The 25 Best Black and White Dramas Not On DVD (1 Viewer)

[Neil Brock]

In no particular order:

The Defenders
Ben Casey
Bus Stop
The Nurses
Way Out
For The People
The Eleventh Hour
Breaking Point
The Reporter
Saints and Sinners
Slattery's People
Sam Benedict
The New Breed
The Great Adventure
Profiles in Courage
East Side West Side
The Dick Powell Show
Sam Benedict
Mr. Novak
Trials of O'Brien
Channing
Target: The Corrupters
The Richard Boone Show
Alcoa Premiere
Five Fingers

Leaving out all of the live 50s anthologies, which if they exist, its mostly on kinescopes or 2-inch tape like later Playhouse 90s. Apologies to the fans of the WB shows, but popularity doesn't equal quality.

 

[jperez]

Great list. I would include Adventures in Paradise, Cain's Hundred, Mr. Broadway, Man of he World and The Sentimental Agent, although the last two did come out on DVD in the UK.

 

[Dave B Ferris]

There is actually room for one more show on the list, because "Slattery's People" is listed twice.

 

[Vic Pardo]

The only one on that list I watched regularly as a kid was "Mr. Novak," which I remember liking a lot. I must have seen some "Defenders" episodes also, since my father liked that show and my older brother remembers watching it. Most of the others I've never seen at all. I've seen one episode each from "The New Breed" and "Cain's Hundred" on YouTube. I liked both.

ADDENDUM: I did watch "Profiles in Courage" as a child also. Great show. I tried to license it years ago for the TV station I work for and it was...unavailable. I don't remember the details. (This was 25 years ago.)

 

[Neil Brock]

There is actually room for one more show on the list, because "Slattery's People" is listed twice.

Corrected.

 

[Dave B Ferris]

This is on me; now I am unable to remember which show was added (i.e., which show was not on the list before the correction).Is it "Profiles in Courage"?If so, is that unique from the other shows in that "Profiles in Courage" was, for lack of a better phrase, a series of "mini-documentaries"?

 

[Frank Soyke]

In no particular order:

The Defenders
Ben Casey
Bus Stop
The Nurses
Way Out
For The People
The Eleventh Hour
Breaking Point
The Reporter
Saints and Sinners
Slattery's People
Sam Benedict
The New Breed
The Great Adventure
Profiles in Courage
East Side West Side
The Dick Powell Show
Sam Benedict
Mr. Novak
Trials of O'Brien
Channing
Target: The Corrupters
The Richard Boone Show
Alcoa Premiere
Five Fingers

Leaving out all of the live 50s anthologies, which if they exist, its mostly on kinescopes or 2-inch tape like later Playhouse 90s. Apologies to the fans of the WB shows, but popularity doesn't equal quality.

Ok, Neil. Here's the next question. Which of these, if any, have any realistic cahnce of proper DVD release? I'm still kind of astounded that no-one (CBS?) has done anything at all with Ben Casey considering how popular it was.

PS - I blind bought some 16mm prints of Channing in the mid 90's. I had no familiarity with it at the time. Really great show

I would also add Markham to this list.

 

[Your Tulpa]

The Eleventh Hour is a show I'm very curious about. A psychology drama from my favorite era of TV is a very intriguing prospect. Aren't Mr. Novak and The Eleventh Hour supposed to be in the pipeline through Warners Archives?


And I'm DESPERATE for a Defenders release.

 

[Regulus]

The four Warner Brothers "Detective" Shows:

77 Sunset Strip

Bourbon Street

Hawaiian Eye

Surfside 6

And any ZIV TV Shows that haven't been released yet.

