Is the b&w era of TV on DVD slowly coming to an end? (6 Viewers)

[Gary OS]

Sgt. Bilko is the last 50s tv series I really want to own. Any others that are released will be icing on the cake for me.

Then I truly believe you'll be happy by the end of the year (I think a complete boxed set will be out by then). Unfortunately, my one remaining grail (Ozzie & Harriet) will probably never be released in its entirety. But them's the breaks, as they say.


Gary "in spite of my lack of faith in seeing substantial O&H on DVD in the future, I still have plenty to keep me happy" O.

 

[John Hermes]

Then I truly believe you'll be happy by the end of the year (I think a complete boxed set will be out by then). Unfortunately, my one remaining grail (Ozzie & Harriet) will probably never be released in its entirety. But them's the breaks, as they say.


Gary "in spite of my lack of faith in seeing substantial O&H on DVD in the future, I still have plenty to keep me happy" O.

I wrote to Sam Nelson, asking for an O&H update, so maybe we will hear something soon.

 

[LouA]

Then I truly believe you'll be happy by the end of the year (I think a complete boxed set will be out by then). Unfortunately, my one remaining grail (Ozzie & Harriet) will probably never be released in its entirety. But them's the breaks, as they say.


Gary "in spite of my lack of faith in seeing substantial O&H on DVD in the future, I still have plenty to keep me happy" O.

Gary, considering the state of the current market for B&W TV, what do you think the chances for shows like My Little Margie ,and the Peoples Choice to make it to DVD?

 

[Gary OS]

I wouldn't think they'd be very good. But never say never.


Gary "anything's possible - not likely, but possible" O.

 

[Ron1973]

I know it's probably a pipe dream but I keep hoping a domestic company will come along and do for classic TV what Bear Family in Germany has done for classic American country and rock 'n' roll music.

 

[Darby67]

I'm still waiting for an announcement from Timeless about a complete series release of The Rebel on DVD. The last time I emailed them about it, they replied that they were working to secure all of the episodes. I hope it gets released this year.

Darby

 

[Silverking]

I first heard they were hoping to put this out a nearly two years back.

Last information I had were one episode short. As Timeless seem to have drastically reduced their output of old shows I'm not
sure this is still on the radar.Hope I'm wrong.

 

[Gary OS]

I first heard they were hoping to put this out a nearly two years back.

Last information I had were one episode short. As Timeless seem to have drastically reduced their output of old shows I'm not
sure this is still on the radar.Hope I'm wrong.

Agreed, Chris. I think both of us see the handwriting on the wall in terms of the decrease, overall, of b/w releases. Let's hope somehow we at least get The Rebel before the train comes to a complete stop.


Gary "there are many shows Timeless has gone after in the past few years that never materialized - bummer" O.

 

[LouA]

I know it's probably a pipe dream but I keep hoping a domestic company will come along and do for classic TV what Bear Family in Germany has done for classic American country and rock 'n' roll music.

I've thought about this for a while now . I don't know who could do this , but it's something to hope for. Plenty of companies have "dabbled " in 1950's and early 60's B&W TV, Like Timeless, Shout Factory , Mill Creek, Schanachie, MPI, VCI, TGG Direct, Rhino, etc.but no company has specialized in the genre. We can hope that one of these companies looking for product to license will step up.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

I know it's probably a pipe dream but I keep hoping a domestic company will come along and do for classic TV what Bear Family in Germany has done for classic American country and rock 'n' roll music.

Or what Network is doing with old (and often obscure) UK television shows (all genres) on R2 DVD.

 

[phenri]

Then I truly believe you'll be happy by the end of the year (I think a complete boxed set will be out by then). Unfortunately, my one remaining grail (Ozzie & Harriet) will probably never be released in its entirety. But them's the breaks, as they say.


Gary "in spite of my lack of faith in seeing substantial O&H on DVD in the future, I still have plenty to keep me happy" O.

Gary,

Thanks for the good word about Bilko.

There are many programs from the 50s that I have never seen, including O&H. If I was familiar with more of them, I would probably be more interested in that decade of shows.

 

[Ron1973]

I guess what bugs me is the fact I heard about so many wonderful 50's shows from my parents growing up. I may never get a chance to see those shows if the market holds. Yeah, there are tape collectors and sites to buy 16mm films and the like but it's not the same and even at that, some of the shows still wouldn't be available as many weren't even syndicated.

