I hadn't seen "The Big Valley" in, literally, decades and was really on the ropes about buying season 1. But, thanks to a great price ($20) from Wal-Mart, I bought the show and was glad that I did and I'd certainly support a season 2 release. Although it didn't have any extras, season 1 was a solid release from Fox . . . uncut episodes and good, clean transfers. My only disappointment was the lack of commentaries and/or interviews from the three surviving stars: Peter Breck, Linda Evans, and Lee Majors. That would have been the frosting on the cake.
Yea... I was surprised there were no Audio commentaries or reflections on the show... but like you I was very impressed with the quality of the episodes.
I was on the fence on this one as well, until Wal-Mart made the decision to buy easily enough. I would at least purchase season 2 at the $20 price as it is consistently well written western with good production values. If nothing else, by adding it to my collection I can prove to others that I've got tv-dvd in color.
I loved the glittering parade of 60s guest stars: Charles Bronson, William Shatner, Katherine Ross, Bruce Dern (playing two differen roles in 2 different episodes). That was a nice surprise. But sheesh...I thought it was a totally no-frills release. No extras at all. Bummerama. I'd LOVE to hear Linda, Lee and Peter do about a dozen commentaries! Come on, CBS--get to work on season two.
Anyone here seen any Mfg defects with this set? I discovered one at the last "chapter" of Disc 1 ("Young Marauders"). The usual "artifacts, pixtels" thing at the end of the ep. As usual, Amazon came through with an A+ for Cust Svc, sending me a replacement set that was purchased outside the 30-day window with a postage-paid return form included ).
It's amazing watching these eps on awesome clarity uncut after the years of syndication broadcasts. BV has always been my favorite Western.
My set had TSDS: "Two-sided disc syndrome." One of the episodes, I think the Katherine Ross episode, did jam up a little bit. I looked at the disc afterward; it did have small scratches. I didn't bother to take it back to Target just for that, but I was p.o.'ed.
I was watching "The Brawlers" last night and noticed that the episode title did not come up at the beginning--did not appear to be a disc issue though.
Several of the early episodes in S1 do not have the episode title at least in the various versions I have seen. They do have the producers credits though.
I think this may be a bit of good news for season 2 of "The Big Valley." I picked up set 1 of "The Addams Family" yesterday and there was an insert showing a number of Fox's classic TV releases, including "The Big Valley." Several of the releases had an asterisk indicating that additional seasons or volumes were coming; "The Big Valley" was one of those listed with an asterisk. Unfortunately, there was no release date indicated.
That same insert was in the VOYAGE set that I got yesterday and I noticed the same thing about BIG VALLEY. Hopefully that's a great sign that Season 2 is just around the corner.
Gary "of all the dvd series I own, I believe this release was the one that I was the most pleasantly surprised by - I knew I had enjoyed it years ago, but I had no idea how much I'd love watching it now" O.
BV is my all-time favorite "Western" although it's unlike the usaual Westerns of the 50's/60's. Good news! I was a little concerned that this one might fall into the "Black Hole" of "1 & done's" so this is good to hear. Thanks for the post about the insert info from the Addams Family.
Jeff "I knew Gary O would like this series on DVD" W.
"It's clear the first season didn't sell well." I saw it for $19.99 at WalMart, and at that price, it was irresistible. Breaking Season 2 into two pieces makes things worse, not better.
Breaking Season 2 into two parts, is not anything new or dire, Fox did it with LOST IN SPACE too. LIS Season 1 was complete and S2 and S3 were in two sets each. It makes the retailers happy because the Big Valley fans will visit their stores six more times. They might buy something else too. BIG VALLEY is selling great according to the amazon.com DVD rankings.
Well, Gord Lacey or someone over on TVShowsonDVD said what I repeated here -- "It's clear the first season didn't sell well." We need a definitive answer to that, and not just guessing or Amazon sales.
Yup....that's what I said - season 1 didn't sell well, but Fox is giving it another go, with half-seasons. Hopefully that allows them to continue releasing the series, though if the fans give up out of protest for half-seasons then it'll be dead on DVD.