Nero Wolfe Announcement Making We Want the Rest Of 81...and 82 (1 Viewer)

[Frank Soyke]

I'm so glad to here that Nero Wolfe is finally going to be released but it made me start thinking about the missing shows from my favorite two 80's seasons, 81-82 and 82-83. Quite a lot has actually come out from those two years but here's a list of ones missing from my collection to this point. Most of this stuff will surely never see the light of day, but here is my want list anyway:


81-82


Ongoing Shows:


Benson - Season 3 (Released but stalled. Twice!)


One Day At A Time - Season 7 (Released Season 1 but stalled...asked Shout about it, they said, No Plans)


Alice - Season 6 - (Stalled at Warner Archive for several years after Season 4)


Trapper John MD - Season 3 ( Fox - No Way, No Chance)


One Season "Wonders":


Todays FBI - Love to see this Conners show again


Strike Force - Ditto with this Stack 80's entry


McClain's Law - Been streaming for awhile on Warner's site, but no release for some reason


Enos - When will WA finally get off their butts and put out this much requested show? Don't recall much music in it holding it back.


The Two of Us - Peter Cook show I really loved. Haven't seen it since.


And My Two Grail Shows from that Season:


Best Of The West - Great one season show. Not sure on ownership.


Open All Night - I loved this series as a teen. Not many eps floating around in any form. Not sure who is charge of distribution.



82-83


Ongoing Shows:


ODAAT - Season 8 - See above


Alice - Season 7 - See Above


Benson - Season 4 - See Above


Trapper John - Season 4 - See Above


Fall Guy - Season 2 (Season 1 released years ago and stalled. Season 2 available overseas)


One Season "Wonders":


It Takes Two - Great Crenna/Astin show


Devlin Connection - Very Surprised there never has been interest in releasing a show starring Rock Hudson.


Bring Em Back Alive - Gold Monkey came out, not sure why no interest here. Was actually a really good show.



Chances on these folks?

 

[Frank Soyke]

Although it's lone release was during this period (82-83), Silver Spoons is another show I would really like to see continued. I am very surprised these has never been more interest in putting out more of this show.

 

[Dave Lawrence]

Frank, your list includes quite a few shows that I would also gladly purchase if they were to ever become available - esp. ODAAT, McClain's Law and Trapper John.


Here are a few other series I would add that were airing during one or both of those 2 seasons:

- more Archie Bunker's Place (C'mon, Shout Factory!)

- Gloria

- Harper Valley PTA

- Private Benjamin (Would make a good series of Warner Archive releases.)

- Love Sidney (ditto)

- more Too Close for Comfort

- Lou Grant (was winding down at this time; ridiculous that not even 1 season has been released so far)

- Code Red

- Teachers Only

- Filthy Rich

- Gavilan


Most are probably unlikely, and I've been able to record episodes for a few of them when they've turned up in reruns. But it would be nice to have official releases for them.

 

[Frank Soyke]

Frank, your list includes quite a few shows that I would also gladly purchase if they were to ever become available - esp. ODAAT, McClain's Law and Trapper John.


Here are a few other series I would add that were airing during one or both of those 2 seasons:

- more Archie Bunker's Place (C'mon, Shout Factory!)

- Gloria

- Harper Valley PTA

- Private Benjamin (Would make a good series of Warner Archive releases.)

- Love Sidney (ditto)

- more Too Close for Comfort

- Lou Grant (was winding down at this time; ridiculous that not even 1 season has been released so far)

- Code Red

- Teachers Only

- Filthy Rich

- Gavilan


Most are probably unlikely, and I've been able to record episodes for a few of them when they've turned up in reruns. But it would be nice to have official releases for them.

Simple Math -


Lou Grant + Fox = DOA

 

[Dave Lawrence]

Yeah. Anything Fox-owned lowers the bar from "probably unlikely" to "absolutely no chance".

 

[MatthewA]

Best of the West is Paramount, so expect it to end up coming out eventually from anybody but them. There was also an attempt at absurdist humor on another ABC show in 1981-1982 called No Soap, Radio with Steve Guttenberg. It was from Alan Landsburg Productions, the same company that made Gimme A Break! and Kate and Allie, so I assume FremantleMedia owns it, too.


The next season of Diff'rent Strokes yet to be released, season 5, also happened in 1982-1983. The first season with Mary Jo Catlett, who actually outlasted both her predecessors in a job with a high turnover rate.* It also has two of the most notorious episodes: the Nancy Reagan "Just Say No" episode, which takes on a sad irony considering how Dana Plato died and Todd Bridges barely escaped the drug world with his life, and the Bicycle Man episode, aka the Child Molester episode. They'll get to it when they get to it.


Also, I'm surprised House Calls slipped through the cracks of time; it ran three years, so someone watched it.


Also missing from DVD from this season was It's a Living, which ABC renamed Making a Living for reasons I can only guess.

