Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned? - Page 2

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

I really am sorry about Rawhide, as it is one of my favorites as well. I don't think that there should be any fear about Perry Mason going forward. This is one series that is a cash cow for Paramount. I believe that this series is bought by far more people than the mostly forgotten Western genre. Everyone knows and loves Mason - there should be no fear about that series being stalled.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

You're probably right about Perry Mason. 2008 was the 50th Anniversary for Rawhide. It would have been nice to see a 50th Anniversary edition, like they did for Perry Mason and even Gunsmoke, with the best episodes from Seasons 4-8. but I guess Rawhide just doesn't rank that high up there in interest.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

Ashame really as I consider it alongside "The Rifleman" and "Have Gun--Will Travel" to be one of three best westerns of all time. But Doug is right about the western genre in general. In fact this was discussed at length on the forum some years back.


Just last month was it not? I remember on Jan 9 thinking "Hey, 'Rawhide' is 50! Need to watch 'Incident of the Tumbleweed Wagon' tonight". I was going to mention this in a "Rawhide" thread at the time and forgot.

Guess I'll never see the infamous "Damon's Road" when the seris apparently hit its nadir, and then again I'll never get to see "The Blue Spy", "Incident of the Portrait" and "Incident of Judgement Day", three purported standouts (at least according to the "Rawhide" fan site I'm always checking out).

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

Maybe Gord can try to get a direct answer from CBS if they are abandoning it and if so Why. If it for lack of sales I want them to come out and say so. And if it is being abandoned are they willing to license it out/and or get it up somewhere for digital downloading...

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

"Damon's Road," as I think I've said before, is one of my favorite moments in 60s television: Eric Fleming spends most of the show in his longjohns, Barbara Eden sings "Ten Tiny Toes" (an infectious Geller tune later recycled on MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE), and the whole thing is essentially a musical comedy. Absolutely brilliant. I can understand how RAWHIDE diehards might prefer standard oater material, but go into it with an own mind.

"Damon's Road" is among the 50+ episodes released on VHS by Columbia House, so if the DVDs never materialize, those will be worth seeking out.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

I was wrong. Rawhide premiered January 9, 1959. So this is its 50th Anniversary! It would be nice for CBS/Paramount to come out with a 50th Anniversary edition filled with episodes from seasons 4-8, as they did with Perry Mason, but I won't hold my breath.

It is too bad that the later seasons of Rawhide now seem far, far into the future, if they ever get there. The shows from the later years are divisve; some think they're great, others utter crap. It would be nice to have them on DVD, to allow people to come to their own decisions on it.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

This issue, imo, is what would be great to have available as TV/DVD collectors...some sort of a forum or informal news site where we could get some information about these issues with TV/DVD releases with replaced soundtracks, edited episodes, etc. Imagine the effect this would have had on the Fugitive threads on this Bd if we had known the facts regarding the backscore issues with that release.

I know that certain information is proprietary to studios, and that they have to consider potential sales #'s if information was known prior to certain TV/DVD releases, but it sure would be nice to know some things, ie, any more Rawhide coming, what happend to the Big Valley, stopped in the middle of a season's release, were the masters available for M-Squad, any possible LITB complete season release coming, status of liscencing possibilities for such shows....

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

so is it abandoned or not? I see Cannon just got released for season2, vol 1. Is that a good sign for Rawhide?

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

I'm new to this forum, but not to TV on DVD, and--having been burned by CBS-Paramount before with HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL--when I hadn't seen any listings for Season 4, I was beginning to fear the worst; something I felt impossible considering Eastwood's presence.

My wife and I have been scarfing down RAWHIDE faster than Wishbone's cooking and, although Season 3 is fantastic, I've been looking forward to some tremendous episodes to come. In fact, I really don't see a discernible dip in quality, but rather a powerful, amazingly consistent vehicle for great storytelling and great actors. Episodes as diverse as the allegorical "Incident of the Four Horsemen", with John Dehner and Claude Akins, the borderline thriller "The House of the Hunter", as well as "Deserter's Patrol", "Corporal Dasovic", "Dogfaces", "The Lost Herd", "The Book" and on and on. Quite simply, I think it's the finest western TV has produced. I want my RAWHIDE.

Now let me naively ask: can anything be done? I suppose there'll be nothing like THE FUGITIVE outrage; that seemed to work. Are there that many more fans for that show? If anyone has any thoughts on letter writing or any other grassroots thing, please let me know--I'd pitch in in a heartbeat. If it's futile, well--just looks like we don't get to Sedalia. Great forum, by the way.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

Welcome to the forum Larry.

The outrage over THE FUGITIVE came from its being destroyed by music changes, not from sluggish release schedules. That's why it had the steam behind it.

But yeah--the best thing you can do is support the series with your wallet and write Paramount Home Video and CBS (two separate letters). A handwritten, mailed letter goes a long way (it truly does).

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

Thanks Carab! Already done the former, and will definitely do the latter. I don't even have a beef with the half-seasons. Though I'd prefer entire seasons, I never let that stop my purchase--I'm just happy to have them. And I've never seen the episodes look that darn good.

And you're right, of course, as yet this is nothing like that music score debacle. And I truly hope you're right that it's just "sluggish."