 

[howard1908]

I would like to see the thin man tv series up for release, its unlikely but possible. I would also love to see the defenders on DVD, I find it an absolute shame that CBS took this show out of syndication so long ago, if they hadn't we wouldn't even be having this conversation now because it would already be out on dvd, and it is highly unlikely that the show will see an official release, unless CBS leases the rights to a third party (as i. The case of sgt.bilko). Other shows I would like to see are adventures in paradise get a release, but that too is simply a pipe dream, because of greed on the part of the michener estate, and apathy on the part of 20th century, I mean look at their MOD program its a damn joke, their using it to release shows that would perform moderately well on pressed disc ( probably selling in the tens of thousands of units) and unlike CBS I dont think they will even bother leasing their classic TV library to a third party. I would also like to see ben Casey and its spinoff breaking point make an official release. And since no one else brought it up the detectives starring robert Taylor, I mean it got a nice release in Germany( they always seem to get our shows before we do) so why not in its country of origin, I apologize for the verbosity and pessimism of my post but that's just how things look as of right now.

 

[howard1908]

The four Warner Brothers "Detective" Shows: 77 Sunset Strip Bourbon Street Hawaiian Eye Surfside 6 And any ZIV TV Shows that haven't been released yet.

Unlike everybody else i think that these show will see release in the near future (2015/2016), because even though these show feature a lot of musical segues there were a lot of show that had similar problems that eventually made it to dvd, a one peter Gunn comes to mind, lola alright sang In the majority of those, and i know that the a&e released those prints unmolested. Although maybe I am wrong, since my knowledge in this field is not as extensive as some others in this field (Neil Brock), but i do have a pretty optimistic outcome about the warner shows.

 

[Richard V]

I would add

Coronet Blue
NYPD
and possibly The Lineup

 

[jperez]

Both Coronet Blue and NYPD were in color.

 

[Neil Brock]

The four Warner Brothers "Detective" Shows:

77 Sunset Strip

Bourbon Street

Hawaiian Eye

Surfside 6

And any ZIV TV Shows that haven't been released yet.

That's why I labeled the title as "Best" not most popular or anything else. The WB shows we can debate the merits or lack thereof (likewise the Ziv shows), but none of the above qualifies on any 25 Best list, IMO.

 

[Jack P]

That is purely a subjective area of consideration. There are number of shows that were critics favorites that weren't necessarily examples of good television other than the fact that the critics loved the points of view those particular shows took and wouldn't rate on any "best" list of mine.

I found it amusing how the book "The Studio" gave us a scene of Paul Monash trying to come up with scripts for a show critics considered "daring" and "challenging" and how he was asking for permission to recycle scripts from other shows by just changing a gender here, a weapon there etc. and giving us the same "message" that the earlier show was giving us. Which only goes to show how the sin of hackery and recycling scripts was not a trait limited to the WB shows. Ultimately, whether the show was good TV or not depends entirely IMO on its capacity to entertain and to bring things off with good acting, execution etc.

 

[Professor Echo]

And since no one else brought it up the detectives starring robert Taylor, I mean it got a nice release in Germany( they always seem to get our shows before we do) so why not in its country of origin.

Howard, I read a review on Amazon Germany that this release does not have its original English soundtrack. Is this true?

 

[Neil Brock]

Howard, I read a review on Amazon Germany that this release does not have its original English soundtrack. Is this true?

That's my understanding. Other U.S. shows released there without English audio are Pistols 'n' Petticoats and Run Buddy Run. Not sure about The Rogues. That may have English.

 

[Darby67]

And I'm DESPERATE for a Defenders release.

Me too! It is an incredible long shot, but I would purchase a complete series release of The Defenders on pressed discs in a heartbeat.

 

[howard1908]

Howard, I read a review on Amazon Germany that this release does not have its original English soundtrack. Is this true?

Yes thats true the DVD is a German dub, but the restoration on them is beautifully done, I just hope when the WB releases their version it will be up to the same standard of quality.

 

[howard1908]

I would addCoronet BlueNYPDand possibly The Lineup

I personally would scratch the lineup from ever making on DVD, I'm not even sure who owns the rights, is it CBS paramount, i think this because even though the show had a successful first run, they even made a movie based off it starring the talented Eli wallach, it has seen only sporadic syndication since the 70s. And unlike other long running shows that have not seen a dvd release like dragnet, burns and Allen etc. this show is not widely known and is referred to only by the most hardcore classic TV fans, and its a shame to since next to dragnet this is my second most wanted release for dvd.