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Watching TV Series On Homevideo (DVD, Blu-Ray, Streaming)

Rinaldo
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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

Because David said I could....

 

This is a topic for all the ways we watch current and older TV series other than broadcast (whether as scheduled or delayed) -- DVD, Blu-Ray, streaming online. It's not for the actual content of the series (which would go in that show's forum), but for information about its availability, such as:

 

  • Announcement that a series or season is due on DVD 
  • Reactions to packaging or contents (commentary, extras, etc.)
  • Notification that a past series is (unexpectedly?) legally available for viewing online
  • Whatever else comes up that I haven't thought of

The idea of this topic was precipitated by the very welcome announcement that Season 2 of Better Off Ted is finally going to be issued on DVD! (It's been available for streaming on Amazon already.) This is wonderful news for those who, like me, enjoy having the complete set on their shelves.

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

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I tend to think not (hoping David will agree, as he suggested I start the thread, in the Questions forum). This is not about binge-watching, or the content of the respective series, but simply about the availability and format of series as they reappear. I think merging the two topics would muddy what each one is about. That's my opinion anyway.

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

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Me too, but if it's a classic series that some company (usually Shout!, these days) is being good enough to issue in a boxed set, I won't complain that there are no extras. I'm grateful they're doing it at all. I have Barney Miller, thirtysomething, and Hill Street Blues complete thanks to them, and have only held off on The Bob Newhart Show because I'd already bought 4 of its 6 seasons separately when they were first issued.

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BoogieBurns

BoogieBurns

The Office full series box set is coming out on DVD October 7th (in the US). They have so many extra features. This box set is only going to include one additional extra, but it is a commentary about a season 2 commentary. So it is perfect for Office-nerds like me! 

 

DVD commentaries are usually the only thing I'm hoping for when I buy a season of a TV show. Deleted scenes are great too though! 

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Luckylyn

Luckylyn

Does anyone know where I can find out if the Being Human (US) is going to have a complete series box set, or when season 4 will be released?  I've held off buying the other seasons because I'm waiting for a possible box set.

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bmasters9

bmasters9

Me too, but if it's a classic series that some company (usually Shout!, these days) is being good enough to issue in a boxed set, I won't complain that there are no extras. I'm grateful they're doing it at all. I have Barney Miller, thirtysomething, and Hill Street Blues complete thanks to them, and have only held off on The Bob Newhart Show because I'd already bought 4 of its 6 seasons separately when they were first issued.

Speaking of which, I just recently purchased that Bob Newhart Show release from Shout! (got it through Amazon), and I'm leaning very seriously towards getting rid of the two original FOX releases that I got before. That Shout! release is all on singles, and those singles will quite nicely replace the FOX doubles.

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bmasters9

bmasters9

Series 4  of the Perry Mason tv movies will be coming out in October via Amazon.

Those Mason movies have been coming out pretty quickly, haven't they? AFAIK, there'll be one more release after that, with the remaining Burrs before his death, and the four Perry Mason Mysteries.

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AntiBeeSpray

AntiBeeSpray

Those Mason movies have been coming out pretty quickly, haven't they? AFAIK, there'll be one more release after that, with the remaining Burrs before his death, and the four Perry Mason Mysteries.

Yea surprisingly. At first they weren't... guess they've been selling well enough now to warrant it. Got the first three sets and they're in pretty good shape. Will be getting the rest through Amazon as well.

 

Cool. Looking forward to when it releases.

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

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A nice piece of unexpected news: After years of rights-clearing, Shout! Factory will be releasing a complete DVD set of WKRP in Cincinnati. The appended list shows the artists who'll be included. They couldn't manage quite everyone, it seems, but close enough to make it a satisfying release for the show's fans.

 

(I hope they, or someone, can now turn their attention to the other Hugh Wilson / Tim Reid collaboration, Frank's Place, a unique and valuable series [however short-lived] which has been held up for similar reasons.)

