With WKRP, Wonder Years and Batman now a reality, what's the next holy grail? (1 Viewer)

[classicmovieguy]

I have only ever seen the few eps that have made their way to Youtube (including one from the first season, and another from the second where Louise Lasser came aboard). It's such a fun show.

 

[BobO'Link]

I have to add one to my list - another I totally forgot!!!

Remember WENN

A *great* series that I'd *love* to have on disc!

 

[MattPeriolat]

How about some one season wonders? I'll Fly Away and Brooklyn Bridge would be high on that list for me.Probably mentioned here earlier, but no love for The Rifleman?

 

[Ejanss]

The TV series was shot on standard definition videotape, so a Blu-ray release is highly unlikely.

I'd say that about anybody else, but A&E usually finds a way.
As long as they don't forget about Avengers '65-'68 either.

 

[Brian Himes]

Not so much of a clearance nightmare as a restoration nightmare, but I'd love to have a complete series set for The Banana Splits. Season two would be a problem as the Danger Island and Arabian Knights segments were all repeats of the first season. I suppose they could do an edited down version of season two and just include all of the Splits segments and leave out anything else. The Hillbilly Bears segments were repeats from the Atom Ant Show, so those could also be left out as far as I'm concerned. This second season would be kind of like what was done with the Archie's Fun House set. I'd also love for them to include the Banana Splits in Hocus Pocus Park just to be 100% complete.

Speaking of the Archies, I'd love a set for Archie's TV Funnies and US of Archie.

 

[Konstantinos]

Last volume of Ducktales!

 

[Hasslein]

I still want Harper Valley. Not a great show, but Barbara Eden...

 

[cineMANIAC]

I'll be happy if Sony release complete season sets of BENSON and ONE DAY AT A TIME. Not sure about holy grails but I like them enough to splurge on.

 

[Kasey]

I have only ever seen the few eps that have made their way to Youtube (including one from the first season, and another from the second where Louise Lasser came aboard). It's such a fun show.

Those were probably my uploads from a few years back but Warner Bros. shut my channel down for copyright issues because I had a few episodes of It's a Living on there. I tried again late last year with a new channel and they did it again.

 

[classicmovieguy]

Those were probably my uploads from a few years back but Warner Bros. shut my channel down for copyright issues because I had a few episodes of It's a Living on there. I tried again late last year with a new channel and they did it again.

There was around 5 eps (including the Vegas 2-parter from the Sheryl Lee Ralph years) which I copied onto a DVD-R. Thanks so much for uploading them. I went back yesterday to see if any more material from the show had been uploaded but everything I had seen was gone.

 

[Bryan^H]

Without a doubt, I want them to resume releasing SNL on DVD. I don't feel comfortable watching Seasons 6 onwards online because they're missing the musical performances, as well as most of the sketches with copyrighted music (barring memetic sketches like Eddie Murphy's Michael Jackson PSA or, jumping into the 90s, the "More Cowbell" sketch). Many of these episodes have been edited severely, to the point where quite a few episodes only have a cold opening, a monologue and one or two sketches at most. I want the whole thing...All the sketches, all the music.

I don't know if it's music rights issues or Lorne Michaels liking to pretend that, with the exception of Eddie Murphy and certain sketches from season 10, that the show didn't exist when he wasn't producing it, but with SNL's 40th anniversary on the way, I'd like to see uncut season releases again. If Lorne is worried about sales for the 80s seasons, he could do a limited edition box set called "SNL: The Complete 1980s", with seasons 6-15 all in one set. It would be exorbitantly expensive, but that's why I suggested a limited edition, and then there could be a "SNL: The Complete 1990s", with seasons 16-25, and an "SNL: The Complete 2000s", with seasons 26-35, and so on.

History-making and just plain enjoyable sketches and musical performances spanning almost 3-and-a-half decades are going unseen because of rights issues, and I hope they can eventually be figured out someday. Lorne Michaels isn't getting any younger, and neither are Dick Ebersol, Bob Tischler or the much-dreaded Jean Doumanian.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

I'll come right out and say it: I saw reruns from seasons 6 and 11 on Comedy Central in the 90s, and I liked what I saw. Many others didn't, but a complete uncut boxed set of SNL's 80s seasons could provide a chance for reevaluation. With the online prints, you're not getting the whole show, and that's a damn shame.

Well said

 

[Claude North]

He & She
The Pruitts of Southampton/The Phyllis Diller Show
The Tammy Grimes Show (I know, I know...)
The Second Hundred Years
Turn-On (The disc could include the rumored second episode...)
3 Girls 3 (After all these years, I still remember the theme song...)
Don Adams's Screen Test
The Space Giants

And a more recent show that seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth...

