F.B.I. from WBA (1 Viewer)

[HenryDuBrow]

DVD Talk reviews of The FBI: The Second Season - Parts One and Two:
The FBI: The Second Season - Part One - DVD Talk review
The FBI: The Second Season - Part Two - DVD Talk review

Great reviews there as always, can't wait to begin watching this season 2 and enjoy its huge gallery of super actors. That pairing of Telly Savalas and Walter Pidgeon, really looking forward to that. One regular cast member rarely mentioned ever is Philip Abbott, brilliant in his part and never puts a foot wrong in his performance. Listen to how he phrases his lines, superb actor.

 

[MCCLOUD]

I recently purchased from Best Buy online The FBI Season 2 Part 1 for $17.99 plus tax for a total of about $19.26 with free shipping. Several days later I purchased from Best Buy The FBI Season 2 Part 2 for $17.99 plus tax for a total of about $19.26 with free shipping. Best Buy has these listed at 19.98 and has the sale price as $17.99. This is a great deal and as of today the prices are still $17.99. Someone posted a few weeks ago that this was a mistake. I don't see how this is a mistake if Best Buy is still selling this on their website for $17.99. If it was a mistake, I think Best Buy would have changied the price on their website by now. Anyone wantng The FBI Season 2 Part 1 and Part 2 might want to take advantage of this deal why it is still available. I am glad I did and I thank the forum members who alerted us to this great deal!
God Bless!
Robert

 

[stuartfanning]

And an even bigger surprise in Part 2 of "The Executioners". Not only is the "In Color" and the "Ford Motor Company Presents" part of the opening left in, so is a promo of Zimbalist at episode's end mentioning that "The FBI" will be pre-empted the following week for the network TV debut of "The Robe." A very nice item!

This may interest you. A complete episode with commercials, sponsor tags etc.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

A bit more news on The F.B.I. from the WAC wall; "A lot of work goes into every release, and that's what takes time. We're finishing up on Season 3 now, and we're hoping to make it available within the next few months."

 

[Jack P]

Well, nice to know S3 is coming though I would have hoped a little sooner than that. Looking forward to the start of the William Reynolds era (coincidentally, he was part of the cast of "The Gallant Men" which is also coming soon).

 

[WaveCrest]

Am going to hazard a guess at the third season of The FBI being released in early fall/autumn.

 

[Jack P]

Some even better news came up regarding future releases. I've always felt frustrated that cable and syndicated repeats would truncate the opening credits so that the plug for Ford Motor Company was eliminated. This is especially evident in S3 when the plug was read in a manner that resulted in the theme music really being edited down, whereas in S1 and S2 the edit is only minor.
S2 did restore this Ford plug for both halves of the two part episode :"The Executioners" (as well as leaving in a Zimbalist plug at the end of Part 2 that the show would be pre-empted the following week for the network TV debut of "The Robe"). And according to Warner Archive, some episodes of S3 will have thei plug restored as well and that there will be an effort to try and restore as many openings as possible provided the source material is there for them to work with.
"You'll see a few restored openings in S3. We'd like to be able to amend that in future seasons on a broader basis as well, but it all depends on what source materials we are working with. We were very pleased to restore the openings to THE EXECUTIONERS on S2 and hope to more of this in the future seasons (which will indeed be released on a more expedited basis than the long wait between S1 & S2.)"
And of course also note the pledge that future seasons will be coming out more quickly than the first two seasons did! This further indicates that the speed of releases from WBA is clearly a case of them getting more acclimated to the process as time goes by. But I was very pleased to see a basic awareness of the truncated credits problem in the past and that there is an effort to try and restore this where possible. Even seeing just a few episodes restored in S3 will be a great step forward.

 

[WaveCrest]

Thanks Jack (this gets confusing with more than one HTF member having the same name! lol ) for this very informative update. A quicker release pattern compared to the long wait between the first and second seasons, and the part about the Warner Archive doing their best to get as complete a version of an episode as possible (depending on the condition of the source materials) sounds encouraging. The Warner Archive, once they get into a routine where the releases are picking up pace, but at the same time they're making sure they're getting things right before releasing the half-season/season sets, is also very encouraging.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

What we really need though, is more and different shows released not just the same few ones they have now but I suppose or hope at least that's what they also mean by the release speed up. The F.B.I. is a very good example how a title doesn't necessarily need to be remastered, it can still look acceptable to fans and buyers.

