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The Donna Reed Show: SEASON 4 (1 Viewer)

Greg2356

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Originally Posted by BobO'Link
So here we are in mid-March... any word/updates on this possible release?

Hi Bob! Sorry, but there is no 'Street Date' at this particular time for the 'Fourth Season' in regards to "The Donna Reed Show. In fact, Donna Reed's Daughter 'Mary Owen' had said about a week ago now, that MPI Home Video is doing wonderfully well with this "Donna Reed Show" series, but she also said there is no 'Street Date' as yet. This time around for the 'Fourth Season' DVD's, all 39 episodes are being totally re-mastered from the original negatives of the 35mm film stock to obtain the best picture quality possible, and this takes a lot of time to do! It can't be rushed because the studio needs time to do this re-mastering process to the best of their ability. When Mary Owen is able to give us a Street Date, I will in turn inform all of you here on the Home Theater Forum!
 

Greg2356

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For you Shelley Fabares Fans and Donna Reed Fans alike: Here is a note that Shelley Fabares wrote to Mary Owen about Donna Reed to put up on "Facebook" during Donna Reed's Birthday Celebration on January 27, 2011. This Birthday Celebration for Donna Reed had taken place on the 'Facebook Fan Page' that is entitled, "We Love The Donna Reed Show."





Birthday Note from Shelley Fabares!



by Mary Owen on Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 7:44pm



WHEN MARY ASKED IF THERE WERE THINGS I WANTED TO SAY ABOUT DONNA ON WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE OCCASION OF HER 90TH BIRTHDAY I WAS THRILLED AND HONORED. BEFORE I BEGIN A QUICK FACT THAT SOME OR EVEN ALL MIGHT KNOW BUT IN CASE NOT... MY CHARACTER, MARY STONE, WAS NAMED FOR DONNA'S NEW BABY GIRL... MARY!! I'VE LOVED KNOWING THAT ALL THESE YEARS. IT'S ONE MORE THING THAT HAS ALWAYS MADE ME FEEL SO CONNECTED TO DONNA AND HER CHILDREN.

IT'S HARD FOR ME TO EXPLAIN TO PEOPLE WHAT PLAYING DONNA'S DAUGHTER HAS MEANT TO ME IN MY LIFE. FROM A PROFESSIONAL POINT OF VIEW IT WAS AN AMAZING OPPORTUNITY, OF COURSE, BUT THAT PALES HUGELY TO WHAT IT HAS MEANT TO ME PERSONALLY.

DONNA WAS A WOMAN OF STRENGTH, KINDNESS, COMPASSION, ENORMOUS INTEGRITY, HEART, CURIOSITY (HER QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE IN SO MANY AREAS WAS NEVER QUENCHED),CHARACTER AND INFINITE GRACE. MANY WORDS - ALL ABSOLUTELY TRUE - BUT HOW DO THEY TRANSLATE TO THIS ONE PARTICULAR WOMAN ON A DAY TO DAY BASIS?

I NEED TO CONVEY THESE THINGS TO ALL OF YOU FROM MY OWN EXPERIENCES WITH HER. SHE MADE EVERY SINGLE DAY I WORKED WITH HER AN EXCITING, FUN, COMPELLING ADVENTURE. SHE WAS ALWAYS THERE WITH THE RIGHT WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT WHEN NEEDED, THE SOFT SHOULDER TO LEAN ON WHEN THINGS SEEMED OVERWHELMING, AND SHE SOMEHOW IMPARTED THE FEELING TO ME THAT SHE EXPECTED MY VERY BEST - AS AN ACTRESS AND, MOST CERTAINLY, AS A PERSON. AND THE MYSTERY FOR ME WAS - AND REMAINS - HOW SHE MANAGED TO DO THAT WITHOUT EVER MAKING ME FEEL THAT I HAD TO ACHIEVE "THAT GOAL" OR ELSE I WOULD BE A FAILURE. PEOPLE'S EXPECTATIONS CAN BE A TRICKY THING, AS I'VE FOUND OVER THE YEARS, DONNA HAD THE MAGIC IN HER TO DO IT JUST RIGHT.

