Ben Casey Fans (1 Viewer)

[Sky King]

Hi all,

For those of you who are interested,
a season 2, episode 1 of this series, starring Patty Duke, has been posted on Youtube.
Very complete episode of good visual quality, albeit a little over processed, which runs right to the AMA tag at the end.
Hopefully, more episodes will be posted until CBS restarts their MOD program, realizes the popularity of this series and pulls this from Youtube.
Enjoy.

John

 

[DeWilson]

Hi all,

For those of you who are interested,
a season 2, episode 1 of this series, starring Patty Duke, has been posted on Youtube.
Very complete episode of good visual quality, albeit a little over processed, which runs right to the AMA tag at the end.
More episodes are planned to be posted until CBS restarts their MOD program, realizes the popularity of this series and pulls this from Youtube.
Enjoy.

John

Not sure if we can talk about this here or not - rights issues and all that stuff.

 

[Sky King]

DeWilson,

I don't see any issues here.
First of all, I’m not the person posting these episodes on Youtube.
Second of all, many episodes of Ben Casey season 1 were posted on Youtube prior to their removal, shortly before the DVD set of season 1 was released by the CBS mod division. They proved to be very popular as indicated by the amount of views prior to their removal.
Finally, most here know of bootleg sets of this show being sold on eBay and Amazon and no removal notice was ever given by CBS.
My thread is just a heads up that another episode of this fine show is available to view. Its not a threat or ultimatum to CBS. Just hoping CBS wakes up and either continues releasing the remaining episodes themselves, or offer it to a company who can.

John

 

[The 1960's]

DeWilson,

Finally, most here know of bootleg sets of this show being sold on eBay and Amazon and no removal notice was ever given by CBS.

John

That bootleg hasn't been listed on Amazon nor have I seen it on eBay since around the time that the CBS MOD was first released. I regret having purchased it though the picture quality was better than the YouTube episode you reference.

 

[Sky King]

The 1960’s,

I saw one bootleg on Amazon just now and none... at the moment... on eBay.
Admittedly, the quality of the current Ben Casey upload isnt the best, but its complete. Also, beggars can't be choosers.

John

 

[The 1960's]

The 1960’s,

I saw one bootleg on Amazon just now and none... at the moment... on eBay.
Admittedly, the quality of the current Ben Casey upload isnt the best, but its complete. Also, beggars can't be choosers.

John

Isn't that strange John, I just don't see it anywhere on Amazon no matter how I search for it? Do you have it previously bookmarked? Sorry about that. Anyhow, it shouldn't be offered by Amazon or any legitimate website retailer for that matter. I love the show but I'm not yet at beggar status and so I choose not to watch.

 

[Sky King]

The 1960’s,

The bootleg DVD on Amazon was listed as vol. 3. It wasn't bookmarked.

See on Amazon

I will take what “legitimate” copies I can get until CBS gets their act together and either finishes this series or farms it out to someone who will. I’m not desperate enough to go the bootleg route though.

John

 

[The 1960's]

The 1960’s,

The bootleg DVD on Amazon was listed as vol. 3. It wasn't bookmarked.

See on Amazon

I will take what “legitimate” copies I can get until CBS gets their act together and either finishes this series or farms it out to someone who will. I’m not desperate enough to go the bootleg route though.

John

Ok thanks Sky King. Nice to see it is Currently unavailable! It is a rip-off both price-wise and quality-wise. But then the CBS MOD was no blockbuster either.

 

[Sky King]

The 1960’s

I agree that CBS/Para. could have used better prints for what they charged, but never the less, I was glad to finally have this show on DVD.

John

 

[LouA]

There are a number of us here who ‘d love to see Ben Casey completed along with the CBS MOD program resumed.
I’m on the side of better mediocre prints than no discs at all !

 

[Sky King]

Hi all,

Hope you got that Ben Casey episode I mentioned at the beginning of this post.
The account associated with this upload has been terminated.
Too bad, as this uploader had many great shows in his account besides Ben Casey.
At last count his Ben Casey upload had over 400 views in just two weeks.
There is a Ben Casey episode upload from another individual, which stars William Windom.
Wonder how long this one will last ??
Its been up for two months with 3.7k views.

John

 

[LouA]

So , no news on further DVD releases for Ben Casey?

