Allow me to revise and extend my wish list.
Looking forward to:
Perry Mason, Season 5, Volume 1. Scheduled for release on April 20, 2010.
Ellery Queen: 1975-76. With Jim Hutton and David Wayne in a family-friendly take on 1940's style mysteries. John Hillerman guested in eight episodes. A pilot movie and 22 episodes were produced and aired on NBC. Rumored for release in 2010.
Hoping for:
Coronet Blue: Produced in 1965, but didn't air until 1967 as a summer replacement series on CBS. Mystery adventure series with Frank Converse. Thirteen episodes were produced, but only eleven aired. Probably not as good as I remember it, but if whoever owns it will make it available, I'll bite.
The Name Of The Game: 1968-71. Gene Barry, Robert Stack, and Tony Franciosa were the leads in alternating episodes, playing a magazine publisher and two of his investigative reporters. There were 76 episodes in all, each running 90 minutes. At the time of its production, this was the most expensive series ever made, with high production values and an impressive list of guest stars during its three year run. Produced by Universal, this would make a nice companion piece to the Columbo series that followed.
Then Came Bronson: Michael Parks starred in the 1969-70 on-the-road series: "A man. A motorcycle. And America." The pilot film is available from Warner Archive. Here's hoping the 26 episodes will follow soon.
Banyon: Robert Forster starred in this great 1972 detective series set in 1930's Los Angeles. A pilot film and 17 episodes were produced by Quinn Martin for NBC.
Kojak: Season 1 was released to coincide with the Ving Rhames remake in 2005. Seasons 2 and 3 are available in Region 2 and 4, but in poor transfers of edited syndication versions. What gives, Universal? Here's hoping we eventually see Seasons 2 through 5, plus the TV movies from the late 1980's.
Spenser For Hire: Robert Urich and Avery Brooks, with Richard Jaeckel in Seasons 1 & 2. A total of 65 episodes were released in 1985-88, then Avery Brooks's character of Hawk was spun off into its own show for thirteen episodes in 1989. The four Spenser TV movies from the early 90's are available on DVD. Why not the series?
Edited by Berkshires - 3/17/10 at 8:39am