Best of Route 66 (1 Viewer)

[Bob Hug]

DeepDiscount has now repriced this set down to $18.29 . . . . . time to get those preorders in . . . . .
http://www.deepdiscount.com/viewprod...uctId=20727046

 

[docdoowop]

DeepDiscount has now repriced this set down to $18.29 . . . . . time to get those preorders in . . . . .
http://www.deepdiscount.com/viewprod...uctId=20727046

Done! Thanks Bob.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Done! Thanks Bob.

That's 's up for that tip, Bob. I was thinking of waiting for the next DDD sale but at that price, I have to pull the trigger on this one early. I was about to ask you, when I saw that price drop, if I had the correct "Route 66" selection at DDD. That's a big price difference vs Amazon's.

 

[Bob Hug]

I was about to ask you, when I saw that price drop, if I had the correct "Route 66" selection at DDD. That's a big price difference vs Amazon's.

Jeff, they're two different releases. What you see at Amazon is available now and is a 2-disc, 11-episode "Best of" set drawn from all four seasons of the show. The set at Deep Discount (and Critics Choice) is season 1, volume 1 with, presumably, 15 episodes since there were 30 episodes in the first season. This second set won't be available until October 23rd. My "theory" on the "Best of" set being sold at Amazon is that it may have been a small scale test to gauge interest in the series for a potential season-by-season rollout. To the best of my knowledge, the "Best of" set is only being sold at Amazon.

 

[michael_ks]

Just placed my pre-order with DD--thanks Bob! Now if only the "Rawhide", "Big Valley, "Fugitive" and "Untouchables" half season sets were to be similarly priced...

I hope this set gains alot of exposure and is decently marketed. If so, the many "Route 66" fans should be ecstatic about this release in view of price point and print quality, strongly ensuring that all 8 half season sets see a release. It's odd that the "best of" set seems to be only available at Amazon and yet the S1 release has yet to appear there. But the set should be showing up there any day now and I will be most curious over the sales figures for "Route 66" in light of the enthusiasm for the initial teaser set both at Amazon and tvparty.com.

The announcement should be appearing over at tvshowsondvd.com soon, I suppose. Gord?

 

[Jeff Willis]

Jeff, they're two different releases. What you see at Amazon is available now and is a 2-disc, 11-episode "Best of" set drawn from all four seasons of the show. The set at Deep Discount (and Critics Choice) is season 1, volume 1 with, presumably, 15 episodes since there were 30 episodes in the first season. This second set won't be available until October 23rd. My "theory" on the "Best of" set being sold at Amazon is that it may have been a small scale test to gauge interest in the series for a potential season-by-season rollout. To the best of my knowledge, the "Best of" set is only being sold at Amazon.

Bob, Thanks again for the info. The DDD S1 V1 set is the definite one for me.

 

[Mike*HTF]

Just checked my DDD pre-order after reading about the price drop and happily found that they automatically recalculated my order at the lower price. kewl.

Now if we could just get a release of Hawaiian Eye...

 

[Bob Hug]

Amazon.com is now showing the upcoming "Route 66" set; still an October 23rd release date, but the studio listed is Infinity Resources, Inc. (the parent of Infinity Entertainment) and not Roxbury Entertainment.
http://www.amazon.com/Route-66/dp/B0...843888&sr=1-12
If, indeed, "Route 66" is in the hands of Infinity, then I'm really happy as they seem committed to releasing TV series in their totality. Thank goodness that "Route 66" is out of the hands of Sony!!!!! Another series saved by the independents! Does anybody know how to get in touch with Infinity Entertainment; I'd like to drop them a line of thanks and encouragement for their vintage TV-on-DVD releases; I can't seem to find a consumer web site for them.

 

[michael_ks]

Thank goodness that "Route 66" is out of the hands of Sony!!!!!

I've never been so happy to see a studio relinquish the rights to a television series as I have with Sony and R66. I mean, this is the series that up until very recently so many of us were lamenting how this great drama would almost certainly never see the light of day considering the circumstances. Another great one rescued by the independents!

I've been checking Amazon almost daily wondering why no listing for "Route 66" S1, vol. 1 and now it's finally there. But Amazon needs to be more specific about the listing as there is no indication (other than ASIN#) that this item refers to the 1960-64 tv series. This will probably get updated soon though, I suspect.

 

[Bob Hug]

Good grief . . . . . Amazon just listed "Route 66" today on its web site and there's already a "pre-review" posted. If you'll pardon the pun, this set is going to create a big "Buz(z)" as we get closer to October.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

Also the great thing about it is that with it coming from an independent the chances are about 100 times greater that we'll get the entire series as opposed to the majors which give up series left and right.

 

[Tom.W]

Question for those who picked up the 11 episode Best Of R66: were original commercials included in every episode (as indicated in a prior post)? Since Roxbury is apparently still involved in the production of season sets, it seems like they would include commercials in these 11 episodes when they are released as part of season sets. Otherwise, it might be worth picking up the Best Of for the commercials.

