainment's online catalog is no longer showing season 1, volume 2 of "Route 66." However, it is still very much available at online retailers. I'll assume that this set is being phased out in anticipation of the complete season 1 set which is expected to have the original full frame aspect ratio.

Infinity Entertainment Group

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And although I don't have any official info to base this on, I'm still sticking to my guns and saying that when the first season set is released it will have cleaned up episodes from the first half set to go along with the correct aspect ratio from the second half set.

Gary "hope we can get some solid, official verification about this one way or the other soon" O.

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Route 66 - Season 1 DVD Movie

Meanwhile, several retailers are still selling the Season 1 set as if it's coming out tomorrow. (Listings from DVDPriceSearch.com)

DVD Planet $ 29.99
Overstock.com $ 31.45
Amazon $ 34.99
DVD Box Office $ 35.78
BestPrices.com $ 32.99
CD Universe $ 32.34
Buy.com $ 37.37

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Does anyone have an idea when the Season 1 with non-cropped and decent prints (I hope) is due to street?

There are numerous editions out there and I'm VERY confused! I bought the Season 1 set with the poor transfers a while ago and I don't wish to be burned again.

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Ain't that the truth. I will only purchase the set if it's treated with the respect that Paramount would accord it.

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According to a recent TVShowsonDVD.com news story, the complete season 1 set is expected sometime in August. See article here:

Route 66 DVD news: Changes to the Route 66 DVD release schedule | TVShowsOnDVD.com

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This is probably my most anticipated TV release of the year.

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Mike, shouldn't that be your most anticipated TV "re-release" of the year?

Infinity Entertainment's web site is now showing an August 5th release date for the complete season 1. Details here:

Infinity Entertainment Group

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Ha ha - touche!

Thanks for the updated release date info.

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Yeh,but did they fix all the screw ups?

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Supposedy, the widescreen framing issue is being corrected for those second half season 1 episodes, but I haven't heard anything conclusively about whether or not better source material is being used for the first half of season 1. Frankly, as much as I like this series (it's one of my top 10 favorites), I'm not rushing out to buy this new set until I see some third party reviews by people who are knowledgeable about the issues of the first two half-season releases.