Hank Dearborn
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- May 30, 2007
- Messages
- 715
- Real Name
- Hank
I LOVE being able to blame Fox for anything as they are by far my most despised company. As to the companies scoffing at their black and white catalogues, well I don't think it's fair to just single out Warner and Sony because other than Paramount, they all do it. And I'm also beginning to wonder exactly how many of those classic black and white Sony shows they truly own as opposed to just having syndicated. The Herbert Leonard shows have come from other distributors and even one of his lesser shows like Circus Boy I've heard is being shopped around by his estate, not by Sony. FKB got licensed from his estate and I'm pretty sure the Donna Reed Show is owned by hers. Rin Tin Tin was sold off by them a long time ago. So really, what are we talking about here, Dennis the Menace and Burns and Allen? Not to disparage those two shows but what else are we talking about here? The Hathaways, Our Man Higgins, Shannon, My Sister Eileen, Grindl, Dan Raven, Casey Jones, Two Faces West, Man From Blackhawk, Behind Closed Doors, The Ed Wynn Show, Jungle Jim, Manhunt, Tales of the Texas Rangers, Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers, Tallahassee 7000. Not exactly a list of shows people are tearing down the doors for, although I wouldn't mind seeing a nice set of Tightrope, which is a great show. Warner on the other hand has all of those late 50s, early 60s detective and western shows that people of a certain age all go crazy for. Not to mention a lot of great old MGM shows they acquired when they bought Turner. And what exactly has Universal done with their vast black and white library? 2 season of LITB, 3 of AHP and that's it. No Thriller, Dragnet, M Squad, Mike Hammer, etc. Thankfully they have a good attitude about Timeless putting out many of these shows whose prints, ahem, fell off the back of a truck 2 decades ago. I've had all of those shows for years but it's nice to see them get a general release.