Timeless Media Group - New Releases (3 Viewers)

[Bob Gu]

I don't remember watching "Brenner" either Bob. But here's some unusual info from the "The Complete Directory To Prime Time Network TV Shows":

Brenner,"Filmed entirely on location in New York", Binns and Broderick played father and son policemen.

"The series was produced in 1959 and selected reruns were aired by CBS in the summers of 1961,1962, and 1964. In order to freshen the series during it's 1964 run, ten new episodes were produced and aired in addition to the original 1959 shows."

 

[Bob Hug]

"The series was produced in 1959 and selected reruns were aired by CBS in the summers of 1961,1962, and 1964. In order to freshen the series during it's 1964 run, ten new episodes were produced and aired in addition to the original 1959 shows."

Ah . . . . . that explains the 1959 and 1964 entries at IMDB. I'll probably end up getting this one which, so far for 2008, gets my vote for the rarest vintage series released on DVD! Sounds like an interesting show and I like the two leads. I initially thought that this might be a compilation of some David Brenner stand-up comedy routines.

 

[Tom.W]

Bob G. and Bob H.,

There are some Brenner episodes circulating among film collectors - I have a few. One, titled Good Friend, is about one of the partners (I think it was the Broderick character Ernie) having a buddy who is a criminal. Sort of a crisis of conscience for the idealistic Ernie. Interesting that James Broderick played the idealistic role in several shows. Recall his character on the Twilight Zone episode On Thursday We Leave for Home.

Tv.com lists 14 episodes of Brenner. I think there may more since Good Friend is not included. Anyway, this release should cover the entire series based on its list price.

It is nice to see a series like Brenner which doesn't fit the broad categories like Western or tradtional cop show get a release.

 

[Bob Gu]

I agree Tom, and I hope you are right that this will be the whole series of "Brenner". I've always liked Edward Binns for the integrity and humor he brings to his roles. James Broderick, I remember mostly from,"Family".

The InternetMovieDatabase lists 16 episodes of "Brenner" for it's summer of 1959 run,including "Good Friend", and 10 for the 1964 run.

It would be interesting to find out if "Brenner" was originally produced for the 1959-60 Fall season or earlier, but was cancelled and the decision made to burn it off on a Summer run (like they did with "Coronet Blue" some years later). It's ironic that it proved popular enough to be brought back for three more summer runs and even more odd that it produced more episodes four or maybe even five years after the first batch. I still don't know how I missed it.

 

[Bob Hug]

With the release of "Brenner" on DVD, that's at least four police dramas filmed in New York that are available on DVD, the others being "Naked City" (Image Entertainment), "Decoy" (Timeless Media and other public domain releasing companies), and "Man Against Crime" a/k/a "Follow That Man (Alpha Video and other public domain releasing companies). Still missing in action is "NYPD" with Jack Warden, Frank Converse, and Robert Hooks. I haven't seen an episode of that show since it went off the air in the late 1960s and wish one of the independents would pick this up. IMDB says the production company was Talent Associates and their production roster seems to have ended in 1979. I wonder who owns this now?

 

[steve blake]

has anyone had a problem with laredo vol 1?I just recieved mine on saturday and one of the discs will not load into any of my dvd players also will not play on my computer.its the disc with episodes, rendezvous at arillo, anybody here seen billy? etc.the other two discs pay fine.

 

[Bob Hug]

has anyone had a problem with laredo vol 1?I just recieved mine on saturday and one of the discs will not load into any of my dvd players also will not play on my computer.its the disc with episodes, rendezvous at arillo, anybody here seen billy? etc.the other two discs pay fine.

Steve, unfortunately, I think you may have a bad disc. I've had no problems whatsoever playing this disc in two different DVD players. There have been more reports of problems with the "Riverboat" set from Timeless, but not so with "Laredo." You could try contacting the company; their web site is:
Timeless Media Group

 

[Bob Gu]

Bob H, I would guess Warner Brothers owns "N.Y.P.D". Talent Associates also produced "Get Smart" which came out on DVD from Time-Warner. I believe the head guy of Talent Associates was David Susskind.

 

[Bob Hug]

Bob H, I would guess Warner Brothers owns "N.Y.P.D". Talent Associates also produced "Get Smart" which came out on DVD from Time-Warner. I believe the head guy of Talent Associates was David Susskind.

Warner Brothers! Ughhh . . . . . looks like "N.Y.P.D." will stay buried in the vaults. I was really hoping that some independent would get their hands on this. The chances that Warner would release this themselves is next to nil and it's probably not a big enough genre title to get released through Time-Life. It's a shame because it's a quality show.

 

[Bob Hug]

Both "William Tell" and "Brenner" are now showing as pre-orders at Deep Discount; $18.45 shipped for each title. That should be very near the lowest shipped price for these titles, though DVD Pacific has yet to list these two titles and may be slightly less expensive (I've purchased a few Timeless titles from them in the past for $18.15 shipped). Also the price at DD may be a bit lower as both of these titles look to be released around the time of DD's semi-annual 20% off sale which, if past history repeats itself, should be in June.