ANYBODY WHO KNOWS ME AND WHO HAPPENS TO BE READING THIS IS THINKING SOME VERSION OF "OH MY GOD, SOMEBODY STOP HER. SHE'S JUST GETTING WARMED UP!" THIS, OF COURSE, TRANSLATES TO I TALK TOO MUCH AND TOO LONG.

I HAVE SO MANY STORIES ABOUT DONNA THAT COME RACING TO MIND BUT I REALIZE THAT MARY WASN'T ASKING FOR MY VERSION OF "WAR AND PEACE" SO I SHALL CLOSE WITH THESE FINAL THOUGHTS.

DONNA REED WAS A FORCE OF NATURE AND A WORK OF ART. I MISS HER EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE AND GIVE GREAT THANK YOU'S TO THE FATES OR WHOMEVER THAT ALLOWED ME TO CROSS HER PATH. I CARRY HER SPIRIT - AND HER WORDS OF ADVICE!! - WITH ME ALWAYS. SHE MADE ME A STRONGER AND BETTER PERSON THAN I EVER COULD HAVE BEEN ON MY OWN.

MY WISH FOR EACH OF YOU WOULD BE THAT YOU COULD HAVE HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF KNOWING DONNA BELLE MULLENGER AND HAVING HER GRACE YOUR LIFE.

SO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DARLING DONNA. YOU KNOW HOW I MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU.

ALWAYS,
SHELLEY

AND I SIMPLY CAN'T LEAVE OUT THAT SHE HAD A FABULOUS SENSE OF HUMOR AND ADORED LAUGHING - WHICH WE DID FOR 8 YEARS ON THE SHOW AND ALL THE DAYS WE WERE AFFORDED AFTER. I CAN HEAR HER LAUGHING RIGHT NOW...









Note from Greg: I noticed that Shelley had made a slight error: Shelley was with Donna for seven years on "The Donna Reed Show" if you count her Special Guest Appearances on the show during the Sixth and Seventh Seasons, but Shelley had never appeared in the Eighth Season of "The Donna Reed Show."
 

BobO'Link

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Originally Posted by Greg2356

Hi Bob! Sorry, but there is no 'Street Date' at this particular time for the 'Fourth Season' in regards to "The Donna Reed Show. In fact, Donna Reed's Daughter 'Mary Owen' had said about a week ago now, that MPI Home Video is doing wonderfully well with this "Donna Reed Show" series, but she also said there is no 'Street Date' as yet. This time around for the 'Fourth Season' DVD's, all 39 episodes are being totally re-mastered from the original negatives to obtain the best picture quality possible, and that takes a lot of time to do! It can't be rushed because the studio needs time to do this re-mastering process to the best of their ability. When Mary Owen is able to give us a Street Date, I will in turn inform all of you here on this Home Theater Forum!
Thanks Greg! I'd call that an update in the best way! That all episodes are being re-mastered from original negatives is good news indeed!
 

Mark-P

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Love hearing that! It's going to make us all wish that the first three seasons could have got the same treatment.



Originally Posted by Greg2356
...all 39 episodes are being totally re-mastered from the original negatives to obtain the best picture quality possible...
 

Greg2356

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Originally Posted by BobO'Link
Thanks Greg! I'd call that an update in the best way! That all episodes are being re-mastered from original negatives is good news indeed!

You're very welcome Bob! I am very glad that you are happy with the update! I am very excited myself about the re-mastering process which is taking place concerning these 39 'Classic Episodes' from "The Donna Reed Show!" This is what I have always dreamed about, in seeing "The Donna Reed Show" as it deserves to be presented on DVD! It is still very difficult to wait though, when it has been a year and almost four months since Season 3 was released on DVD. And I had acquired Season 3 a day before the actual release date, and watched all 38 Episodes within a two week period of time! So now, I'm quite anxious to view these very rarely seen episodes from Season 4!! "Nick at Nite" as I've said here before on this forum, had only aired one episode from the Fourth Season of "The Donna Reed Show" entitled, "Mouse at Play" with Guest Stars: Cloris Leachman and John Astin, and then promptly had skipped over to the Fifth Season of this series.
 