 

[Sky King]

Lou,

I’ve heard nothing about future Ben Casey releases. According to Neil, more releases were planned until the CBS home video division was bought out by Paramount.
It looks as if our only hope for a release is though another distributor.
Too bad that there isn't more ambition to release the remaining episodes as the first DVD set was well received and sold pretty well despite the less than stellar prints that were used.

John

 

[The 1960's]

Stop your search for something different!!

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[LouA]

I’m always saddened and amazed that companies would rather allow popular properties to lie dormant instead of allowing another company to license and release them. Ben Casey , Beverley Hillbillies, Room 222, Make Room For Daddy, Bonanza, Marcus Welby, Mr. Novak, Defenders, Our Miss Brooks,and many others unfinished , and dozens of others never even started!
Having these shows “out there”!’ might increase people’s awareness of them.

 

[smithbrad]

I’m always saddened and amazed that companies would rather allow popular properties to lie dormant instead of allowing another company to license and release them. Ben Casey , Beverley Hillbillies, Room 222, Make Room For Daddy, Bonanza, Marcus Welby, Mr. Novak, Defenders, Our Miss Brooks,and many others unfinished , and dozens of others never even started!
Having these shows “out there”!’ might increase people’s awareness of them.

I don't think it is always a case of not allowing others to license. Some were licensed but failed to make money in their current condition and wouldn't sell enough to pay for the cost to create new pristine transfers. I believe Room 222, Marcus Welby, and Defenders (can add in Peyton Place) were all licensed to Shout! but failed to make enough money to continue releasing more seasons. Some apparently have music licensing issues (e.g., Mr. Novak). CBS likely won't license Bonanza, but it may not be completely dead yet on DVD. CBS appears to be less inclined to master older-less syndicated titles and the MOD program seems dead for them, but that may open the door to licensing at some point (e.g., Ben Casey). I just think there are a mix of issues with these types of titles that make releasing them more difficult all around.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

To slightly disagree with my good colleague Lou, I’m not sure I would go so far as to call these titles popular today. And I’m a guy who loved Our Miss Brooks so much that I went out and found a taped-off-TV copy to pick up where the CBS set left off. I don’t think all of the availability or awareness in the world is gonna move the sales needle on these in any significant way. The only thing that could happen, in my opinion, is that the studios decide it’s worth releasing what they have and accepting a smaller return on the effort. I think the better thing to hope for is that studios make a more realistic and honest appraisal of what’s possible and lower whatever the number is in their minds that make it a success.

To an extent, the Paramount side of CBS/Paramount seems to have done this when it comes to movies. They’re putting out stuff now that I had given up on and there’s no way they’re imagining they’re gonna make blockbuster money doing it. For whatever reason, they’re suddenly more accepting of lots of small releases rather than constantly swinging for home runs and calling it a game when those fail to connect. I can only hope the TV side can find a way towards the same conclusion.

 

[Sky King]

Hi all,

I was amused that the old “music rights issue” excuse was used for explaining the non release of Ben Casey. Yet several years later those “music rights“ had been somehow, magically cleared up...what a phoney excuse. How many other series are being held up using this lame excuse ?
Paramount ought to get their ass in gear and review their older properties. The audience for these older shows are slowly passing to the other side.

John

 

[smithbrad]

Hi all,

I was amused that the old “music rights issue” excuse was used for explaining the non release of Ben Casey. Yet several years later those “music rights“ had been somehow, magically cleared up...what a phoney excuse. How many other series are being held up using this lame excuse ?
Paramount ought to get their ass in gear and review their older properties. The audience for these older shows are slowly passing to the other side.

John

How do you know the music issue rights weren't just cleared? It does happen from time to time where they can make an agreement or will just purge/replace songs that can't be cleared. Like any cost associated to putting out a release (e.g., licensing, clearing rights, new transfers), if the return on investment can't justify the expense why should they do it? You call it a lame excuse, seems to me it is just smart business. Unfortunate, but just business.

 

[Sky King]

smithbrad,

Aside from the title and episodic music, there were no other no copyrighted performances on at least, the first season of Ben Casey.
The research I did, indicates that there were no issues with either title or episodic music from the composers or their heirs.
No music was edited out or replaced.
In this case it was just a lame excuse to cover the ineptness of the property holder...CBS/Paramount.
Other shows have had this music rights issue (Gomer Pyle, for instance), but Ben Casey didn't and I’m sure this lame excuse applies to other shows as well.

John