The original pilot episode and the entire second season of Twin Peaks, for example, has been available in some overseas markets but have yet to surface in an official R1 capacity.
Cartoons in the UK not in the US (Some may be from elsewhere and I didn't know): Complete Dungeons & Dragons Complete Visionairies Cool McCool (1 Disc of a handful of shorts) Beetle Bailey (1 disc of a handful of shorts not in the US) Rainbow Brite (multiple releases) either Wuzzles or Popples (didn't buy) VRTroopers( various discs, not a cartoon) Laurel & Hardy animated cartoons, 1 disc with a few shorts
In most cases, syndication deals are to blame. Shows are held up because a home video release cannot be made available until the syndication deal(s) have expired.
Also with current shows, they tend use the DVD release to promote the new season so they hold the DVDs back until shortly before the new season begins. For example, 24: Season Four DVD will be out around December and Season Five starts airing in January.
The first three seasons of Bewitched are on dvd in Japan. Soon to be four. While the US only has released first season. The Bionic Woman also has a collection of episodes on dvd in United Kingdom, I believe.
Yep, they do, but they're a limited # of eps and they're not in chronological order on the disks. I passed on them for those reasons even though this is the #1 series that I'm wanting out on R1 DVD. According to Bill Hunt at the "'Bits" site (Digital Bits), the bionic series are coming in spite of the assumed legal/rights issues that we suspect are the main reason for the delays in releasing both series. Bill thinks late this year or early '06 for these 2 series on R1 DVD. Sure hope he's right