why are tv series like

1966 Batman

The Green Hornet

The Six Million Dollar Man

NOT ON DVD ?????

Honestly, because money hasn't crossed the right the palms, yet.

1966 Batman: Caught in legal hell between Time/Warner (owns DC Comics/Batman), Fox (owns the show), and the daughter of Howie Horwitz, the producer.

Green Hornet: Far as I know, whoever owns it just thinks there's not enough demand to justify a DVD release.

6 Million Dollar Man/original Bionic Woman: Universal owns the shows, but slipped up and allowed the rights to the book the shows were based on to lapse. Book rights were picked up by Dimension Films. Since the shows were based on the book, both parties have to reach an agreement before a DVD set can be released. (This only applies in the USA. Overseas, different rights laws apply, so the UK division of Universal was able to release seasons 1 and 2 of both shows on DVD.)

And China Beach? HOW can there be no China Beach?

I had read somewhere that a new green hornet movie was in the works and they bought up all of the rights. Presumably to prevent any "cross-culture" competition/comparison that may hurt the movie.

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0990407/

I'm still waiting on the original "It Takes a Thief" with Robert Wagner.

And China Beach? HOW can there be no China Beach?The first thing that crossed my mind was "music rights issues."

I don't know if that's the case, but it wouldn't surprise me. I seem to remember the show using a pretty good amount of period-appropriate music.

Qapla'

SSB

I'm still waiting on the original "It Takes a Thief" with Robert Wagner.

OOoo! I loved that show!

The first thing that crossed my mind was "music rights issues."

I don't know if that's the case, but it wouldn't surprise me. I seem to remember the show using a pretty good amount of period-appropriate music.

Qapla'

SSB

That makes sense. I wouldn't be surprised.

I noticed that the RTN (Retro Television Network) is currently showing It Takes A Thief on weekends. Maybe it's available in your area.

I remember when I first heard about the Green Hornet movie being in development back in 1994, with Greg Kinear up for the lead role. I was naive enough to send Universal a letter offering some suggestions about the new Black Beauty.

I still have some of the early MCA DiscoVision LaserDisc titles of the Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman.

I noticed that the RTN (Retro Television Network) is currently showing It Takes A Thief on weekends. Maybe it's available in your area.

I remember when I first heard about the Green Hornet movie being in development back in 1994, with Greg Kinear up for the lead role. I was naive enough to send Universal a letter offering some suggestions about the new Black Beauty.

I first read about a Green Hornet movie in magazines back in 1986, so it's been quite awhile in development.

A show I would like to see on dvd is "Search", but it isn't even allowed to be shown in the U.S. for some reason.

David.

I first read about a Green Hornet movie in magazines back in 1986, so it's been quite awhile in development.

A show I would like to see on dvd is "Search", but it isn't even allowed to be shown in the U.S. for some reason.

David.

I agree, Search is one of the great ones. I was very disappointed when it wasn't renewed; it was my favorite show that year. I can't believe that someone isn't busy making money off of it right now. It would be a great cult classic on DVD.

The first thing that crossed my mind was "music rights issues."

I don't know if that's the case, but it wouldn't surprise me. I seem to remember the show using a pretty good amount of period-appropriate music.

Qapla'

SSB

Yep! That's the case. Just like WKRP, China Beach used a lot of period music. Though they secured the rights to use the music in the series when it was broadcast they do not have the rights for the music in home videos. They can either try to get the rights to all that music, that's going to cost a fortune, or they can replace the music with something else. Basically what WKRP did to get the episodes out on DVD.

I noticed that the RTN (Retro Television Network) is currently showing It Takes A Thief on weekends. Maybe it's available in your area.

I remember when I first heard about the Green Hornet movie being in development back in 1994, with Greg Kinear up for the lead role. I was naive enough to send Universal a letter offering some suggestions about the new Black Beauty.

No, don't have RTN. We got something called TVLand which is full of Andy Griffith and Hogan's Heroes.

The IMDB says a 2010 release for the new Green Hornet movie. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Still, I can't imagine any car looking better than the original Black Beauty.

Yep! That's the case. Just like WKRP, China Beach used a lot of period music. Though they secured the rights to use the music in the series when it was broadcast they do not have the rights for the music in home videos. They can either try to get the rights to all that music, that's going to cost a fortune, or they can replace the music with something else. Basically what WKRP did to get the episodes out on DVD.


I've never understood why securing music rights for old TV shows is such an expensive hassle. I'm a graphic artist. I'm all for musicians getting a cut from a video release that uses their music, but it seems like they (or, more likely, the music rights-holders) think their 15 second snippet of music is more valuable than the 25 minutes of scripted show surrounding it.

The DVD release of the NBC SCTV series was butchered due to music cuts. Securing the other music rights pushed the price of the half-season sets to around $80 retail. The high price depressed demand, and so we probably won't be getting all the syndicated and Cinemax SCTV episodes. The same thing happened with Freaks and Geeks, with the price passed on to the consumer. Some major scenes in WKRP were changed to generic, sound-alike music, really diminishing the comedic impact.

Shawn Marshall
Portland, Oregon

The music industry says it's losing money due to people copying music and sharing music. Funny, everyone used to make their own cassette tapes to preserve their albums but now that we've gone digital, they suddenely are losing money. So, they want every penny they can get to cover the losses of their over-priced CDs.