 

[silverking]

Question for those who picked up the 11 episode Best Of R66: were original commercials included in every episode (as indicated in a prior post)? Since Roxbury is apparently still involved in the production of season sets, it seems like they would include commercials in these 11 episodes when they are released as part of season sets. Otherwise, it might be worth picking up the Best Of for the commercials.

Hopefully not. I don't want my DVD's broken up with commercials.If you really feel the need to look at a lot of old adverts there are several DVD's which cater for classic commercials.
Start inserting adverts,vintage or not, will only lead to companies actually to start including current advertising.

 

[Bob Hug]

With reference to the inclusion of commercials, the best approach that I've seen is the "Studio One" releases from the Canadian releasing company VSC (Video Service Corp.). They give you the option of watching the shows with or without commercials. But I also liked Image Entertainment's approach to "Naked City." The commercials were there, but as an added bonus and not included as part of the shows.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

Commericials give it the You Are There viewing experience. Some people like it, some don't. I think there should be a feature on the DVD that allows you the option to play it with or without. To me, it all depends on the era the spots are from. My cutoff is around 1975 or so. Pre-1975, I want it intact. Post, to me the commercials are just annoying and have no value. That's why all of the tens of thousands of shows I recorded have the commercials edited out. But to each his own.

 

[Dan McW]

Question for those who picked up the 11 episode Best Of R66: were original commercials included in every episode (as indicated in a prior post)?

I've watched side one of disc one, and two of the three episodes have several commercials and bumpers. The run time is around 55:00-57:00, so there are a few ads missing. We do get to see William Frawley and the My Three Sons boys with a Chevy Biscayne, and one ep shows the personality, wardrobe, and hair-style transformation that a swig of Milk of Magnesia brings. Bayer ads abound as well.
The third ep, "First Class Mouliak," has only a next-week's-episode tag narrated by Milner before the end credits. That next episode, BTW, is "Once to Every Man," with a swimsuit-clad Janice Rule and is not on this set. :-(
I've bounced through later eps on the set, and at least one runs 49:40 or so, but I think overall most eps have commercials. The combination of "extras" in an ep--ads, bumpers, next-week promos--seems to vary throughout the set. Also, Screen Gems logo fans might find the last ep on the set interesting.
Thanks to Bob Hug for starting this thread, which led to my purchase of the set.

 

[Tom.W]

I've watched side one of disc one, and two of the three episodes have several commercials and bumpers. The run time is around 55:00-57:00, so there are a few ads missing. We do get to see William Frawley and the My Three Sons boys with a Chevy Biscayne, and one ep shows the personality, wardrobe, and hair-style transformation that a swig of Milk of Magnesia brings. Bayer ads abound as well.

The third ep, "First Class Mouliak," has only a next-week's-episode tag narrated by Milner before the end credits. That next episode, BTW, is "Once to Every Man," with a swimsuit-clad Janice Rule and is not on this set. :-(

I've bounced through later eps on the set, and at least one runs 49:40 or so, but I think overall most eps have commercials. The combination of "extras" in an ep--ads, bumpers, next-week promos--seems to vary throughout the set. Also, Screen Gems logo fans might find the last ep on the set interesting.

Thanks to Bob Hug for starting this thread, which led to my purchase of the set.

Thanks Dan! I guess we'll just have to wait till season 1 volume 1 is released to see if this format is replicated to any extent (via options, etc.). But since most of the episodes on the Best Of will not be on volume 1, we may not know then either.

As for preferences about inclusion of commercials, I agree with Hank: pre 1975 interests me, post-1975 generally do not. For me, the bumpers and commercials make the experience more of a complete immersion into the time tunnel. I like Image's approach though, with the possible addition of viewing the program with the original content intact. When Nick at Nite ran R66, they created their own bumpers, but several episodes had next week previews narrrated by Tod or Buzz.

 

[Bob Hug]

Here's yet another confirmation of the "Route 66" release on October 23rd, this time from CD Universe. This one is along the lines of Amazon's in that it lists Infinity Resources, Inc. as the studio and does not show a "season 1, volume 1" reference. But it appears that "Route 66" will get fairly wide distribution, at least in terms of online stores.
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinf...le=movie&BAB=M
Not to be an alarmist, but the description says 1 disc; I can't imagine this to be the case and am guessing (and hoping) that this is simply a lack of information on the part of CD Universe, i.e., they need to "fill in the blank" with some number and probably since little information is available at this point in time from Infinity, they simply used the minimum number.
*** UPDATE ***
Add Buy.com to the list of retailers: http://www.buy.com/prod/route-66/q/l...205001820.html

 

[Jeff Willis]

You've done it again, Bob

"I'll get my kicks on Route 66"

Thanks for the reminder. That makes 19 on my order list. Sometimes it seems that the 50's/60's DVD releases are going away but then along comes another classic from those decades.
You guys need to get some kind of a sales commision from the studios. I have a lot of sets because the HTF'ers
- Jeff "Welcome back, Gary O....how was the trip up north?" W.

 

[Ivan G]

TV Shows on DVD.com has the official press release:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7713