Rawhide - Stalled/Abandoned? (1 Viewer)

[Carabimero]

I don't like to watch shows on my computer either but confess I have found myself doing it a couple times just for ceonvenience sake.

 

[Clay Forrester]

Forgive me if this is redundant (I have a feeling these may be up here somewhere), but here's what I have, if anyone else wants to write. Please correct me if these are wrong:

MR. JOHN NOGAWSKI, PRESIDENT
CBS DISTRIBUTION
2401 COLORADO AVENUE
SUITE 110
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA 90404

MR. KEN ROSS, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
CBS HOME ENTERTAINMENT
1700 BROADWAY
33RD FLOOR
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10019

Writing is fast and easy so what's to lose? The thing that gets me is, you must figure the sales for Season One a few years back would be pretty much the same as for Season Three presently. I mean, RAWHIDE fans are going to get them all, right? Weird.

Think I will write to Encore-Westerns too, though CBS-Paramount product may indeed be prohibitive (CIMARRON STRIP is still running but Whitman owns that himself). As I recall they ran the B&W GUNSMOKE eps twice through. They certainly seem to doing alright by Warners westerns (now if they ran THE DAKOTAS I'd be ecstatic. Except it only ran 21 eps. Oh well).

 

[Carabimero]

I'd also write Paramount Home Entertainment in Hollywood.

5555 Melrose Ave
Hollywood Ca 90038

(I did that address from memory so you might wanna check the zip)

 

[jdee28]

Encore Westerns ran the black and white hour long Gunsmokes for 3 years, from 2002-2005.

Maybe it's the economic downturn that has caused Rawhide to be stalled. Or maybe they planned this out in advance, figuring 3 seasons are enough. They stopped after 3 for Have Gun-Will Travel. Who knows. Maybe next year, or the year after, if the economy picks up and they get enough letters and inquiries, we'll get to see Rawhide Season 4.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I just watch one of my faves from S3 "Incident of the Buffalo Soldier" what a fantastic show, I've heard Clint Does'nt think much of the character Rowdy yates and his time on Rawhide and I cannot see why. He's called Rowdy a "Dim Bulb" maybe his memory is foggy and he thinks he played Mushy the cook's louse. Rowdy was far from a Dim bulb. Eastwood's acting in Buffalo Soldier is fantastic, you can clearly see the movie star he is today, and the story for the time tackled the difficult issues of race, it was typical for this fantastic western, I hope CBS gets to restoring the final 5 Seasons soon.

 

[Clay Forrester]

I completely agree with you, on both counts; that is an excellent episode, and Eastwood seriously underrates his performance. Or maybe more so, the character he plays (as I recall he referred to Rowdy as "the idiot of the plains" or something like that). We've found his performances subtle, carefully nuanced, and surprisingly naturalistic for the time. It's also nice to see him playing a vulnerable character--maybe for the last time after he donned the serape?

 

[michael_ks]

I finished "Rawhide" S3 vol. 2 a couple weeks ago and the it amazes me how consistenly well scripted the first three season episodes are. Like Gary, S1 was essentially a blind buy and it quickly became a firm favorite within the western genre, nearly (but not quite) overtaking my childhood favorite, "The Rifleman".

As for Eastwood, I have a feeling that the bad blood between him and Fleming is what led to his disparaging views on Rowdy Yates. The two nearly came to blows on at least one occasion when it became known that Fleming's patience was wearing very thin over Eastwood's lesser talent for memorizing lines. Certainly his character appears to be the impulsive, naive and overly eager ramrod in S1 (hence his "idiot of the plains" comment) but by S2 his character gets fleshed out rather nicely and Eastwood did a superb job in my estimation. To me, he worked harder at his craft in this show than he did making the Leone westerns or some of later bad films co-starring rodent-faced Sondra Locke.

 

[jdee28]

If anyone gets to see the last season of Rawhide, Eastwood acts a little like the Man with No Name. In fact, the new animated opening contains a rough sketch of him with one of the stogies from the Leone films in his mouth, something he never really smoked on Rawhide.