Other sitcom bombs from this era:


—Mr. Merlin (1981-1982 CBS, Barnard Hughes as Merlin, Clark Brandon in yet another flop between Facts of Life guest appearances; produced and owned by Sony/Columbia)

—Lewis & Clark (1981 NBC, Gabe Kaplan didn't get a warm welcome back to TV; Ilene Graff and David Hollander were in it, too; produced by Carson Productions)

—One of the Boys: (1982 NBC, Mickey Rooney, Dana Carvey, and Nathan Lane; produced by Bud Yorkin, owned by Sony/Columbia)

—Herbie the Love Bug (1982 CBS, Dean Jones' last ride in Number 53. Produced and owned by Disney)
—Baby Makes Five: (1983 ABC, Peter Scolari and Priscilla Morrill appeared here before they were on Newhart, also stars Janis Paige and Jenny Lewis; produced by Alan Landsburg and Mort Lachman, owned by FremantleMedia)

—Star of the Family (1982-1983 ABC, Brian Dennehey, Michael Dudikoff, and Todd Susman; produced and owned by Paramount)

—The New Odd Couple (1982-1983 ABC, I'll take Demond Wilson over Matthew "I can only play smarmy

Spoiler

pricks

because they're a variation on myself" Perry any day of the week; produced and owned by CBS Paramount)

—Gun Shy (1983 CBS, TV version of The Apple Dumpling Gang; everyone from the original movie had prior commitments or in the children's case had outgrown the roles, so they replaced with Barry Van Dyke in Bill Bixby's place [see below], Geoffrey Lewis in Tim Conway's place [see below], Tim Thomerson in Don Knotts' place [Three's Company was still running], Henry Jones in Harry Morgan's place [M*A*S*H had just ended and he committed to AfterMASH instead], and Keith Coogan in place of Brad Savage; Produced and owned by Disney)
—Zorro and Son (1983 CBS sequel to the 1950s version with Henry Darrow replacing Guy Williams; Paul Regina, later of Showtime's Brothers, was the son. Produced and owned by Disney)

—Small and Frye (1983 CBS; Darren McGavin and Jack Blessing in a show about an incredible shrinking detective. Produced and owned by Disney)

—Goodnight Beantown (1983-1984, what Bill Bixby did instead of Gun Shy; produced and owned by Warner Bros.**)

—Ace Crawford Private Eye (1983 CBS, Tim Conway did this instead of Gun Shy, ironically it was scheduled right before it!; produced by Viacom, owned by CBS Paramount)

—Amanda's (1983 ABC, Bea Arthur didn't last as long as a hotelier as the other Golden Girls did, produced by Viacom, owned by CBS Paramount)

—At Ease (1983 ABC, David Naughton, Jimmie Walker, Richard Jaeckel, Josh Mostel, and George Wyner in a military sitcom discharged after 14 episodes. Produced by Aaron Spelling; owned by CBS/Paramount)
—Condo (1983 ABC, yet another McLean Stevenson floparooney that also starred Marc Price [who did this on weeks when he wasn't doing Family Ties] and Luis Avalos. Produced by Witt/Thomas [without Susan Harris], owned by Sony/Columbia [or so says Wikipedia])

*Nedra Volz left for Filthy Rich, and when that ended, guess where Dixie Carter ended up?
**Getting fired from Gimme A Break! after they reshot the pilot made Tracey Gold available to do this show. Its cancellation left her open for Growing Pains.

 

[bmasters9]

—Star of the Family (1982-1983 ABC, Brian Dennehey, Michael Dudikoff, and Todd Susman; produced and owned by Paramount)

I did not know that this short-lived ABC comedy was from Paramount Television! That's interesting to know.

 

[MatthewA]

I did not know that this short-lived ABC comedy was from Paramount Television! That's interesting to know.

It was, and one of the creators was former Soap writer Stu Silver.* After this tanked, he created Webster and then left that to do Brothers on Showtime. The latter was the show Paul Regina went to after Zorro and Son went off the air, the former was what Susan Clark did instead of Gun Shy where her character seemed to have been eliminated.

*The other was Rick Mitz, author of a book called "The Great TV Sitcom Book." This must not have been one of them.

 

[bmasters9]

It was, and one of the creators was former Soap writer Stu Silver.* After this tanked, he created Webster and then left that to do Brothers on Showtime. The latter was the show Paul Regina went to after Zorro and Son went off the air, the former was what Susan Clark did instead of Gun Shy where her character seemed to have been eliminated.

*The other was Rick Mitz, author of a book called "The Great TV Sitcom Book." This must not have been one of them.

Since Paramount was behind this ABC comedy, was it them alone, or was there a vanity card IAW Paramount? If there was a vanity card, do you recall what it was?

 

[phenri]

It was, and one of the creators was former Soap writer Stu Silver.* After this tanked, he created Webster and then left that to do Brothers on Showtime. The latter was the show Paul Regina went to after Zorro and Son went off the air, the former was what Susan Clark did instead of Gun Shy where her character seemed to have been eliminated.

*The other was Rick Mitz, author of a book called "The Great TV Sitcom Book." This must not have been one of them.

My freshman and sophomore years of college correspond with those two seasons, so I didn't get to see most if any of these shows. I didn't watch much network TV at the time, especially since we got cable in the dorms in '82.


I would purchase Today's FBI in a heartbeat, due to Mike Connor's appearance.