The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd

 

[Ken_Martinez]

Last two seasons of The Muppet Show

ANY Muppet production, less Fraggle Rock.

It's doubtful anyone at Disney would know Jim Henson from Jimi Hendrix, and no one's tried to license any of it (as far as we know).

Muppet Babies isn't even the problem everyone thinks it is. This is a direct quote from Hank Saroyan, the producer (emphasis mine).

FYI, re: Dave Coulier's comment about rights clearances on MUppet Babies film clips, Star Wars, Raiders, Cosby, Johnny Carson, etc. ... as not only voice director, but story editor and VP of network series production for Marvel and executive in charge of every episode of Muppet Babies.. i assure you and Dave all that each and every clip and frame of a clip was cleared worldwide, in all media in perpetuity per our contractual obligations with the Henson organization. whoever started these rumors is just plain wrong or has the agenda of keeping the shows off the air. all clips were cleared by my office at Marvel, they could have been shown on Mars on a particle beam device and would have been cleared. anyone with questions about these rights especially at Disney should contact me.

This checks out because the last thing the Hensons did before selling out to Disney was release a few episodes on DVD. Yet the show's been branded untouchable because of some morons on Wikipedia.

 

[jimmyjet]

Bachelor Father: The Complete Series, now that would be my holy grail!

will come !!

 

[jimmyjet]

i think quite a few of the shows mentioned will eventually come out.

and it would not surprise me to see hee-haw or other musical shows.

because i dont see music rights as a definite killer.

as i have stated many times, making some money is better than no money.

however, a few shows have an almost permanent time stamp on them. not sure they will be released, because i dont think they are relevant.

remember that one of my big arguments for release of a show is that the show depicts human nature, and will have relevance.

one show mentioned that i would guess "no" on is laugh-in.

it has no real life relevance to it. and most of the humor is political or about famous people, etc. stuff that no one would even "get" today.

and even for those who would "get it", would jokes about richard nixon still be funny ?

the same applies for news shows, and "most" game shows.

there would be some exceptions about game shows. but they would entail a show that does something other than showing people doing stuff to win prizes.

some sort of intellectual and or personal input. shows like password, jeopardy (i think i was told that we no longer have any of the film for this one), whats my line, etc.

 

[BobO'Link]

...one show mentioned that i would guess "no" on is laugh-in.

it has no real life relevance to it. and most of the humor is political or about famous people, etc. stuff that no one would even "get" today.

and even for those who would "get it", would jokes about richard nixon still be funny ?

Yes, they would. Although I fully agree that much of the humor would be "lost" on most people younger than 50ish.

 

[maskedmala]

I'm still waiting for the second season of Burke's Law, continued releases of Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies and the complete Sgt. Bilko. That being said I'm also very interested in a lot of 50's and 60's TV shows, mostly, in Glorious B&W.

For the Crime/Drama genre. some titles that might be interesting include: Philip
Marlowe (w/Philip Carey), Dante (w/ Howard Duff), Richard Diamond (w/ David
Janssen), China Smith (w/ Dan Duryea), Johnny Midnight (w/ Edmond O'Brien), New
Adventures of Charlie Chan (w/ J. Carrol Naish), Boston Blackie (w/ Kent Taylor),
Colonel March of Scotland Yard (w/ Boris Karloff), The Thin Man (w/ Peter Lawford),
Shannon (w/ George Nader), I Led Three Lives (w/ Richard Carlson), Follow that man
(w/ Ralph Bellamy), Craig Kennedy, Criminologist (w/ Donald Woods), City Detective
(w/ Rod Cameron), Tightrope! (w/ Mike Connors), The Third Man (w/ Michael Rennie),Decoy (w/ Beverly Garland), Passport to Danger (w/ Cesar Romero), Lock-Up (w/
Macdonald Carey)　

For the Adventure genre, some titles that might be interesting include: Ivanhoe (w/
Roger Moore), Richard the Lionheart (w/ Dermot Walsh), Captain Midnight (w/ Richard
Webb), Rocky Jones Space Ranger (w/ Richard Crane), The Count of Monte Cristo (w/
George Dolenz), Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion (w/ Buster Crabbe). Adventures
in Paradise (w/ Gardner McKay), The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu (w/ Glen Gordon),
Circus Boy (w/Mickey Braddock), Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (w/ Judd
Holdren), Jungle Jim (w/ Johnny Weismuller), Flash Gordon (1954) (w/ Steve Holland)

