FATHER KNOWS BEST, Season 3 - Coming in June (1 Viewer)

[Gary OS]

I said goodbye to watching classic TV shows via satellite/cable a long time ago. DVD is the only way I can watch my vintage favorites now.

Gary "very good news today!" O.

 

[Jude86]

Oh Gary, I don't mean just as a source to watch old shows, I mean kiss it goodbye period. There's very little on today that intrigues me, esp the vast wasteland of reality!

 

[Robert13]

I just voted for FKB at Shout's poll of what show I'd like to see more seasons of. I'm afraid FKB is lowest on the voting results right now. Where are all the fans?? We need all seasons and the reunion movies on dvd. So if you do too, get your vote over there. I'm excited about Season 3 coming out in a few weeks and I'd love to see an announcement for Season 4 before the end of the year.

 

[Jeff Willis]

I did the same for a friend in Fla

Mr Belevedere is still in 1st place in that Shout! poll. The link is here .

 

[Gary OS]

Thanks Jeff.

My heart sunk when I saw the info and link for this poll show up yesterday at TVShowsonDVD.com. I knew it would likely get fewer votes than any other series, although I think it's worthy of top vote status myself. But I'm resigned to the sad reality that if Shout is going to determine what they will drop or continue, series wise, based on an online poll then my choice will bite the dust. That's just the way it is today. Very, very few people in the dvd buying community are going to choose a b/w, clean-cut, family show over the other series listed there. I hate it, but you can't do anything about the masses and their poor taste. Yes, I'm serious about that last statement. It's my opinion. Get mad if you want.

Gary "I figured FKB wouldn't do well in an online poll - the people that are going to pick this series up aren't generally teens and twenty-something internet geeks" O.

 

[smithb]

I cast my vote for FKB (at least I think I did). I only saw the number of votes after casting mine and doing it again doesn't change the value. Do you have to be signed in to vote or do they track your computer IP address to prevent voting multiple times? If they track IP addresses, I can at least vote two more times for FKB.

 

[Gary OS]

Good for you, Brad. And thanks to Robert as well for voting. Again, I have no delusions about this at all. I know good and well that a b/w 50's series (unless it's I Love Lucy or has a cult following like Twilight Zone) is going to lose out to color shows from the 70's, 80's and 90's every single time.

I was afraid that Shout was pushing a bit too much product all at once when they started up late last year with all these different titles. We've already seen them apparently abandon any more Ozzie & Harriet, and if they don't continue with Father Knows Best then they will literally have nothing from the 50's in their current rotation. In fact, they'll only have Peyton Place as a representative from the b/w era if they abandon FKB.

[Warning: Rant Ahead.]

The signs have been around for some time now that we'd start seeing a major slowdown in b/w TV on DVD. Those days are here in front of us right now. There's no denying it any more.

If Father Knows Best goes down the drain then Shout Factory goes into the same category as Sony, Universal, WB, MGM and Fox - "Thanks for the Memories... Turkeys!"

Every single one of those studios will have abandoned at least one of my holy grail shows. Every single one of them! Does anyone know how infuriating that is?!! Only CBS/P will be left as a bastion of 50's/60's glory. And even they seem to be slacking up just a bit (stalling Rawhide, among others).

[Rant Over - for now.]


Gary "where's that national Retro channel when you need it?" O.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Far from getting mad, I'll say I not only agree with you 100% but you can state it even more strongly if you like.

There is absolutely nothing on network television that I waste even one second of my time on. And while we're on the subject of popular culture, what's as depressing as summer movies, to those who remember the days when movies were actually made for adults and had at least some level of intelligence and thought put into their making?

For a long time now, so-called "blockbuster" movies were called "adolescent," and designed mainly for teenage boys. Then some critics started calling them "childish" and I recently read a critic who used the word "infantile!" I'd say that same trajectory -- from adult (in the good sense of the word) to infantile -- has been the trend for all popular culture over the past few decades.

