What Shows From The 80's Still Have A Decent Chance Of Release? (1 Viewer)

[Frank Soyke]

Since a complete set of Hill Street is coming, Newhart restarted, and Shout is beginning LA Law, I am trying to figure out what other 80's shows left out there have a fighting chance. Wonder Years debacle aside, I can't really think of too many. St. Elsewhere is the one that really stands out to me. It's a long runner and has a decent still recognizable stars such as Denzel and Howie. I really believe someone will pick this up eventually. As far as anything else goes, it's anybody's guess. Here are a few VERY long-shots I thought of as possibilities.

Head Of the Class

A Different World

Dear John

SIlver Spoons (cont) - Sony so probably dead in the water.

Midnight Caller

Perfect Strangers (cont)

Then, of course, you have the stalled carry over 70's shows such as Happy Days, Fantasy Island, Facts of Life, and One Day At A time. What about any of these? Will someone pick up the right to any of these and continue them?

As an aside, I left Knot's Landing and It's A Living/Making A Living) of the list due to the fact we have been given a strong hint that they will never be released due to music rights issues.

 

[MatthewA]

Some of these shows are not happening again unless there are major changes in the way music is licensed for home video. For Silver Spoons that would affect the episodes with Menudo and Whitney Houston, and they did increase the amount of music used in the later years of The Facts of Life. Any Sony shows that come out will probably be MODs.

Others that haven't appeared yet:

Amen
Head of the Class
The Hogan Family
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
Empty Nest
Major Dad

I guess the syndicated and cable sitcoms of this era are already forgotten. Very few of them ever get rerun anymore. In an age wher even the shows that were Top 10 hits and held in high regard in the industry are never rerun on cable anymore, Netflix is probably their last hope.

 

[TVonDVDJunkie05]

My thoughts on the various shows mentioned:

A Different World- Most likely will be released by Mill Creek. Now that they have acquired the rights to The Cosby Show, I think they will pick up this series as well (if they haven't already?!)

Amen & Major Dad- Only way these will be released is if they are picked up by another company

Dear John- Paramount title that might see a release at some point, it was in the top 20 for its first two seaons.

Empty Nest- Golden Girls spin-off, surprised this one has not been released yet?! I think this is another one that will only see the light of day if its sublicensed out.

Facts of Life- S1-3 are now out of print and might be re-released by Mill Creek, the remaining unreleased seasons (6-9) probably will remain in the vault due to music issues.

Head of the Class & Hogan Family- I think these two will most likely be released by Warner Archive at some point

Perfect Strangers- This one has some music issues which is why there have been no further releases. If they can be worked out somehow, I think you will see Warner continue releasing it.

Silver Spoons- Another one with music issues (I did not know this was a music heavy show?!) that makes future releases difficult. You might see Mill Creek re-release the first season that Sony released and perhaps even some un-released seasons with music edits.

Who's The Boss?- Only S1 of this popular 80s sitcom was released many years ago, a bit surprising IMO. Hopefully, this is one of the shows Mill Creek has acquired from Sony, I don't understand why there have been no other releases?!

 

[Kasey]

I think part of the problem is that WB has never seems to roll out their vintage sitcoms to any cable outlet like MeTv or Antenna Tv the way Sony, Fox and CBS have.

That's why you never see shows such as Alice, Chico and the Man, Welcome Back Kotter, It's a Living, The Hogan Family, Perfect Strangers, Mama's Family, etc. on any retro stations.

 

[TV_Fan]

I have asked Warner Archive about Head of The Class, Valerie/The Hogan Family, Perfect Strangers & one not mentioned-Love Sidney, on facebook. There response was HOTC & Valerie/Hogan Family have "major music issue", Love Sidney has "minor music issues which means it could possibly be released at some point" and Perfect Strangers was not getting a release of the Archive. Since WB has said in one of their chats many moons ago that Perfect Strangers "met their sales expectations" but told Tvshowsondvd that music was holding it up, they might still be working on it or licensed it out.

 

[classicmovieguy]

Where's "It's a Living"?

 

[derosa]

The rest of Hart to Hart would be great.

 

[Frank Soyke]

I have asked Warner Archive about Head of The Class, Valerie/The Hogan Family, Perfect Strangers & one not mentioned-Love Sidney, on facebook. There response was HOTC & Valerie/Hogan Family have "major music issue", Love Sidney has "minor music issues which means it could possibly be released at some point" and Perfect Strangers was not getting a release of the Archive. Since WB has said in one of their chats many moons ago that Perfect Strangers "met their sales expectations" but told Tvshowsondvd that music was holding it up, they might still be working on it or licensed it out.

Maybe I'm missing something but how are there major music issues with Head Of The Class?

 

[TV_Fan]

Maybe I'm missing something but how are there major music issues with Head Of The Class?

I have no idea. I don't remember a lot of music on the show? It could just be an excuse.

I also don't remember a lot of music on The Hogan Family.

 

[MattPriceTime]

It's vague, but i think that's a point. "Major" could mean a lot of different ones, one single issue that is ridiculously expensive or has a party that's hard to work with or any combination in between.

