Another big run series is reportedly on the way (1 Viewer)

[Ron1973]

Could it be Peyton Place? I've never watched the show but it did have a long run and apparently hasn't had substantial representation on DVD.

 

[ljgranberry]

Please let it be THE DEFENDERS!

 

[Jack P]

It's not Peyton Place because the hint clearly implies no DVD release before and two major releases by Shout of 64 episodes is hardly inconsequential (except of course to fans of the show, I realize, but it's still substantive).

If it's Defenders, then my bank account will be happy.

 

[jperez]

I guess it could also be Ben Casey, now that Dr.Kildare is being released.

 

[Gary OS]

I was just telling someone earlier today that I highly doubted this "mystery" series would end up being something I'd have much interest in, but if it is Death Valley Days or Ben Casey I'll have to take that comment back. If it's The Defenders I'll have the same response Jack did. But at only 4 seasons and about 130 episodes, I can't imagine that qualifies as "massive".


Gary "still awaiting clarification from the OP on some of this" O.

 

[Professor Echo]

Oh please don't let this thread deteriorate into a debate about the merits or lack of same thereof for THE DEFENDERS or any other show like it. Okay, we get it, issue driven series are not popular with some members. Give it a rest. It hardly qualifies as "massive" anyway, so I think that one can be safely eliminated.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Adam West Batman?

 

[LeoA]

You must of missed the news a few weeks ago, Moe.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Batman-DVDs-Planned/19353

Plus at three seasons, I wouldn't call it massive even without that news. 80 episodes would be 2/3's of its run where as with this rumor, it sounds like just the beginning.

And I think it was clear that Batman would come out someday. It was just a matter of the stars lining up just right and a bit of patience. This on the other hand is being portrayed as something that the realist out there never expected to see the light of the day.

 

[Kasey]

Even though we already have the two volumes from Shout, the recent explosion of Fox product coming from them makes me think it just may be Peyton Place at 500+ episodes. Perhaps we are taking "long unavailable in any form" too literally.

 

[jimmyjet]

completely forgot about dvd. i watched it as a kid, but dont recall a thing about it.

perhaps some memories would return upon watching it ?

i would be willing to put my foot in my mouth on both dvd and lassie as far as coming out at some point in time.

i never liked soaps to any degree, so i dont think i ever saw pp. i know for a fact, that me and my younger sister were not allowed to watch, while my 2 older sisters could.

but i was not all that interested. when i was old enough to watch, i still did not have the interest.

however, i dont feel at all certain that pp will ever come out, if we are talking about a lot of money to put it out. i say this because i think soap operas are more of a current-only thing.

they may always be popular, but will remain popular only within the group who saw it originally. and i dont necessarily see someone who watched it while they were 20 would find it even remotely interesting today when they are 60 or so. just my 2 cents.

 

[DeWilson]

Knowing Neil when he says Massive and Long Unavailable in any form, you can take his word on both.

Since he noted it was not Ozzie and Harriett, we can take it it's a series of similar size. A lot of these shows mentioned on this thread has aired on cable,limited releases on VHS,or in the case of the WB Shows on Instant Download. Not to mention many of these series are far from Massive. (The Defenders has 132 shows, Our Miss Brooks in 130, Most of the Unreleased Ziv Shows only run 80-120 episodes)Even allowing for the longer episode counts per season, a show with 239 episodes (6 seasons,39 episodes each) is hardly massive when it comes to any pre-1966 series.

So unless someone can come up with a better series that fits ALL the criteria, DEATH VALLEY DAYS is a good guess - plus,Westerns always do well on DVD. (Which might tell us WHICH company known for their western TV releases might be putting this out)

 

[jimmyjet]

okay, dvd seems to be running as number 1. lassie seems to be a fairly close second place.

anyone else want to submit a contender ?

you may only have a few days left before the race is over, and neil finds out what it is !!!!

 

[MattPriceTime]

I've wondered before if things like soaps or others with extremely long runs if the better answer would be more a MOD program over traditional season sets. Where say you could buy a dvd from them you can fill with "X" amount of episodes at a basic price. Where if someone was a nut to want the whole thing they could slowly pay an arm and leg for them, or if you only wanted certain episodes or to follow say a certain actor or storyline you could get a collection of it. This would also save them from pressing millions of sets that i'm not sure even a lot of the fans might care enough to pay for whole runs or seasons at a pop. Since i mean how many even BIG COLLECTORS would want all the episodes that could take you like a year to get through or such?

Although the the amount of people who seem to have narrowing tastes with age, i personally still credit that as a wide-spread personal problem than something "normal" since i see it more often online than i ever do in real life circles.

However this puzzle would probably be a lot more to study if we have an insight on whom the parties involved might be, since some situations for shows are a lot better than others in terms of probabilities.

 

[Steve...O]

Some good guesses in this fun thread.

My guess is that this is an anthology series of some kind as those tended to disappear after their initial run. A variety series would be a clearance nightmare.

Death Valley Days is a good guess - I throw "General Electric Theater" out there. Supposedly GE/NBC found the entire run a few years back on and presented to the Reagan library.

It will be interesting to see what this ends up being. Someone must be willing to take a chance on it having a market in 2014 if they're willing to prep potentially hundreds of episodes into digital format either for syndication to the likes of ME-TV or home video.

If I had my dream wish of what this would be: the first 10 years of the Carson Tonight Show

 

[LeoA]

Not a Western fan so I hope it is GE Theater.

 

[Professor Echo]

DEATH VALLEY DAYS is an excellent guess, but a full scale restoration and remastering for a series that really won't sell very well when all is said and done? I would love to see it, but I can't imagine how marketable someone would think a complete series on this would be, even with the very healthy western fan demographic out there. It's rather a forgotten series that hasn't been seen in decades. However, if this is one last blast from the previous owner of TIMELESS and/or it's headed for Encore Westerns, I could understand it. In any case, I would love to see it or at least sample it as I've only seen a handful of episodes in my lifetime.

 

[JohnMor]

"The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite." Can't wait to revisit it!!

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

How about "Bachelor Father, The Complete Series", a 157-episode collection of the series' run of five seasons, but music clearance issues would have to be resolved concerning those songs Jimmy Boyd sung on the show in the role of Howard Meechum. I'd say about 37 episodes are not in the syndication package on Antenna TV for now. Maybe one last blast from that far back for Shout! Factory on this series.

 

[jimmyjet]

bachelor father is another show that i put my foot in my mouth - it will be out sometime.

 

[smithbrad]

DEATH VALLEY DAYS is an excellent guess, but a full scale restoration and remastering for a series that really won't sell very well when all is said and done? I would love to see it, but I can't imagine how marketable someone would think a complete series on this would be, even with the very healthy western fan demographic out there. It's rather a forgotten series that hasn't been seen in decades.However, if this is one last blast from the previous owner of TIMELESS and/or it's headed for Encore Westerns, I could understand it. In any case, I would love to see it or at least sample it as I've only seen a handful of episodes in my lifetime.

Good points Glen. As has been stated directly by Neil "Massive and Long Unavailable in any form". But the other part of the clue was also 80 episodes already remastered, which most likely accounts for 2+ seasons already prepared. Who would chance that without knowing they at least had a sure thing in future syndication. For any title that could be hit or miss it would be more logical to do a season to test the market first.

The more massive the project the higher the risk and the higher the budget required. I think that leaves out licensing deals and lends itself to a title with better than average name recognition and an owner with deep pockets.