Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (2 Viewers)

Is anyone watching this show? I bought it blind based on a news story written by Dave Lambert on http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/. I have to say that I am really liking this show from the very earliest of days of television. The fact that was filmed in color just adds to the enjoyment. It is good solid family entertainment, that pretty much any classic television enthusiast would enjoy.

I bought the set as a blind buy as well, and received it last week from DDD. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to sit down and watch it yet. But I am looking forward to carving out some time in the next week or so to view this series, and am quite sure I'll find it to my liking.

Gary "I enjoy most anything from that era of tv anyhow, so this wasn't too big a gamble for me" O.

I picked it up and the quality looks great. Nice to see a show of this vintage being released in pristine form.

Glad to hear the prints look good. I've been on the verge of ordering this for several weeks now. But, January has been so jam-packed with sets that interest me, I just haven't yet bit the bullet. Haven't seen the series in a long while, and when it did pop up, the prints used to look pretty bad, with blurry color and such.

I did hear that star Richard Simmons died a year or two ago. I recall that he was going to appear at a little convention in Dallas I attended a few years back, but he bowed out due to health reasons. Always sorry I didn't get a chance to see him. He was really perfect for that role.

TVShowsonDVD.com reports that season 2 is to be released on July 12th and it's being released at a bargain price through DeepDiscountDVD.com for just a little over $15 shipped . . .

http://tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5517

I can never quite figure out DDD and their pricing fluctuations. Now S2 (release date 7/12) is set at $24.98 and S1 has been reduced all the way down to $20.97. I should have placed my order for S2 when it was $15 when I had the chance. And I probably should pick up S1 before they change their minds and put it back up to, what was it...$35 or thereabouts? This would be a blind buy for me and had initially intended to buy the ridiculously low priced S2 set first but now I may go ahead and order S1. What exactly is the look and feel of this show? Is it low budget and kid oriented like maybe "Rin Tin Tin"? I know very little about the series myself.

michael_ks: I was the Bob, who originally sent in the note about the release of Preston to tvshowsondvd.com back in Dec.'05. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and wanted to spread the news to hopefully help ensure the release of all the episodes.
To address your questions: The look of the show? The outdoor color photography is beautiful.(Filmed in Colorado and Northern Ca.,I think). The interior sets are nicely done also.
The feel of the show? The show has great theme music, a smart, fair-minded hero, who gives everybody an even break, even the badguys sometimes,and a love for nature and animals. The show has heart.
Low budget? I would not call it that, although in the winter episodes there appear to be only about five buildings on the interior exterior stage. But spotting that kind of stuff is fun and gives the show a theatrical feel.
Kid oriented? I guess so, but the show is well written and well played by a lot of familiar B-movie and early TV actors. Some of the stories are based on scripts used on the Preston radio show, which was called 'Challenge of the Yukon".

Bob,

Thanks for responding. Based on your comments and some of the others in this thread I've decided to get the first season set. It's a bargain at $20.97 I suppose considering the consensus is that the prints are excellent and that it's wholesome family entertainment from TV's golden age. I have the first two seasons of "Adventures of Superman" so I'm sure I'll find this to my liking.

michael,
I hope you enjoy Sgt. Preston. By the way, there is a connection between, Sgt Preston and The Adventures of Superman. The sound effect used for Superman flying is also used in Sgt. Preston to represent the cold Yukon winds in the winter episodes.

I just received season 2 of "Sergeant Preston" last evening (having bypassed season 1). The first episode was nothing short of stunning (for an early color television show from 1955) . . . absolutely beautiful outdoor photography. There were some problems with the second episode . . . some color shifting but, compared to some other unrestored episodes with faded color released on DVD which I have (also released by Critics Choice prior to these authorized season releases), these versions look great. The outer slipcase holding the four slimline DVD cases is a bit flimsy but, so far, this is turning out to be a surprisingly good release. The back of the slipcase promises season 3. With this release, "Dangerous Assignment," and the "Hopalong Cassidy" TV show, all authorized releases, Critics Choice is starting to carve out a nice little niche as a dependable supplier of 1950s TV-on-DVD shows. I hope they'll offer more in the future.

I too just received my second season set of Sergeant Preston, and I know that it will help cool me off during the heat wave that is this summer. I agree with Bob that Critics Choice did a splendid job with this series, and I eagerly await their future releases.

