Leave it to beaver season 3? - Page 22

I spoke to Jerry Mathers last week when he was in Auburn Maine.  He said Universal delayed the release of any more seasons because of lagging sales in the DVD market.  He said they are planning a Complete Series Boxed Set with new versions of the first 2 seasons that have cast commentary.  No specific release date yet, but hopefully some time in 2010.

YES Wait till Gary reads this one!  I'm in for this set if it happens.  I like the last 2 seasons the best but I'll still get the complete series.

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I'm very excited about this report, but I'm gonna play it cool until we get a little more info.  If this turns out to be true then you know I'll be dancing all over the place, Jeff. 

Gary "for some reason this sounds almost too good to be true to me - but boy do I hope it really is true!" O.

I'd have a tough time coming up with the scratch for a complete series set (to the extent I doubt I'd be "in")...but that's better news than the news that nothing's coming. 

Hmmmm...I think I just might have some how contributed to this good news. You see I just ordered the first two seasons a few days ago and they are scheduled to be delivered today. So it makes perfect sense for me to hear this news today of all todays. Oh well.

  Way to take one for the team, Brad! 

If this pans out, that's great news!

A tip of the hat to you, Brad.  Good job! 

The only reason I'm a tad cautious is that I remember reading a report about this time last year (at least I think it was last year and not '07) about a huge mega set of LITB coming out and it never happened.  On the other hand, maybe that report really did have legs at the time and the set just got pushed back an entire year or so.  Don't know for sure.  But it really would be great if this turned out to be true.  I'd gladly double-dip on the first 2 seasons to get the entire series in one fell swoop.

Gary "if only I could ask Gus the Fireman - he'd know for sure" O.

What the hey, anything to help out the cause. In a way this is a team sport so we gotta stick together if we want to keep TV releases on DVD going. Besides compared to many here I'm a relative a newcomer to this, so I've been reaping the benefits of the past purchases of many of you anyway.

It reminds me of the Big Valley season 2 volume one purchase I made last Spring where I paid almost $24 for fear it might go OOP. Now I have seen both sets packaged together for under $20. Not all purchases end up as the best deals or best timing.

Great news if it pans out.  I traded in my first two season sets last month b/c I figured I would just buy a complete series set when it comes out, whenever that would be of course.  I'm thinking that for older series, a complete series set is the best way to start out then do the individual seasons perhaps afterwards.  Just my two cents of course.

And I contributed, too.  I just bought S1 last week. 

This is exciting news!!!!  I will certainly be purchasing the entire "Leave It To Beaver" series when it comes available. And I truly believe it will be arriving soon since I have been thinking of this series so very much lately! Something very positive is going on here, I just know it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've heard many times over the years from actors saying things were being worked on and it never panned out. I hope this is true but the one thing that the TV on DVD world resembles most is Lucy, Charlie Brown and the football. Lucy is the DVD industry and the buying public is Charlie Brown. It doesn't matter how many times the football (i.e., DVD releases) get yanked away from us at the last second and we fall on our backs, we still keep coming back for more. As with anything else, when we have it in our hands, with no butchered episodes or abominable music changes or transfers from 30 year old 16mm prints, that's when the happy dance is appropriate. Not before.
Edited by Neil Brock - 10/17/09 at 9:20am

As much as I hate to have to say it (because I so wish I felt differently), I think Danny's illustration is quite appropriate.  Even if Jerry Mathers was somehow told that Universal was looking into a complete mega set of LITB, that doesn't mean it's official by any stretch of the imagination.  I wish I could get more excited about this possibility, but until we get more info I'm not getting my hopes too high.

Gary "I've had that football pulled out from under me more times than I care to remember when it comes to this hobby" O.

Well logically speaking, do you think a Studio like Universal will release LITB in 2010 when the economy is so shaky? Judging by the price they charged for this series' Season 1 Box Set, wouldn't they want the economy to be running smoothly before they attempted to release a LITB Complete Six Season Box Set?

I am still very hopeful though that at least in 2011 or maybe even sooner that LITB will ultimately be released!!!!!!!
Edited by Greg2356 - 10/17/09 at 11:17am

I still feel very good about this "Leave It To Beaver" series since I have hardly ever posted about this series in the past except to say that Oprah was having a segment on it. I feel all this positive energy towards the release of this series! Even if this 'Fun Series' is released within a two year time frame I will be happy! But of course, sooner would be better!

