Petition for Harry O to be Released on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Mr. Pacino]

Originally Posted by Berkshires
Looks like the petition was successful. Warner Archive posted on their Facebook page on Monday that Harry O will be available soon.

Do you have a link?

I didn´t find any announcement on their facebook website!

 

[WaveCrest]

Originally Posted by Berkshires
Looks like the petition was successful. Warner Archive posted on their Facebook page on Monday that Harry O will be available soon.

This isn't a late April Fools joke is it?

 

[Berkshires]

http://www.facebook.com/warnerarchive?sk=wall&filter=12

This is the link. You'll have to hit "More Posts" at the bottom of the page, then scroll down to the question about tv series from Mark Topaz.

 

[WaveCrest]

Interesting.

"Harry O...will be paying WAC a visit soon".

Hopefully this means a release of at least the first half of or the first season by the end of the year.

 

[younger1968]

Originally Posted by WaveCrest
Interesting.


Hopefully this means a release of at least the first half of or the first season by the end of year.

Hopefully this will mean more shows will have a chance to be released via Warner Bros Archive. My only concern is that these shows may not be re-mastered and depending on the condition of tapes/files nay have issues with quality. I have seen it already with different sets on the quality at times with the shows.

 

[Gary OS]

I'd certainly buy a set of Harry O dvds. Not as crazy about a MOD type program, as I'd greatly prefer pressed dvds.

Gary "this show was decent enough to warrant a release, IMHO" O.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Fantastic news, like Gary says it definitely would've deserved the normal release but I will take these in a heartbeat. Just two seasons, here they both come I hope. Don't think we need to worry too much about the picture quality, the show still looks very good judging by the TV reruns it's had. Didn't they once say good archive sales could warrant pressed releases as well, or will all available titles stay MODs? In any case, this is brilliant news and cause for a celebration so excuse me while I head for the champagne - here's to you David, finally.
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/image/id/532502/width/1000/height/800

 

[Mr. Pacino]

Originally Posted by Berkshires
http://www.facebook.com/warnerarchive?sk=wall&filter=12

This is the link. You'll have to hit "More Posts" at the bottom of the page, then scroll down to the question about tv series from Mark Topaz.

Thank you.....

 

[Rick Thompson]

Great news! I'll be able to finally dump my amalgamation of off-air recordings, copies from 16mm film, and "alternate source" copies with something a whole lot better!

 

[WaveCrest]

Originally Posted by younger1968
Hopefully this will mean more shows will have a chance to be released via Warner Bros Archive. My only concern is that these shows may not be re-mastered and depending on the condition of tapes/files nay have issues with quality. I have seen it already with different sets on the quality at times with the shows.

Hopefully the episodes will look great, but based on what Henry said above they will look decent.

There are 22 episodes in the first season, but these were preceded by two (I'm guessing) feature length episodes (two pilot episodes?) called "Such Dust As Dreams Are Made On" and "Smile, Jenny, You're Dead". If they were each the length of two normal length episodes, then altogether there would be the equivalent of 26 normal length episodes in the first season Warner Archive set, IF it's released as a season set and not a half season set.

I've liked Anthony Zerbe's work on TV and film in the past but have never seen Harry O. Well at least not a full episode. Have seen bits of an episode when it was repeated on I think Channel 4 or Five a few years ago. A vague memory but the print looked good.

Was each episode of Harry O preceded by a 30 second promo?

 

[Rick Thompson]

If you haven't seen "Harry O" you're in for a treat, though you'll have to wait until halfway through the first year before Anthony Zerbe shows up. I remember this show had me at the opening: Harry's working on his boat as the phone rings in the foreground. He walks up to the phone and makes a left turn out of the frame. Cut to inside his house (phone still ringing in the background) and Harry's first line via voiceover: "Where I really wanted to be was Idaho Falls, Idaho, because that's where the circus was in town."

After a comment, still in voiceover, about how his car needs $300 in repairs (now walking out of the house) and he was thinking about it (by now back to the phone), "I thought I'd answer the phone if it rang 18 times." And the first non-voiceover line: "You must really want to talk to someone at this number."

You'll love it.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

They had promos, though I don't recall that they always did for each and every episode, but it shall be very interesting about the two pilots whether they'll be included or released separately as TV movies. I would imagine the former approach makes the best sense, I'm especially keen on seeing the first as I don't recall seeing this one. Since they're splitting The F.B.I. into volumes they might do that here too, but thankfully none of us (Warner or fans) will ever have to worry about questions concerning further releases with MODs. I also wonder if they've remastered it, that would be nice but the usual minor dirt is still on the film here and there, generally I'd say it's acceptable. And yep, people are in for a treat.