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snippie

snippie

Hello

We live in Australia and my wife is addicted to The Peoples Court. I don't enjoy it at all, but I'm trying to source more episodes for her to watch. She's pretty much seen allof the ones on YouTube. We have an XBMC media centre, so if anyone knows of any repos a doe sources where TPC episodes get uploaded to, let me know.

Tks.

P.s. Sorry our Prime Minister is such a dick

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

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(edited)

Issued today on DVD:

 

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Season 1. The only bonus features are deleted scenes.

 

How I Met Your Mother, final season. Bonus features: Alternate series ending. Behind the scenes for 2 episodes (finale and "Gary Blauman"). Audio commentary for 3 episodes ("The Locket," "The Rehearsal Dinner," "How Your Mother Met Me"). Cristin Milioti's audition. Deleted scenes. Gag reel.

 

OK, I hadn't intended to editorialize here, but I just watched Cristin's audition. She and Josh Radnor read the meeting scene on the train platform (longer and with different details; she's off-book, he isn't). She is just so delightful and spontaneous and already totally "there," it's easy to see how they knew this was their Tracy. It makes me angry all over again at what ended up happening with her.

Edited by Rinaldo
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bmasters9

bmasters9

Good news for us Bob Newhart Show loyalists who bought the first four seasons long ago as they came out, and then saw the complete series released as a box recently: Seasons 5 and 6 will be released separately in February.

I had only gotten Nos. 1 and 2 of FOX's original double-sided releases, and then got the full-series release. Still, I'm glad that those who had gotten all the double-sided individual releases will finally be able to get the last of the individuals.

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BizBuzz

BizBuzz

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Hart-Hart-Season-4/20458

 

Just heard about this from Facebook: No. 4 (1982-83) of Hart to Hart is coming from Shout! on 2/10/15 (also Robert Wagner's upcoming 85th birthday, believe it or not!). I was definitely in for No. 3, but now that this is coming, I'm in for No. 4 just as much. 

 

Now this is a show I really liked in it's day.  Wondering if I should just let the memory remain instead of watching it again and the memory being ruined.  ::giggle::

 

85?  That is just WRONG. 

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bmasters9

bmasters9

(edited)

Now this is a show I really liked in it's day.  Wondering if I should just let the memory remain instead of watching it again and the memory being ruined.  ::giggle::

 

85?  That is just WRONG. 

I'm thinking you mean that in the sense that you can't believe he'll be that old. Well, he will be very soon. 

Also, this No. 4 of Hart is one of the two seasons in which CPT (Columbia Pictures Television) had a part with Rona II and Spelling-Goldberg; CPT in that season also changed logos, from the Sunburst/AT to the 80s Torch Lady logo with Coca-Cola byline. Hopefully, Shout!'s upcoming release of No. 4 will have that logo. 

Edited by bmasters9
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BizBuzz

BizBuzz

I'm thinking you mean that in the sense that you can't believe he'll be that old. Well, he will be very soon.

 

Yes, because believing he is that old, means I have to believe I am getting up there, cause I was around when he was with Natalie Wood (the second time).  I didn't mean to inply you were wrong, although, I really wish you were.  ::giggle::

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

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Recently released:

Lou Grant, season 1 (with imminent release of season 2 announced). This is a longtime favorite of mine, so hurray!

Cop Rock, the complete series. Who would've predicted it?

Also coming in July, The Defenders, season 1. A classic of early-60s "important" drama, and the only time I recall my mother writing to protest a cancellation (which Lou Grant later was, for me).

Newhart is now up to season 5.

All thanks to Shout! Factory. 

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

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Recent releases I've noticed or acquired (no links this time):

Lou Grant, season 2 (with season 3 coming in November).

Limitless, "the first season" (i.e., the complete series); my favorite new series last season, except for

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, its first season available MOD. No extras, but we're lucky to have DVDs (and a second season!) at all, so I won't complain (though this of all series has lots of extra material that could have been included, like separate videos of all the songs, "explicit" versions of many of them, and weekly behind-the-scenes videos from the co-producer. But including them would have required a budget they don't have.

