The Donna Reed Show: SEASON 4 (1 Viewer)

[Garysb]

Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff
On this forum, I suggested the Donna Reed heirs use Lucille Ball's heirs as role models ... and it seems as if they are, going with MPI which did "Here's Lucy." Now they have to be willing to spend some money on restoration and not just pull crummy old syndicated prints off the shelves.

Was season 4 ever syndicated ? I know it was not included in the Nick At Nite airings. How about on ABC Daytime or on local stations after that. In the old days before shows were put on video tape the local station showed 16 MM prints. They were shipped local station to local station and often the prints were cut differently so that different parts were cut on different prints. If season 4 was never put on video tape for syndication chances are that complete prints exist. What condition they are in is anyone's guess.

Was there an episode dealing with Mary saying good bye to go away to college or did they just mention she was at college when season 6 began?

 

[Greg2356]

Yes, The Donna Reed Show's 'Fourth Season' was definitely shown on ABC Daytime Reruns. After this, I am not sure! I was told on this Forum that the 'Fourth Season' was syndicated in the 1970's and then was taken out of the 'Syndicated Rerun Package' for some reason in the 1980's, as well as Seasons 6 and 7. I know when my local TV Station had aired "The Donna Reed Show" in the early 1980's which was two years before "Nick at Nite" had aired it, that they had shown the very same 'Seasons' from this TV Series that "Nick at Nite" had aired, which were Seasons-> 1,2,3,5, and 8. I had originally thought that this 'Fourth Season' of "The Donna Reed Show" had never been syndicated past the 'ABC Daytime Reruns' since I had called "Screen Gems" in the early 80's and had asked them, what happened to these missing seasons? And they told me that 'The ABC Television Network' had never released 100 Episodes from "The Donna Reed Show." A friend of mine on 'Facebook' who is much more of a TV Buff than me, claims he had watched this 'Fourth Season' of "The Donna Reed Show" in the early 70's when he had lived in New York. He gave me the whole TV schedule of the reruns that were airing in his particular area at the time!

There was only one episode that my local TV Station and "Nick at Nite" had aired from this 'Fourth Season' and the episode was entitled, "Mouse at Play" with Guest Stars Cloris Leachman and John Astin.

There was never a 'Goodbye Episode' per se that had specially dealt with Mary leaving her family to go to College. Although, in the 'Fifth Season' there was a conversation between Mary and Donna at the very beginning of an episode entitled, "The Big Wheel" and in this very short conversation, it was mentioned that Mary was leaving for college in the fall, but that was it! In the 'Sixth Season' it was once again only mentioned that Mary now had actually gone away to college. And then down the line during this 'Season Six,' Shelley Fabares Guest Stars in about the seventh episode which is entitled, "Mary Comes Home."

 

[Theodore J. Mooney]

Originally Posted by Greg2356
Yes, The Donna Reed Show's 'Fourth Season was definitely shown on ABC Daytime Reruns. After this, I am not sure! I was told on this Forum that the 'Fourth Season' was syndicated in the 1970's and then was taken out of the 'Syndicated Rerun Package' for some reason in the 1980's, as well as Seasons 6 and 7. I know when my local TV Station had aired "The Donna Reed Show" in the early 1980's which was two years before "Nick at Nite" had aired it, that they had shown the very same 'Seasons' from this TV Series that "Nick at Nite" had aired, which were Seasons-> 1,2,3,5, and 8. I had originally thought that this 'Fourth Season' of "The Donna Reed Show" had never been syndicated past the 'ABC Daytime Reruns' since I had called "Screen Gems" in the early 80's and had asked them, what happened to these missing seasons? And they told me that 'The ABC Television Network' had never released 100 Episodes from "The Donna Reed Show." There was only one episode that my local TV Station and "Nick at Nite" had aired from the 'Fourth Season' and the episode was entitled, "Mouse at Play."

There was never a 'Goodbye Episode' per se that had specially dealt with Mary leaving to go to College. Although, in the 'Fifth Season' there was a short conversation between Mary and Donna at the very beginning of an episode that concerned Mary leaving for college in the fall, but that was it! In the 'Sixth Season' it was just mentioned that Mary was in college. And then down the line during this season,' Shelley Fabares Guest Stars in about the seventh episode which is entitled, "Mary Comes Home."

So Nick-at-Nite never actually aired all of the seasons of this series, right? Just a select few? Hmmm. If that is the case, then I wonder why the series lasted so long as it did on N@N and as a lead-in to start off the night.

