The Many Loves of DOBIE GILLIS -- any chance for this one? (1 Viewer)

[Richard V]

... yikes.
I thought the hold up was Fox and the estates that had the rights to Dobie Gillis. If there was an opening and it got missed, then the shame is deserved. If not, be careful with remarks like that. Industry people do read these forums and it makes us look more professional to handle ourselves well.

My understanding also is that the Max Schulman estate is the roadblock to releasing Dobie Gillis.

 

[MattPeriolat]

My understanding also is that the Max Schulman estate is the roadblock to releasing Dobie Gillis.

It sounds like it's both, the estate and Fox. Now, if Fox missed an opportunity to cut a deal with the Schulman estate, then let the fires rain down. But, we don't know if that happened, do we?

 

[Neil Brock]

Just got the channel a couple of days ago and started recording. They look remastered and cleaned up. At first, I thought they might be complete as there was no break after the open and then only a 30 second promo at the midbreak. But then there are 2 long breaks, one before the tag scene and one before the credits. I have a set from Nick at Nite that I will pull out and A/B as I know those were cut, not timesped.

Just realized that I never followed up on this post. The shows are running complete but timesped to come in at 22:50. So they are gaining around 2:40 with the compression. Not ideal but at this point in time it appears to be the best option for this classic series.

 

[LouA]

I recall reading somewhere that the Max Shulman estate no longer objected , but the studio didn't want to release Dobie because the economy was bad. I think that came from Dwayne Hickman's site . I emailed Fox about 6 monthe ago and they said no plans to release it on DVD. Meanwhile most "Dobie" fans are getting older. It's really lousy that throughout the 30 + year home video era they found excuses not to release this show in any format.

 

[LCD22]

deleted

 

[Sky Captain]

Like I said before, even if it wasn't for the rights issues, I don't think Fox would be the least bit interested in putting it out themselves. They've pretty much given up on classic TV on DVD.
Let's be honest: After they got away with ruining the music in WKRP (as if it hadn't been ruined enough) and the music in The Fall Guy, do they even deserve to release another of their older shows on DVD themselves ever again?
None of the major studios make me mad more than Fox. And the fact that they have recently been charging even more outrageous fees for indies to license from them (yet for some reason, this is not the case in the U.K.), makes me hate them even more. They still haven't disclosed a reason why they are doing this. It better not be because Fox plans on starting a MOD program and plans on finishing up the titles they licensed to indies via that. That would be a nightmare come true, given Fox's history of music changes and/or scenes missing for no reason on their DVDs.
This is why they are better off in the hands of indies such as Shout and VCI.

In the case of WKRP In Cincinnati the music was the problem, IIRC-all of those rights having to be paid out just for the music on the show is why it was released the way it was on DVD. These same problems have cropped up with shows as different from each other as Daria &, oh, I don't know, Kidd Video, so much so that most companies either don't release the show on DVD, or just alter the music. What can one say, except that (sadly) if the heirs have to be paid, the heirs have to be paid.

 

[Sky Captain]

According to the IMDB, 20th Century Fox Television and Martin Manulis Productions were the producers for this show. I don't know who the current rights holders are. I am too young to have seen this first run but I really liked the few episodes that I saw when Nick at Nite ran this briefly many years ago. I would probably buy it anyway they might release, even if it was only "Best of".

The rights holder is still 20th Century Fox, or to be more precise, Fox Television Studios, with the Fox Television Studios logo coming on at the end.

 

[DeWilson]

5:30am EST/4:30am CST
Currently at the tail end of Season 1, running slightly out of order (production order?)

 

[Sky Captain]

All I'm saying is that Maynard G. Krebs from the Dobie Gillis series is Bob Denver's most outstanding work. As dimwitted as Maynard was, he was certainly more believable than Gilligan (and not just because Gilligan didn't have a last name).

Another character of Denver's that's better than Gilligan is Rufus Butterworth; on the little-know and now almost forgotten late '60's TV show The Good Guys he played a guy who was smarter than what Gilligan was, even though he was a cab driver (and later) co owner of Bert's Place with the other 'Good Guy', Bert Gramus (Herb Edelman). It's too bad that this show didn't last as long as Gilligan's Island, or wasn't more popular-the plots and characters are a heck of a lot better than that of Gilligan's Island. It's also a shame that despite having enough episodes for syndication, we can't see The Good Guys just as much as we see Gilligan's Island umpteen million times.

