At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

Here's the link:

EMA to honor Donna Reed son Paul Petersen - 5/13/2008 - Video Business

If this is indeed true it's a very interesting developement. I'm sure that quite a few of the bigger independents like MPI, Infinity and Image have tried to get ahold of this show over the years and failed. I just wonder how a relatively insignificant company would wind up with such an important show. As with any of these other out of leftfield announcements, I'll wait to hear more before getting too excited.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

And here we go again ... will they be syndicated prints? More likely than not, they will. And then we'll start up the old argument whether they're better than nothing. Gary OS will tell us all to support the release because it's all we'll ever get ... and some of us will chime in with, "If you support cut prints, of course that's all you'll ever get! Why should they bother with the extra time and expense, etc. etc. etc."

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

God bless you too, Joe.

Gary "I think I'll wait a bit and get more solid confirmation of an actual release before I get into 'defense' mode against the likes of my worthy adversary, Joe - just kidding buddy" O.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

Facts are facts. Telecine is expensive. Sony probably has the negatives and fine grains and won't allow indies access to them. That anything they had a hand in or owned in any way was released at all without them is a miracle in and of itself.

Like FKB, my purchase is hinging on running times.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

I'm also waiting to hear more before considering this to be good news. I don't know who this organization is that's mentioned in the article but any group that gives a "Comedian of the Year" award to Pauly Shore and a "Legendary Duo" award to Donny Most and Anson Williams is suspect at best

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

Well, I hope it's true. It's one of my most coveted shows on DVD. I was hoping they would come out with it before I'm ready to die.

And yes, I will buy it regardless. If I can't get steak, I'll take hamburger.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

Atta girl, Elena. Go get 'em.

Gary "more than likely this would be my attitude as well" O.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

Oh, and I emailed the President of Arts Alliance to ask if this rumor is true. Hopefully I will get a response. If I do I will post it here.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

I won't. I have enough friends who recorded it off Nick at Nite when they ran it complete that I have no need for cut episodes from ANY source. That is except for the 100 or so episodes that were withdrawn from the syndication package. And I don't think those will come out before I'm ready to die.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

Not that this necessarily means anything, but the only previous DVD release of "The Donna Reed Show" contained two syndicated episodes. It was a promotional disc that was given away with the purchase of General Mills cereals several years ago and was issued by Sony. I have no idea one way or the other if that's going to be an indicator of the new release regarding the use of syndicated episodes.

For what it's worth, this promotional DVD was actually reviewed; details here:

dvdfuture.com :: Review - Donna Reed Show (Big G/Sony Promotion), The

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

One question though- does the actual control of the show lie with the Reed estate or Sony? Donna Reed and her then-husband Tony Owen produced the show, it was released through Columbia's Screen Gems TV division. Just because a studio releases a TV show, it doesn't necessarily own the DVD rights. Gilligan's Island is a fine example- it was made thru United Artists TV, but the half of the actual ownership went to the procuction company, Gladysya Productions, which was owned by Phil Silvers. the other half wound up in the big Turner buyout of the MGM/UA library, which was then swallowed by Warner Bros. So, now the show is owned by Silvers' daughters and Time Warner. MPI has the video rights to Dark Shadows, but for syndication, it's now the property of CBS/Paramount, which acquired the old Worldvision catalog, which in turn started as ABC Films, but was forced to be spunoff from the network by a court-ordered antitrust action (this is how Viacom was spun off from CBS, but now they're together again).

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

Unknown as to where the ownership lies or if it's split amongst the two parties. Sometimes one party buys the other out down the road. I had spoken with Ann Sothern's daughter about the Ann Sothern Show, which she produced. She sold it off years ago to Metromedia which wound up being bought by Fox. The Defenders was partly owned by Herbert Brodkin and Reginald Rose until Brodkin sold his company to Paramount. So now they own like 3/7 of it with the Rose estate controlling the rest. These things can get even more complicated when there are multiple ownerships as sometimes happened. But syndication rights do not mean anything but sales to broadcast stations. The show itself may still be owned by whoever produced it.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

I am close to having ALL of the eps that didn't make it to syndication. Only five titles away and they should be here by the end of the month.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

With economic realities being the way they are any purchase of this show will depend on how the final product turns out. With purchasing dollars at a premium, I'm choosing to reward studios that put out first rate product (unedited episodes, solid transfers). The others go into a netflix pool which still rewards the studios albeit indirectly.

DONNA REED is not a grail show for me, but one I really enjoyed in the Nick and Nite days. It holds up better than a lot of 50s sitcoms. Assuming the series makes it that far, it will be interesting to see how the episodes featuring the kids' musical performances are cleared for music or not.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

They don't have to be brand spakin' new transfers, they just need to be uncut. I've enjoyed seeing Family Affair on DVD, even though MPI did not use up to date transfers. Much rather see these shows in 90's or even 80's era transfers then to have the lack of a state of the art transfer hold them back from DVD.