 

[Greg2356]

So Nick-at-Nite never actually aired all of the seasons of this series, right? Just a select few? Hmmm. If that is the case, then I wonder why the series lasted so long as it did on N@N and as a lead-in to start off the night.

When "Nick at Nite" had aired this Classic "Donna Reed Show" series, there were enough episodes to keep the viewer's interest even with these 100 episodes being taken away from it's original package of 275 Episodes! So they still ended up having 175 Episodes to air on "Nick at Nite" which is the exact preferred amount of episodes needed for Syndication Purposes. And since they skipped from Season 3 to Season 5, alot of people who had never seen "The Donna Reed Show" before had mistakenly thought, that they were watching the 'Fourth Season' of "The Donna Reed Show" when in reality they were watching the 'Fifth Season.' This is why they assumed Shelley Fabares had left the series at the end of the 'Fourth Season,' when she had actually left this series at the end of the 'Fifth Season.' I heard many people say on message boards that they had thought Shelley Fabares had left "The Donna Reed Show" series after the 'Fourth Season.'

Although, when they skipped from the 'Fifth Season' to the "Eighth Season" of "The Donna Reed Show" on "Nick at Nite," then people had to know for sure something was up! Donna's hair & makeup had drastically changed, and Jeff looked way more mature looking! And the instruments that were used during the 'Theme Song' on this 'Eighth Season' sounded greatly modernized!! I always felt that the last three seasons regarding "The Donna Reed Show" should have been in color! I say this, because the way Donna's Sunny Blond Hair, Makeup, and her much lighter shade of lipstick looked, she would have been absolutely radiant looking in color!

 

[AlanP]

Was the entire "DONNA REED" series seasons 1-8 syndicated on ABC during it's daily reruns ??
Also, what about the one with Shelley singing "Johnny Angel" was that on N@N ??

 

[Greg2356]

Originally Posted by AlanP
Was the entire "DONNA REED" series seasons 1-8 syndicated on ABC during it's daily reruns ??
Also, what about the one with Shelley singing "Johnny Angel" was that on N@N ??

Yes Alan, the entire series Seasons 1 through 8 were shown on the ABC Television Network during it's weekday daily reruns. And no "Nick at Nite" never aired the episode with Shelley Fabares singing "Johnny Angel" since they only aired one episode from 'Season Four' entitled, "Mouse at Play" in which Cloris Leachman and John Astin had 'Guest Starred' in this particular episode.

 

[AlanP]

WHEN DID ABC END THE DAILY RERUNS OF THE SERIES ?? AND WAS IT SYNDICATED NATIONALLY WITH ALL EPISODES AFTER IT'S ABC RUN ??

 

[cajunhillbilly]

Please turn off your caps lock. Thanks

 

[Kasey]

ABC took Donna reruns off-air early in 1968, because they had been rerunning it daily since 1964 and they stood to profit from huge ratings by starting to rerun the Seasons 1-3 episodes of Bewitched in that time slot. Bewitched would continue in daily reruns on ABC until the fall of 1973 when The Brady Bunch took over on the daytime schedule.

 

[Neil Brock]

Syndicators would commonly cut down packages of shows which had an overabundance of episodes. Some of those shows at one time had a far bigger number of episodes but by the 80s, they began to eliminate episodes. Some examples, besides Donna Reed, were Make Room for Daddy with 343 made and originally 223 syndicated, later cut to 161 with the last 2 seasons and first 4 seasons dropped. Ozzie and Harriet, 435 made, 200 syndicated. Bonanza, 431 made, 260 syndicated (I believe). Other shows which had episodes dropped for size of series were The Millionaire, Rawhide, Wagon Train, Beverly Hillbillies and others, not to mention My Three Sons and Petticoat Junction which have never syndicated their black and white seasons, although Nick and CBN ran the black and white My Three Sons.

 

[Neil Brock]

Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff
OK ... I knew they ran short. I dislike timesped episodes just as much as cut ones.

Really? AS MUCH? I'm not a fan of timespeeding but to me its far preferable to eliminating parts of the show, Unfortunately, with a show like Combat for instance, the only way to get uncut, unsped episodes is if you had been able to record them off the air from a station that didn't edit for time and that ran the show pre-1982 or so, which is when Worldvision started to only offer the show on sped-up 1-inch tape. Once Worldvision started pushing their older series, such as Combat, Ben Casey, The Fugitive, etc, all they offered were the sped versions on tape and you couldn't get it any other way. Even a PBS station, which would have no reason to cut for commercial time, could only get the 46 minute versions of the shows.