I agree though, they are fanatical over almost nothing. As usual, the lawyers win even with everyone else loses. They have nothing to do but get paid for filing injunctions and get a cut of they win.

Okay, so what's the reason they stopped releasing Taxi and Hunter at three seasons? I don't recall there being much source music in either. :(

Okay, so what's the reason they stopped releasing Taxi and Hunter at three seasons? I don't recall there being much source music in either. :(

I'm sorry to say that it might have something to do with low sales. We have the first four seasons of The Bob Newhart Show on DVD, and when I was trying to find info on the release date of Seasons Five & Six, I found online comments talking about rumors that the sales of the first four seasons had not reached necessary levels, so that the releases of the later seasons are now probably not going to happen. One commenter wrote that they even received a reply email from Fox confirming that rumor.

A somewhat less-than-robust consumer economy isn't going to be helping that situation either, I'm afraid. I guess you could write letters to the companies that released Taxi and Hunter to let then know that you are waiting for the rest of the seasons on DVD. I would hope that if they got enough feedback like that from fans that they would be smart enough to follow up on it. Good Luck!

Actually, it's the daughter of William Dozier who's suing Fox over royalties she said the estate is owed going back to Batman's first syndication run. I think the same applies to The Green Hornet.

Universal owned the rights to The Green Hornet for a movie back in the mid-nineties. (Look at the box of your Polar Lights Black Beauty repop. It has the Universal logo on it.) George Clooney had signed to star, however, Joel Schumacher wanted him for Batman & Robin BADLY. And, since he had so much cache in this town at the time, Universal delayed production on The Green Hornet to accomodate Schumacher. Then, the film never got made.

Taking bets on wether Clooney signed a "pay-or-play" contract.

Okay, so what's the reason they stopped releasing Taxi and Hunter at three seasons? I don't recall there being much source music in either. :(

Birds of Prey had a music issue. The DVD has new opening and incidental music.

I remember when Paramount was releasing Star Trek on VHS back in the 80's. All the episodes' boxes said "The Original Uncut Series." Except for "The City On The Edge Of Forever." Because they had to change a piece of music, the box just said "The Original Series."

I also noticed that some music has been changed on DVDs of seaQuest.

I've been watching "Wanted: Dead or Alive" with Steve McQueen, from Netflix. I remember watching it as a kid in the early sixties. For a 30 minute show it it's still a pretty good show.

Before watching this series, I had watched "Tales of Tomorrow" which was a little bit before I was born. They were sort of an early version of the "Outer Limits", Lots of old famous actors played parts in some of them. The last story I watched had a "very" young Paul Newman in a bit role.

For a change of pace, my wife and I have been watching The Dick Van Dyke Show on DVD. Lots of you guys have probably seen it all, but I had only seen a handful of episodes prior to the this. I had seen enough of it to know I wanted to watch more, though; all the episodes I had seen were laugh-out-loud funny. We're into the second season now, and we're really glad we chose it. I have been surprised by how well-drawn the characters are in the show; early on in the first season, we see flashbacks to the first meeting between Rob and Laura, and many subsequent episodes have built off what was established there.

And the very young Mary Tyler Moore is very appealing! :thumbsup:

Qapla'

SSB

And the very young Mary Tyler Moore is very appealing! :thumbsup:

Qapla'

SSB

I'd call that an understatement.

Stretch pants...*sigh*

SSB - for fun, when there are shots of Richie's room, look for Aurora monster kits...

I'd call that an understatement.As it was meant! ;)

Qapla'

SSB

Stretch pants...*sigh*

SSB - for fun, when there are shots of Richie's room, look for Aurora monster kits...I'll be on the lookout ... they added his room as a new set for the second season, and so far I think we've only seen it in one episode.

It was a stroke of brilliance to make Rob a comedy writer. It gave them an excellent excuse to put him with zany co-workers, and the fact that they constantly crack jokes makes perfect sense in context.

Qapla'

SSB

Dick Van Dyke is still one of the funniest sitcoms EVER.

And yes, MTM was... oh, heck, she was hot as hell!

Stretch pants...*sigh*


I know what you mean, as a kid I thought there was something strangely appealling about MTM in those stretch pants, even though I wasn't sure exactly why.

Great show too.

"Oh, Robbbbb!"

Thanks guys, really does my heart good to see you all loving a show which was my favorite weekday morning rerun as a kid (60s/70s). Buddy and Sally and Mel! And my love for Mar continued into her classic show.

Dick Van Dyke is still one of the funniest sitcoms EVER.

And yes, MTM was... oh, heck, she was hot as hell!Agreed on both counts. And to your latter point, Laura also comes across as a woman with whom just spending time would be fun.

Sometimes I think I was born too late ...

Qapla'

SSB

Thanks guys, really does my heart good to see you all loving a show which was my favorite weekday morning rerun as a kid (60s/70s). Buddy and Sally and Mel! And my love for Mar continued into her classic show.

Buddy and Sally and Mel definitely made that show laugh-out-loud funny. Richard Deacon was hilarious on Leave It To Beaver as Fred Rutherford, too. One of my favorite trivia bits is that his wife Gwen Rutherford was once played by none other than Majel Barrett. I almost couldn't believe it when I recognized her in her "Number One" brunette hair.

Just an update... a comment from Warner Home Video over at TV Shows on DVD seems to indicate that Warner's is not involved in the 1966 Batman series DVD rights. They state that Fox has the release rights for the series. So, looks like Fox is the holdup...