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ClassicTVMan1981X

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If there is anything else from Universal's vaults K-L should touch...
McCloud (unfinished on DVD here; but complete in R4)
Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law (1971-1974)
Baretta (1975-1978)
The Invisible Man (1975-1976)
Switch (1975-1978)
Ellery Queen (1975-1976)
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977-1979) (first two seasons have replaced music on some episodes)
Delta House (1979)
B. J. and the Bear (1979-1981)
The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (1979-1981)
When the Whistle Blows (1980)
Domestic Life (1984)
Fast Times (1986)
Major Dad (1989-1993)
The Antagonists (1991)
Princesses (1991)

TV movies:
Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill (1979)
The Seekers (miniseries, 1979)
Masada (1981)
The Jerk, Too (1984)
Portrait of a White Marriage (1988)
The Lookalike (1990)

~Ben
 
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DeWilson

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The closest successor-in-interest to them is Sonar Entertainment, née Hallmark Entertainment, née RHI Entertainment. They're the same company that remade Gypsy with Bette Midler, Bye Bye Birdie with Jason Alexander, Call of the Wild with Rick Schroder (Qintex produced Lonesome Dove before buying the farm), and Alice in Wonderland with Whoopi Goldberg as the Cheshire Cat. Then they bought out Filmation and junked the negatives to almost everything and kept only PAL videotape copies. That and the 2008 Universal vault fire put a big question mark over it. Who actually got physical ownership of the master tapes? Universal or RHI/Hallmark/Sonar?

If Universal could come to a clear agreement with Sony about who owns what regarding Punky Brewster, then, in theory, they should be able to reach some kind of a deal for The New Leave it to Beaver. I just don't think they've bothered to ask because they're more concerned with who's streaming The Office.

The Filmation situation, not to mention that RHI almost trashed all the domestic Hal Roach negatives (Thankfully rescued by the overseas rights holders and UCLA) is a long story in itself. Unfortunately what they did to the Filmation library has ripple effects that affect the current rights holder (Dreamworks Animation) to this day.

Here we go again with the Universal "Vault Fire" stuff myth - all masters were stored off-site and the vault in question was a "working vault" - stuff mastered for syndication - syndication copies - no originals were lost. (as for the UMG music holdings, well that is another long story...)

As for "Punky Brewster", there really was no issue - NBC produced the show, but at the time the FCC had rules about networks owning syndication companies (repealed years ago) and Sony (Well, then Columbia Pictures Television) picked up the syndication rights and rights to produced additional seasons for syndication which in some form NBC had an interest in right in. Two seasons worth of shows were shot for syndication. The only reason there wasn't a 5th season (or additional seasons of "The New Gidget" and "What's Happening Now!") was that Colpix TV got out of first run syndication.
 

DeWilson

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I concur with Cliffhangers and would add Supertrain though I don't know if it's actually a Universal property or not. Remastered Blu-rays of Ellery Queen and Kolchak would also get me to open my wallet.

"Supertrain" was produced in-house by NBC Production, so it would be an NBC/Universal property.
 

DeWilson

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I'd dearly love it to be T.H.E. Cat (1966-67, action/drama, 26 half-hour episodes), my most-wanted 'grail' series of all, but I think Denny answered his own question in the opening post, about CBS (now Paramount) owning the old pre-1973 NBC Films series (which would also include Buck Henry's Captain Nice (1966, fantasy sitcom, 15 half-hour episodes), rather than Universal.

UNIVERSAL Did produce "Mr. Terrific" ... the "other" Superhero spoof of the 1960's..that could also be a possibility.

But yet, The NTA/CBS situation may have tied up T.H.E. CAT and CAPTAIN NICE (which I recall when it was shown on one of the comedy channels, or was it WOR National, in the early 1990's it was from Republic - which was NTA)
 

MatthewA

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The Filmation situation, not to mention that RHI almost trashed all the domestic Hal Roach negatives (Thankfully rescued by the overseas rights holders and UCLA) is a long story in itself. Unfortunately what they did to the Filmation library has ripple effects that affect the current rights holder (Dreamworks Animation) to this day.

Here we go again with the Universal "Vault Fire" stuff myth - all masters were stored off-site and the vault in question was a "working vault" - stuff mastered for syndication - syndication copies - no originals were lost. (as for the UMG music holdings, well that is another long story...)

As for "Punky Brewster", there really was no issue - NBC produced the show, but at the time the FCC had rules about networks owning syndication companies (repealed years ago) and Sony (Well, then Columbia Pictures Television) picked up the syndication rights and rights to produced additional seasons for syndication which in some form NBC had an interest in right in. Two seasons worth of shows were shot for syndication. The only reason there wasn't a 5th season (or additional seasons of "The New Gidget" and "What's Happening Now!") was that Colpix TV got out of first run syndication.