 

[Greg2356]

Originally Posted by AlanP
[SIZE= 16px][COLOR= rgb(255, 0, 0)]Did Mary return for the final show ?? How many seasons did she return ?? And was it several shows ?? Was she discussed from time to time on the series ? [/COLOR][/SIZE]

Shelley Fabares returned sporadically in episodes for two more seasons which were the 'Sixth' and 'Seventh Season' of "The Donna Reed Show." Okay Alan--here are the titles from episodes that Shelley Fabares appeared in for the 'Sixth Season.' Ep. 194, "Mary Comes Home" Ep. 197, "What are Friends For" Ep. 200, "Moon Shot" and Ep. 213, "Day For Remembering."
Now here are the titles from episodes that Shelley Fabares appeared in for the 'Seventh Season.' Ep. 223, "The Daughter Complex" Ep. 228, "Anyone Can Drive" Ep. 233, "Old Faithful" and Ep. 248, "Indoor Outing."
Also there was a rather Special Episode from the 'Sixth Season' which was Ep. 202- entitled, "First Addition," in this episode Donna Stone reminisces about Mary's birth and goes back in time, which finds Donna lying in a Hospital Bed with baby Mary in her arms with Alex by her side. Shelley Fabares doesn't actually appear in this particular episode, but indeed- the baby is supposed to be Mary Stone.
And No, unfortunately Shelley Fabares did not return for the final show in the 'Eighth Season."

 

[JeffBoomer]

I asked a friend in the late 80s early 90s who worked at Columbia Pictures why some episodes of Donna Reed weren't in syndication. He told me that Bob Crane was in the series, had died, and that his ex-wife had a lawsuit against Columbia Pictures for Residuals. Columbia Pictures played it safe and refused to release any episodes that he was in (that Columbia owned). The answer didn't make total sense at the time because there were a few episodes with Bob Crane popping up from time to time, but now it does if the Owens family owns seasons 1-5, and Sony 6-8. Does anyone have any more info on the lawsuit??

 

[Greg2356]

Originally Posted by JeffBoomer
I asked a friend in the late 80s early 90s who worked at Columbia Pictures why some episodes of Donna Reed weren't in syndication. He told me that Bob Crane was in the series, had died, and that his ex-wife had a lawsuit against Columbia Pictures for Residuals. Columbia Pictures played it safe and refused to release any episodes that he was in (that Columbia owned). The answer didn't make total sense at the time because there were a few episodes with Bob Crane popping up from time to time, but now it does if the Owens family owns seasons 1-5, and Sony 6-8. Does anyone have any more info on the lawsuit??

I do see what you mean Jeff, but I guess you already know that in the 80's and mid 90's it wasn't the 'Eighth Season' episodes that were among the missing 100 episodes that weren't released for syndication, since in 1983 my Local Television Station had aired this 'Eighth Season' for two years, and then "Nick at Nite" also had aired the 'Eighth Season' for nine years starting in 1985. And then "TV Land" had aired this 'Eighth Season' starting in I believe about 1995. Bob Crane of course wasn't even in the 'Eighth Season' anyway, so it is actually a mute point, but the 100 missing episodes that weren't syndicated in the 80's and beyond in regards to "The Donna Reed Show" are Seasons 4, 6, and 7. And of course, Bob Crane was never in the 'Fourth Season' of this series, since he didn't start showing up in a couple of episodes from "The Donna Reed Show" until the latter part of the "Fifth Season" as a mere introduction to his 'Dr. Dave Kelsey Character' that would appear frequently starting in the 'Sixth Season.'

Although, what you said Jeff would easily explain why the 6th and 7th seasons weren't aired in syndication because of the ex-wife's lawsuit being in the way! And the reason the 'Fourth Season' wasn't released either was because of the three 'Song Numbers' with Music Rights attached that were included in this particular season. In other words, the two seasons 6 & 7 were not released in syndication at least in the 80's and 90's, because the lawsuit that you had mentioned Jeff had most likely interfered, and the 'Fourth Season' wasn't released either, but for a very different reason involving it's 'Music Rights" issues.

