The Virginian (2 Viewers)

[Bryan^H]

I just picked up season 3 from Sam's Club for $40. I sampled the first episode. Picture quality is very good, and although I really can't stand the revised intro music(why'd they have to speed up the tempo? Sounds frantic) the audio is crystal clear. Very happy to own this.

 

[Executive]

Originally Posted by Bryan^H
I just picked up season 3 from Sam's Club for $40. I sampled the first episode. Picture quality is very good, and although I really can't stand the revised intro music(why'd they have to speed up the tempo? Sounds frantic) the audio is crystal clear. Very happy to own this.

That decision was made way back in 1964, when the 3rd Season started. I have no problem with the faster version of the theme.
It was slower again the following year though. I also like the giant "V" that comes at you as the actor credits are shown in Season 3.

 

[WaveCrest]

TVShowsOnDVD posted a new news article on their website yesterday about The Virginian:


The Virginian: two more season sets in the works - TVShowsOnDVD.com news article

 

[Joseph Burns]

Ahh, The Men From Shiloh! Lee Majors fans rejoice! A little odd to see season 9 jump the gun, but I understand the reasoning (good article at the link above). So season 8 will be the last out, then. Long wait for "No War For the Warrior."

 

[borisfw]

I'm just happy that Timeless is releasing these shows . I never thought The Virginian would get a full run release on dvd . Around 240 + episodes at 75 min ea . I will buy them all ,
I hope at some point they get the rights to Name of the Game .

 

[Charles Ellis]

The upcoming Shiloh release reminds me of when MPI put out episodes of the final year of Dark Shadows before they were eventually put into syndication years later. I only hope the prints are remastered like the earlier seasons.

 

[Regulus]

The upcoming Shiloh release reminds me of when MPI put out episodes of the final year of Dark Shadows before they were eventually put into syndication years later. I only hope the prints are remastered like the earlier seasons.

This is not without precident. Back in 2005 CBS Decided to release the Final Season of Walker, Texas Ranger before releasing Seasons One to Seven. Heaven only knows why.

 

[Joseph Burns]

Well, with more recent shows (more recent than The Virginian, anyhow), there is a logic that the latest season is still semi-current. I don't agree (can't stand it when say a big movie star is credited as the star of a lackluster sequel rather than the iconic original), and I prefer watching things in order, so this kind of release schedule leaves me out, as I'll usually wait for the sequential approach to be possible. The notion with The Virginian was that the final year was out of the rotation in the show's recent run, so it was still "fresh."

 

[WaveCrest]

Home Cinema @ The Digital Fix review from earlier this year, of Acorn Media's release of The Virginian: The Complete First Season:


The Virginian: The Complete Series One (1962-62) - Home Cinema @ The Digital Fix review


and DVD Talk's review of Timeless' first season set of The Virginian:


The Virginian: The Complete First Season (Limited Edition Embossed Collector's Tin) - DVD Talk review


I'm leaning more towards Timeless' set. The price looks a lot, but on the other hand it is an 11-disc set and the episodes are 75 minutes each. Both the Timeless and Acorn Media sets have a problem with the audio.

 

[WaveCrest]

TVShowsOnDVD posted a new news article on their website last Friday for The Virginian/The Men from Shiloh:


The Virginian: Season 5 & The Men from Shiloh (The Virginian: Season 9) - TVShowsOnDVD.com news article

 

[benbess]

The Timeless sets are very good. Highly recommended. It's quality show--one of the best Westerns ever on TV.

 

[WaveCrest]

TVShowsOnDVD news article, posted on their website last Friday, for Timeless' DVD release of The Virginian: The Complete Sixth Series:


The Virginian: The Complete Sixth Series - TVShowsOnDVD.com news article

 

[jdee28]

Any hope that the last two seasons will make it to DVD?

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

You mean Seasons 8 & 9, correct? The final season renamed Men from Shiloh has been released. But, right, where's the last two seasons of The Virginian? I'm still working on Season Four, which loses a step or two after Garth (Lee J. Cobb) departs and Betsy marries Lincoln Case (or his great great grandfather) Glenn Corbett.
http://www.amazon.com/Men-Shiloh-Virginian--Episodes-Packaging/dp/B005LVIOYM/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1347225901&sr=1-3&keywords=the+virginian+season+8

 

[jdee28]

Yep, I mean seasons 7 and 8 of The Virginian. There hasn't been any official news from Timeless about the show since Dec. 2011, when they announced the season 6 release for May 2012.