Gilligan's Island has already been played to death uncut on TBS and other channels in reruns for years, and those film prints are of pristine quality. How does a digital restoration look any different? I watched the show when I was a kid, but I wouldn't collect it.

Myself, I would love to destroy all copies of this show, bury the one good set of seasons in a deep, dark, pit, and then neuralyse everybody on Earth, Men In Black-style to forget all about the show; it hasn't contributed anything of worth to society except to show how cool it is to be stupid, clueless and to be sabotaging efforts to get oneself and one's friends back to civilization. I wish that TV Land, Nick At Night, and all of the other rerun channels would rerun the lesser known shows from the '50s '60s, '70s, '80's, '90's, and 2000's, as I said in this article from a few months ago, instead of this show (and a few others): We Need A TCM For Television

 

[LouA]

To get back on topic , any news at all on Dobie Gillis coming to DVD?

 

[Neil Brock]

Another character of Denver's that's better than Gilligan is Rufus Butterworth; on the little-know and now almost forgotten late '60's TV show The Good Guys he played a guy who was smarter than what Gilligan was, even though he was a cab driver (and later) co owner of Bert's Place with the other 'Good Guy', Bert Gramus (Herb Edelman). It's too bad that this show didn't last as long as Gilligan's Island, or wasn't more popular-the plots and characters are a heck of a lot better than that of Gilligan's Island. It's also a shame that despite having enough episodes for syndication, we can't see The Good Guys just as much as we see Gilligan's Island umpteen million times.
Myself, I would love to destroy all copies of this show, bury the one good set of seasons in a deep, dark, pit, and then neuralyse everybody on Earth, Men In Black-style to forget all about the show; it hasn't contributed anything of worth to society except to show how cool it is to be stupid, clueless and to be sabotaging efforts to get oneself and one's friends back to civilization. I wish that TV Land, Nick At Night, and all of the other rerun channels would rerun the lesser known shows from the '50s '60s, '70s, '80's, '90's, and 2000's, as I said in this article from a few months ago, instead of this show (and a few others): We Need A TCM For Television

Agree with you 1000%. The problem is that shows that have been out of the public eye for decades will not get any ratings. Much like oldies radio, something has to have been in continuous rotation. I would love to see shows like The Good Guys, Governor and JJ, Man Who Never Was and dozens of other fine shows which didn't find an audience. Unfortunately, the majority of viewers will not watch shows, no matter how good, that they are not familiar with.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

LOL. I know a guy who loves TV from the '50s and '60s, and he always says "The Governor and J.J." was the worst sitcom of those two decades. I vote for "It's About Time" myself.

 

[Rob_Ray]

LOL. I know a guy who loves TV from the '50s and '60s, and he always says "The Governor and J.J." was the worst sitcom of those two decades. I vote for "It's About Time" myself.

The Governor and JJ was far from the worst sitcom. I haven't seen it since it originally aired, but I remember it being similar to the MTM style of the seventies: shot on film in front of a studio audience with a cast of pros (Dan Dailey, Julie Sommars, Nora Marlowe, etc.) in a show that was a mild take on the generation gap of the day. There were some dreadful sitcoms back then, and It's About Time was certainly one of them, but The Governor and JJ was quite easy to take, very similar to Tony Randall's one-season MTM sitcom about the Judge in Philadelphia.

 

[Neil Brock]

Governor and JJ won a Golden Globe award and was a very smart and witty show, similar in feel to He and She, another great Talent Associates series. Whoever said the show was bad, well, when was the last time they saw it? I was watching it recently and it's a very funny show. It's About Time on the other hand is typical Sherwood Schwartz grade school humor.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I don't know when he last saw it. I know his favorite sitcom of all time is "I Love Lucy." I was wondering. Does anyone think "I Love Lucy" is overrated? I certainly don't, but I don't remember anyone ever saying anything bad about it.
What all this has to do with "Dobie Gillis" I don't know, but that's the Internet for you.

 

[DeWilson]

...There were some dreadful sitcoms back then, and It's About Time was certainly one of them, but The Governor and JJ was quite easy to take, very similar to Tony Randall's one-season MTM sitcom about the Judge in Philadelphia.

Actually, "THE TONY RANDALL SHOW" ran two seasons, one on ABC and the second on CBS.