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

Well to me HGWT is as egregious and Rawhide I love them both equally, I wish someone would pick up HGWT maybe a shout factory or someone, why would CBS turn down licensing money, At this point I'd take unremastered copies just to have them, I've been watching some shoddy VHS transfers for the old Mike Hammer series with Darren McGavin lately, sometime content rises above transfer.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

All these stalled/abandoned shows on DVD, makes you wonder if they're ever going to come out on Blu-ray. So while you're updating, keep hold of those DVD's - but I'm sure you know that.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

If it was a favorite show of mine, I'd write a letter whether I thought others would or not. If everyone takes the attitude a single letter won't help, well, guess what--they'll end up being right.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

Thanks for the welcome, Gary, and yeah I figure I've got nothing to lose by writing a letter, so what the hey. I don't think I've written one since I wrote to Image about NAKED CITY. After that, they came out with three 12-episode sets; now, I'm not saying there was a correlation, but who the hell knows? (and of course, that was the extent of their release)

It does surprise me that the numbers aren't (apparently) better on RAWHIDE. Like others have said; you'd think Eastwood would have given it some security.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

CBS/Paramount's releasing schedule has always been ridiculous. 8 years to get the complete series? Now perhaps 10 or more with it being stalled? Please.

I'd rather write to Encore Westerns and get them to pick up the show and run it like they did Gunsmoke a few years ago and are now doing with Cheyenne and Maverick; complete, uncut, with very nice transfers. Then it wouldn't take a decade to see the entire series. A high licensing fee was behind Encore Westerns not renewing their contract to show Gunsmoke; hopefully CBS/Paramount doesn't price all their shows that way. It would be great to see Have Gun - Will Travel on there as well.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

If we all spent the same time and energy to write and mail letters to the studios that we spend on these message boards complaining, studio mailboxes would be full.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

I'm past the point where I get burned up over an abandoned title any longer because the broken trail is too extensive for me. "Dragnet" (to not see a second season of that sticks in my craw the most), "McMillan And Wife", "The Big Valley", and most recently "Ironside" by Shout! (those who are so quick to praise them for the new titles they are started, be on your guard since they will drop a title and leave you hanging for a long time before you know for certain it's gone) and many others in between. I think the only reason why I'm more philosophical about it now is because (1) I've managed to find some good unmentionable versions of certain missing titles and (2) even in released titles there's enough diversity to keep me watching for a long time to come for which I am grateful in this day and age when cable channels have become worthless when it comes to finding reruns of classic shows.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

It's just like TV series getting cancelled. You make an investment by watching for months, like I did with Crusoe, and Blammo!--it's gone. Off the air. But I don't get mad at NBC for that--if enough people were watching, the 13-episodes mini-series would've been picked up.

Likewise, why would I get mad at Shout? If enough people were buying Ironside, we'd get season three. It seems short-sighted and downright unfair to blame Shout. I'm grateful for the two high-quality sets they did release.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

Yes but expectations have go to be too high for these series, I mean come on how many HGWT fans are there left? But I can't imaging the elements sitting in the vaults will aquire too many licensing fees Either, where I expect the Boon to classic televison product will be in services like Hulu, Itunes etc. Even now there are seasons of television shows like Lou Grant etc on Netflix and Itunes that are not even available on DVD. This is where the product will go as they try to fill these services with product. Now there are so many debates on here on Physical media Vs Downloards, but Look if Itunes and My Apple TV/Ipod are the only places I can watch HGWT, more seasons of Rawhide, or Hulu /Netflix lets me stream these any time I want then to me that's better than never seeing them.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

Too often, Gary, we get just enough of a taste on DVD to make us realize how great the potential of the hobby is, but never enough to leave us satisfied or feel close to that level of contentment we think we'd be at where we could say "I've got all I really need and anything else is just icing on the cake from here on in".

"Dragnet" is for me a true classic show and it's second season happens to be its most important one, with the remake of the classic Christmas episode from the 50s (to me this is one of the most important programs in TV history from my standpoint). It's third season is not that good, so if I ended up with a stall-out again after one more release it wouldn't hurt anywhere near as much as it does now with just one season released. With Universal, you can only hope for a licensing (I'm amazed Shout didn't consider picking this up seeing as they did "Adam-12"), or some other outside factor that might get a title restarted. "Quincy" I think is coming back solely because Universal thinks they can get the customers who bought all five seasons of "The Odd Couple" and Universal will go back to a title if there's a current movie tie-in to exploit (if "The Hardy Men" movie comes to pass, then I would expect the final season of "Hardy Boys" to finally get to DVD just as the Nancy Drew movie is what got us S2 of "Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries" after a long hiatus).

WIth CBS/Paramount, it shouldn't surprise us that sooner or later there'd be a new round of titles that would be abandoned, because after all, those of us who are still wondering where the last two seasons of "Taxi" went, saw that show never become part of the CBS/Paramount renaissance period of mass releases.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

CBS does have the first season of Have Gun-Will Travel streaming for free on their website. Hopefully, it'll allow for more people to discover and become fans of the show. It would be great if one day they had all seasons streaming on there, as well as Rawhide. It is the wave of the future. My father, in his 60s, actually found and watched episodes of Have Gun-Will Travel on the CBS website. I offered him my DVDs of the show, but he prefers to watch it online!

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

Online streaming is gaining steam and cutting into disc sales--no question about it.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

And that's not a development I welcome when I don't have the ability to create my own disc from a stream (like I can do with You Tube downloads). I don't like watching episodes on my computer since every time I do, it means I can't do any work on it.

Re: Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned?

Well there are alternatives for doing so and I own two of the Apple's Apple TV, and Western Digital's WD HD TV, the latter is a bit less sophisticated but accepts a much wider range of format types, I go from Xvid's encoded for my player right to the WDTV and they look stunning upconverted to 1080p, Itunes HD downloads also look very nice, even their SD stuff's not bad, and you just stream content to your box. No if they can come up with a Univversal format playable on all platforms with some type of universal DRM tied to the owner specifically, I have no problems paying a buck an episode or so for the shows that will never come to a physical medium.