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

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I love that Shout! does all that stuff. The release of Season 5 of Lou Grant (previously scheduled for May) has been delayed for unspecified "technical" reasons, but let's hope the wait won't be long.

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bmasters9

bmasters9

21 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I love that Shout! does all that stuff. The release of Season 5 of Lou Grant (previously scheduled for May) has been delayed for unspecified "technical" reasons, but let's hope the wait won't be long.

And one other: an all-in-one of Hart to Hart, due for May 30:

https://www.amazon.com/Hart-Complete-Robert-Wagner/dp/B06VT2SQJW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1491513243&sr=8-2&keywords=Hart+to+Hart+complete+series

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GaT

GaT

I wasn't sure where to post this, & I finally decided to post it here, because this thread is the reason this situation no longers exists. I was watching "The Eighties" on Netflix, & the first episode was about television. They talked about how huge the whole "Who Shot JR?" thing was, & I remembered how I didn't watch the show, but after the season finale was such a big deal, I decided to watch it during summer reruns. Then I remembered how that was also what I did with the first season of "Survivor". And that was when I realized that summer reruns hadn't been a thing in longer than I can remember, & it's basically because of all the places you can watch shows online, or DVD, & on many different devices. Nowadays, it's really strange to think of a show rerunning it's episodes all summer, no wonder kids used to play outside more LOL

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blueray

blueray

I watched Charmed the first time on summer reruns. I actually haven't thought about how they stopped existing until you posted this. Yeah, most shows are just now released for streaming. And the networks play crap now. They may still repeat some stuff, but I haven't watched that much live TV in years as there is never anything on.

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

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@GaT and @blueray, another thing I miss from summer schedules in The Olden Days, along with reruns, is the occasional network "specials" in which they would air their failed pilots that didn't go to series. Four or six sitcoms in primetime, or occasionally one or two hourlong drama pilots (sometimes even a two-hour one). Sometimes these would even have hosts -- I remember Tim and Daphne Reid doing the honors one summer. Sometimes these were pretty bad (but that could be fun under the circumstances, because you knew it had already gotten the ax), but sometimes they were just as entertaining as anything else on the air, and I'd speculate as to hidden programming or personal reasons for passing on it. 

Years ago, there was even a new cable channel that programmed all the failed pilots it could get its hands on. Of course that couldn't last long, because they couldn't make it pay in the long run. (And of course it never made it to my cable system.)

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bmasters9

bmasters9

2 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Sometimes these would even have hosts -- I remember Tim and Daphne Reid doing the honors one summer.

Indeed-- I recall it from when I was 6, and it was called CBS Summer Playhouse, IIRC.

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

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All five seasons of Lou Grant are finally out on DVD! Thank you, Shout! Factory!! I loved this series, and still do, despite it now seeming "of its time" in certain respects.

There was a worrisome delay on Season 5: they were coming out at several-month intervals, and then the release date for Season 5 become "unknown" without explanation (though the site specializing in old TV shows on DVD got confirmation of the delay, still without explanation). Now, nearly a year late, here it is, and it turns out that the original elements were not available or not usable in all cases -- certain episodes are prefaced by a semi-apology that they were transferred from the best available sources in order to have a complete set. And indeed, a few scenes look or sound slightly murky. it's odd how this could have happened with what I think of as a relatively recent series, and yet decades-earlier shows can look pristine. But it's a minor matter: Lou is here!

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BW Manilowe

BW Manilowe

(edited)

I wish a company would get the rights which would do right by the Raymond Burr version of Ironside (there was a very short-lived NBC reboot/more like a reimagining--like only lived 3 episodes short--a few years ago, which causes the version clarification, with Blair Underwood as Ironside & in which pretty much everything was changed about the show except the title, the main character's name, his disability, & (I think) how he became disabled (if you ask me, changing so much about the show from the original was probably what killed the new version).

