Leave It To Beaver coming in 2005!!! (1 Viewer)

[David Von Pein]

http://tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2628

I'm a bit surprised to see that Univ. will release "season" sets of Hitchcock's series. I was figuring on a Best-Of dealie for this show (for some reason). Good news though.

 

[David Von Pein]

Wow -- beaten by 60 seconds to the "AH" punch. :frowning:

 

[David Lambert]

The item - made by Uni - I'm looking at for AHP definitely says "Season 1", so I am sure of that much at least.

As for the timing: I planned several days ago to post that news today (for holiday weekends I try to work up a "schedule" of news so I can get it done in the most efficient manner possible and spend time with my family). When I saw the comment yesterday, it almost killed me not to say something on the spot!


Greg_S_H, thanks for the shot of the Munsters house today. I am posting news for Munsters S2 right now, and am linking to that ClassicTVhits site's pics and giving you the credit for letting me know. Thanks!

 

[Mark To]

Great news about Alfred Hitchcock. Now, just please, not the timesped ones that ran on Nick at Nite. While complete, except for the middle bumper, it was so sped that it looked like a silent film run on a modern projector. I really hope they commit to these series for the long haul. AHP has 7 seasons of half hours and 3 of 1 hours. And then there's the color revival in the mid 80s. While on the subject of Universal, has there been any mention of Boris Karloff's Thriller?

 

[Greg_S_H]

Thanks, David! Even passing reference on TSOD is fun. BTW, I can see your point, in that that house would still look a little odd in a normal neighborhood, even fixed up. I almost wish they would Munster it back up for the tours, though, if they're not going to feature it in anything.

BTW, was the Universal neighborhood in question used for the 'burbs? That was a Universal film, I believe, and the neighborhood looked very familiar.


It is awful--even worse than I remembered it--but I still kind of like it. Okay, I like it better in my mind, where my pain-avoidance centers have improved the Beav's voice. Man. Kid can't sing.

Alfred Hitchcock. Beav. The Munsters. The A-Team. Magnum. Universal is still the studio offering the most I want. I just hope, hope, hope that QL was the anomaly. I've loved their previous sets.

 

[Paul Sandhu]

I can't wait... does anyone know the price?

 

[Dan McW]

Re the above comments (and until I learn how to use the quote feature):
-- The Psycho house turned up in "Thriller" more than once and even figured in a "Murder, She Wrote" plot many years later.
-- I have a Shokus Video tape of a first-season Leave It to Beaver episode that includes a few "extras" not seen in syndication that would be nice for the season-one DVD set. Among these are a 10-15-second teaser and commercials for Remington typewriters. Also, the main-title theme, which is cut short in syndication, continues playing to its conclusion as the announcer who read the opening cast credits continues with the "brought to you by" spiel (or fee plug or whatever it's called). The end credits run with a Remington typewriter in the background, and a credit for the Remington-Rand spokesman appears at the end of the cast credits. I doubt we'll see the commercials themselves on DVD, but the full opening credits, original end credits and teaser would be nice, as that's the way the show was originally presented.
-- I would buy a "Thriller" DVD set in a heartbeat, as the six-episode VHS release was not enough to suit me. Favorite ep: "The Grim Reaper," with William Shatner and Natalie Schafer.
-- I don't know if this applies to the first season of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," but besides the middle bumper there's something like a "brought to you by Bristol-Myers" card in the opening credits at some point in the series. I'm pretty sure this isn't on the four-episode MCA videotape of the series, but it does turn up on at least one ep among the eight issued by Goodtimes. In syndication, this portion of the opening credits is noticeably edited out, right before Hitch's silhouette appears in the outline. (My favorite AHP ep: "The Glass Eye," again with Mr. Shatner and from the third season, methinks. Hitch's outro is priceless.)

 

[Joseph Miller]

I can tell you this right now. If they release "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" in those terrible sped-up versions we've been subjected to for years now, it'll be just about the end of the line for me. It would be the most clueless thing they could do, but I wouldn't put it past them.

