How Is That Not Out? Biggest Head Scratchers By Decade. (1 Viewer)

[MatthewA]

Ozzie and Harriet doesn't just have the costs of restoration and remastering, which Sam Nelson tried to tackle but apparently severely underestimated, to deal with. It also has the cost of clearing Ricky Nelson's songs, too.

 

[LouA]

Ok for the sake of arguement , only including unreleased stuff or shows with a just a best of or special release not stalled by season shows.

50s - Lassie - Really
Ozzie and Harriet- we know why but cmon, iconic in its time
77 Sunset Strip - We know why... at least what they tell us
Life of Riley- I guess just the age of it is the problem... so popular though
Amos and Andy- Yeah I know.... I'll keep my comments to myself, don't want to get
Banned. Should be out.
60s - Green Hornet- A superhero show unreleased, for real?
Fantastic Four 66- See above
Julia - Groundbreaking show... most others of black interest long released
My World and Welcome To It- Critical darling
Ben Casey- So popular and no whisper of a release
70s- Chico and the Man- Only major 70s sitcom completely unreleased save that Best of stuff
Trapper John MD- See Ben Casey above
Phyllis - Any idea on this one?
BJ/Lobo- Eveybody loved BJ during the trucker craze... Movin On comes out but not
These far more popular shows??

I agree about all of the shows you list,
For me , add :
Adventures In Paradise
East Side West Side
My Little Margie
A definitive Ed Sullivan set composed of complete episodes
A definitive Walt Disney set composed of complete episodes
Anything at all from the Perry Como Show
Fernwood/America 2nite

 

[Dave B Ferris]

(Late 70's): James at 15 (or 16).

 

[Gary OS]

Trying to be objective and not name off a litany of 50's series I'd personally like to see, I'd just reiterate what several have already said on that front:

Lassie & Ozzie & Harriet are the two "biggies" missing, with Bachelor Father, Burns & Allen, and Our Miss Brooks also being in the discussion. Again, I'm just thinking of the more well known titles and not just personal wish list items. I'm sure there are others as well that deserve a mention.


Gary "personally, I wish we'd gotten more ZIV stuff in particular" O.

 

[MatthewA]

Fernwood/America 2Night is another show stuck in music rights hell. Too bad, it's a funny show that should get a release.

Forever Fernwood, the sequel to Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, is also unlikely to see the light of day any time soon.

 

[LeoA]

My Three Sons needs to be mentioned for the 1960's, if it's not disqualified due to two pairs of butchered DVD releases.

Something like Ben Casey unfortunately makes business sense for being absent on DVD, considering it disappeared decades ago. It would be a headliner for a similar thread about hit shows that didn't see the second life in syndication that they deserved, but sadly, it's not a big surprise that it's absent on DVD.

But My Three Sons not only was a hit show that ran for 12 seasons, but it's also been a staple in reruns of 1950's and 1960's television throughout the years. Not quite as frequently seen as a handful like I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show, but it certainly has to rank well within the top 15.

Yet it's all but absent today on DVD and the ~15% of the show's run that did make it out, did so in butchered form and doesn't count for many fans like myself.

 

[Sky King]

Something like Ben Casey unfortunately makes business sense for being absent on DVD, considering it disappeared decades ago. It would be a headliner for a similar thread about hit shows that didn't see the second life in syndication that they deserved, but sadly, it's not a big surprise that it's absent on DVD.

LeoA,

Actually Ben Casey had a healthy syndication run after its network run. However, I last saw it on CBN in the late 80's. Because of its initial popularity which included parodies and spoofs, I think it would do well on DVD, but the more time that passes, the smaller Ben's audience gets.

 

[Richard V]

The Lineup (San Francisco Beat) ran for 6 seasons and produced 200 episodes. That is another head scratcher, especially since its' contemporary, M Squad, was released many years ago.

 

[Charles Ellis]

For the 50s- the complete 1951-59 Dragnet

For the 60s- He and She. This has become a critically acclaimed (and Emmy-winning) one-season wonder that was a precursor to the sitcoms that followed in the 70s and 80s. I've always thought of it as "Mad About You '67". As the still married Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss are very much alive, this would be the perfect time for a DVD release with their input in commentaries.

 

[smithbrad]

My Three Sons needs to be mentioned for the 1960's, if it's not disqualified due to two pairs of butchered DVD releases.

But My Three Sons not only was a hit show that ran for 12 seasons, but it's also been a staple in reruns of 1950's and 1960's television throughout the years. Not quite as frequently seen as a handful like I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show, but it certainly has to rank well within the top 15.

Yet it's all but absent today on DVD and the ~15% of the show's run that did make it out, did so in butchered form and doesn't count for many fans like myself.

MTS is a definitely want for my family since we just finished watching the releases for the first two seasons. Unfortunately, even though MTS is high on the list of what should be available on DVD, having failed in the first attempt (no matter the reason) puts it in the unlikely to get rebooted category by CBS. All we can do is hope CBS is willing to license it out at a cost acceptable to someone like Shout!.

 

[Steve...O]

MTS is a definitely want for my family since we just finished watching the releases for the first two seasons. Unfortunately, even though MTS is high on the list of what should be available on DVD, having failed in the first attempt (no matter the reason) puts it in the unlikely to get rebooted category by CBS. All we can do is hope CBS is willing to license it out at a cost acceptable to someone like Shout!.

