What series do you want so badly you would be willing to pay a premium price? (1 Viewer)

[Neil Brock]

GREAT GHOST TALES (1961), a summer replacement shot on videotape. I remember one episode, "The Wendigo", scared the bejeezus out of me. 12 episodes I think, never appeared on video.

The 2-inch tapes are long gone. All that survives are black and white kinescopes at LOC.

 

[Neil Brock]

I paid $100 an episode to have The Nurses episodes transferred from 35mm. And people think $100 for a full series is a "premium price"!

 

[Purple Wig]

I paid $100 an episode to have The Nurses episodes transferred from 35mm. And people think $100 for a full series is a "premium price"!

Yeah, when I phrased that initial question I was doing some mental gymnastics on a slippery court. Looking back, I was kind of curious about the feasibility of boutique labels in today’s environment. I used to be involved in music and have/had a good working knowledge of the costs to press a record/cd, mastering, cost per unit, break even point etc. With DVD’s I’m in the dark, especially in regards to remastering and licensing costs. The $100 or $300 were arbitrary figures; as you point out, the collecting pioneers were shelling out a lot more. (On a side note, I wish someone would write a book on those days, or point me in the direction of one if it exists. There’s an abundance of books on record collectors, art. book, comic etc) I do note now that when a series is released there’s a lot of talk about the cheapest option, which is understandable, but it does seem like people are reluctant to pay the kind of money they used to. 2 hour VHS tapes cost more than entire series now. And the economy is crappy for a lot of people. I would’ve snapped up all the Timeless releases had they come out 5 years earlier when I was making significantly more money. The talk on various threads about the sales figures for the Defenders and Hank are pretty discouraging for any hope of future non-syndicated to death titles that aren’t in public domain.

 

[Neil Brock]

Yeah, when I phrased that initial question I was doing some mental gymnastics on a slippery court. Looking back, I was kind of curious about the feasibility of boutique labels in today’s environment. I used to be involved in music and have/had a good working knowledge of the costs to press a record/cd, mastering, cost per unit, break even point etc. With DVD’s I’m in the dark, especially in regards to remastering and licensing costs. The $100 or $300 were arbitrary figures; as you point out, the collecting pioneers were shelling out a lot more. (On a side note, I wish someone would write a book on those days, or point me in the direction of one if it exists. There’s an abundance of books on record collectors, art. book, comic etc) I do note now that when a series is released there’s a lot of talk about the cheapest option, which is understandable, but it does seem like people are reluctant to pay the kind of money they used to. 2 hour VHS tapes cost more than entire series now. And the economy is crappy for a lot of people. I would’ve snapped up all the Timeless releases had they come out 5 years earlier when I was making significantly more money. The talk on various threads about the sales figures for the Defenders and Hank are pretty discouraging for any hope of future non-syndicated to death titles that aren’t in public domain.

Yes, I go back to the days of $15 to $20 per blank tape. And I know collector's who started earlier than that, with UMatic and EAIJ tapes which were an hour and cost $30 to $40.

Regarding books, the closest thing is a book called A Thousand Cuts: The Bizarre Underground World of Collectors and Dealers Who Saved the Movies. Unfortunately it only deals with theatrical films and nothing to do with TV show collectors. I could tell stories as could most ardent collectors but if I told you I'd have to kill you! Ha ha. Can't do it while I'm still alive and still actively collecting. But regarding costs, I only wish I had the financial resources then that I do now. 16mm prints of shows were abundantly available but I didn't have that kind of money to put towards them. Now I do, but all of the big TV film dealers have either died or gotten out of the business and rare shows are harder to find.

 

[High C]

Those are excellent points. Not Blu or DVDs but a similar hobby--I last year paid $200 for bootleg downloads (from the original masters) of some soundtrack cues. Non-hobbyists would have found it baffling that I paid that much for them, but for me they were must-have items and I do not regret it one bit. Off-topic, I know, but illustrating that to a collector/completist some rarities are must-haves.

 

[Bartman]

Inspector Morse: have just watched all episodes on Britbox in HD but BDs would be better.

Inspector Lewis: currently renting DVDs from Netflix but BDs would be better.

The Fugitive: I bought the DVD complete box set last summer and luvved every minute but BDs would be better.

Danger Man / Secret Agent Man: currently watching my A&E DVDs but BDs would be better.

I would add The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes etc with Jeremy Brett. The Blu-rays and Britbox streams have DNR that removes 16mm grain but makes faces look waxy, I (the general public not so much) would prefer to see grain.

 

[AlanP]

It bewilders me why "Make Room For Daddy/Danny Thomas Show" complete sets have/are not released on DVD or now BR ?? One of the biggest shows from the 50/60s ?
Bizarre

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

It bewilders me why "Make Room For Daddy/Danny Thomas Show" complete sets have/are not released on DVD or now BR ?? One of the biggest shows from the 50/60s ?
Bizarre

Especially when you consider that two different episodes of this series were used as backdoor pilots for The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68) and The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-66). These two episodes should have been included in the respective season 1 DVD sets.

~Ben

 

[dstrong]

"Then Came Bronson", an excellent series. TV broadcasts from the TNT network can be found online, but they are edited to about 46 minutes and the picture quality sucks.