Greg2356

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Originally Posted by Mark-P
Love hearing that! It's going to make us all wish that the first three seasons could have got the same treatment.

You are so correct Mark, I am already wishing that the first three seasons of "The Donna Reed Show" had been in the hands of MPI whenever I am viewing episodes from seasons 1, 2, and 3!
 

Bob_S.

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Great update! At least we know that it is definitely getting worked on! Can't wait for a release date. I hope they include interviews/commentaries.
 

Garysb

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Originally Posted by Mark-P
What else does "owning the show" mean? The original camera negatives (if they even still exist) are not what is inherited any more than all the film prints that were circulated to TV stations. Unless I am ignorant on how it works and rights holders are allowed to raid studio vaults for "their" property.
Of course it is. How is the Donna Reed estate now owning the 1st five years of the show any different from say Warner Bros. now owning the pre 1986 MGM library.
Warner Bros. owns all the prints, negatives, tapes sent to TV stations that show the films, etc. That stuff is not owned by MGM. anymore. Ownership can vary in some cases depending on what is sold. RKO films for example are also owned by Warner Bros. Warners owns the films, negatives , etc. However the stories and the remake rights to the films are still owned by the company that used to be RKO-General* (not sure of the current name) In the case of the Donna Reed show it is all speculation until someone from the estate mentions what exactly they own. I would assume everything including film and negatives for the first five years. I would also assume that the estate will eventually own the last 3 years unless they have been sold or the contract between Todon and Screen Gems for the last 3 years didn't include ownership being transfered to the estate.
 

LeoA

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Owning the rights to a show doesn't mean you necessarily own the original negatives or prints.

In fact with that's often the case with RKO movies. Due to changes of ownership of RKO's library of movies over the years, often the rights holder these days doesn't hold something like the original negatives or prints and never did. Sometimes they don't even exist and often times they're in another studio's vault that once held the rights to the film decades ago. That's why some modern transfers of RKO movies sometimes can look pretty bad because they have to rely on something like perhaps a old print that was sent to a tv station to air the movie at one time, rather than original assets.

They own the rights, they didn't necessarily acquire the original assets. They're two independent things, holding the rights to a show doesn't mean your entitled to take ownership of the assets from that program held in a studio vault. I'd bet good money the Donna Reed estate doesn't have the original negatives for this show and that they're still in a Sony vault somewhere. Just because Sony lost the full rights to the Donna Reed estate a few years ago doesn't mean they don't still own things like the original negatives and have now handed all that stuff over. They lost the rights, they didn't lose their film and negatives that they owned unless the Donna Reed estate has now acquired that material or it was necessary to hand it over to satisfy some requirement from a half century old contract with Donna Reed.

So unless they have the cooperation of the studio to provide those assets, they're likely utilizing copies that perhaps Donna Reed had had since the shows were originally produced that she had held on to through the years that her family now holds (Which is my understanding of how MPI released some public domain episodes of Petticoat Junction utilizing original prints that were made for Paul Henning during the original run of the show that he had held on to that his estate now has, they didn't walk into a CBS office somewhere, inform them that those episodes were in the public domain, and demanded that they make them available since they now don't hold a copyright to that material).

Just because they hold the copyrights to these episodes and control them doesn't mean we can assume they have posession of something like the original negatives.
 

Greg2356

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Just as a point of interest,



Here is a quote on Face Book by Mary Owen in regards to the release date concerning 'Season 4' of "The Donna Reed Show" from Thursday, January 6, 2011: "We are shooting for a Mother's Day release, but frankly, at this point, it's hard to tell and may not be possible. Thank you all so much for your patience. Good things are worth waiting for!"



So Mary had wanted 'Season 4' to be released on "Mother's Day," but she couldn't promise anything, since this restoration process takes time! Frankly, I would rather wait and have MPI do the best job they can possibly do concerning the picture quality of 'Season 4' than to have this 'Gem of a Product' rushed to be released on an earlier date. I say this, because once it is released there's no going back in further restoring the audio and picture quality of this great 'Fourth Season' from "The Donna Reed Show"!!! Unless of course, if they decide at some point to release this 'Fourth Season' again among a 'Five Season Boxed Set,' which Mary had mentioned awhile back with her saying, if they ever offered a 'Five Season Boxed Set' of "The Donna Reed Show" everything in a (technical sense) would be perfect, but yours truly says, this could be quite a few years away- if ever!



