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TV DVDS
Stephanie Stavropoulos writes: "I have read your blog numerous times and really enjoy it but have never responded. I felt that I needed to do so now. You mentioned that you would like to see the Dean Martin variety show on DVD, it is available on DVD. From what I can tell, they don't sell the entire run of the show all together, but individual volumes.

"Seeing as you brought up Captain Kangaroo (good choice by the way), I have a suggestion: the original Zoom show. I bet there are quite a few people from my generation who would like to see that again!

"Cartoons: Funky Phantom (I seem to notice in your listings you don't mention cartoons very often, if at all. My mistake if you mention them more than I am giving you credit for.)

"I also like your idea about making a DVD of game shows that don't have all that many surviving episodes. This could be done with other shows as well. Like you mentioned CBS not having kept their copies of Captain Kangaroo, what about Romper Room? The same thing happened with this, as well. Maybe somewhere someone has a couple of copies that could be added to this collection as well. Or why not make a montage DVD (sort of one-hit-wonders-type) where it doesn't have to be on a specific topic, just any type of show where only a few episodes have managed to survive for posterity."

No question, a Romper Room DVD would be a huge seller - especially if it included not just the syndicated version but a generous sampling of local productions as well. I suspect the Claster family, which owns the rights to Romper Room, has a good run of shows that could go to DVD. They released a series of VHS with the final syndicated run with Miss Molly, filmed in the 1980s. But of course, we all want the 1960's/'70's version and whether they exist in any great numbers I have no idea. A PBS special was in the planning stages a few years ago and the producer told me the family had some episodes, could be they have a lot. I'm guessing there are about a dozen stray episodes in the hands of collectors and stations around the USA surely have a few episodes (the one episode they may have saved) stashed away.

Why ISN'T Zoom on DVD?!?

I had an idea once to do a TVparty DVD collection that would string together stray TV shows that otherwise would never turn up on DVD, an editor's choice kind of thing. For instance, a collection of four episodes each from The Green Hornet, Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific. Believe me, even though they exist, an entire run of any of those series is too much - they weren't that great to begin with and the thought of remastering all 13 episodes of Captain Nice would be too expensive for the unknown number of people who might be interested in that sort of thing. But a hit and run compilation would make a fun night of viewing. Thanks for the suggestions Stephanie!

Bob Huggins also informed me that the Dean Martin Show is available by subscription at deanvariety.com and TVShowsonDVD.com reported last year that The Ghost & Mrs. Muir was rumored to be coming out from MPI Home Video but nothing has come of it to date. Thanks Bob!

Wednesday, May 9, 2007 - 9:58am
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STRANGE...
I was digging around and found the very first children's TV page I ever did, back in 1994. It's called 'Bizarre Kid Shows' - real kiddie shows that could be found on television fifty or more years ago, weird programs like:

Kid Gloves
Only in the fifties - toddler and pre-teen boys don boxing gloves and battle to the finish!

Produced in Philadelphia, the series was an audience hit in 1951 but lasted only 26 weeks because - big surprise - no one would sponsor it.

The announcer was Bill Sears with commentary by Boxing commissioner John De Groza; the ref was Frank Goodman.

Star Time
Holy Jon Benet! Wee ones
competing in a weekly fashion show circa 1952.

Strong Man
Kids competing in feats of strength - the prize is the opportunity to be gawked at on the Steel Pier in Atlanta for a week.

You can see the rest here.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007 - 9:39am
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SHOWS I'D LIKE TO SEE ON DVD
I've done this before for the Blog so there may be some redundancy but I call upon the DVD gods to deliver unto me:Camp Runamuck - one season wonder from the mid-sixties.

Run Buddy Run - sitcom starring jazz great Jack Sheldon.
Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour - more!
Match Game - more!
Dirty Sally - a short-lived comedy-western spinoff from Gunsmoke in the mid-seventies.
A Touch of Grace - 13 episode series starring Hazel's Shirley Booth.
Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour - lots of great music in this series. Which will make it a tough road to DVD. But This Is Tom Jones is coming in a few weeks and it's spectacular!
Ghost & Mrs. Muir - I have fond memories of watching this as a kid, it's a pretty funny sitcom (the first season especially) starring Hope Lange that holds up well today.
Nanny and the Professor - ditto except it's not as funny as Ghost & Mrs. Muir, more light-hearted.
Newlywed Game - I always laughed at this silly game show, especially the 1970's version.
The Good Guys - pleasant little comedy with Bob Denver and much of the cast of Gilligan's Island turning up.
Batman - held up in legal snafus.
Dean Martin Show - lots of incredible music here as well.
He & She - groundbreaking sitcom starring Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss, Jack Cassidy and many other wonderful supporting players. The predecessor to the Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart shows but He & She failed to spark.
Jack Benny Show - there are a bunch of dollar DVDs of this unique sitcom/variety show but I want lots more.
Captain Kangaroo - the CBS years were all destroyed, or so I understand. I suspect PBS still has copies of their version of Captain Kangaroo. This would be a big hit on DVD!
Jeopardy (the '60's & '70's versions) - again, all destroyed but a dozen or so. Why not a DVD of different 1970's game shows that only have a few surviving episodes?
The New Treasure Hunt - possibly the funniest game show ever.