 

[timk1041]

Yeah, when I phrased that initial question I was doing some mental gymnastics on a slippery court. Looking back, I was kind of curious about the feasibility of boutique labels in today’s environment. I used to be involved in music and have/had a good working knowledge of the costs to press a record/cd, mastering, cost per unit, break even point etc. With DVD’s I’m in the dark, especially in regards to remastering and licensing costs. The $100 or $300 were arbitrary figures; as you point out, the collecting pioneers were shelling out a lot more. (On a side note, I wish someone would write a book on those days, or point me in the direction of one if it exists. There’s an abundance of books on record collectors, art. book, comic etc) I do note now that when a series is released there’s a lot of talk about the cheapest option, which is understandable, but it does seem like people are reluctant to pay the kind of money they used to. 2 hour VHS tapes cost more than entire series now. And the economy is crappy for a lot of people. I would’ve snapped up all the Timeless releases had they come out 5 years earlier when I was making significantly more money. The talk on various threads about the sales figures for the Defenders and Hank are pretty discouraging for any hope of future non-syndicated to death titles that aren’t in public domain.

Yes, it is. I am sure glad though that Hank was available on DVD. It was a fun show to watch.

 

[ScottHM]

For me, Star Trek: The Next Generation was probably the holy grail and I think I did spend about $80 for each season as it was released - and given the use I’ve gotten out of them, it would have been worth it at twice the price. I’d probably be willing to pay $100+ a season for remastered Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

Deep Space Nine, yes. I'm willing to pre-pay, if they do for it what they did for TNG.
---------------

 

[Neil Brock]

It bewilders me why "Make Room For Daddy/Danny Thomas Show" complete sets have/are not released on DVD or now BR ?? One of the biggest shows from the 50/60s ?
Bizarre

Because the 2 seasons that were released didn't sell. There are quite a number of long running 50s shows which haven't even had that much released.

 

[BobO'Link]

Because the 2 seasons that were released didn't sell. There are quite a number of long running 50s shows which haven't even had that much released.

That's likely because they started "in the middle" of the series due to Thomas' reported refusal to allow the 3 seasons with Jean Hagen to be seen anywhere and that he didn't like season 4 (the ABC years of the series). S4 has been seen, infrequently, in syndication but, AFAIK, the last time S1-S3 were seen was when NBC reran the series in daytime from 1960-65.

 

[AlanP]

That's likely because they started "in the middle" of the series due to Thomas' reported refusal to allow the 3 seasons with Jean Hagen to be seen anywhere and that he didn't like season 4 (the ABC years of the series). S4 has been seen, infrequently, in syndication but, AFAIK, the last time S1-S3 were seen was when NBC reran the series in daytime from 1960-65.

Did they only show the first three seasons on NBC or did they also show other seasons?
Wonder how those seasons were shown and Thomas permitted it ? Was the series originally on NBC ? I didn't know it was on ABC, always thought it was on CBS, because it was DESILU ?

 

[Neil Brock]

NBC had daytime reruns of seasons 1-9 which ran up until 1965. Season 4 wasn't seen again until it ran on COZI a few years ago. They also had seasons 10 and 11 which were never rerun previously.

 

[BobO'Link]

The first 4 seasons aired on ABC. CBS picked it up with season 5 and it remained there until it ended. The NBC reruns were in the daytime. It was quite common in the 50s/60s for a series to be airing in syndication on one network with new episodes appearing on another. This was a time when the networks didn't always own a piece of the action and typically had no say in where or when a show they were airing in prime time with new episodes ran in syndication.

 

[nobajoba]

Inspired by a post of Neal 1960's on the Defenders thread. There have been many discussions of "grail" series, but for this thread I thought it might be interesting to discuss in terms of what series you would be willing to pay what might seem an unreasonable amount for. If there was a hypothetical boutique label, releasing a limited edition of an otherwise very unlikely title to be released. If, say, someone had located a complete run of something like 90 Bristol Court or For The People and was willing to do the necessary licensing and remastering. Is there a show that you want so badly that you would pay $100 or even $200-$300 for a single season?

If coughing up $100 for another season of the Defenders would get the series unstalled, I could see doing that.

I paid $100 for the Time Life set of The Best Of Flip Wilson Show mainly for just ONE sketch that I've waited to see forever and that I never thought would see a home video release.

 

[Claude North]

He & She
The Pruitts of Southampton/The Phyllis Diller Show
Turn On (I believe there was a second episode in the can that never aired)
The Tammy Grimes Show (including the unaired episodes)
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
Leo and Liz in Beverly Hills
That's Life (1968, Robert Morse, E.J. Peaker)

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

Me? I'd pay any price to see the following get released or re-released, all due to intensive music clearance on one or more, or all seasons (depending on the show):
Petticoat Junction (seasons 4-7, 1966-70)
The Odd Couple (all seasons, 1970-75)
Happy Days (all seasons, 1974-84)
Laverne & Shirley (all seasons, 1976-83)
Taxi (all seasons, 1978-83)
Mork & Mindy (all seasons, 1978-82)
Family Ties (all seasons, 1982-89)
Cheers (all seasons, 1982-93)

~Ben

 

[tsodcollector]

Unhappily Ever After is one of the first hits on the wb,that is never released on tsod,but getting close
Cold Case might not be easy for a tsod release but with all the music intact it's a possibility
Burns And Allen and The Jack Benny Program has seen many compilations over the years,but not complete seasons sets.
and this one tops them all Valarie/The Hogan Family the holy grail for tsod release.