Mary had also informed me, that since they are digitizing this 'Fourth Season' from the original 35mm film stock, it not only takes longer, but in the end- it will look Magnificent!
 

mrmike898

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A trailer for The Donna Reed Show: Season 4 appears on the Dennis The Menace: Season One set that comes out this Tuesday (March 29, 2011). Even though it's Shout! Factory that is releasing Dennis The Menace and MPI is releasing The Donna Reed Show, the trailer is on there. According to the words on the screen, MPI is calling it "THE DONNA REED SHOW Season Four - The Lost Episodes Deluxe DVD Set From MPI Home Video". Most of the clips used for the trailer appear to be from 16MM prints (like the ones used for the Season 1-3 DVD sets). Now, this shouldn't be any indication of the picture quality that we'll eventually see when the Season Four DVDs come out (since the episodes should be sourced from the 35MM negatives, as referenced in post #s 159, 168, etc.). But still, it's a fun 1 minute teaser for episodes that haven't been seen in quite some time.
 

Neil Brock

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Originally Posted by LeoAmes
Owning the rights to a show doesn't mean you necessarily own the original negatives or prints.

In fact with that's often the case with RKO movies. Due to changes of ownership of RKO's library of movies over the years, often the rights holder these days doesn't hold something like the original negatives or prints and never did. Sometimes they don't even exist and often times they're in another studio's vault that once held the rights to the film decades ago. That's why some modern transfers of RKO movies sometimes can look pretty bad because they have to rely on something like perhaps a old print that was sent to a tv station to air the movie at one time, rather than original assets.

They own the rights, they didn't necessarily acquire the original assets. They're two independent things, holding the rights to a show doesn't mean your entitled to take ownership of the assets from that program held in a studio vault. I'd bet good money the Donna Reed estate doesn't have the original negatives for this show and that they're still in a Sony vault somewhere. Just because Sony lost the full rights to the Donna Reed estate a few years ago doesn't mean they don't still own things like the original negatives and have now handed all that stuff over. They lost the rights, they didn't lose their film and negatives that they owned unless the Donna Reed estate has now acquired that material or it was necessary to hand it over to satisfy some requirement from a half century old contract with Donna Reed.

So unless they have the cooperation of the studio to provide those assets, they're likely utilizing copies that perhaps Donna Reed had had since the shows were originally produced that she had held on to through the years that her family now holds (Which is my understanding of how MPI released some public domain episodes of Petticoat Junction utilizing original prints that were made for Paul Henning during the original run of the show that he had held on to that his estate now has, they didn't walk into a CBS office somewhere, inform them that those episodes were in the public domain, and demanded that they make them available since they now don't hold a copyright to that material).

Just because they hold the copyrights to these episodes and control them doesn't mean we can assume they have posession of something like the original negatives.
Great post and 100% accurate.
 

Greg2356

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Originally Posted by mrmike898
A trailer for The Donna Reed Show: Season 4 appears on the Dennis The Menace: Season One set that comes out this Tuesday (March 29, 2011). Even though it's Shout! Factory that is releasing Dennis The Menace and MPI is releasing The Donna Reed Show, the trailer is on there. According to the words on the screen, MPI is calling it "THE DONNA REED SHOW Season Four - The Lost Episodes Deluxe DVD Set From MPI Home Video". Most of the clips used for the trailer appear to be from 16MM prints (like the ones used for the Season 1-3 DVD sets). Now, this shouldn't be any indication of the picture quality that we'll eventually see when the Season Four DVDs come out (since the episodes should be sourced from the 35MM negatives, as referenced in post #s 159, 168, etc.). But still, it's a fun 1 minute teaser for episodes that haven't been seen in quite some time.