This lawsuit explains a lot!!! Thank you so much Jeff for this important and very interesting information concerning this matter of unreleased seasons! This would also explain why 'Columbia Pictures" had allowed the "Nick at Nite" Network to air the 'Eighth Season' and not the Sixth and Seventh Seasons with Bob Crane. Now, I won't be holding my breath in thinking MPI can reasonably get the rights to seasons Six and Seven so as to be able to release them on DVD! The mystery surrounding these 'Seasons' from "The Donna Reed Show" are starting to clear up now!!! The poor "Donna Reed Show" never stood a chance against all these problems, but 'Thank Goodness' for Mary Owen who has worked a miracle in getting this elusive "Fourth Season" (with Music Rights attached), to be finally released on DVD after all these many years!!! Because of what you told us Jeff, regarding the 6 and 7 Seasons being held back from the light of day for the reason being- this Lawsuit, I don't think there is much hope in seeing these two seasons released on DVD anytime soon- that is, if this pending lawsuit still exists? I guess that we will just have to wait and see what happens next...

 

[Garysb]

I would be surprised if music rights were the reason Season 4 was withheld from syndication. Music rights did not become an issue for older shows until home video. Rights to music in TV shows were only cleared for broadcast. The idea that the shows would someday be available for purchase was not considered and therefore rights were not obtained. It would seem odd that the Donna Reed show would be the only 60's sit com not to obtain rights for the music to be used for broadcast reruns. It is only a few songs. It's not like it was a variety show like Carol Burnett. Variety shows were not syndicated in the 60's and therefore music rights for syndication were not obtained. Also it was known that the amount of music on the Carol Burnett show was so great and they would have to pay the musicians and dancers as well as the songwriters . If for some reason there was a music clearance problem, why not just leave out the episodes with the music instead of the whole season. I think the original answer about having enough episodes for syndication makes the most sense.

Not sure about the Bob Crane story. He was a DJ in LA at the time he appeared on the Donna Reed show. Why would he get a deal better than the standard residual deal in effect at the time the show was made? Residuals would surely have expired by the 1990.s. On the other hand Audrey Meadows negotiated, back in the 1950's, to get residuals for as long as the classic 39 Honeymooners was shown on TV. As a result she was and I guess her heirs are still getting residuals for that show. She was the only one of the actors on the show to get this deal.

Do you know why the " I Love Lucy" Christmas episode was not included in syndication? It was thought unnecessary since it consisted mostly of clips from previous episodes. The original episodes which were the basis for the clips were syndicated so why include the Christmas show? I think " I Love Lucy" was the first TV show to have a clip show. It wasn't thought then that people would want to see that more than once. There were other explanation over the years prior to the episode being shown on CBS after Lucille Ball died. One was that the Christmas show was considered so bad they decided to exclude it. Another was that since the shows ran 5 days a week, that it was foolish to include a Christmas show and have it air at other times of the year say in July. It was the only episode of I Love Lucy that referenced an exact time of the year. Just an example of why an episode was not included in a syndicated package.

 

[Greg2356]

Originally Posted by Garysb
I would be surprised if music rights were the reason Season 4 was withheld from syndication. Music rights did not become an issue for older shows until home video. Rights to music in TV shows were only cleared for broadcast. The idea that the shows would someday be available for purchase was not considered and therefore rights were not obtained. It would seem odd that the Donna Reed show would be the only 60's sit com not to obtain rights for the music to be used for broadcast reruns. It is only a few songs. It's not like it was a variety show like Carol Burnett. Variety shows were not syndicated in the 60's and therefore music rights for syndication were not obtained. Also it was known that the amount of music on the Carol Burnett show was so great and they would have to pay the musicians and dancers as well as the songwriters . If for some reason there was a music clearance problem, why not just leave out the episodes with the music instead of the whole season. I think the original answer about having enough episodes for syndication makes the most sense.

Not sure about the Bob Crane story. He was a DJ in LA at the time he appeared on the Donna Reed show. Why would he get a deal better than the standard residual deal in effect at the time the show was made? Residuals would surely have expired by the 1990.s. On the other hand Audrey Meadows negotiated, back in the 1950's, to get residuals for as long as the classic 39 Honeymooners was shown on TV. As a result she was and I guess her heirs are still getting residuals for that show. She was the only one of the actors on the show to get this deal.

