Your Top 3 Vintage (pre-'70s) series not yet released (1 Viewer)

There are so many wonderful series that I'd still like to see released onto DVD. Paramount is making some great headway with their vintage stuff - and for the sake of this thread I'm limiting it to pre-70's material - but all the other studios are painfully behind. And that's so unfortunate because there's a gold mine of classic television that's waiting to be explored. I could rattle off dozens of series I'd purchase if they were released (probably a 100 or more), but I'd be interested in people's top 3 picks that have yet to see a release. My first 2 picks are set in stone at this point and wouldn't change. My third choice could probably fluctuate wildly on any given day, as there are about 10 shows that could be placed in my #3 slot. But here goes:

1) FATHER KNOWS BEST. I'm so discouraged that Sony owns this series because they seem to be the least dedicated to releasing anything that is in b&w, and I really have no hope of them ever releasing this series. I'm deeply despondent about this.

2) ROUTE 66. This is such a classic series and it's hard for me to believe that it wouldn't be released at some point. I don't know why, but I think it has a much better shot at being released than many of my other favorites, even though I believe it too is owned by Sony.

3) MY THREE SONS. As I said, this choice could fluctuate quickly as there are a ton of other shows I also want to see. But as of this moment I'm listing this long-running classic as my third pick. MacMurray has always been a favorite actor of mine, and it's been years since I've seen the earlier black & white episodes. I thought Paramount owned this one, but I'm not at all sure.

Gary "Donna Reed, Dennis the Menace, Patty Duke, a ton of westerns and detective series - so many yet to be released" O.

Well,I only have 2musts, Dennis the menace and Donna Reed.

Heaven knows I've talked about this 'til I'm blue in the face (right now I'm eggplant purple!) but here goes:

Of course my #1 'most wanted' vintage series is the 1966-68 Batman, but everyone want that too, and it's in litigation hell between FOX and Warner Bros. over the use of the chatacters and other issues.

Other than that:

Peyton Place- I have an entire thread in this forum on my trying to get this TV classic on DVD

He & She- a great 1967-68 sitcom that was way ahead of its time. I call it Mad About You '67 as it is a true ancestor to that 90's hit. Here's another young married pair in Manhattan taking on the world with their wacky friends and neighbors. Real-life marrieds Richard Benjamin & Paula Prentiss play Dick & Paula Hollister, whose apartment is seemingly always open to everyone, especially the firemen who live next door in an FDNY firehouse! The same production company that gave us Get Smart also gave us this hilarious gem with a beautiful pedigree: one of the principal writers is the legendary Allan Burns, who later wrote for Mary Tyler Moore, Rhoda and even the dramaticLou Grant. Jay sandrich, one of the best sitcom directors ever, also worked on this show. I believe Paramount owns this, so there's a chance!

Gary, other than my top choice, there are way too many for me to limit it to three, so I'll try to categorize . . . .

1. Route 66. One of the great dramas of television; hard for me to imagine that the people at Sony don't even know what a classic they have on their hands. Maybe, just maybe if "The Fugitive" does well, Sony will wake up and give us a release of this.

2. The Ziv Catalog. Ziv Television certainly knew how to make an entertaining half-hour television series; I hold some hope that someday either "Sea Hunt" and/or "Highway Patrol" will get some sort of legitimate release. I don't believe that we'll see much more than that, however, so thank goodness for the PD labels like Alpha, where I can see "Lock Up" and "Meet Corliss Archer," among a few others.

3. More Westerns. There are plenty of high quality Westerns still waiting for release and everyone will have their favorites, but I'd like to see "Laramie," "Wagon Train," "The Virginian" and the two classic modern day Westerns of the early 1960s, "Stoney Burke" and "The Wide Country."

For "honorable mention," gotta go with the private detective series of the late 1950s/early 1960s, a genre that's severely under represented on DVD, save "Peter Gunn" and some limited PD releases (the new Mill Creek set will help a little with "Checkmate," "Richard Diamond," and "Michael Shayne," among a few others.)

Great thread, Gary--but then you couldn't suspect my bias.