[Lucy after she pulls the football away at Thanksgiving time] "Isn't is peculiar, Charlie Brown, how some traditions just slowly fade away?" 

Sorry, couldn't resist that one.... I also agree with Danny on all points.

"Hook 'em, Horns"  

What if it was put out by Time Life w/Universal's permission ala Get Smart.  You could either pay all at once or 6 monthly payments, or whatever arrangement they make.  The way Time Life promotes some of these series, well Get Smart is the only one I remember really being advertised on tv, it could help get the word out and the consumers intersted in this classic show.

Sounds like a very Good Idea Chad!

I have some Very GOOD VIBES about the series, "Leave It To Beaver"  

I did have some very negative feelings concerning "The Donna Reed Show" that it would never be released on DVD since I had been waiting for six years, and I had finally decided all was lost! And then a couple of months later it was announced that the Complete First Season of "The Donna Reed Show" was going to be released on DVD!!!!!! ALLELUIA!!!!!! 

Oh NO!!!!!!!!!!  Maybe I should be having Negative Feelings about the "Leave It To Beaver" series, if I truly want it to be released in it's entirety!!! Now I understand the Strategy of the other posts on this Forum!!! Sorry about that, but now I know what all the Negative Posts are about...

I too actually feel that "Leave It To Beaver" Will Never be released in it's entirely!!!! So everybody can just FORGET about the Last Four Seasons of "Leave It To Beaver" ever being released on DVD for Home Viewing!!!! It is just NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is TOO LATE!!!!!!!!! And that is FINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Leave It To Beaver" is DONE!!!!!! The mere Fantasy of ever getting these last Four Seasons of LITB on DVD is OVER!!!!!!!!!  And NO, it won't be released on Blu-Ray either...             End of Story...  

I'd like to say to those who've been given a glimmer of hope by Jerry Mathers' comment that Mr. Mathers is almost totally without credibility.  Time and again, in interview after interview since 1963, he has made his and the show's popularity seem much greater than it actually is.

He would not be the type to just flat out say, "Beaver flopped on DVD."  (Which I'm afraid it did.)  So we get this nonsense, "Oh, see, it was due to the economy ..."

Seasons 1 and 2 came out when the economy was ok.  NOW the economy isn't good, and NOW he says they'll put out a SERIES set, which would cost maybe $150?

If something doesn't make sense, then it just isn't true.

(It's ironic that he fools around with the truth, because his greatest post-BEAVER fame came from Shelley Winters erroneously saying on "The Tonight Show" that he had been killed in Viet Nam.)

Joe Lugoff:  always the voice of reason. 

I'm inclined to agree with you but if Universal has licensed the show out to another company, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that that company would go the complete series route.

I guess we will all have to continue to wait and see... What else can we do?

My guess has always been that Beaver did not flop on dvd, but that someone at Universal overestimated the market demand and then let it die so that the show would take the heat and not the executive.  In support of this theory, recall that a limited edition season 1 set was issued that cost $20 more than the $49.98 msrp for the regular set of three DVD-18s.  I have trouble believing that sales of Emergency justified five seasons, while Beaver only two.  I think the more likely answer is that sales of Beaver were good as against most releases, but that they fell short of Universal's sales estimates.  Hopefully, someone at Universal today will do justice to one of its tv classics.

The only hope for this one is if Uni liscenses it out to someone like Shout! for further releases.

My guess on the Uni sales #'s is that the sets were priced outside a lot of collector's budgets at the time of the releases.  Another reason for the lower #'s is that perhaps this show was run so much in syndication that it may have softened the sales #'s by some amount.

That said, maybe that's not the case since other shows like Bewitched have been heavily syndicated over the years and we have to figure that Sony's sales #'s were enough to support the entire series releases.

As for Beaver, I'd pay almost any price for a complete series release or the later seasons if they are remastered uncut episodes.

At long last...Fantastic news!!!:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Leave-Beaver-Season-3-and-The-Complete-Series/13258

(both season 3 and a complete series set are being released by Shout! Factory on June 15th)

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You asked for it, you got it.  ;)

Dave Lambert...Dave Lambert...that name has a familiar ring to it...  

Thanks for the great news, Dave!  How does this scenario play out (for those of us who already own Seasons 1 & 2)?  Season 3 gets released on June 15 (along with the complete series set).  Then, seasons 4, 5 & 6 get their own separate release dates down-the-road?


I think you meant to say they were giving Beaver "the business." 

I hope this release paves the way for Green Acres - The Complete Series.