As the years go by, elements go bad and start deteriorating. I've been reading the thread over in the Blu-Ray forum about the roadshow version of The Alamo and how it may well be beyond usable at this point. How long before classic TV elements that haven't been transferred to another format start rotting? I hate to be a Negative Nancy but film elements won't last forever.

Another worst scenario is that many of us have heard what happened to many of the DuMont elements and how much classic TV was lost in such a senseless fashion. Even in the 70's and 80's Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett were wiping the tapes of what's now classic wrestling that people covet. The story is they were literally reusing tapes until they were shredding and not usable any longer. The only thing that exists in many cases are VCR tapes taped in SLP mode that look crappy. Could that happen today that some unknowing executive decides all those canisters of films aren't needed and in the trash they go? Heck, even WSM radio was caught tossing radio shows of Hank Williams in the trash before someone rescued the acetate disks. I'm scared if it happened then, it could still happen now.

This is why forums like this are valuable. Like minded individuals can maybe turn this situation around. We may be small in number but I have to think if we're vocal enough and its done in a nice way, something has to change.

 

[Wezzo]

Gary, considering the state of the current market for B&W TV, what do you think the chances for shows like My Little Margie ,and the Peoples Choice to make it to DVD?

Volume 3 of My Little Margie is coming out after 13 (!) years since the first two: http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Little-Margie-Volume-3/19857

 

[Jack P]

I guess what bugs me is the fact I heard about so many wonderful 50's shows from my parents growing up. I may never get a chance to see those shows if the market holds. Yeah, there are tape collectors and sites to buy 16mm films and the like but it's not the same and even at that, some of the shows still wouldn't be available as many weren't even syndicated.

It may not be the same as a quality DVD release from the original elements, but it is better than nothing and if your desire is to really see something and sample it, I think ultimately its better to go that route and just let the prospect of an official release done right be the proverbial icing on the cake later. Because if the stuff is out there and accessible another way, and you want to see it that much, go ahead and take a chance. In my case, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the 16 episodes of "Sheena" that are available even as the Nassour heirs continue to sit (Forever) on the best source elements and the eight missing episodes.

I'm bugged by the fact that I can never revisit the great Broadway shows of the 50s and 60s because in those days they didn't think of preserving any part of it, other than a cast album (which would only hint at some of what it was like) and then if you were really lucky maybe a lengthy extract would be performed on the Ed Sullivan Show. There is about 12 hours of Sullivan show material spotlighting Broadway musical performances (the famous Richard Burton-Julie Andrews numbers from "Camelot" that literally saved that show from becoming a box office flop; even the entire first half hour of the all-but-forgotten Phil Silvers-Nancy Walker 1961 musical "Do Re Mi") that circulates in the hobby. I would kill to see an official DVD release of all that material in a deluxe "Lost Broadway Classics" treatment but the clearance issues would be the biggest nightmare possible. I'm just glad I found the contacts who had this stuff and let me enjoy it.

I agree we should be concerned over the long-term danger as to whether future generations will be able to enjoy this material, but for ourselves, we might as well make do with what we can by those means that are necessary if we *really* have a great urge to see something from the past that isn't likely to make it to DVD anytime soon. The strength of the material will let us overcome our dissatisfaction with the visual quality.

 

[LouA]

Volume 3 of My Little Margie is coming out after 13 (!) years since the first two: http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Little-Margie-Volume-3/19857

Yes, and Vol.3 of I Married Joan as well. Good news!

 

[Tooncy]

Kind of expensive for one disc.

 

[BobO'Link]

I hope the specs on that My Little Margie set are wrong. It's currently listed as *one* disc running *90* minutes! That's not much for the ~$25 MSRP! It's almost a insult considering the first 2 sets are 2 discs each with run times of ~345 minutes each.

 

[Tooncy]

Not to mention, the first couple of collections had a lower price.

 

[LouA]

I hope the specs on that My Little Margie set are wrong. It's currently listed as *one* disc running *90* minutes! That's not much for the ~$25 MSRP! It's almost a insult considering the first 2 sets are 2 discs each with run times of ~345 minutes each.

I'm pretty sure the specs are wrong -they frequently are initially at Amazon.

 

[Tooncy]

I wasn't looking at Amazon, those were the specs at tvshowsondvd.