Thank you so much Mike for that interesting information!! I had a feeling that MPI was going to accentuate the fact that the 'Season Four' episodes are indeed the lost episodes! And I was going to make sure and write to them about this, but now thanks to you, I Won't Have To! I am wondering if "Deluxe DVD Set" has hopefully something to do with the Extra Features? I know that "Virgil Films and Entertainment" President, Joe Amodei had said (when he had thought for sure his company was going to be putting out 'Season Four,' of "The Donna Reed Show,") that they had enough 'Extra Features' for this 'Fourth Season' to devote an entire separate 'Disc' to it. And Mary recently said very enthusiastically, that yes- there are going to be Extra's!

On the 'Season 3' DVD release of "The Donna Reed Show," Mary Owen had wanted to include as a 'Special Feature,' an episode from the television show, "This Is Your Life" where her Mom (Donna Reed) was the 'Guest of Honor' in the recounting of her life story! The problem was, that the company which owned the rights to this particular "This Is Your Life" episode featuring Donna Reed, had wanted *Ten Thousand Dollars* to gain access to this one episode! This price was just too steep for one episode, so it wasn't able to be included on the 'Season 3' DVD release as a 'Special Feature.' Fans of Donna Reed were very disappointed about this, but when they had found out about this *Ten Thousand Dollar* sticker price, they agreed that this price was much too high and was a very greedy amount of money indeed for the people who owned the "This Is Your Life" series to have asked to be payed such an exorbitant amount of money for just one episode from this television show.
 

Mark-P

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Okay I'm confused. Aren't Shout! Factory (Dennis the Menace) and MPI (The Donna Reed Show) separate companies? How unusual that Shout! Factory would accept an advertisement from a rival. Or perhaps there is some connection between the two companies that I am unaware of?


Originally Posted by mrmike898
A trailer for The Donna Reed Show: Season 4 appears on the Dennis The Menace: Season One set that comes out this Tuesday...
 

Joe Lugoff

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Originally Posted by Mark-P
Okay I'm confused. Aren't Shout! Factory (Dennis the Menace) and MPI (The Donna Reed Show) separate companies? How unusual that Shout! Factory would accept an advertisement from a rival. Or perhaps there is some connection between the two companies that I am unaware of?
Over on the "Dennis the Menace" thread someone speculated that Shout! agreed to advertise the MPI set in return for being allowed to use the Season 3 Donna Reed episode that features Jay North as Dennis as a bonus on the Dennis set.

This might be true, although "Donna Reed" Season 3 wasn't released by MPI, so I'm pretty much as confused as you are.
 

TVAdam

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Season four (and hopefully beyond) is being released by MPI. I heard it was happening. I guess if there's a trailer for it then it officially is coming. Yay!
 

LeoA

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Joe beat me to it, but that's also what I thought of when I read that Shout was including the trailer on this set.

Makes perfect sense.
 

Greg2356

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Update: 'Season 4' in regards to "The Donna Reed Show" will not be released in June, July, or August. Mary Owen is hoping it can be released in September or October, but she hasn't received even a hint yet from "MPI Media Group" of when this 'Season 4' might be released! All I can say is MPI must be planning some very extravagant release of this series, but this is only my take on the subject. I just wanted to post here to relieve people from sitting on pins & needles with the thinking that 'Season 4' might be released in the very near future such as June, July, or August. Mary says it definitely won't be released in August. Mary commented on the "We Love The Donna Reed Show" page. Quote: "Hello to all loyal devotees, like I've said before, you'll be the first to know about a release date. Definitely not August I'm sorry to say, and when I have any clue I'll be sure to let you know. Here's hoping September-October. Cheers" Unquote.

From Greg: I am 'SORRY' that I don't have a better update for all of YOU!!
 

Gary OS

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Thanks for the update, Greg. I for one appreciate you keeping us informed of all new developments, regardless of how big or small the news is. It's just nice to know something.

I only hope that this delay doesn't have anything to do with clearing the one or two "pop" songs we've heard so much about. I know that can be a huge hindrance sometimes. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the delay isn't pointing to something larger, ominous sign that the set my not get released at all (for some unknown legality). As long as it's coming I can wait. I just wish we knew why it has been delayed this length of time. That's a pretty big delay when initially we were thinking May or June, and now it's pushed back till at least September. Something significant had to happen for the release to be pushed back that far.


Gary "keeping my toes crossed as well" O.
 

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