So far, of an 8-season show that was canceled in, like, 1975 (& I realize it took at least a couple of decades, or longer, beyond the '70's, for DVDs to even be created, let alone for a company that makes/sells them to get a license to release the original Ironside in DVD format), Shout! Factory's only up to/through Season 4 of the original (including releases of selected episodes only from each of the first 2 seasons), & it took forever, pretty literally, for them to get this much released (supposedly because the first season or 2 didn't sell well).

They went to releasing S3 & S4 through their Shout! Select program, where you buy the DVDs straight from them, in 2010 because of the alleged lack of sales at retail. And then S5 & S6 was announced for release (though maybe not with specific dates), again direct from them to the consumer, in--if not also for--2011. Those never happened. At least not yet.

Then, nothing happened with the title until 2017, when Shout! Select became the division involved with movies they consider classics (or something like that). And that's the last word anybody's ever heard about the series' releases on DVDs; nothing else has been said about the previously promised S5 & S6 releases. I don't have any of the releases that are out now, because I'm (probably hopelessly) waiting for a company/label which will release a Complete Series set.

All information gathered from here.

Oh... & another thing which bugs me is when you have 1 part of at least a 2-series crossover on DVD, but not the other part(s) because either the series, as a whole, with the other part(s) hasn't/haven't been released on DVD yet, or because the specific season(s) with the other part(s) of the crossover hasn't/haven't been released yet. Now that DVDs exist, why can't arrangements regularly be made between 2 (or more) different series which do crossovers with each other so that all the parts of the episode can be bought on the involved DVD for each show in the crossover, instead of having to buy separate DVDs for each part? It can happen... when Hawaii Five-0 & CSI: Los Angeles did a crossover between the 2 series, which are produced by different production companies/producers, though they air on the same network, in the 2011-2012 TV season, both parts of the crossover were on the DVDs for each show involved; you didn't have to buy each show's separate DVDs to get the entire episode. The other show's episode was among the Special Features on whichever show's DVDs you bought.

And, a friend who collects the DVDs for all the CSI shows (except maybe Cyber) said that the episode which spans all the way across the original 3 CSI shows (before Cyber) to complete has all the episode parts on the DVDs for each separate show (the other 2 parts are among the Special Features on the DVDs for the 3rd show).

As an example of only having 1 part of a 2-series crossover on DVD (which I actually bought because I thought both parts of the episode were on the DVD I bought), there was an episode involving the characters of the original Ironside--in Season 6, or 1 of the others that are still in some form of limbo regarding their release--which started on that show & ended on the old anthology show The Bold Ones, which rotated stories about a Senator, Lawyers, Doctors, & Cops, in an episode that focused on the Doctors (this part of the anthology lasted, like, 4 seasons while each of the others only lasted a season or so... definitely less than 4 seasons).

A supporting character from Ironside was the victim of an assassination attempt (I think to keep him from testifying in a court case), during which he fell from a high-level hotel balcony railing, which he was (unadvisedly) sitting on, & his spine was severely injured as a result; after the injury he underwent treatment by the Doctors in the other show to try to fix his spine.

Well that, for whatever reason, happens to be an episode of Ironside that I really liked. And a couple of years ago, they (I think Shout! Factory, in fact) started releasing the various segments of the entire The Bold Ones series on DVD. They eventually got to the episodes with The New Doctors (the title of that segment of the overall show), & I ordered it--partly because I liked that segment of the whole series a lot, & partly because it had what I thought was the complete episode of the crossover with Ironside.

Only, when I got the DVDs, it turned out that I only got the 2nd part of the episode, which was the part that aired on The Bold Ones; the first part, which was on the original Ironside, wasn't included even though I think Shout! Factory presumably could've found a way to include both parts of the episode in that DVD since they have, or at least had then, the DVD rights to both The Bold Ones & the original Ironside, & you'd think they'd have the rights to all of the seasons that were produced of each show.

Edited by BW Manilowe
To remove extraneous italics.
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