Now that the "The Fugitive" is set for release and going under the assumption that "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "The Invaders" are on the fast track (am I being a bit too optimistic? Hope not):

1. ROUTE 66 - Undeniably one of the classics where writing, directing and acting are concerned. Herbert B. Leonard showed his mettle as producer with "Naked City" and in R66 he, along with the very capable writing talents of Stirling Silliphant, developed a superb series showcasing America as it was in the early 60s. Just the dialogue alone would make a worthy soundtrack recording--even without Nelson Riddle's music!

2. THE REBEL - Series ran for 2 seasons with 78 episodes in 1959-61. Nick Adams was a highly underrated talent in my book who helped conceived this western about a disillusioned post Civil War veteren. He put his heart and soul into a role that mirrored his own angst driven James Dean-like persona.

3. THE LONER - 1966 one season (26 ep.) western with the same premise as TR basically, only this time featuring Lloyd Bridges as a Union army veteran. Conceived by Rod Serling just after the pinnacle of his creativity who penned approximately 10 episodes. Often regarded as the most incisive, thought-provoking tv western ever produced.

Honorable mention to the others in my signature line, particularly "T.H.E. Cat", "The Green Hornet", "The Defenders" and "Sea Hunt".

Oh, the choices are incredibly difficult for me to, Bob. Although I'd love to see season sets of shows that Alpha, CC, Mill Creek, and other companies have released in smaller volumes, I purposely didn't even take them into account because at least there's something out there, even if it's limited to 4 random episodes in one volume.

It's just that between the recent announcement for THE FUGITIVE and this week's chat with Warners, I got to thinking about all the great shows that seem dead in the water at this point. I would have never thought we'd see this much apparent apathy or aversion to older, black & white television shows. But no one is going to convince me that there isn't an unnamed cut-off point with most of these studio execs that generally (I realize this isn't a hard and fast rule) begins and ends in the mid-60's with the advent of color shows. It's there and it's obvious. And worst of all, it's a real shame.

Gary "I agree that somehow ROUTE 66 will make it's way onto dvd, but I'm not confident about the others at all" O.

Only if Sony were to licence this one out to someone like Image Entertainment, as they did with 60 episodes (of 138) for "Naked City". As you stated, their aversion to B&W is legion, especially where drama is concerned.

And then there is a certain 44 year B&W series that on the Amazon sales ranking is currently edging out Lost S2, The Closer S2, Will and Grace S6 and NCIS S3--now that's exciting!

Yeah, that's my thoughts. Image hasn't released anything vintage in a while now, so perhaps this series would be a great place to pick up again. Between Image and BCI you'd think someone would jump at the chance to license this show out.

And yea, the FUGITIVE is kicking butt at this point. I really hope its sales are huge, as I believe it will help to get some of these other series going.

Gary "the only thing I'm mildly disappointed in with Paramount is the half-season stuff - that needs to stop" O.

1) Mannix (started in the late 60's)
2) Batman
3) 12 O'Clock High

There's more that I'd probably buy if available. I didn't mention the Invaders or UNCLE since it looks like they're on the way. I'm not the expert that you guys are regarding the 60's series I'm waiting for several 70's series though. I don't remember Route 66 but I'd buy that one on a blind-buy to check it out. My 60's list is small at present since I've been fortunate to have seen some 60's series released that I'd never have guessed would have made DVD releases: Combat! (Thanks, Image!!), Time Tunnel, Addams Family, Bewitched, I Dream Of Jeannie, Big Valley (I hope finishes), Flipper (S1 out....fantastic xfrs!!), Get Smart (made history with complete series release), Dick Van Dyke Show (Another Thanks to Image!), Hogan's Heroes (last season coming soon), Honey West (R2) (Thanks, Mike KS!), Jonny Quest, Mission: Impossible/in progress, Perry Mason/same, Rat Patrol/same, Rawhide/same, Rifleman (yeah, they're not complete season sets, but not bad), Saint complete set (R2) (Thanks, Mike KS for the tip!), Twilight Zone Def Version (Image rocks!), Untouchables/in prog, Voyage...Sea/same, Wanted, Dead or Alive/same, WW West. I've been VERY fortunate after taking a tally count.

