Now One of My Dreams Has Come True: The Mothers-in-Law on DVD!

Re: Now One of My Dreams Has Come True: The Mothers-in-Law on DVD!

It's a triple dream come true for me- MIL, Peyton Place, and Here's Lucy!!!

Hooray!

Re: Now One of My Dreams Has Come True: The Mothers-in-Law on DVD!

Likewise- it does keep getting better, doesn't it? Looks like 2009 will be a great year for vintage TV on DVD!

Re: Now One of My Dreams Has Come True: The Mothers-in-Law on DVD!

I'm always glad for others when their favorites are released, so congrats to Claude, Jack and Charles. I don't know anything about this show so I looked it up. It is a color series (which I figured) and does boast some nice stars. We also know "Here's Lucy" is an exclusively color series. Honestly, I prefer 50's and early 60's shows a bit better and hope we see "The Lucy Show" released soon. But I am very happy for you and the other fans of these series. I just hope we continue to see vintage shows released that are actually in b/w too (like "Peyton Place").

Gary "again, congrats to you guys!!!" O.

Re: Now One of My Dreams Has Come True: The Mothers-in-Law on DVD!

Thanks Gary-

We have a lot of similiar tastes I'm sure when it comes to television. I too love the B&W shows from the fifties and sixties. Here's hoping this is just the beginning for a banner year of classic television. Last year was certainly not one!
Hope you try out this one... As I remember it is a lot of fun. Kaye and Eve will remind you of Lucy and Ethel.

Jack

Re: Now One of My Dreams Has Come True: The Mothers-in-Law on DVD!

Thanks, Jack. This one is definitely on my radar now.

Gary "I'm always up for trying new (vintage) shows out" O.

Re: Now One of My Dreams Has Come True: The Mothers-in-Law on DVD!

This is great news....I can't wait to see Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard going toe to toe again. Maybe there's hope for Pistol's n Petticoats yet......

Re: Now One of My Dreams Has Come True: The Mothers-in-Law on DVD!

They'll definitely remind you of Lucy and Ethel, but unfortunately, whenever that phenomenon occurs, one tends to think of how much better Lucy and Ethel would have done it.

Re: Now One of My Dreams Has Come True: The Mothers-in-Law on DVD!

It's interesting to see MPI picking up the late 60's shows Lucy and Desi each made after their divorce. Desi produced The Mothers-in-Law for NBC, while Lucy had Here's Lucy at CBS. One both thing releases will have in common: the ownership (and a good deal of the profits!) of these properties go to Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr.!

Re: Now One of My Dreams Has Come True: The Mothers-in-Law on DVD!

I'm assuming it's not a coincidence that MPI is suddenly releasing "Here's Lucy," "The Mothers-in-Law" and the Lucille Ball specials. Those are the shows owned by Arnaz and Ball and inherited by their children, so the Arnaz offspring must have made a deal with MPI.

I'm hoping they agree to spend money on some good prints of all these things.

MPI gave us "The Doris Day Show" from this same era, and used dreaded syndication prints.

The new "Lucille Ball Specials" DVD contains a promo for THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW, using a 1967 promo clip with Eve Arden & Kaye Ballard. It's listed as Complete Classic Comedy Seasons 1 & 2 Coming Soon.  Unsure if this means both seasons packaged together, or one at a time.  But the series' outlook appears to be assured; just a matter of a release date.

Isn't "Mothers-In-Law" public domain?  I thought MGM (UA's sister company) had control of this...did they lose it or something?  Oh, and the successor-in-interest is called Desilu, Too (honest, that's the company's name!)

At the time when I read your comment about last year not being a banner year I knew that I personally disagreed, but I wanted to see how this year panned out a little more before I revisited the issue.  I have to tell you, Jack, I saw last year as the best yet for vintage TV on DVD releases.  I went back and counted right at 100 different sets that were released last year that I was interested in purchasing!  I wasn't able to buy every one of them, but I did buy the vast majority of them.  The 4th quarter of '08 alone boasted almost 50 titles I was interested in, so that particular span will always be the single greatest 3 months for classic TV releases in my book.  I don't ever see that quarter being topped.