Do you know why the " I Love Lucy" Christmas episode was not included in syndication? It was thought unnecessary since it consisted mostly of clips from previous episodes. The original episodes which were the basis for the clips were syndicated so why include the Christmas show? I think " I Love Lucy" was the first TV show to have a clip show. It wasn't thought then that people would want to see that more than once. There were other explanation over the years prior to the episode being shown on CBS after Lucille Ball died. One was that the Christmas show was considered so bad they decided to exclude it. Another was that since the shows ran 5 days a week, that it was foolish to include a Christmas show and have it air at other times of the year say in July. It was the only episode of I Love Lucy that referenced an exact time of the year. Just an example of why an episode was not included in a syndicated package.

I had always wondered why they just didn't take these songs out of the 'Fourth Season' of The Donna Reed Show instead of discarding the whole 4th Season over Music Rights! You could be right Gary about the original answer being the correct one with the cutting down of the package of reruns for syndicated purposes, but it still doesn't make sense to me that they would take out a season such as this 'Fourth Season' from The Donna Reed Show that was so very popular with the viewers! Talk about a bad choice of a 'Season' to discard!! And then also just happening to take out the two seasons 6 & 7 that Bob Crane had appeared in, this seems like more than a coincidence to me! When I had called "Screen Gems" back around 1984 asking them why these episodes with Bob Crane weren't shown on my Local TV Station that was airing The Donna Reed Show, this woman I was talking to had gotten very uptight when I had mentioned Bob Crane's name. She had acted like she was hiding something from me that I was about to uncover. She started sounding almost incoherant in asking me where I had heard this information about "Screen Gems" not releasing these episodes with Bob Crane, and she wanted to know if I had heard them talking about this on a Talk Show. I told her no, but I am working for a TV Station in doing the research on old TV shows that they are currently airing, such as The Donna Reed Show, Dennis the Menace, Father Knows Best, and Hazel, and I was wondering why these episodes were missing from the Fourth Season, Sixth Season, and Seventh Season of The Donna Reed Show. So then she suddenly blurted out, "The ABC Television Network has never released 100 episodes from The Donna Reed Show." So I didn't ask her why this was because she had already told me previously that it didn't concern me as to why these episodes are not being aired! She mentioned nothing even close to cutting down the syndicated rerun package of episodes. Anyway, what she had said about "The ABC Television Network" in regards to them never releasing 100 episodes from The Donna Reed Show wasn't exactly true, since they were airing all seasons of The Donna Reed Show for syndication in the early seventies. And The Donna Reed Show with it's prime time episodes and daily daytime ABC Reruns had gone off before 1970. So The ABC Television Network had obviously released these episodes from the 4th, 6th, and 7th Seasons for syndication purposes after "The Donna Reed Show" went off the ABC Television Network!

Furthermore, just recently "Antenna TV" announced they were going to air episodes from The Donna Reed Show from "Sony Pictures" starting in January 2011. When I had emailed "Antenna TV" asking them what seasons of this series they had planned to air, I received an email back from them saying that they had just gotten the word that they might not be airing The Donna Reed Show after all, because they were having trouble with the distributor. So I had noticed that they ended up taking their listing of The Donna Reed Show off of their 'Antenna TV Web Site' as one of the shows that they had planned to air on their station! I had further observed, that they had gotten every other show that they had wanted from "Sony Pictures" except for The Donna Reed Show. And they had successfully been able to obtain the Dennis the Menace series from "Sony Pictures" as well, which they had listed earlier on their Web Site just like they had listed The Donna Reed Show on their previous program list, which was to be included in their lineup of shows for January, 2011. It seems rather suspicious to me that "Antenna TV" had been able to obtain every other show on their list, but not The Donna Reed Show! As usual there was a problem with these latter episodes from this series. So I believe there is something more to this fact > that these particular episodes from Seasons 6 & 7 of The Donna Reed Show are not being aired in syndication, other than the explanation of cutting down the size of the rerun package for syndicated purposes! Something is very rotten in "Denmark" as they say...

 

[Neil Brock]

What seasons could they have dropped without people being suspicious about why they were dropped? What makes you think there was some nefarious reason, other than episode count? Why were the 10th and 11th season of Make Room for Daddy pulled out? Why the missing seasons of Bonanza? Who knows why? As for the Donna Reed Show being "so popular". Please. Prior to getting picked up by Nick at Nite, the show was rarer than hen's teeth. It was pretty much a dormant show, which hardly was airing anywhere in the country. I know I was getting it taped for me in Sacramento, California and it was hard to find a market that was carrying it. So, no, at the time the episode count was cut, the show wasn't popular at all.