Good news overall about Donna Reed. It gives me hope that eventually The Patty Duke Show will finally get to DVD.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

Well, how nice for you. I don't. Therefore, I will take what I can get.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

They all made it to syndication initially but at some point Columbia decided it was too big a package and they cut it down by a hundred episodes, eliminating all of the Bob Crane shows and almost all of the Patty Peterson ones. Even the episode where Shelley Fabares does her number one hit, Johnny Angel, got cut from the later day package.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

I'd much prefer uncut and complete seasons but like others I'll take what I can get. I love this show.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

I agree, Mark.

I fully understand the reasoning that, especially in view of the present economy, people want to be more discerning with their purchases and they might take cut versus uncut episodes into consideration. But I look at another factor and place it into my personal buying equation. I don't think a smaller independent should be held to the same standard as the larger companies that hold the rights to a series. For instance, it's hard for me to hold SHOUT to the same standard as I would SONY when it comes to a show like "FKB". A lot of times these smaller companies are working with families or estates that don't have access to the same clean prints that the larger studios would have access to. And I just can't see penalizing the smaller companies, working on much tighter budgets, simply because they can't deliver the same quality prints that a CBS/Paramount can deliver. Just doesn't work for me.

Now if Sony were releasing this series and using cut prints then I'd absolutely boycott because they presumably would have access to the best prints and there'd be no reason for them not to deliver a solid, uncut set. But I just can't see penalizing the smaller companies for working with what they have access to - which is often only what estates or families have in their personal vaults, not what the majors have in their vaults. It's just not a level playing field, and I'm not holding the little guys to the same standard. But that's just my opinion.

Gary "seems to me that most people here are expecting the indies to operate like the big boys, and that's not a realistic expectation as best I can tell" O.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

How 'bout dog poop?

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

It wouldn't be dog poop to me. And you can't scare me -- I have 12 cats!!!

I respect others' decision on this, but no matter what anyone says I'm not going to change my mind. If it means having to buy syndicated prints to get this set, I will do it, just to have it. Yes, unedited would be best. But I'm not going to quibble over a few minutes here and there. To me it would be a miracle just to see it on DVD.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

If the show was so important to you people that you'll take it in any form, then why didn't you tape them or get someone to tape them for you from Nick at Nite? They ran the show complete for at least 5 years. Why would it be so important to have in now in 2008 in any form but it wasn't important to have in 1988?

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

Come on, buddy. Let's not go through this song and dance again. There are numerous reasons a person may not have been able to tape the show in the 80's. I shared my personal history from that time period on the FKB thread (and I've shared the same info on other threads) detailing why I couldn't tape things then.

Gary "boy, this 'issue' of cut prints seems to bring out the worst in people" O.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

Cur·mudg·eon (kr-mjn)
noun

1. A crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas

Nyah Nyah Nyah

1. An interjection with a meaning and use similar to "so there" or "eat your heart out". For example: I have everything and you don't, nyah nyah nyah!

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

I agree with Gary that we need to give some slack to smaller companies with regards to what they can put out. This assumes that they've made a good faith effort to obtain uncut material.

For example, I really enjoy the Shout! Ironside DVDs. The transfers are not pristine but they're more than adequate. The shows are occasionally timesped but otherwise complete. This is a series that is not going to move big numbers and Universal wasn't going to go back to retransfer all the episodes so Shout made the best with what they were given.

Having said that, for these independents to continue surviving in a crowded and economically recessed marketplace they are going have to deliver a value added product. The definition of "value" will vary by consumer but I think most classic television buffs will have reasonable expectations given the small market for this material. Again, the assumption is that the studio has done their due diligence in assembling the best looking and most complete prints available.

I don't begrudge anyone for settling for edited episodes if the series is very important to them; that's entirely their right and I would probably do the same. My earlier point is simply that with purchases being decreased due to gas prices, food costs, etc. my dollars are more likely to be spent on releases where I get the biggest bang for the buck.

But all this discussion is premature...there's still been no official announcement of Donna Reed and it is still entirely possible that the episodes are uncut.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

I've gotten burned by good faith before (don't need to reiterate the examples). Nonetheless, even if the economy was better, there's still the fact that the retail market for DVDs is down, and the closure of stores like Tower Records probably has a huge impact on catalog titles like this one.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

When did Columbia do this - When they put together the 'edited for syndication' package of the mid/late 1980's?

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

It's always been important to me to have it. But I no longer have my Beta machine that taped it. The machine died before I could transfer the shows. I don't see anyone volunteering to offer me copies.

Re: At last, Donna Reed Show to be released on DVD!!

If you kept the commercials in those shows, I know someone that would be perhaps be willing to make copies for you in return for making one for himself. He's a ravid collector of vintage w/commercial broadcasts and if your tapes are from the 80's or early 90's he's probably interested.

If you want to be put in touch with him, contact me privately