 

[David Von Pein]

Yes, indeed. THIS EPISODE ("MASQUERADE"), starring Elizabeth Montgomery and Tom Poston, shows the "Psycho" homestead in a nice thunderstorm setting. Looks quite eerie too. A good episode.

 

[David Von Pein]

I'll be dipped and left for dead!
I had no idey that Shokus released some Beaver eps.!

I have several Shokus tapes; but never knew ANY "Beaver" video rights were ever sold to anyone. (Or did Shokus even have the right to release Beav on VHS? I'm wondering.)

Shokus no longer has any Beavers available on its website (currently).

 

[Rodney]

I have a question I have been meaning to ask for a long time.
I have a 1985 vhs tape from KIDS KLASSICS labeled: "Leave It to Beaver" TV Show (plus a Betty Boop cartoon).

The show opens with a logo that says Gomalco Productions, Inc. in Cooperation with THE UNITED STATES TREASURY DEPARTMENT present:

Then the normal opening begins. This is a special show about savings bonds which I have never seen in syndication.

The story is about Beaver trying to save enough money for a bike ($37.50). He is keeping money in his sock drawer. Larry talks him into buying a plane, instead of saving his money.
Of course, the plane "gets busted" the first time he flies it.
Ward takes him to the post office, and gets him a U.S. Savings Bond book, and explains how to save.

The show is about 15 minutes long. Does anyone have further information on this show? Were there more of these type of shows made?

Share in America with US Savings Bonds and Stamps.

 

[Mark To]

These were done yearly by the US Treasury Department. I don't know when they stopped (or if they did) as I have them going into the 80s. Mr. Ed, Superman, Odd Couple, WKRP in Cincinnati are among the shows which participated. There's even a really good one with half a dozen shows from Paramount in one film.

 

[Rodney]

Thanks for the info, Mark. Now that would be an interesting DVD to have all of those together.

 

[CynthiaH]

Has anyone heard anything else about a proposed timeline for the LitB release?

 

[Ryan Wishton]

Oh no!!!

Ward and his flaky overbaked wife are heading towards DVD.

This show to me is what ammonia would be to bleach. They just don't mix.

But, out of respect for the fans of the show, I will review with an open mind.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

Everyone has their own opinion of the show. My opinion is that it was sugar coated for comedic reasons. Maybe no one's mother has ever dressed up and worn pearls to do housework, and maybe no one ever had a dad who worked so hard and yet we never found out what he did for a living, but who would've ever wanted to watch a show about a filthy mom and a white trash dad (ooops, sorry Roseanne)? For me, Leave It To Beaver is a comedy about life the way it should've been in a perfect world. As we all know, no one ever lives in a perfect world, however, for 30 minutes (once every week for 6 yrs), people could tune in and forget their problems by watching Beaver and Wally grow up in their perfect world. And whenever they strayed from that perfect world just a bit, it was always good to know that perfect mom June, and perfect dad Ward were always there to help them, and teach us some moral lessons along the way. Yes, moral lessons, something today's television seems to have forgotten all about. I can't wait to own every season of this classic little show.

 

[Michael Alden]

I agree Carlos. People who criticize these shows miss the point entirely. TV, at least the way it used to be done, was never meant to depict life as it actually was but rather life as we wish it was. Beaver was about an idealized version of a family. And we are halfway thru 2005, so where is it?

 

[Pavan_P]

I think they are going to release Beaver in November. Still way too early to tell.

 

[Gary OS]

While an initial release date for the 1st Season would be nice, my bigger question to Universal is this:

"Are you committed to releasing the entire series, or are you going to gage further releases on 1st Season sales?"

I pray that Universal has already decided they will release all 6 seasons.

Gary "hopefully we can get season sets released at a decent pace, and not have to wait a year or more in between sets like it appears will happen with 'The Munsters'" O.

P.S. This is assuming Universal doesn't do something completely idiotic like release the show in some "Best of" set instead of season sets.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

Beaver deserves complete season releases, not "Best of" sets. In fact, if they only release best of, I won't buy any...I want all the episodes.