 

[michael_ks]

I wonder if that was producer Ben Brady's idea of exploiting the budding Italian western popularity. I understand he did much to change the look and feel of the series that it bared little resemblance to the Charles Marquis Warren days. With the loss of several of the regulars (Fleming, Wooley and Murdock) and the introduction of three new characters I guess it couldn't help but depart rather dramatically from seasons 1-3.

Taking a glance at what is probably the best "Rawhide" fan site, starting with S5 the openings went from depicting a trail map, then silhouettes of the major stars, bronze statues and finally in S8, sketches. That's alot of opening title changes. Interesting too, how "Incident" returns in the episode titles but for S5 and S6 only.

I hope that in one way or another I get to see all 217 episodes, even if the remainder are only available as downloads. And as shaky as things are for future DVD releases, I wish now the series had just been released as a complete set.

 

[Gary OS]

Amen to all that, Michael. I'd really rather not have to resort to watching on my computer via downloads, but if that's the only way then so be it. Like you, I wish the show somehow would have been released as one massive set (ala "Get Smart" or "Man from UNCLE").

Gary "CBS/P may have some great titles on the horizon (based on the Syndication Bible updates) but this one stalling out really, really hurts" O.

 

[Stephen PI]

Any news on season 4?

 

[Gary OS]

Absolutely none, and if the CBS Syndication Bible is any indicator (and we all know it is) then Season 4 isn't coming for a long, long time.

Gary "since no transfer work is being done on Season 4 yet, I'm pretty sure we won't see anything before 2010 at the earliest" O.

 

[Stephen PI]

Thanks, Gary.

 

[Gary OS]

It's not the answer I wanted to give, but it is the truthful one. Right now the show is clearly stalled out.

Gary "all we can do is hope CBS/P starts it up again sometime in the not to distant future" O.

 

[michael_ks]

Does this listing on Amazon give us any reason to expect a S4 release?

http://www.amazon.com/Rawhide-Season...4556254&sr=1-9

The Syndication Bible does not reflect that S4 has been remastered, though--correct? But when I see an ASIN number on Amazon for S4 v.1, I can't help but develop a ray of hope.

 

[Gary OS]

No one would be more thrilled than me if that listing meant we were looking at a release in the near future. But everything I see and hear tells me it's not coming any time soon. Of course studios can always change their mind, and maybe they have in this instance. As I said, I'd be more thrilled than anyone if this was the case. I'm just not holding my breath.

Gary "since this business has so many twists and turns in it, I guess we should never say never" O.

 

[MattPeriolat]

Well, here's a question for you, Gary: Could CBS be using sales of first season Bonanza as a barometer for the marker to see if it would support another season of a Western like Rawhide? I know the idea may not make much sense to people since it's two totally different shows, but a similar train of thought is going on with the sales of a new season of Knot's Landing justifying the release of Falcon Crest on DVD.

Just wondering.

 

[Gary OS]

I have no idea, Matt. Attempting to figure out what goes on in their minds is a fruitless and maddening task, so I gave up trying a long while ago.

It seems to me that BONANZA and RAWHIDE are two completely different types of westerns, but that's just me. Not sure what they could learn from subbing one for the other.

Gary "I really hope Michael's find means something positive for this series" O.

 

[Jeff Willis]

That says it all. Both of us hope that we'll see more Rawhide but there's no way to tell for now.

Better luck knowing the size of the Universe than predicting TV/DVD's.

Jeff "Rollin', rollin', rollin'.... though sales are all un-knowin', keep them sets 'a-comin', Rawhide" W.

 

[Gary OS]

I'm going to go to Amazon and sign up for this notification about Season 4, Volume 1. It can't hurt and maybe CBS/Paramount will look at the results and make a determination about future volumes based on this. I have a better feeling about the possibility of more sets than I did yesterday.

Gary "thanks again to Michael for pointing this out" O.