It would be nice if the WB legal team had a facebook to ask these questions to, since quite frankly unless we have an insider, we're just spitballing what we think the problem is or how bad it is. And this problem essentially runs through all the different parts of their library, it's nice to have WA tell us there are problems with rights and clearance, but there's so many different scenarios that it could be that say one show could be one episode away from release and another could have ten episodes away from release, and we wouldn't really be able to tell the difference.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Shout!Factory should try The Fall Guy.

 

[TV_Fan]

As much as I would love to see the rest of The Fall Guy, Shout! once said season one's sales were so bad even they couldn't release it.

 

[Jon Baker]

Maybe I'm missing something but how are there major music issues with Head Of The Class?

I don't recall any music on the show other than them doing the production of "Hair"

 

[JMFabianoRPL]

I have asked Warner Archive about Head of The Class, Valerie/The Hogan Family, Perfect Strangers & one not mentioned-Love Sidney, on facebook. There response was HOTC & Valerie/Hogan Family have "major music issue", Love Sidney has "minor music issues which means it could possibly be released at some point"

I wonder if the latter refers to the Gladys Knight version of the theme? Which can be dubbed with the original with the show's stars, which was the better one anyway. Or is this another show where Tony Randall quotes/sings songs, so we can't have that!

Man, Disney wants to pretend that only the original Golden Girls existed, don't they? OK Golden Palace was a bomb, but EN was fairly successful.

You already know why I want to see St. Elsewhere completed...

 

[TV_Fan]

Maybe I'm missing something but how are there major music issues with Head Of The Class?

My apologies. In going back over the posts Warner Archive only specifically said Valerie/The Hogan Family has major music issues, and Love Sidney had minor music issues. At a later date I asked about Head of the Class and they said it had "licensing issues" but did not specifically say music issues. At a later date they did say HOTC and Step By Step both had "music clearance issues which are the primary obstacle precluding a release at the moment" so who really knows???

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

An episode of HOTC featured the cast lip-syncing to The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades. One of the most memorable moments from the show.

 

[classicmovieguy]

I wonder if the latter refers to the Gladys Knight version of the theme? Which can be dubbed with the original with the show's stars, which was the better one anyway. Or is this another show where Tony Randall quotes/sings songs, so we can't have that!

Man, Disney wants to pretend that only the original Golden Girls existed, don't they? OK Golden Palace was a bomb, but EN was fairly successful.

You already know why I want to see St. Elsewhere completed...

I'd love for "Golden Palace" and "Empty Nest" to surface on DVD - towards the end of EN Sophia was a regular character, so the GG audiences would definitely get them.

 

[TVonDVDJunkie05]

As much as I would love to see the rest of The Fall Guy, Shout! once said season one's sales were so bad even they couldn't release it.

From what I read, the Season 1 release featured extensive music edits which included entire scenes being omitted in some instances. This butchering job (like they did with S1 of WKRP) is most likely the reason why it did not sell well and rightfully so IMO. This is a series, due to the music issues, that should be released in its entirety (a complete series set)- with as much music as possible, just like China Beach.

 

[Sky Captain]

I have no idea. I don't remember a lot of music on the show? It could just be an excuse.

I also don't remember a lot of music on The Hogan Family.

The episode of Head Of The Class where the kids make a music video of the song 'The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades', the episode where the class stages a production of Hair, and the episodes where they go to the Soviet Union and meet a then-famous Russian rock band, all have music rights issues, plus any other episode of the show with then-popular music in it (remember, this was the 80s and MTV was everywhere.) The Hogan Family also probably has music in it that has to be paid for (any popular songs from the era.) It's no excuse-just like the cases involving WKRP, The Fall Guy, and others. Blame the music rights companies, not the video companies (also, blame the TV stations for not rerunning these shows so that there will be buyers for them on DVD!)

 

[Frank Soyke]

The episode of Head Of The Class where the kids make a music video of the song 'the episode where the class stages a production of Hair[test], [/b]and the episodes where they go to the Soviet Union and meet a then-famous Russian rock band, all have music rights issues, plus any other episode of the show with then-popular music in it (remember, this was the 80s and MTV was everywhere.) The Hogan Family also probably has music in it that has to be paid for (any popular songs from the era.) It's no excuse-just like the cases involving WKRP, The Fall Guy, and others. Blame the music rights companies, not the video companies (also, blame the TV stations for not rerunning these shows so that there will be buyers for them on DVD!)[/test]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future" s_so_bright,_i_gotta_wear_shades"="">I'm not sure why shows like the Fall Guy were no heavily re-run but I did notice that by the mid 80's a lot of channels steers clear of running hour long syndicated re-runs (especially dramas). Whereas, in the 70's and early 80's, you could find hour long syndicated shows like Mannix, Cannon, or Mission Impossible by the mid to late 80's 80's, I don't recall seeing many left at all. I almost never remember seeing re-runs of popular shows like Hill Street Blues, Dallas, Hunter, Fall Guy and others on independent channels, until channels like FX and TV Land came out in the 90's. I'm not sure why this phenomenon occurred, but there was a definitely change in the syndication patterns of hour long shows over that time period