Conversely, this year has seen only 18 releases I've been interested in, and I haven't even purchased all those at this point.  Looking ahead up through what we know about the rest of this year I see an additional 11 things I'll likely buy (but even with these I'll be waiting for sales of at least 50% off).  I'm confident that number will rise a bit as we hear about more 4th quarter releases.  But overall I don't see 2009 as being nearly as good as 2008 when it comes to vintage TV releases.  Having said that, I realize that this is a matter of opinion.  I also realize your holy grail show was released so I can fully understand why this year would be a special one for you. 

Frankly, with the current economy being what it is, I'm glad classic releases have substantially slowed down.  At least ones I'm interested in.  I couldn't come close to affording all the sets I purchased last year.

Gary "take care" O.


Edited by Gary OS - 7/7/2009 at 10:31 am GMT

Your glad they slowed down? I have to disagree. Even if you can't afford them now, at least they are released and out their. You could pick them up eventually and probably at a bargain. I want everything released ASAP. The longer it takes the less likely it will happen.

Between aging fans; greedy claimants who say they have rights to certain shows; and decreased sales,  it is amazing what has already been released. There are many shows I still want and many shows already started that I want the rest of the series.

Well, that was a poor choice of words on my part.  NO, I'm not actually glad vintage releases have slowed up.  I have mentioned the same points you do many, many times on these boards in the past and agree 100%.  It would be better for these series to get released now even if I couldn't afford them. 

I was simply looking for a silver lining in the cloud, so to speak.

Gary "actually, I think the economy is probably one of the reasons the studios have slowed up their classic releases - but that's only a guess" O.

Any more word on when/if the show will be released?

It has been postponed until sometime during the first part of 2010.  It is coming for sure.

One of the best opening themes ever.

I'm starting to have doubts that this will ever come to dvd. It's been a long wait and the announcements in February has led to nothing concrete. The previews on the Lucy dvds say "coming soon" but we haven't had an official announcement with a release date yet. Very odd how this has been handled. I mean, an announcement in February and then nothing again for the rest of the year. Huh?

Someone over on TVShowsonDVD.com's Facebook page posted some inside information from MPI stating that it should be out Jan/Feb 2010.  They are trying to get conformation.

I just took a look to see. Jeez, MPI sure is taking their sweet time releasing this series. I went over to their website and they have all of these crap movies coming out that no one's ever heard of. Do those movies really sell? Very weird. MPI has gone from stellar to bottom of the barrel for me within a year. Shout! is the new favorite.  

 Maybe no acceptable video transfers exist and they need to remaster it?

I am sure that it needed remastering, it has not been widely shown for some time and it is over 40 years old.  Perhaps the extensive extras that are included may be taking longer than anticipated and this may help explain the reason for the delay. As far as the extras go,  I hope they include the unaired pilot and the documentary that was created years ago to showcase the creation and the filming of this series.

Yes I agree. The the music and the accompanying clips set the stage for this slapstick comedy.  I also loved the show logo and the creative "border" around the shows title.  I am not sure what to call the "border", but it was very artistic.

I'm told it's definitely coming.  Be patient.  They are trying to do this one right because thanks to the cooperation of Desilu II and others who care, they can.
Edited by Rob_Ray - 10/7/09 at 8:30pm

Wow!  Found this thread accidentally.

Who would ever have thought this show
would see the light of day on DVD.

Loved this show as a kid. I will definately
purchase the set as long as it is reasonably
priced -- not like stuff coming out from Shout
Factory.

I'm sure it's coming.  It's one package only, and has already been announced and promoted.  I'm sure the final annoucement of a release date will be coming in the next couple of months or so.

 maybe they want to line it up with Season 3 of Here's Lucy.

I'm sure the primary focus of the deal with Desilu II was getting the Lucille Ball material out first.

Because, of course, it's Lucille Ball. 

Looks like this has been delayed until 2nd quarter of next year, but for good reason. They are re-mastering the episodes and preparing additional extras.

Hopefully it will be worth the wait. I've heard a lot about this show, and love 60's era sitcoms, but have never seen this one.
I look forward to discovering it on DVD.

Here's the announcement: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mothers-In-Law-DVD-Update/12786