Sad but true. If the initial releases hadn't been butchered musically and consequently been criticized across enthusiast forums, they would have had a much better chance of success. The problem with licensing it out is that instead of getting sparkling unedited episodes we will get syndicated 30 year old transfers with faded colors and no SDH.

 

[shoeshineboy]

Great lists of missing in action sets! (I'm sure ol' George C. Scott can fill us in as to why for most of them...)
How about either of the 70s Tony Randall series (Love Sydney and the Tony Randall Show) and that 80s staple, which had its own mini-movement that kept it alive - The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd ?

 

[Brian Himes]

I'd add Empty Nest to this list of head scratchers. Still haven't figured out why that has not been released.

 

[Mark Y]

Fernwood/America 2Night is another show stuck in music rights hell. Too bad, it's a funny show that should get a release.

Forever Fernwood, the sequel to Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, is also unlikely to see the light of day any time soon.

The first two weeks of Fernwood 2Night are extras on the Mary Hartman complete series, aren't they? Of course, that still leaves 120 episodes unreleased (55 Fernwood and all 65 America).

 

[LouA]

The first two weeks of Fernwood 2Night are extras on the Mary Hartman complete series, aren't they? Of course, that still leaves 120 episodes unreleased (55 Fernwood and all 65 America).

Yes they are . Quality isn't bad . I didn't realize that music rights issues are what has held up the release of Fenwood /America 2Nite. Funny how some shows sail through the music clearance hurdles while other shows languish.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Yes they are . Quality isn't bad . I didn't realize that music rights issues are what has held up the release of Fenwood /America 2Nite. Funny how some shows sail through the music clearance hurdles while other shows languish.

The easiest to clear were released first. More difficult ones had a longer journey to DVD, never made it, or were hacked up by CBS.

 

[MatthewA]

I'm glad Norman Lear and MTM didn't actually sell their shows to Viacom outright (they used to syndicate All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show) or they might be owned by CBS by now instead of Sony and Fox.

I'd add Empty Nest to this list of head scratchers. Still haven't figured out why that has not been released.

Towards the end of its run it was one of the lowest-rated shows on network TV. The cast changes had something to do with that, combined with Golden Palace being on CBS instead of NBC* which deprived them of the opportunity to do multi-show crossovers like they did the Hurricane and Full Moon shows. Moving the workplace scenes out of the hospital and into an inner-city clinic didn't seem to have a positive effect on the ratings, either, but it was good to see what happened to Sophia (and she actually did something about the conditions at Shady Pines), and Marsha Warfield's character was a step up from Lisa Rieffel and Paul Provenza.** The year it ended was the year Disney and ABC merged.

*NBC offered 13 weeks, CBS a full season. Touchstone took the bigger short-term gain and went with CBS and we got what we got. CBS couldn't put it on Saturday night because putting it on at 9 or 9:30 would have it competing with Empty Nest or Nurses (which would have been a prime-time repeat of their Saturday Morning cannibalism fears regarding Gummi Bears, which also needs to be done by now). Had it stayed on NBC there might have been more incentive to do a better show. But instead they went with Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Not-Theo Huxtable in Here and Now, which didn't make it past the first 13 weeks and didn't even equal Golden Palace in the ratings.
**He tried out to play Coco on the pilot for The Golden Girls, but was deemed "too masculine" compared to Charles Lewin. He still would not have lasted as long as he would here or on The Facts of Life.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

I'm glad Norman Lear and MTM didn't actually sell their shows to Viacom outright (they used to syndicate All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show) or they might be owned by CBS by now instead of Sony and Fox.



.

The Lear shows made out best of all, but the MTM shows were a wash as far as how they've been neglected by Falwell, and later Fox. CBS may have taken better care to preserve the shows.

However, Fox owning the MTM shows is the only reason WKRP ever made it to DVD, because under CBS, a WKRP episode would have been the theme song and the ending credits repeated 90 times. Oh, and the opening and closing themes would have been replaced by synthesized noodlings from Mark Heyes' magic mini-Casio.

 

[Brian Himes]

Towards the end of its run it was one of the lowest-rated shows on network TV. The cast changes had something to do with that, combined with Golden Palace being on CBS instead of NBC* which deprived them of the opportunity to do multi-show crossovers like they did the Hurricane and Full Moon shows. Moving the workplace scenes out of the hospital and into an inner-city clinic didn't seem to have a positive effect on the ratings, either, but it was good to see what happened to Sophia (and she actually did something about the conditions at Shady Pines), and Marsha Warfield's character was a step up from Lisa Rieffel and Paul Provenza.** The year it ended was the year Disney and ABC merged.

Yeah, I remember the last season being rather lack luster. It had a good series finale but other than that the final season was a let down. Still, the first two or three seasons were pretty good and quite funny.

 

[darkrock17]

I know why we haven't seen Empty Nest, because it's not as popular as it's cash cow parent series The Golden Girls is. Disney is only interested in $$$ these days.

As for the other series that have been mentioned so far, Shout Factory would be best company in trying to get a lot of these series released. They're the only company aside from some lesser known ones, that care about classic TV and their fans these days.