 

[Greg2356]

Originally Posted by Neil Brock
What seasons could they have dropped without people being suspicious about why they were dropped? What makes you think there was some nefarious reason, other than episode count? Why were the 10th and 11th season of Make Room for Daddy pulled out? Why the missing seasons of Bonanza? Who knows why? As for the Donna Reed Show being "so popular". Please. Prior to getting picked up by Nick at Nite, the show was rarer than hen's teeth. It was pretty much a dormant show, which hardly was airing anywhere in the country. I know I was getting it taped for me in Sacramento, California and it was hard to find a market that was carrying it. So, no, at the time the episode count was cut, the show wasn't popular at all.

Read the posts and you'll find out why the suspicions exist, and not just my posts either, go to other message boards as well! And if you don't like "The Donna Reed Show" then by all means, get off this "Donna Reed Show" thread! I don't like "Make Room for Daddy," because I thought that the Danny Williams character was just a big yelling loud mouth!! Of course that is my opinion, I know people who completely love that show! At least, I don't go to message board threads like you do that have fans that specifically love this series and put it down.

Incidentally, "Make Room for Daddy" did miserably on "Nick at Nite" for reasons that are very obvious! No mystery why it just disappeared off that Network. "The Donna Reed Show" was way more popular with the "Nick at Nite" viewers than "Make Room for Daddy" could ever be in your most wildest dreams! I did like the actor Danny Thomas though, but just not in his Television Series. One of my favorite episodes in "The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour" is entitled, "Lucy Makes Room for Danny" I have always loved this episode!! His yelling in that episode was very appropriate indeed, since Lucy drove him absolutely crazy!! lol

Donna Reed's family members, stand to make a mint with this missing 'Fourth Season' of "The Donna Reed Show" being put out on DVD! I think it is just great, and I am very happy for them! "Virgil Films and Entertainment" was very disappointed when they weren't able to put out this 'Fourth Season' and even put out a vague warning at first to the people running the "Bring The Donna Reed Show's Season 4 to DVD"! Facebook Campaign Page. They even thought that maybe they were going to have to take this campaign page down at first, but Paul Petersen stepped in to help, and "Virgil Films and Entertainment" then gave their permission for them to solicit another studio or studios to continue to pick up this great Television Show! Mary Owen and her siblings as I had said before, did not harbor any hard feelings against this studio since they knew how much fun "Virgil Films and Entertainment" was having in putting out their Mom's Television Show! When this elusive 'Fourth Season' arrives on DVD, it is going to be a most joyful day for the many "Donna Reed Show" Fans that have been waiting anxiously for years to see this very popular 'Fourth Season' including 'Yours Truly'!!!

Have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, DANNY and a HAPPY, HEALTHY NEW YEAR AHEAD!!! The same goes for EVERYONE ELSE ON THIS MESSAGE BOARD!!!!

 

[LeoA]

Where did he say he didn't like this show?

All I saw was him expressing the obvious that all we can do when you get right down to it is speculate and guess why some seasons of the program were pulled from the syndication package, and state the truth that this show was rarely seen for years after it's initial run until Nick at Night picked it up.

 

[Neil Brock]

Originally Posted by LeoAmes
Where did he say he didn't like this show?

All I saw was him expressing the obvious that all we can do when you get right down to it is speculate and guess why some seasons of the program were pulled from the syndication package, and state the truth that this show was rarely seen for years after it's initial run until Nick at Night picked it up.

I guess stating facts is blasphemy and if you don't drink the Kool Aid and agree on everything being great, you're a hater. By the way, yes, I do like the show and I would love to see the Dave Kelsey episodes which I remember watching from when they were in syndication. I would like to at least see all of the Mary years released anyway, beyond that if we see anything its a bonus. Not to get into a MRFD vs DR dispute, but, yes MRFD does not play well to modern audiences and has bombed everywhere that its run in the last 30 years, not just on Nick. As for Danny Williams and his yelling, I can't speak for everyone but he was a lot closer to my father and the fathers of all of my friends than Alex Stone, Jim Anderson, Ward Cleaver and all of the other calm and tolerant make believe fathers on TV. Until Herbert T. Gillis came along, Danny Williams was the most realistic dad on television. And I think its also a funnier show. As for anyone "making a mint" off the fourth season of this or any other 50 year old show, not likely.