 

[smithb]

FKB was standard watching for me growing up (born in '61). I never really expected to get so caught up in watching the old shows again, let alone purchasing them. My wife thinks I've gone a bit wacky since in the last year the TV portion of my collection has gone from about 5% to between 25% to 30% of my overall collection. Within that about 80% of the shows are from the 50' and 60's.

However, I have also missed out on some due to expiring rights issues with independents and major studios giving up, so I'm on kind of a mission to get what I can as fast as I can for fear things may begin to dry up for some of the older shows in the next few years.

In the end, most of these shows may not be completed but I would at least like a good representation of episodes to fall back on. I sure wish they would figure out what they are going to do with the "Rifleman". Either produce it or license it out, but get on it with it.

 

[Gary OS]

That probably wouldn't be a good thing, Joe, because I'd make enemies of some of my friends here. Honestly, to think that this iconic show might be at the mercy of some of the junk that's listed makes me sick to my stomach. There are only a couple of other shows on that list that qualify as iconic, and I'd buy them as well as FKB. But most of the series in that poll are drivel.

There. I said it. I'm disgusted that the only 50's series that Shout is currently releasing would have to go up against more modern shows that will obviously have many more online fans.

Gary "I just want to throw up looking at those results thus far" O.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Gary, Joe,

I'm on you guy's side. I stopped watching network series TV probably later than you guys, around the mid-90's. There's most likely a few shows since then that I might have liked but most of those are available on DVD and not locked away in the vaults like the ones we would like released.

Let's face it...we're dinosaurs on this Bd as perceived by a lot of the DVD-buying public, at least that's what I think. So "throw me a bone"

I watched a "Big Valley" episode with Mom today and she said "Why isn't this kind of show on today?" Can you imagine the reaction of the current network-series watchers if one of the major networks aired a Big Valley, Fugitive, Father Knows Best, Donna Reed, etc show in primetime?

 

[Jude86]

Is Shout! really depending on a poll to determine what to release next? I thought that was what sales figures were for.....people vote with their wallet.

 

[Corey3rd]

This is a way to get people excited about the 11 series Shout! Factory has licensed and haven't finished. There is nothing saying that only the winning series will get the next season released. It's a nice way to hype the library (although California Dreams is missing).

Sales do matter.

 

[Neil Brock]

I don't think these polls hold a lot of weight. Fox and Sony both did polls where the high scoring shows were pretty much ignored. So I wouldn't really sweat the results too much. Obviously anything on the internet is going to be slanted towards newer material.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

These polls are an advertising gimmick, a way to get people to slow down and read the names of the shows.

It also makes people think the company cares about them, and that their voice is being heard. It makes them feel "important," and people love to feel important.

It's all baloney, of course. Only sales determine which shows continue.

 

[Vinprakash]

gr8 tnx ..nice post bro

 

[Gary OS]

Well, I hope all you guys are right because I know FKB will not fare well in an online poll. There are simply too many teenyboppers on the internet that will vote for modern series over a classic b/w one. That's just the reality of it.

Gary "I never thought only the winner of the poll would get a continuation - I was worried that if a show finished at the bottom it might not get a continuation, and I know FKB will probably finish near the bottom of an online poll for the reasons I listed above" O.

 

[Corey3rd]

teenyboppers? You do understand that Mr Belvedere aired 24 years ago? That show can legally buy hard liquor in every state. That means that even kids who grew up watching the show are in their late 30s - early 40s. They're practically middle aged by now - and older if they're the fans of Mr. Baseball.

Since FKB is being done with Robert Young's estate, they're probably more understanding to the numbers game. They want their father's legacy out on DVD to the fans. They want to find new fans because this is their father's legacy.

 

[Gary OS]

Plenty of middle-aged people are still teenyboppers in mind, if not body. Anyone voting for Mr. Belvedere over an iconic classic like FATHER KNOWS BEST is a teenybopper in my book.

Gary "I'm only in my mid-forties but I'd never think about voting for an 80's show over a classic 50's one" O.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

From the things you have said, I took you for older than mid-forties, closer to my age (60 on my next birthday, I regret to say). You're wise beyond your years! You'd have loved the 1950s -- it's a shame you were born too late for them.