Best of Route 66

Re: Best of Route 66

Wonderful! It's as though DD read my post. And there's nothing quite like seeing this listed at their site to solidify in my mind that R66 is truly going to be a reality on DVD. Well, we were all stymied about this show being MIA and now we will soon be treated to the first 15 episodes, bearing "Naked City" like print quality. So it looks as though Roxbury Entertainment was indeed "testing the waters" to see what fan reaction would be--yet it still mystifies me at what a low key release the "Best of Route 66" set was.

In my estimation Sony made a very stupid move in relinquishing the rights to "Route 66" as the "best of" set was reportedly selling well even at near $3.00 per episode. Now this set, released in episode order which fans much prefer, and at potentially $1.65 per episode, is poised to become a big seller. Then again, if Sony still owned the rights, R66 would still be in the vaults, collecting still more dust.

As I posted above, there are (to my great surprise) a great many sites devoted to the lore of the old Route 66 highway and many of those fans will be interested in grabbing this show where the highway served as the backdrop to a major and successful tv series, even if they have scant memories of the series. Only problem for me now, is waiting the extra couple weeks for that DD sale.

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The mystery still remains as to who/what is Roxbury Entertainment? Other than the two "Route 66" releases, I can find absolutely nothing else attributed to them on the internet. One wonders as to what else they might have in the pipeline and whether or not they also have DVD rights for "Naked City," the rights to which Sony also apparently relinquished.

Re: Best of Route 66

Excellent!

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My order is in! Glad I waited on transferring the show. Now it would be nice if we could get the final 39 hours of Naked City from someone.

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You guys are the best! I had looked for this release late last night before I went to bed on Deep Discount but to no avail. And here I wake up today and find that Bob has the link! Great job, guys. It's in my wishlist right now. And as we've said, if someone really needs to save a few bucks, you can probably hold out till just before Thanksgiving and lower the price another $6.00 at DD.

Gary "I feel the same about the listing showing up on DD - that solidifies it in my mind too" O.

Re: Best of Route 66

What a wonderful line-up of guest stars in the first half of the season of R66, with the likes of Lee Marvin, Leslie Nielson, Suzanne Pleshette, Jack Lord, Anne Francis and E.G. Marshall, among many others. Have to wait untill vol. 2 to catch Susan Oliver though--dang it.

Have a nice vacation, Gary. Hittin' the road in your '62 Corvette, no doubt?

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That's an awesome guest cast list, Mike. This (R66) is one that I again only had very faint memories of Dad watching it long ago but I'm looking forward to getting some "kicks on Route 66".

Gary, do you really have a '62 'vette?

- Jeff "No-car-pymts - I drive an '89 Honda Prelude for my work-commute car" W.

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LOL. Oh how I wish!

Gary "unfortunately, even if I owned a car like that, road trips wouldn't be the same as they were back in the glorious days of 'Route 66'" O.

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Outside of the few times I caught this show on Nick at Nite around 1984, I've never seen "Route 66" before or since. But I've never forgotten the superlative writing, great location shooting and exceptional casting in this series. I still remember to this day a brief exchange between Barbara Eden's character and Tod Stiles (Milner) where she said to him, "What would you and I possibly have to talk about?" Tod: "I wasn't aware that a 25 year old male needed to talk". I think that might have been the last episode of the series.

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I'm pretty darned ecstatic at this news. "Route 66" generally tends to be the series I most often quote as my all-time favorite (although sometimes "The Fugitive" vies for that position). I still have all the episodes on tape from those long-ago Nick-at-Night airings, but I'm craving the upgrade. My tapes are easily on their last legs.

That aforementioned episode "Where Are the Sounds of Celia Brahms" was one of the first I ever saw, when a local independent station was rerunning the series late at night. The first I saw was a rather westerny one guest-starring Steve Cochran, concerning Todd joining up with a posse. I sure had a hard time figuring the series upon those initial encounters. Some episodes would be lightly comical, others would be strong, searing drama. I couldn't figure what kind of animal it was. Its variety of cross-country settings and the unpredictable nature of the stories made it wildly fascinating to me. These initial 15 episodes are (like the early stages of most series) a bit uneven at times, as its finding its footing. But, there are some real gems, starting as soon as the third episode, "The Swan Bed," shot on location in New Orleans.

Re: Best of Route 66

How about a list of some of the lovely actresses that guest starred on the show:

Janice Rule, Suzanne Pleshette, Deborah Walley, Joey Heatherton, Bethel Leslie, Inger Stevens, Fay Spain, Whitney Blake, Anne Francis, Anne Helm, Martha Hyer, Joanna Moore, Lois Nettleton, Susan Oliver, Julie Newmar, Tuesday Weld, Laura Devon, Madlyn Rhue, Joanne Linville, Diane Baker, Kathryn Hays, Jessica Walter, Lynda Day, Joanna Pettet and Barbara Eden.

Not a bad lineup with many of the above making multiple appearances.

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I'll buy it for the guest stars alone! It's really great news that this show is finally coming to DVD.

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This is great news! Thanks for the info - I put my order in already.

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Nice to hear Route 66 is coming to DVD, but why go the split-season route? Isn't the "best of" release enough to test the waters?

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They make more profit by charging double for 2 parts.

for example...

around $80.00 LIST for Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Rawhide, the Fugitive, and all the other rips. But hey, we have to have them and they know it.

Re: Best of Route 66

Something strange is going on with the pricing on this set over at Critics Choice Video. The list price has now dropped to $29.90 and the discounted price is $23.98.

http://www.ccvideo.com/item.cfm?itemid=ROX002017

The DeepDiscount price is still $30.49. What gives??? DeepDiscount is normally less expensive than sister company Critics Choice.

Re: Best of Route 66

Hmmmm....well at least it's moving in the right direction.

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Very curious. This release was too recently announced to show up on dvdpricesearch.com at this time, so I don't know if Critic's price is a mistake or what. But if the price holds, I can go ahead and order with them and not have to wait out the DD Nov. sale. In fact maybe I should place the order now before the price goes back up. It's not like I can expect this to show up at Best Buy on the day of release for $19.99 or thereabouts.

P.S. Well, I just looked into it and there is the $4.95 shipping at CC, bringing it up to $29. I get so spoiled by DD's free shipping that I tend to forget about this.

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Michael, before you order, consider that CC does charge for shipping; the combined DVD/shipping cost is still a little less than DeepDiscount's current price. But, possibly, DD will lower their price as well. Remember, CC posted the Route 66 set first, followed a day or two later by DD, so possibly DD might even adjust its price a bit lower.

Re: Best of Route 66

Gotcha, Bob. See my addendum above.

Holy toledo, is "The Fugitive" set really only about a month off?

Re: Best of Route 66

DeepDiscount has now repriced this set down to $18.29 . . . . . time to get those preorders in . . . . .

http://www.deepdiscount.com/viewprod...uctId=20727046

Re: Best of Route 66

Done! Thanks Bob.

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That's 's up for that tip, Bob. I was thinking of waiting for the next DDD sale but at that price, I have to pull the trigger on this one early. I was about to ask you, when I saw that price drop, if I had the correct "Route 66" selection at DDD. That's a big price difference vs Amazon's.

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Jeff, they're two different releases. What you see at Amazon is available now and is a 2-disc, 11-episode "Best of" set drawn from all four seasons of the show. The set at Deep Discount (and Critics Choice) is season 1, volume 1 with, presumably, 15 episodes since there were 30 episodes in the first season. This second set won't be available until October 23rd. My "theory" on the "Best of" set being sold at Amazon is that it may have been a small scale test to gauge interest in the series for a potential season-by-season rollout. To the best of my knowledge, the "Best of" set is only being sold at Amazon.

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Just placed my pre-order with DD--thanks Bob! Now if only the "Rawhide", "Big Valley, "Fugitive" and "Untouchables" half season sets were to be similarly priced...

I hope this set gains alot of exposure and is decently marketed. If so, the many "Route 66" fans should be ecstatic about this release in view of price point and print quality, strongly ensuring that all 8 half season sets see a release. It's odd that the "best of" set seems to be only available at Amazon and yet the S1 release has yet to appear there. But the set should be showing up there any day now and I will be most curious over the sales figures for "Route 66" in light of the enthusiasm for the initial teaser set both at Amazon and tvparty.com.

The announcement should be appearing over at tvshowsondvd.com soon, I suppose. Gord?

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Bob, Thanks again for the info. The DDD S1 V1 set is the definite one for me.

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Just checked my DDD pre-order after reading about the price drop and happily found that they automatically recalculated my order at the lower price. kewl.
Now if we could just get a release of Hawaiian Eye...

Re: Best of Route 66

Amazon.com is now showing the upcoming "Route 66" set; still an October 23rd release date, but the studio listed is Infinity Resources, Inc. (the parent of Infinity Entertainment) and not Roxbury Entertainment.

http://www.amazon.com/Route-66/dp/B0...843888&sr=1-12

If, indeed, "Route 66" is in the hands of Infinity, then I'm really happy as they seem committed to releasing TV series in their totality. Thank goodness that "Route 66" is out of the hands of Sony!!!!! Another series saved by the independents! Does anybody know how to get in touch with Infinity Entertainment; I'd like to drop them a line of thanks and encouragement for their vintage TV-on-DVD releases; I can't seem to find a consumer web site for them.

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I've never been so happy to see a studio relinquish the rights to a television series as I have with Sony and R66. I mean, this is the series that up until very recently so many of us were lamenting how this great drama would almost certainly never see the light of day considering the circumstances. Another great one rescued by the independents!

I've been checking Amazon almost daily wondering why no listing for "Route 66" S1, vol. 1 and now it's finally there. But Amazon needs to be more specific about the listing as there is no indication (other than ASIN#) that this item refers to the 1960-64 tv series. This will probably get updated soon though, I suspect.

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Good grief . . . . . Amazon just listed "Route 66" today on its web site and there's already a "pre-review" posted. If you'll pardon the pun, this set is going to create a big "Buz(z)" as we get closer to October.