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This release was rushed out, without the extras that were originally planned to honor John Ritter's passing.
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Be careful.
There were NEVER plans to have extras on this release "to honor John Ritter's passing". John died the week prior to his scheduled time to begin recording supplements with Anchor Bay that would be used on this release. The vast majority of the supplements were focusing on him: interviews, possibly a commentary track, etc. I had this info prior to his passing, but had been asked not to make it public because anything could change. And change it did, in the worst possible way!
With his death immediately before the time planned to record the supplements, Anchor Bay was faced with two choices: delay S1 for an indeterminate length of time and plan new supplements from scratch (the obvious focus would be to honor John's passing). Or just release what they already had completed, which was all six episodes from the very short 1st season.
It took Anchor Bay less than 24 hours of seeing and hearing feedback from fans who wanted John Ritter material on DVD *now* (so they could enjoy his brilliance) to decide what to do. A lot of folks have called this "cashing in". I don't believe that for a second. They were responding to a demand. Period, end of sentance.
I gave them my opinion that releasing this DVD sooner rather than later was the right thing to do. I, too, wanted it ASAP. And I still want other shows and films on DVD that starred John, esp.
Hero At Large.
Going forward, Anchor Bay decided to "start from scratch" on extras that focused on memories of John, and use them instead on the already-planned Season 2 set (still no date for that, though I suspect it's not too far off...I have no idea if the sale of Anchor Bay will hold anything up, though).
Right plans, right thing to do all-the-way 'round. I look forward to seeing what they end up with on S2 extras. I hope that all surviving members of the cast participate. And I hope that they take time to honor other late cast members from the show: namely Audra Lindley and Norman Fell (The Ropers). Both had been acting since the '40s, and are missed as well. They played excellently off each other, and helped make the show a success.