[Bob Hug]

OK, it's not "Sea Hunt," but it'll probably have to do until such time that "Sea Hunt" is released, if ever. Alpha Video is showing a June 26th date for volume 1 of "Assignment Underwater," starring Bill Williams. Classic TV fans will recognize Williams from the series "The Adventures of Kit Carson" and "A Date with the Angels," in which he co-starred with Betty White. Alpha isn't showing much in the way of details for the release at this point, but it will include four episodes, as is their custom. I have some remote hope that maybe this will inspire MGM to release "Sea Hunt."

Link: http://www.oldies.com/product-view/5373D.html

[Bert Greene]

Nice find, Bob. I'll certainly be grabbing this one when it arrives. I'm always intrigued by these old syndie efforts. So many of them (like this A:U series) were just around for a single year, and disappeared, never to really be seen again. Despite being hampered by low-budgets, they can often make up for it by being fascinating little time-capsules. I'd heard of this series, but never seen an example. It usually seems to be dismissed as a "Sea Hunt" rip-off, of course. Bill Williams was always a likeable, reliable lead, and perhaps the show itself will prove to be a nice surprise. I'll definately be looking forward to this. Hope Alpha keeps mining around for these little tv oddities.

[Bob Gu]

My memory of this one, is that I looked forward to it because I remembered, Bill Williams from KIT CARSON. But as I recall, the local station showed it once a week in an early evening weekday time slot and pulled it after a few episodes.

Conversely, they showed SEA HUNT weekly on Saturday early evening for about 15 years.

I'll be picking up ASSIGNMENT UNDERWATER. Thanks, Bob. (Maybe the AQUANAUTS will surface (ouch) next).

[Bob Hug]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Gu

(Maybe the AQUANAUTS will surface (ouch) next).

Bob, "The Aquanauts" was, like "Sea Hunt," a ZIV production. I'd be shocked if this was released before "Sea Hunt," unless any of the episodes are PD.

[Bob Hug]

Artwork/link for volume 1 (to be released June 26th):

http://www.oldies.com/product-view/5373D.html

Link for volume 2 (to be released July 31st):

http://www.oldies.com/product-view/5403D.html

[Hank Dearborn]

Just to let you know, Bob, a complete set of 35mm negs. for this show does exist. I don't know if that will lead to a series release but it has been suggested to certain entities who might be interested. Hopefully it will get the green light.

[Bob Hug]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hank Dearborn

Just to let you know, Bob, a complete set of 35mm negs. for this show does exist. I don't know if that will lead to a series release but it has been suggested to certain entities who might be interested. Hopefully it will get the green light.

"Assignment Underwater" is a comparatively obscure show but, based on the two volumes that I've seen from Alpha, it's pretty enjoyable. I'd guess it would take a company like Infinity Entertainment to give it the full season treatment. I'm encouraged by the fact that Infinity will be releasing "Man with a Camera" in November and the annoucement of that release was a big, big surprise to me, so maybe they're the company that could handle it, or possibly even Mill Creek, which has released a few licensed series.

[Bob Gu]

I've just watched the two Assignment Underwater discs and they were interesting and fun. Loved all those finned Chryslers and Dodges during the on land seqences. The show seems to be 95% filmed on actual locations.

I see the show was produced by a company called Liberty Enterprises and copyrighted by NTA. So does that make Assignment Underwater part of the Republic package controlled by Paramount?

I bought these direct from oldies.com. I usually get the Alpha TV titles from DeepDiscount, but DD seems to be removing the Alpha TV titles from their site. This might be another sign that parent company, Infinity, will be getting deeper into old TV Show on DVD production and is no longer interested in selling competitors product.

[Bob Hug]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Gu

I bought these direct from oldies.com. I usually get the Alpha TV titles from DeepDiscount, but DD seems to be removing the Alpha TV titles from their site. This might be another sign that parent company, Infinity, will be getting deeper into old TV Show on DVD production and is no longer interested in selling competitors product.

It runs both ways . . . . you won't find Critics Choice Video (owned by the same company that owns Deep Discount) releases at Alpha's internet sales site, Oldies.com, though some of the Infinity Entertaiment releases have surfaced there ("Real McCoys," "Suspense"). Some of the Critics Choice releases and Alpha releases that are PD have pretty much been identical in terms of episodes ("Decoy," "The Adventures of Sir Lancelot," "Sky King" come to mind), so it really doesn't make much sense for either company to be carrying their competitor's releases. In the case of Infinity Entertainment, they appear to be getting away from PD releases entirely, instead opting for licensing classic/vintage shows. I've also noticed that Alpha's output of classic/vintage TV-on-DVD releases seems to be slowing down a bit; they're still releasing a few TV titles each month, but recently have focused more on "bundling" existing releases at reduced prices, averaging out to $4.25 per disc.

Interesting factoid that I found on Wikipedia about Alpha's TV-on-DVD releases . . . .

"With 244+ DVDs worth of TV shows in active distribution, industry publication DVD Release Report (Number 524, 3/28/2007) ranked Alpha Video #3 in the "Top 25 Sources for TV Series on DVD Through the Period Ending March 31, 2007", behind Warner Home Video (471 releases) and Paramount Home Video (376 releases)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Video

[Hank Dearborn]

The show did not have it's copyright renewed, hence it is completely PD. So, no, releases would not be coming through Paramount, who I'm sure doesn't even know it exists.

[Bert Greene]

A few of the plots strained credulity, but I guess it was hard for the writers to think up seaside menaces that Lloyd Bridges hadn't already confronted in 'his' series. Great fun, though. Such terrific on-location shooting, adding to its atmosphere. I'd LOVE to see the whole series.

[Bob Gu]

I'd like to see a season set of this one too. There were some surprises in the story credits on the show, like famous pulp magazine writer Robert Leslie Bellem, creator of the infamous private-eye, Dan Turner and Tom Gries, creator of The Rat Patrol.

Nowadays, Bill Greer would probably lose custody of his daughter, what with letting her wander around the docks, and helping in dangerous rescues, and that story where in order to keep her away from dangerous radioactivity they abandon her on the nearest coastline, alone in an area where the natives don't speak English! With radioactive fish washing up on shore yet!!

[Hank Dearborn]

I'm sure it couldn't hurt, Bob, if a few folks dropped a note to our friends at Infinity telling them you'd love to see a series set. Could give them the impetus to give it serious thought.