Warners held a chat last night about which of their TV properties are coming to DVD. Basically, everything that's good that you want to see, they have no immediate plans to release. For example, we're getting the entire run of THE O.C. and likely SMURFS, but no MAVERICK, 77 SUNSET STRIP, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., EVERWOOD or CHICO AND THE MAN. And our buddy Pete Fitzgerald got into the mix!

Read the transcript here

Actually, THE MAN FROM UNCLE is planned. Warner has looked at it ever since Anchor Bay "announced" it last year. I have heard that Robert Vaughn and David McCallum have contributed new interviews. I would expect to see it in 2008 if not this year.

Yup, I was looking out for this board's best interests, Marty! B)

Though not a definite "yea", their response to my question about DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, BAD RONALD and THE STRANGER WITHIN (a little while down the line, when their "telefilm expert" finally walked in and confirmed they do indeed own those Lorimar flicks) was somewhat encouraging. In the subsequent "official" after-chat thread at HTF, I made a further pitch for them, as well as DYING ROOM ONLY (1973), WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE? (1974), THE EYES OF CHARLES SAND (1972), THE POSSESSED (1977) and John Carpenter's SOMEONE'S WATCHING ME! (1978). The co-owner/moderator of the HTF, Ron Epstein, said he e-mailed the Warner reps a link to that thread, and also personally made a case for DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK.

Here 'tis:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/showthread.php?t=256246

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that CHEYENNE (though I have nothing against the show) gets a season set release, but they're still "looking at" MAVERICK, a year and a half after the "TV Favorites" sampler disc streeted. Who's still well-known by the general public today, Clint Walker or James Garner? Which show got the big-screen treatment (from Warner!) in recent years, that itself has made the studio oodles of $$$ in ticket sales, cable and video?

Maybe WB's "TV on DVD" division should take a clandestine field trip to CBS Paramount (and Paramount's "catalog movie" division should likewise secretly tour George Feltenstein's operation at WB). Perhaps then they'd learn something.

Though admittedly no masterpiece, I'm still fond of Hanna-Barbera's nutty prime-time live-action/animated warping of Mark Twain's characters in THE NEW ADVENTURES OF HUCK FINN (1968). But it looks like I'm in for a long wait for any kind of legit DVD release from WB. Am I the only one who wants it on DVD?

"I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that CHEYENNE (though I have nothing against the show) gets a season set release, but they're still "looking at" MAVERICK, a year and a half after the "TV Favorites" sampler disc streeted. Who's still well-known by the general public today, Clint Walker or James Garner? Which show got the big-screen treatment (from Warner!) in recent years, that itself has made the studio oodles of $$$ in ticket sales, cable and video?"

MAVERICK was a pivotal success for Warner Brothers television. It beat Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen in the ratings - really remarkable if you know anything about how popular Sullivan and Allen were at the time. CHEYENNE showed Warners that they could make money in television; MAVERICK showed them they could make a LOT of money.

More recently, Columbia House released 25 different tapes in the MAVERICK subscription series. Beloved and acclaimed series such as SGT. BILKO, ROUTE 66, and HAWAII FIVE-O didn't make it past the standard 10 releases.

If you look at the episode listing on Wikipedia and know anything about the show, you will determine that the second and third season were the strongest. The suits at Warners tend to think pretty dogmatically. "unfortunately, there is often a drop off in sales from season 1 to subsequent seasons on classic titles. this is also a major issue for classic tv series." While season one of MAVERICK is certainly worthwhile and should be released on DVD, it's not the strongest season. This is true for many "classic" tv shows such as CHEYENNE, HAWAII FIVE-O and ROCKFORD FILES. Don't get me wrong, the first seasons are still good to great, but I believe they were surpassed by later seasons. I know nothing about KNOT'S LANDING, but the argument by the fan of the show certainly made sense to me, and it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

I would love to see the first three seasons of MAVERICK, additional seasons of CHEYENNE, and seasons of HAWAIIAN EYE and 77 SUNSET STRIP. Maybe LAWMAN also. And maybe BOURBON STREET BEAT. Heck, all of their b&w shows are gold.

I am very happy that Warners is releasing the upcoming seasons of SPACE GHOST, BIRDMAN, SUPERMAN, and BATMAN from the sixties. I would also like to see more SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST!