Laverne and Shirley/Happy Days (1 Viewer)

[JeffSu]

Where are the second seasons???????

 

[Michael Alden]

Where they apparently will stay, locked in Paramount's vaults. Too bad as I would have liked to have gotten at least another season of HD and a couple more of L&S. And considering how popular the shows were, this is really surprising.

 

[Jeff#]

Happy Days and the Laverne & Shirley spinoff were great shows -- I grew up on those sitcoms in the 1970s and 80s. The problem is that they have been played to death (and beyond) in syndication, so that there just wasn't that much demand for them on DVD.

 

[Derek K.]

Not surprised by 'Laverne' ...

VERY SURPRISED by 'Happy Days' not having any more releases.

Doesnt paramount know that HD Season 1 was very light on Fonzie??

Season 2 and beyond was Fonz Central ...

Cmon Paramount ... MORE HAPPY DAYS!

 

[Bob Hug]

The cost of music rights is a real issue, at least for "Happy Days." Apparently the cost for music rights for season 1 was near a million dollars according to a Wall Street Journal report. See TVShowsonDVD article . . .

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2982

 

[marcSo]

at videoetta.com. they have a link on their front page that will take you to a list of tv shows that they are speculating coming to dvd.both happy days and laverne and shirley season 2 are among those listed.

 

[marcSo]

sorry that web address is videoeta.com with one T.

 

[Bill>Moore]

I loved Happy Days and bought s1. Yeah, I'd seen many of them over and over, but I figured I'd still enjoy them like I do endlessly watching some other shows. After watching through the first season, I didn't think it was likely I would continue collecting the series. I similarly picked up Frasier and Cheers with s1 DVDs, but decided against continuing to purchase them. I already have so many other shows on DVD that I'd much rather watch over and over again. It's a shame they won't release more Happy Days though. I thought that might really have more interest than it seems to have had on DVD.

 

[Jay_B!]

I don't get why Laverne and Mork have to suffer because Paramount has issues with Happy Days music rights. Parent/spinoff shows don't always mean anything. Good Times is a spinoff of Maude and the last season of that is coming in August while the first season of Maude isn't even announced yet. I don't see why Paramount couldn't have followed up L&S and M&M seasons instead of making them pay the price for the cost of music clearence for Happy Days season 2. They are different shows with different fanbases, I know a lot of people who love Laverne or Mork who don't like Happy Days, the shows are not one and the same.... Paramount doesn't get that.

 

[Bill>Moore]

I'll agree with you on that. I loved Happy Days, but never cared for Laverne and Shirley at all.

 

[Jay_B!]

another theory IMO is... Paramount sucks up the loss and releases season 2 of Happy Days. When the show went live, they stopped using as much music and it ran another nine years, while maybe there might be a bit of a loss for season 2, I think seasons 3-7 (the Howard seasons) would all sell well enough to balance it out, plus, there actually are people out there who would buy the Ted McGinley/Crystal Bernard/Billy Warlock episodes, be it fans of Married With Children, Wings or Baywatch/General Hospital/Days Of Our Lives (Warlock is a huge soap star) who want to see them when they were younger, or those who LIKE those episodes.

I would gladly add all 11 seasons in my collection if only Paramount would, I dunno, release them?

 

[streeter]

I was about to bring that up, too, Jay. Season 2 could be a loss for Paramount because of the music clearances (also, consider the fact that Season 1 was short, so I bet it would be even more expensive to clear than S2), but as a whole, the Happy Days series should be profitable for them. I'd be in it for all 11 seasons.

 

[Michael Alden]

I wouldn't put much stock in their speculation as they also list WKRP in Cincinnati and the Wonder Years, 2 shows we know will be in music rights hell forever.

 

[marcSo]

If paramount was to release season 2 of happy days and laverne & shirley.They should give it some publicity on entertainment tonight.since entertainment tonight is owned by the same company that owns paramount.which is viacom.I have seen entertainment tonight do stories and promote other tv on dvd releases from companies.including recently sony's release of the 1st and 2nd season release of the facts of life.Why not do some self promoting?

 

[David Rain]

L&S is likely a music license nightmare as it features lots of background songs as well as songs performed by the cast. Carmine sings well-known songs in many episodes. They aren't integral to the eps usually but I would not want them cut. Also, L&S sometimes perform songs such as in the Shotz Talent Show eps. I've recently taped all of the syndicated eps in case there are no more DVD's and I can say for certain that there's a lot of music here that would have to be cleared. Much of it could not be edited out or replaced easily.

 

[Stephen Wight]

So Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley have music rights issues,but what's Paramount's excuse as to why they won't release season 2 of Mork & Mindy?It's been years,since I've seen any episodes,but I don't remember music in that.

 

[Jeff#]

I don't know if music rights has anything to do with Happy Days or Laverne & Shirley being released on DVD or not, because if it was then Paramount wouldn't have gotten clearance on the first season of Happy Days -- which has so many more 1950s rock tunes than any other season, including the original "Rock Around the Clock" theme by the late Bill Haley. Succeeding seasons had all original music, although it was mostly instrumental and created specifically for the series.

Cast members of both shows sometimes singing their own versions of those classic tunes (such as Potsie's remakes of classic tunes, Richie singing Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill", and Carmine Ragusa singing Johnny Mathis' "Rags to Riches") don't count as songs that need permission to put on home video.

Mork and Mindy's second season wasn't duplicated to discs yet because the first season obviously didn't sell well enough.

 

[streeter]

Happy Days had a prime-time reunion special on ABC (I believe) with all of the stars (which I sadly missed!!) to coincide with the DVD release. So there was some pretty good promotion if you ask me...

 

[Jay_B!]

actually, the DVD had been out about six months in time for the reunion special, Paramount could've gone ahead and gotten season 2 (the riskiest season) out and promoted it with the reunion.