 

[Jack P]

If I'm reading this right, you're suggesting somehow that fans of "The FBI" should take a backseat in the WBA release schedule and that the title is somehow not worthy of having quality work done on it but should just have old masters shoveled out because they're "acceptable"?

 

[HenryDuBrow]

No you're not reading that right at all, where did I say fans should take a backseat? I said, as I've stressed many times before regarding this release, I'm happy with the picture quality so far even though it's not been remastered. If we wanted true quality work for a series they should give us pressed DVDs not DVD-Rs, but since they're not we'll have to take this and so far it's been quite acceptable. Also said I hope more shows than the handful out now, TV movies too for that matter, will surface soon.

 

[Jack P]

I think the phrase "what we really need" in a thread that should be devoted to this one title only and not WBA in general has the potential to come off as a comment on the fact that this is getting more work but that other titles should be put out instead. That might not have been the intent, but given how this thread and this title has on too many occasions been used as a forum for venting on WBA instead of talking about this title, that's why I might tend to be a bit more cynical in how I view a post like that.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Well it's not about this one title specifically it's about the catalog in general, we'd like more titles available while I also appreciate it takes them considerable time to prepare releases properly and clear deals and all that. Don't get me wrong we all want the same thing here, our favorite shows released in the best possible most complete fashion, so with or without the Ford plug I'd still be buying it regardless because I think the presentation looks very good thus far but I'm always glad for any extra effort they put into it.

 

[Jack P]

Understood. I'll try to rein in my cynicism.

 

[stuartfanning]

I remember when the release of The FBI was first announced, we were told there would be 'extras' included. Well we got nothing for Season 1, and for Season 2 we got the Ford opening on 2 episodes and the announcement at the end of one episode, which are 'extras' of a sort. Wonder if there will be real 'extras' in future season sets like some commentaries by Efrem Zimbalist and other surviving people connected with the series?

 

[Jack P]

Extras won't really matter to me over the long-haul if we just get all nine seasons at a decent pace and if the episodes have more restoration work done as indicated for the titles where possible.
The definitive book on Quinn Martin's TV shows has already been written and has a fairly extensive chapter on "The FBI" that I think would pretty much cover most of the ground any commentary would bring anyways.

 

[WaveCrest]

Have been checking the Amazon.com prices for the two half season volumes of The FBI: The Second Season, and they've hardly budged from around $39.99 (they've ever so slightly come down in price recently).

If the Warner Archive are able to restore episodes where possible that's very promising, but if it's not possible and the picture/print quality is still good, then that's not a disappointment.

 

[stuartfanning]

Have been checking the Amazon.com prices for the two half season volumes of The FBI: The Second Season, and they've hardly budged from around $39.99 (they've ever so slightly come down in price recently).
If the Warner Archive are able to restore episodes where possible that's very promising, but if it's not possible and the picture/print quality is still good, then that's not a disappointment.

These are the best prices you can get in the UK.
http://www.movietyme.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=53665
http://www.movietyme.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=53666

 

[WaveCrest]

Stuart, are Movietyme a reliable DVD/Blu-ray shopping website (with regards to packaging - items not getting damaged in the post, postage and packing charges/delivery times and customer service)? Have never heard of Movietyme. Their website layout and presentation looks a bit like PlayUSA's, Play.com's former sister website.

 

[Guy Foulard]

I remember when the release of The FBI was first announced, we were told there would be 'extras' included. Well we got nothing for Season 1, and for Season 2 we got the Ford opening on 2 episodes and the announcement at the end of one episode, which are 'extras' of a sort. Wonder if there will be real 'extras' in future season sets like some commentaries by Efrem Zimbalist and other surviving people connected with the series?

This is kind of a non-DVD extra, but there's a good interview about The FBI with Efrem Zimbalist on Warner Archive podcast # 52:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/warner-archive-collection/id310063354