 

[speedspin]

James Drury's own site carries the following update on Seasons 7 and 8. Although I will feel more reassured when TV Shows on DVD makes the announcement.
UPDATE On The Virginian Season 7 and 8 DVDs from Timeless Media: The Season 7 release date has been moved to February 2013. Season 8 release has moved to the 2nd Quarter of 2013.

 

[Executive]

I was surprised to see Starsky & Hutch re-released -- the same sets that were once $50 are now in Fry's stores at $13 and $14 each....but Season 3 is missing.
The Virginian they have as well, and the first 2 years are $20 apiece in the tin cases, and the same goes for The Men from Shiloh!
Great to see classic TV coming down in price.

 

[hypnohighball]

Are the dvd season sets going out of print? Amazon is out of a few of them and they are getting mighty pricey from Marketplace Sellers! I still need to pick up a bunch of them....

 

[benbess]

A few of these great season sets of The Virginian do seem to be getting more expensive, but I think all are still available for $50 or less somewhere. A month ago I got the 4th season for about $35, and since then the price has jumped $10 and amazon no longer sells it directly. Not sure what that might mean.

 

[benbess]

Here's my review for the 4th season....

The Virginian is my favorite television Western. As many reviews have said, each 75-minute episode is more like a Western movie of the week with familiar characters as well as great guest stars. This show was a cut above other TV Westerns in terms of its acting, location photography, wonderful music scores, and intelligent screenplays. For television it was a big-budget production, and it shows. And Timeless does a solid job with these sets, providing good packaging and very good picture quality.

This season has a lot of highlights, but there were also a lot of bumps along the road in the 4th season. Early in the season Roberta Shore wanted to leave the show, and so her character Betsy Garth suddenly got married and was gone. And then in the middle of the season Judge Garth, played by Lee Cobb, also left the show. Garth's first successor was a cold and hard character named Morgan Starr, who was well played by veteran actor John Dehner, but the Starr character just didn't seem right for the show and was gone by the end of the season. Finally, there were a large number of grim stories this season. Some of these are well done, but the mood shifts down a bit from the more upbeat first three seasons. A lot of these changes came about because one of the founding producers of the show, Frank Price, was promoted to the executive suites and turned over producing duties on The Virginian to Norman Macdonnell, who had previously produced Gunsmoke and other shows. Again, it's still the best Western on TV, but it's sometimes a rocky road compared to the first three seasons.

About half of the episodes I thought were good to very good, including A Little Learning, The Claim, The Awakening, Ring of Silence, Jennifer, Show Me a Hero, The Dream of Savros Karas, The Laramie Road, The Horse Fighter, Letter of theLaw, Blaze of Glory, Long Ride to Wind River, The Inchworm's Got No Wings At All, Morgan Starr, Ride A Cock Horse to Laramie Cross, and The Mark of a Man. And even the episodes I didn't care for as much often had compelling performances and interesting ideas.

The season again has some great guest stars, including a very young Kurt Russell, Susan Oliver (who also starred in the Star Trek classic The Menagerie), William Shatner, Royal Dano, James MacArther (Danno on Hawaii 50), Charles Bronson, George Kennedy, Leonard Nimoy, Leslie Nielsen, Simon Oakland, Telly Savalas, and many, many others.

And finally, the most important stars of the show stayed with it, including James Drury, who does an outstanding job in the title role, Doug McClure, who brings great humor and charm to the show as Trampas, Clu Gulager, who has some standout episodes as Sherriff Ryker this season, and Randy Boone as sensitive singing cowboy with a charming accent. Diane Roter, who plays Jennifer Sommers, also has some good episodes in her brief role on the show.

All in all, this is is still a must-see season of this classic show, and comes highly recommended. And although the changes are not all for the better, it certainly keeps the show fresh and makes you expect the unexpected. Finally, they sure don't make 'em like this anymore. The Virginian is a quality show in every way, and even the lesser episodes of The V are better than most of the stuff you'll see on TV today.