 

[66KIMBLE]

I was a bigger fan of the Quinlan (Henry Darrow) episodes than the Trench (Anthony Zerbe) ones
I liked his situation in San Diego better.Terrific different scenery, Harry's dependence on buses,his nagging injury, and his more adversarial relationship with the police were more appealing.

.
My one disappointment:

The Manny Quinlan death episode,(ELEGY FOR A COP) opened and closed very well with Janssen's best moments of the series. So what possessed the producers to reloop the pilot episode (SUCH DUST....)with Sal Mineo in the middle of this episode? Though somewhat clever on how they did it,this was the ultimate in being cheap. Harry O is a textbook example on how a network and budget can ruin a good premise and turn it into something else. After two pilots and three different openings, they couldn't leave well enough alone? The addition of Trench and Los Angeles extended the show's run,but at what cost? To imitate the Rockford Files!!

Despite this shortcoming,I would welcome it on DVD.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

While I liked the Quinlan character a lot too Trench wasn't bad either, only Quinlan probably had more fondness for Harry than Trench so their relationship was less distant ultimately. It seemed that Trench practically hated Harry though it would appear for unfounded reasons basically, but why Janssen didn't win anything for this part shall remain one of the great TV mysteries of all time along with the other sadness that is its unfortunate cancellation. About Rockford Files, I very much prefer Harry O which for the most part anyway had little of the loose cool detective humor so famous in the other show.

 

[Neil Brock]

Despite this shortcoming,I would welcome it on DVD.

I also thought the San Diego episodes were far superior. And weren't those the ones where he had Farrah Fawcett as his next door neighbor? Just became a different show when they moved him, similar to how they changed Crime Story (not for the better) by moving it from Chicago to Las Vegas.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Farrah's in the moved setting from episode 17, Loni Anderson's another of the cute next door stewardesses.

 

[66KIMBLE]

Not to digress from Harry O,but there are other David Janssen projects that has never seen a DVD release on my wish list. Three in no particular order:NIGHT CHASE(1970)w/ Yaphet Kotto; WHERE IT'S AT (1969) w/ Las Vegas backdrop;and(for Harry O fans) CITY IN FEAR (1980) Janssen's last great role as a newspaper columnist featuring Mickey Roarke's acting debut.

 

[WaveCrest]

Originally Posted by 66KIMBLE
I was a bigger fan of the Quinlan (Henry Darrow) episodes than the Trench (Anthony Zerbe) ones
I liked his situation in San Diego better.Terrific different scenery, Harry's dependence on buses,his nagging injury, and his more adversarial relationship with the police were more appealing.

Was the second season, in terms of the writing and stories, not as good as the first season (when Henry Darrow was in the cast)?

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Zerbe already joined during the first season of course, but for me the writing was just as good later on so I personally never noticed any drop there and would claim we have a brief but sweet and brilliant crime drama show here. Had it continued with more seasons who can say if there'd been a drop in quality, so its short life also ensured it remaining top stuff like Fawlty Towers in sitcoms. And the perfection of Janssen obviously. Like for instance, the later season one episode Lester with Harry's goofy fanboy he'd rather be without but couldn't bear chase away, a character proving popular enough to make a return visit in season two. Another Janssen show around this time was O'Hara, U.S. Treasury (1971-1972), would be neat to see Timeless get it from Universal.

 

[Rick Thompson]

Originally Posted by 66KIMBLE
Not to digress from Harry O,but there are other David Janssen projects that has never seen a DVD release on my wish list. Three in no particular order:NIGHT CHASE(1970)w/ Yaphet Kotto; WHERE IT'S AT (1969) w/ Las Vegas backdrop;and(for Harry O fans) CITY IN FEAR (1980) Janssen's last great role as a newspaper columnist featuring Mickey Roarke's acting debut.

Another vote for "City in Fear" from me. It was released only on a VHS transfer at LP speed (which I've since dubbed over to DVD), and deserves the full DVD on quality alone. It also has a great cast -- Janssen, Robert Vaughn, William Daniels, M. Emmet Walsh, Susan Sullivan, Roarke (already typecast as a nutcase), Perry King and a slew of great character actors. Bring it on!