For the Comedy genre, some titles that might be interesting include: It's About Time
(w Joe E. Ross), No Time for Sergeants (w/ Sammy Jackson), Dusty's Trail (w/ Bob
Denver), Broadside (w/ Kathleen Nolan), The Baileys of Balboa (w/ Paul Ford), Camp
Runamuck (w/ Arch Johnson), Love That Bob (w/ Robert Cummings). Blondie (1957) (w/
Pamela Britton), Amos 'n' Andy w/ Alvin Childress), Boots and Saddles (w/ John M.
Pickard), Meet Corliss Archer (w/ Ann Baker), My Hero (w/ Bob Cummings), Private
Secretary (w/ Ann Sothern), Topper (w/ Leo G. Carroll), Mister Terrific (w/ Stephen
Strimpell), Pistols 'n' Petticoats (w/ Ann Sheridan)

For the Western genre, some titles that might be interesting to see: Klondike (w/
Ralph Taeger), The Roy Rogers Show (w/ Roy Rogers), Buffalo Bill, Jr. (w/ Dickie
Jones), Johnny Ringo (w/ Don Durant), Lawman (w/ John Russell), Sheriff of Cochise
w/ John Bromfield)

 

[smithbrad]

as i have stated many times, making some money is better than no money.

In this instance, I would say that statement is more true for the small independents then the big studios. The focus of the small independents is on licensing and releases, and they have an overall lower overhead, so they can work off of smaller profit margins. However, for the big studios I think you have to take into account the higher overhead and higher profit margins being needed to green light a project.

I work for a mid-to-large consulting firm. There are projects that we won't even consider because the project is too small and the profit too low to accommodate our overhead and the effort to go after it. Why spend energy on a task only worth a few $100K when we could spend as much time trying to win work worth $5M+.

So while the smaller independents are primarily focused on trying to license and release older existing TV shows, the big studios are still generating new content in the form of movies and TV shows, as well as other ventures. I'd guess the release of older content on media is lower on the priority list. And lesser known shows even farther down the list, if even on a list. To further complicate things you have some studios not as interested in releasing older content, or charging too much in licensing fees to independents. Then you have the "tweener" shows where a studio won't license because they might want to release someday down the road.

My guess is that given the opportunity the small independents would happily release anything they can get their hands on at lower profit margins to make something. However, it is the big studios that have the majority of the content, and when it comes to lesser titles some just don't appear to have enough interest to be bothered, or it just isn't worth their effort unless the licensing fees are high (beyond what an independent could make back in sales). Especially, when the content is not readily accessible or the film elements still need to be transferred.

So in theory I'd say that statement is correct, but in practice within this industry i would say there are other factors involved that just make it difficult for some older/lesser titles to ever see the light of day in a release.

 

[Gary OS]

In this instance, I would say that statement is more true for the small independents then the big studios. The focus of the small independents is on licensing and releases, and they have an overall lower overhead, so they can work off of smaller profit margins. However, for the big studios I think you have to take into account the higher overhead and higher profit margins being needed to green light a project.

I work for a mid-to-large consulting firm. There are projects that we won't even consider because the project is too small and the profit too low to accommodate our overhead and the effort to go after it. Why spend energy on a task only worth a few $100K when we could spend as much time trying to win work worth $5M+.

So while the smaller independents are primarily focused on trying to license and release older existing TV shows, the big studios are still generating new content in the form of movies and TV shows, as well as other ventures. I'd guess the release of older content on media is lower on the priority list. And lesser known shows even farther down the list, if even on a list. To further complicate things you have some studios not as interested in releasing older content, or charging too much in licensing fees to independents. Then you have the "tweener" shows where a studio won't license because they might want to release someday down the road.

My guess is that given the opportunity the small independents would happily release anything they can get their hands on at lower profit margins to make something. However, it is the big studios that have the majority of the content, and when it comes to lesser titles some just don't appear to have enough interest to be bothered, or it just isn't worth their effort unless the licensing fees are high (beyond what an independent could make back in sales). Especially, when the content is not readily accessible or the film elements still need to be transferred.

So in theory I'd say that statement is correct, but in practice within this industry i would say there are other factors involved that just make it difficult for some older/lesser titles to ever see the light of day in a release.

Well stated, Brad. I concur. The harsh reality is that with the larger studios this is a business proposition, and if they believe they can't make a certain level of profit then it's a no go.

Maskedmala, I gave you a like for your use of this phrase - "in Glorious B&W."


Gary "it's a shame that as we move further along, time-wise, the chances of older material being released diminishes exponentially - but it is what it is" O.

 

[jimmyjet]

hi brad,

i tried real hard, but there was nothing that i disagreed with you on !!!!!

my ideas fit in perfectly right within your framework.

i have never meant to imply that the studio itself will put something out.

i think they will do whatever is more profitable to them.

so if that means continuing to dribble out shows to smaller guys, so be it.

and the tweener shows will either gravitate towards dribbling it out, or doing it themselves, as time goes on.