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Columbo S2 pkg + McCloud coming? (1 Viewer)

Jeff Willis

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Hello, Columbo fans :) I just received the S2 pack today and the pk'g is much improved from the S1 pack. There are 2 separate cases containing 2 disks each in the "easy-to-disengage" type hubs :) but they hold the disks well. These cases also have the "tabs" that lock the cases closed located on the side of the cases, something that I haven't often seen with DVD cases. Also included inside is one of those Universal "Shows on DVD" flyers and on the "Coming Soon" page appears "McCloud" :emoji_thumbsup: That's another one I'd like to have on DVD. Others on the page are ones that we already know are coming: Leave It To Beaver, Dragnet, Black Sheep Squadron aka Baa Baa Black Sheep, Alfred Hitchcoch Presents ..

I'll watch the 1st ep in the pack "Etude In Black" (written by Steven Bochco) tonight with the popcorn :D
 

Dan McW

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Great news on McCloud, which brings up an interesting point. That show debuted in the old Four in One wheel with Night Gallery and two other shows, all of hour length. McCloud's first season consisted of six one-hour shows (a 2-hour pilot also aired earlier in 1970). Somehow for syndication, Universal paired episodes 1 and 6, 2 and 4, and 3 and 5 to make three two-hour stories. I know the "Man From Taos" ep (made from #1 and #6) is still syndicated, at least.

Has anyone out there ever seen the one-hour shows since their original airings? I hope the original form can be restored. It's not as bad as the Night Gallery/Sixth Sense syndie debacle, but "Man From Taos" and the other two paired eps--although possibly more familiar to latter-day viewers in the 2-hour form--should not be presented as such on a true season-one DVD.
 

george kaplan

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For me the only other one of the Sunday Night Mysteries (besides Columbo), that I'm looking forward to is MacMillan & Wife.
 

Jeff#

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This may be sort of an improvement with Columbo, but it isn't unusual for Universal.
A lot of their movies have been packaged with the "lock tabs" on the sides of each case. Personally I don't like those tabs, because it takes longer to open or close a DVD case, but least it takes up less shelf space.
 

Eric Paddon

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My biggest complaint with the Columbo packaging is that the summary of the episode "Requiem For A Falling Star" is completely wrong.
 

george kaplan

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Those lock tabs are designed to be removed, which is something I do every time I get a dvd with them. Just twist and remove.
 

Mark Lx

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Wasn't Columbo Season 1 rereleased the same day as season 2. I see it's cheaper now. Does it have new packaging.
 

Andreas_K

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Does the season 2 box have the same size as the season 1 box? I hope it does - I don't like boxes that don't match at all...
 

Jeff#

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It doesn't matter to me if Columbo's 2nd season box is a different size. Just keep in mind that there are not only 7 mini seasons of the old series from the 1970s, but also a whole slew of more episodes and also occasional TV movies that Peter Falk did between 1989 and 2002! I believe the newer ones will be released when they finish with the original show.
 

Christian Preischl

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Nope. The new box is higher, and less wide (not the spine, but the front cover, so it doesn't stick out as much on the shelf as season 1 does).
I don't know, but for some reasons inconsistencies like this bother me, just because they're so unnecessary. It's almost like they doing it on purpose. :)
Well, in the end it's the content that count. Luckily, I didn't notice a "some music may be changed" tag on the box, so here's hoping. :)

Chris
 

Sean.S

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Good to hear McCloud coming to DVD. That's Columbo, Murder She Wrote, Quincy, and now McCloud. If we can get Matlock and The Cosby Mysteries on DVD, that'll be all my favorite mystery shows!
 

Eric Paddon

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I'm still hoping that "Ellery Queen" makes it out one day and then I'll be satisfied forever in terms of Universal detective shows on DVD.
 

HenryDuBrow

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I have all those with Danish subtitles, actually they're not 60 minutes but aprox. 70/75 minutes each, like "Columbo" standard running time for most TV movies in the 70s. I can understand why fans would want those as well, however I'm more interested in "McCloud" when it became a "normal" TV series (ala "Kojak" and "Quincy") with a 50 minute running time. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't really consider those first TV movies to be a real series, and would hope Universal go right ahead with the real episodes of the series (Season 1, etc.), maybe including the TV movies as bonus in the sets. Anyway, the famous and memorable theme music and legendary credit sequence (McCloud on the skyscraper's edge) is from the series not the early TV movies, and who wouldn't want to see and hear that again ? :)
 

Tom_mkfty

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Columbo, McCloud, Night Gallery, got their starts on a series called The Bold Ones.

I remember there were two OTHER series that did not go far.
One was a series about an airport, the other was a court series.
 

Eric Paddon

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It was called "Four-In-One", not the Bold Ones and "Columbo" was never part of that rotation, debuting as a series with the "Mystery Movie" umbrella in 1971. The other two series that rotated with "Night Gallery" and "McCloud" in 1970-71 were "San Francisco International" and "The Psychiatrist" I believe.
 

Jeff#

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I'm not sure about the 1970 episodes, but what I refer to as "The Cowboy Theme" was basically a country-western guitar instrumental was used until at least 1973 with McCloud. The more modern, action-oriented theme that you're thinking of (far superior in my opinion also) was featured for the last few years until McCloud was cancelled in 1977.

Original series regulars Dennis Weaver, J.D. Cannon, Terry Carter, and semi-regular Diana Muldaur (as McCloud's girlfriend Chris Coughlin) all came back for "The Return of Sam McCloud" in 1989. By then it was obvious that the environmentally conscious Weaver managed to inject his politics into that TV movie drama (McCloud left the NYPD to become a Senator), and rightfully so. It's always nice to see familiar faces, but the McCloud movie was much worse than Telly Savalas reviving his Kojak character on 3 occasions in the 1980s and 90s.
 

HenryDuBrow

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Thanks for all the info, Jeff. So when "McCloud" changed its theme music to the (I guess) more familiar one wasn't it a show with 50 minute episodes then, or at any point during its run ('til '77) ? At least I seem to remember it was, either way, I guess it'll be awhile before we get to hear that popular theme on DVD then.
:confused:
 

Jeff#

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Nope, McCloud was only 1 hour during its first year (1970-71 season) and like the other seasons it was only about 6 episodes alternating with other series as someone else mentioned earlier.

There were other NBC Mystery Movie series from that era that are not as well known because they were short-lived, such as Tenafly, Helen Hayes & Mildred Natwick in The Snoop Sisters, and James Farentino in Cool Million to name a few.

They also lasted a season (6 to 8 episodes) usually just airing once a month each except for Banacek which went for 2 years.
 

Eric Paddon

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Don't forget "Hec Ramsey" with Richard Boone (a late 19th century lawman), "McCoy" with Tony Curtis and "Amy Prentiss" with Jessica Walter. Each of those as the fourth element of the Columbo-McCloud-McMillan And Wife Mystery Movie wheel never left more than a legacy of some 3-6 90 minute episodes total. "Quincy" was the only successful fourth show and that led to it becoming a regular weekly series (hence the reason why "Quincy" will have its first two seasons released in the same box and this will mark the first time the 90 minute shows that were part of the Mystery Movie Wheel will be restored to their full length since in syndication they are offered in a butchered 60 minute format).
 

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