There's a lot of buys in my collection that I wouldn't have bought if not for the HTF'ers here How about an HTF gathering some day in a decided-upon location? Imagine meeting up with this gang Talk about a vast knowledge base on TV/DVD, particularly pre-70's series!! You guys IMO Of course, we'd have a "Gord/Dave" Roast to honor TSoD

My three are fairly simple:

1. Batman (1966) - At least we know *why* this series hasn't been released yet - The dreaded "Legal Entanglements"!!

2. Maverick - With all the combined star power of James Garner and Roger Moore I am absolutely dumbfounded as to why we don't have season sets of this series available on DVD. I purchased the three episode "sampler" that was put out about 2 years ago and viewing that disc reaffirmed to me that this "shoot from the quip" western really holds up. And yet in the recent Warners "chat" it was stated that a series release of this title is "being looked into"?! Warners better hurry before all the "boomers" that fondly recall this series start to die off!!

3. Route 66 - For the reasons already mentioned above. (They could even stick a complimentary comb into the Season 1 box!)

I have never seen the 50s Dragnet, but i was always a fan of the 60s version. I own the first season of the 60s...such as it is. I would gladly get more. Not a fan of PD releases, they mostly suck, so i never bought any of the PD Dragnet. I am hard pressed to think of another show you guys have not mentioned that is not already out, or coming out.

1 mannix
2 maverick in season sets
3 12'o clock high

1. West point Story

2. Sea Hunt

3. Twelve O'Clock High



DG

I'm there, Jeff. And since we're both practically neighbors, Texas seems like the logical place to me.

What great taste all you guys have.!

All the series mentioned are worthy of release & just the mention of some of them invokes my boyhood memories.

Impossible to restrict myself to just three really but I will add my voice to the calls for 'Route 66' , 'Maverick; & 'Laramie'.

Surprised that nobody, as far as I am aware, brought up further releases of 'Cheyenne' in the WB chat.They really are the most exasperating studio when it comes to their vintage catalogue.They spent a lot of time hounding pirates off EBay to protect their copyright, which they are perfectly entitled to do,but then leave the shows rotting in their vaults.

Anyway, a few other older shows which never get a mention & will certainly never appear on DVD - 'Soldiers of Fortune' (John Russell before 'Lawman'.)
'Cannonball' 'Tales of Wells Fargo' 'Iron Horse' 'Hondo' 'Custer' 'Gunslinger'
'San Francisco Beat' 'I'm Dickens. He's Fenster','OSS' 'The Texan'.I could go on for several paragraphs. Curious that none of these have ever appeared on PD releases.

1. Mannix
2. Maverick
3. Cannon (Not sure if it was later though sorry)

The Patty Duke Show
Batman
My Three Sons

Started in 1971. Judges...? Judges say OK to include in this thread.

I'm 38 years old, and nearly all the TV series collections I want on R1 DVD are pre-1970 (both series that haven't debuted on the format yet, and series that haven't been released in their entirety). As it stands, I own a pretty extensive array of vintage TV programming on DVD (just click on my signature link, and go to "TV Series").

Many of the shows I like have been favorites since watching them in reruns on local TV during childhood (THE WILD WILD WEST, LOST IN SPACE, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, DRAGNET, THE OUTER LIMITS, BATMAN). Some are shows I only got a chance to see as a young adult, but took to them immediately (RAWHIDE, MAVERICK, ROUTE 66, THE FUGITIVE). Others are shows I caught bits of as a kid/teenager, didn't care for them much then, but I'm "ready" for them now (THE UNTOUCHABLES, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE) --and I'm loving 'em! And the shows I still haven't seen, the descriptions (or brief clips) of which are enough to make me want to "blind buy" them if they ever were made legitimately available on the format, are from the 1950s-1960s (WAY OUT, BUS STOP, T.H.E. CAT, SHOTGUN SLADE, etc).

Right now, my Top 3 "most-wanted" series that aren't represented on the DVD format in R1, are all owned by Universal:

1. (BORIS KARLOFF'S) THRILLER (1960-62)
2. M SQUAD (1957-60, starring Lee Marvin)
3. (ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S) SUSPICION (1957-58)

My Top 3 "must be continued" series on R1 DVD:

1. MAVERICK (1957-62) --Season Sets!!!
2. DRAGNET (1966-70) --Season 2+
3. LEAVE IT TO BEAVER (1957-63) --Season 3+