Add me to the list. I got the 2nd-season set in the mail yesterday, and I've zipped through the first three episodes. It's a pleasant, if rather leisurely-paced series, reminiscent of "Lone Ranger" type fare. I do tend to enjoy such things, though. An old-fashioned, stalwart hero, righting wrongs amidst a particularly attractive backdrop. The scenery does indeed stand out, and adds a LOT to the show. The print quality really is excellent, although it does vary a bit from episode to episode, as if some episodes were newly struck from negatives, while a few others had to resort to older, but generally nice film prints. Considering how drab and murky the color prints used to look when I saw the series on tv in the 70s, these look almost phenomenal.

I also hope to see Critics Choice delve into more 1950s-vintage sets, as they've done with "Preston," "Hopalong," and "Dangerous Assignment." The latter remains one of my favorite sets in my collection, despite the series' datedness. Since a lot of 1950s series were independent productions (as opposed to big-studio offerings), you'd think there might be some more oddities floating around out there for CC to make deals with. That is, IF such owners still even retain prints of such belongings. I hate to think how dispersed and semi-lost some old series might actually be.

Awaiting my S2 set but delighted to hear quality is maintained, Critics Chouce also put out the Hopalong Cassidy set which,though in black & white, is also superb quality. Some of their other releases have been pretty grim though.

Once Season 3 of SGT PRESTON is out, it would be great if Critic'c Choice and Classic Media could release THE LONE RANGER season sets or at least the 39 color episodes with the full opening.

Some of the S2 Preston episodes have Quaker Oats products behind the closing credits. DVD producers should approach the sponsers of old shows to help finance the restoration process in exchange for leaving the original product placements on the credits. The sponsers might even have uncut prints of the shows in their archives.

Sergeant Preston Trivia: In the S1 episode "The Cache" and S2's "Blind Justice" did you notice the badguys are wearing Robert Mitchum's red overcoat from, "Track Of The Cat"?

deepdiscountdvd.com has SERGEANT PRESTON Season Three listed, showing a Feb.27,2007 release date and priced at $30.23.

This is the last season of Preston, originally broadcast by CBS in 1957-58.
Sgt Preston has been my favorite classic release of the year and it's great that all three seasons will have been released in just about 16 months.

Although filmed in color Preston was shown on CBS in black and white. It was rerun on Saturdays on NBC in 1964. Anybody remember if the NBC broadcasts were in color? (My family didn't get a color TV until 1971.)

This was really a beautifully photographed show. The scenery, the sets, the colorful clothes. Some real thought went into this production. It's great fun to see and collect a show I never dreamed of ever seeing again, but fondly remembered.

Thanks for the info Bob, this is good news.

For some reason news of CC releases are seldom mentioned by tvshowsondvd in their news section.

Interesting that that of all the old classic shows I have been collecting only Preston & Combat have completed their runs.Both of course put out by independents.

Critics Choice did a good job on Preston, 'Hopalong Cassidy' 'Dangerous Assignment' & hopefully the delayed Jim Bowie.Maybe they could pick up 'Wyatt Earp' which was also a Desilu production with the same production team as Bowie. It would be really great if they obtain the rights to release some old ZIV tv shows such as 'Sea Hunt' 'Highway Patrol' etc.

silverking, I just sent an e-mail about Sgt Preston S 3 to tvshowsondvd.com. It's up to us fans to help on these under the radar releases.

Since Wyatt Earp was released by Rhino and Rhino released 4 Preston color episodes on VHS, there is a precedent, for Critic's Choice to pick up Earp. But Rhino probably still has the rights. I think Earp is owned by the Danny Thomas estate and since we have heard that The Real McCoys (also owned by Thomas) is in the works with CC, an eventual Earp release with CC might happen down the trail. Wishful thinking, I suppose.

Sea Hunt and Highway Patrol are the Holy Grail of 1950's syndicated TV.

They don't issue press releases for their titles, so we don't find out about them until a user tells us. They also release titles that aren't super popular (sorry), so there isn't much discussion about them. We miss lots of these exclusives because the information is hard to come by. Even the retailer has basic information on their site for this title - no artwork, episode information, disc count, total running time...

Gord

Gord, thanks for getting the Sgt Preston info up, at your site so fast. I have e-mailed you about the episode count for S3,which should be 22, with the titles of the four missing episodes. Hopefully the four are not actually missing their prints.

I think when George Trendle and Quaker Oats first produced Preston it was as two 39 episode seasons. It may have already been 'in the can' when CBS picked it up and spread it out over three seasons. S1-33 episodes, S2-23episodes, and S3-22 episodes for the 78 episode total. I base my speculation on the presence of Guy Williams in a third season episode. Williams would have been very busy doing Zorro at this time. So I think Preston may have finished production in 1956.

"ON King, ON you Husky!"