Jackie Gleason Color Variety Shows Time/Life... (1 Viewer)

[DeWilson]

Looks like Time/Life has put together a nice collection of the 1960's Shows, including FINALLY the 7 shows with the shorter/non-musical "Honeymooner" skits that haven't been available before. (Including yet another version of "Six Months to Live"!) Extras are the Jackie and Julie Andrews special and The Dean Martin Roast of Jackie from the 1970's.

https://timelife.com/products/the-j...edium=longform&utm_campaign=tdp_jackiegleason

 

[rmw650]

Pretty cool to finally see the Great One gt his own DVD set. Miss that show quite a bit.

 

[DeWilson]

3 Episodes from 1966-1967 Season
4 Episodes from 1967-1968 Season
15 Episodes from 1968-1969 Season
5 Episodes from 1969-1970 Season
(Being the short last season, when combined with the
MPI release of the color Honeymooners from the same
season, Most of the episodes from this year will
be available between the two sets)

 

[Robbie^Blackmon]

Ordered immediately, and the order tracking system reports a backorder status. Could these be selling that fast, or are the sets just not ready yet?

Also interesting is the Julie and Jackie special hasn't been pulled from YouTube in anticipation of this official release.

Now, we need that missing 1977 Christmas special..

 

[LouA]

This is great news! Although Time-Life doesn't necessarily do the best job on their releases(Smothers Brothers) at least hey are releasing these shows. Between this release and Laugh -In they are to be lauded.They have a larger set for $199.00. Although I'm a big fan of the Honeymooners , I welcome the release of the other material from Gleason's American Scene Magazine.I wonder if there's any chance for the 1950's B& W variety shows?

 

[rmw650]

But it also brings up a question as well, since this is Time-Life we're talking about here in that will there be other versions of this set coming out to the retailers including store exclusives and such, such as what we've seen With Carol Burnett and a host of other shows?

Would love to get this but wanting to look out for the best and most affordable option out there.

 

[FanCollector]

The larger set just adds in the previously retail-released Honeymooners Lost Episodes collection. The ‘50s variety show episodes would be wonderful to get, although they are, I believe, all on kinescopes, which aren’t usually big popular sellers.

 

[bigshot]

I have the lost episodes. Is there anything else in the larger set that isn't in the smaller set?

 

[MartinP.]

This is great news! Although Time-Life doesn't necessarily do the best job on their releases(Smothers Brothers) at least hey are releasing these shows.

What Smothers Brothers did Time Life have available?

 

[FanCollector]

I have the lost episodes. Is there anything else in the larger set that isn't in the smaller set?

Not according to their listing. The 15 extra discs they detail are the exact discs in the retail lost episodes set, including the bonus disc.

 

[LouA]

What Smothers Brothers did Time Life have available?

Wasn't it Time - Life that issued edited versions of the the second and third seasons of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour about 5 years ago? I have both of those releases , so I'll have to check and make sure .

 

[LouA]

Wasn't it Time - Life that issued edited versions of the the second and third seasons of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour about 5 years ago? I have both of those releases , so I'll have to check and make sure .

I checked, and it was Time -Life : Best of Season 2 and Best of Season 3 , both 3 DVD sets issues around 7- 8 years ago . Both sets do not include complete seasons and feature heavily edited episodes. Nothing for season 1. Still, this is all that's available on the Smothers Brothers - so it's take it or leave it .

 

[KPmusmag]

I am especially excited about the special with Julie Andrews. That is a classy hour.

 

[Robbie^Blackmon]

Prepping for shipment. Can't get here fast enough! Gonna watch some b&w American Scene to tide me over..

 

[LouA]

But it also brings up a question as well, since this is Time-Life we're talking about here in that will there be other versions of this set coming out to the retailers including store exclusives and such, such as what we've seen With Carol Burnett and a host of other shows?

Would love to get this but wanting to look out for the best and most affordable option out there.

I have all of the VCI releases including all of the "lost episode" releases . So for now , I'll be ordering the smaller set . But I hope your right about Time -Life issuing further sets with more rare and unreleased material. Just so long as they don't do what they did with HEE HAW and ED SULLIVAN , where they issued the same stuff over and over in various new configurations with very little new material added on.

 

[rmw650]

Lou, I'm hoping that IF TL is going to do these types of sets for retailers and online and other exclusives, they're actually make it clear as to what will be contained in those special edition sets so as to avoid all the crazy confusion that has been the norm for this company and their most recent releases of the Carol Burnett Show and a host of other shows, like the ones you just mentioned.

 

[Mark Y]

Wasn't it Time - Life that issued edited versions of the the second and third seasons of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour about 5 years ago? I have both of those releases , so I'll have to check and make sure .

IIRC the edits (and lack of Season 1) were decisions made by the Smothers Brothers. Add in music rights issues and you have a compromised release.

I have looked on line (to no avail) for a list of Jackie Gleason shows for the last three seasons. All I can find are mostly just lists of the Color Honeymooners, sometimes with a few other non-Honeymooners shows listed, but nothing comprehensive. I compared Time-Life' s list with the Color Honeymooners shows and this set can not include the complete set of non-Honeymooners Gleason shows of the era, right? I sure hope this doesn't turn into another Carol Burnett kind of situation where there are 75 different releases with overlapping episodes and a few "exclusive" episodes only on the Bed, Bath & Beyond version. Aside from that, it is wonderful to see these released.

 

[John Karras]

I'll be waiting to hear what the running times on these shows turn out to be.

 

[Robbie^Blackmon]

Ah, well.. I'll be waiting a loooong time, too. More on that in a minute, stay tuned!

20 hours on 10 discs the ad says. 27 shows plus two bonus programs doesn't bode well for a complete show run time. Gleason's 60s era show ran 54-56 minutes with the monologue, in-show ads, June Taylor Dancer segments, attached commercials, the half hour mark voiceover/Glea Girl bits and the curtain call. I suspect that many will be savagely trimmed (like some on the color Honeymooners sets that ran 40 minutes or so, were time compressed on occasion, and that "women's lib" special that omits a Reggie sketch and a song and dance number with Gleason) likely playing up the big name celebs and the Honeymooners bits.

Time-Life has not actually shipped it-- they've charged me for it and "created a shipping label" three days ago. I guess the business model calls for one mass-shipment date per week?

Not only that, but they used that godawful Fedex (not too)SmartPost which takes forever and a day. Where I live is between FedEx and the Post Office so, aside from the delays and the various cities the package will move through during the hub-to-hub ship 'n toss game (five indirect states is the usual route), FedUp will finally drive past my house and 5 miles in the opposite direction to hand the package to the P.OFF* who will bring me a package pickup slip (cos I'm never home at delivery time) so's I can go fetch it.

I should've had the set in my hands by now, but it does give me lots of time to complain, which I kinda like so it all works out.


*P.OFF! Who ever heard of a "Bost Office?"

 

[Jimmyr1960]

Received the set today. I’ve watched the first 2 episodes and did a spot check of the rest. The bad news is that the run times are all over the map. The high end being 50 minutes and low end being 30 minutes. This indicates that every episode is cut. From what I’ve seen, the edits involve the musical numbers, particularly from the June Taylor dancers. Even the Julie Andrews/ Jackie special from 1974 only runs 45 minutes. On the plus side, the quality is very good. And of course the shows themselves are gold. In my opinion, worth a buy.