 

[Bob Hug]

Looks like Timeless Media has finally updated their web site to include artwork and episode listings for the "Best of Checkmate, season 2," "Arrest and Trial, part 2," and "Laredo, season 1, part 2," all of which are still missing in action from the large online retailers (they were supposed to be released on March 25th). Interestingly, the description for both the new releases of "Checkmate" and "Arrest and Trial" says the episodes in these collections were " . . . . faithfully reproduced from the original NBC masters . . . ."
Best of CHECKMATE Season Two
ARREST & TRIAL Part 2
Laredo Season One - Part Two

 

[jdee28]

With Checkmate, Best of Season 2, I'm surprised they didn't include the one with Elizabeth Montgomery & Jack Lord, "Star System." Maybe they'll do more releases and pick up the missing episodes. It's too bad they didn't do the complete first or complete second season. 16 mm prints of all 70 episodes of this show are out there.

 

[Bob Hug]

With Checkmate, Best of Season 2, I'm surprised they didn't include the one with Elizabeth Montgomery & Jack Lord, "Star System." Maybe they'll do more releases and pick up the missing episodes. It's too bad they didn't do the complete first or complete second season. 16 mm prints of all 70 episodes of this show are out there.

John, there's an interesting twist on these two new releases (Checkmate, Arrest and Trial) which suggests that we might possibly see more releases, and that's the inclusion of the description " . . . . faithfully reproduced from the original NBC masters . . . ." which suggests that Timeless may now be getting their source material directly from NBC Universal as opposed to the first releases where 16 mm prints from collectors were used. But regardless of whether or not better masters are indeed being used, sales of the second volumes will most likely be the determining factor for further sets.

 

[Tim Tucker]

Bob H, I would guess Warner Brothers owns "N.Y.P.D". Talent Associates also produced "Get Smart" which came out on DVD from Time-Warner.

Not quite. Time Life did the Get Smart DVDs with HBO Video, not Time-Warner. Therefore, the Talent Associates properties must belong to the HBO library now

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

John, there's an interesting twist on these two new releases (Checkmate, Arrest and Trial) which suggests that we might possibly see more releases, and that's the inclusion of the description " . . . . faithfully reproduced from the original NBC masters . . . ." which suggests that Timeless may now be getting their source material directly from NBC Universal as opposed to the first releases where 16 mm prints from collectors were used.

Hmmmmm...I'm hoping this bodes well for M SQUAD!

 

[Hank Dearborn]

NYPD has always been syndicated by Worldvision so the show would now be Paramount property.

 

[jdee28]

Hope we get more releases of Checkmate and Arrest and Trial.

It's been interesting watching The Untouchables, Season 1, Volume 2, with Anthony George as a regular, playing second banana to Robert Stack after Jerry Paris left the series mid-season. This is what apparently got George the lead on Checkmate. In my opinion though, Anthony George was much better suited for a supporting role, especially given his limited acting ability, which seemed to consist of having a pained face one minute, a blank face the next. Doug McClure, the second lead on Checkmate, was pretty much the same. The incredible roster of guest stars though more than makes up for the two leads. I just wish some of the stories were stronger. They do play sometimes as grade Z Warner Brothers detective fare.

With Arrest and Trial, the Ben Gazzara half is excellent. I just wish it had been an hour show with only Gazzara, instead of bringing in Chuck Connors, who looked more like a hulking prize fighter than a smart, sympathetic defense attorney. The two of them had no chemistry at all.

 

[Stephen Bowie]

Yes, jdee28 is pretty much dead on about the strengths and limitations of both Checkmate and Arrest & Trial. Doug McClure, apart from not being able to act, is often hilariously effeminate for someone who's supposed to be a tough guy & a lady's man. (He managed to butch it up some later on The Virginian.) The other day I was talking to a guy who did some scripts for Checkmate, and he told me that all the writers complained about how the premise had the characters trying to PREVENT crimes rather than solve them. That made it kind of dramatically inert: they were always talking about what might happen rather than participating in what was happening.

Apart from the clash in acting styles between Connors (who, as jdee28 notes, is epically miscast) and Gazzara, Arrest and Trial also suffers from putting the two leads on opposite sides of the law. I forget who I'm paraphrasing here, but someone who wrote about the show had a funny line about how that meant that every episode made either Connors or Gazzara look like an idiot.

 

[Bert Greene]

I thoroughly enjoyed the initial "Arrest and Trial" set, as I'm an absolute sucker for that kind of 60s-vintage, character-study dramas. But, I also can't deny the format of the series undermines it. First off, they can never have a criminal be 'too' nefarious, because it would make the second-half of the program unpalatable. Plus, if it was proven the figure on trial was entirely innocent, Gazarra and the police come across as complete dopes. So, the stories are too often pinned in from two sides, and ultimately leading them to place the blame of the crimes on 'society' as a whole, which made for rather frustrating endings (at least, for me). Still, like I said, I love the character-driven approach to television back then, so I do overlook those flaws. I definately plan to get the follow-up volume.

 

[jdee28]

Ben Gazzara is also great in Run for Your Life. I got to see some episodes of this at the Museum of TV and Radio. It's good, with some excellent guest stars, including Anne Helm who plays a recurring love interest. I'd love to see Timeless put out some episodes at some point. The show's ripe for rediscovery.