All of that is true except that it was Coca-Cola that owned Columbia Pictures at the time. The same year all those syndicated shows ended*, they basically consolidated all their entertainment holdings into one big company and gradually pawned off on Sony. By the end of 1989 they were out of the entertainment business completely. Except for selling concessions to movie theaters, which is the main reason they wanted in to begin with.

So if the New Beaver master tapes still exist, then it’s just a matter of making a deal with the other copyright holder to make sure they get their fair share.

Qintex also almost ended up owning MGM, so it’s likely they would’ve fared no better under that situation that they ultimately did under Giancarlo Paretti.

*And you forgot The New Monkees.
 
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LeoA

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Sorry for my Emergency! wish. I missed the bit about it being a short lived series, which obviously discounts that particular show.
 

ClassicTVMan1981X

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All of that is true except that it was Coca-Cola that owned Columbia Pictures at the time. The same year all those syndicated shows ended*, they basically consolidated all their entertainment holdings into one big company and gradually pawned off on Sony. By the end of 1989 they were out of the entertainment business completely. Except for selling concessions to movie theaters, which is the main reason they wanted in to begin with.

So if the New Beaver master tapes still exist, then it’s just a matter of making a deal with the other copyright holder to make sure they get their fair share.

Qintex also almost ended up owning MGM, so it’s likely they would’ve fared no better under that situation that they ultimately did under Giancarlo Paretti.

*And you forgot The New Monkees.
I believe Universal could still try suing whoever is the successor-in-interest to Qintex to reclaim the other part of the rights, what they don't have, of Still the Beaver.

~Ben
 
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Josh Steinberg

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That Kino did Outer Limits makes me wonder about Night Gallery, but I’m not sure if Universal actually mastered the show in HD when they put out the DVDs... what’s on those discs looks pretty ancient. But that would certainly get my attention.
 

JohnHopper

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That Kino did Outer Limits makes me wonder about Night Gallery, but I’m not sure if Universal actually mastered the show in HD when they put out the DVDs... what’s on those discs looks pretty ancient. But that would certainly get my attention.

Kino also did the very rare The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre.​
 

JohnHopper

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Well, Kolchak, The Night Stalker was asked about on the other site.

KL asked for and was denied (hinted that its with another distributor)

So Kolchak: The Night Stalker is blocked for the time being.
Darren McGavin-wise, Kochak has more appeal than The Outsider because Kolchak has a cult following
and can be a good candidate for a release.​
 

bmasters9

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All of that is true except that it was Coca-Cola that owned Columbia Pictures at the time. The same year all those syndicated shows ended*, they basically consolidated all their entertainment holdings into one big company and gradually pawned off on Sony. By the end of 1989 they were out of the entertainment business completely. Except for selling concessions to movie theaters, which is the main reason they wanted in to begin with.

Coke products are still sold in many theaters, are they not (even long after they disbanded from CPT and sold that to Sony)?
 

Darby67

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Only Cliffhangers will do, including that long-lost final segment I've been waiting 40+ years to see.

Amen to that, Ethan! It is too bad they only aired the 11th episode overseas. I would love to see the concluding chapters for "The Secret Empire" and "Stop Susan Williams"
 

Arthur Powell

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The Filmation situation, not to mention that RHI almost trashed all the domestic Hal Roach negatives (Thankfully rescued by the overseas rights holders and UCLA) is a long story in itself. Unfortunately what they did to the Filmation library has ripple effects that affect the current rights holder (Dreamworks Animation) to this day.

It was actually Hallmark that came close to junking the Hal Roach negatives and not RHI. Let's say that there was a lot of rejoicing in the Roach and L&H fan communities when RHI acquired (or reacquired) the rights to the Roach catalog. Generally speaking, RHI has treated the Roach library very well as evidenced by the release of that sound era L&H DVD set as well as making the films available for licensing as seen with the Charley Chase sets, etc.
 

Neil Brock

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It was actually Hallmark that came close to junking the Hal Roach negatives and not RHI. Let's say that there was a lot of rejoicing in the Roach and L&H fan communities when RHI acquired (or reacquired) the rights to the Roach catalog. Generally speaking, RHI has treated the Roach library very well as evidenced by the release of that sound era L&H DVD set as well as making the films available for licensing as seen with the Charley Chase sets, etc.

I don't know about Laurel and Hardy, but aren't all of the Hal Roach TV series, like The Veil for instance, public domain?
 

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