Any suggestions you might have?

I'm also interested in your opinion on what the best TV on DVD releases have been so far.

Monday, May 7, 2007 - 8:45am
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DOWNLOAD PRIMETIME
This idea I like. From the press release: NBC.com has launched NBC Rewind where you can download your favorite shows in its entirety after it has aired, and in support of it MSN is hosting a contest with signed scripts by the entire casts of Heroes, Medium, My Name is Earl, Law and Order, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Las Vegas, Twenty Good Years, The Black Donnellys and Friday Night Lights!

Monday, May 7, 2007 - 8:27am
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GREY'S ANATOMY SONG
Remember when we told you about Tim Myers, a musician from Los Angeles and his song "Momma's Boy" that was featured for about 2 minutes in last week's episode of Grey's Anatomy? The song played while Ava was in brain surgery and as Addison delivered Lisa's baby. If you're looking for that tune hit up Tim's My Space Page. It is listed on the ABC Grey's Anatomy website as well under MUSIC GUIDE.

Monday, May 7, 2007 - 8:23am
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CBS PROMO
Justin Kaplowitz writes: Time to change the textbooks on Network Promos once again, I came across this one on the mighty "Tube" this morning:

As you can see, it's a CBS promo from 1979 called "We're Coming On". Now for the promo laureates out there, you might already know that CBS's 1978 season promo was called "Turn Us On, We'll Turn You On". While the following year, CBS presented us with "You're Looking Good, America". Which raises the question, where does this one fit in?

Long answer: unlike the other networks which kept laying down their campaigns for an entire season, CBS sometimes kept things fresh by cranking out a variation of their current promo for that particular month's sweeps period. Something that became commonplace for them to do up until the mid-'80s. Anything to keep an audience riveted, I guess

Short answer: February 1979, because it uses a number of the same clips from the '78 promo. And how about Co-Ed Fever? One of the most notorious bombs ever (lasted one episode).

Sunday, May 6, 2007 - 3:02pm
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YOU TUBING
I added a bunch of clips from You Tube to most of the pages on the front of TVparty yesterday. I was blown away at some of the amazingly random material I found. Here are a few gems - Bette Davis from a 1970s interview:

The syndicated Christian kid show Captain Noah from the seventies is appropriate for a Sunday don't you think?

One of my favorite shows of the 1970s was The New Treasure Hunt with Geoff Edwards where a contestant could win $25,000 - that's $100,000 plus in today's money. The show was a lot like Deal or No Deal where the contestant chooses a box from a stage full of boxes. And quite a few people selected the $25,00 box as I recall. Then there's this contestant...

Fred Scott, Sandy Becker and Soupy Sales talk about their days as local kid show hosts in New York City in the fifties and sixties. This entire show can be found on You Tube.

This is from the first episode of The New Price Is Right in 1972. Was it only on this episode that Johnny Olsen asked the first four contestants to "Stand up" before asking them to "Come on down?"

Sunday, May 6, 2007 - 2:50pm
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HAPPY SATURDAY
GSN will honor Bob Barker by broadcasting his appearances on Family Feud, I've Got a Secret, The Match Game and Tattletales on Tuesday, May 15 through Saturday, May 19.

According to Quantcast ratings TVparty is now the 12,665 most popular site in the world out of over 2 million. That's nearly on par with tvland.com (rank 10,979) and a lot better than nickatnite.com (rank 46,491). Which of the cable net channels has the biggest audience on the net? I'm betting it's discovery.com (rank 162) - compare that to nbc.com (rank 241), fox.com (rank 244), cbs.com (rank 564), and abc.com (rank 3,403).

From You Tube, here's a few minutes from a rare daytime 1976 episode of Hollywood Squares featuring Big Bird.

The opening from a nighttime Hollywood Squares episode from 1979 featuring 1950's and '60's pop stars.

More from that Hollywood Squares ep.

Saturday, May 5, 2007 - 9:00am
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MORE WKRP MYSTERIES
Hey Billy,
Since you gave your review of WKRP In Cincinnati, I thought I'd let you in on my own thoughts on the release which I just got last week. First and foremost, yes, the show feels hollow without 99% of the original music. But if it's good material you're looking forward too, I think you can look beyond the missing music and just enjoy the show.

You're gonna have to because second (and here's the bubble burster), there seems to be a major change in special features on this one (unless they're hidden "Easter Eggs", they're not there). The special features for this set DO NOT include anything about The Making of the Show, "Dr. Johnny Fever" or "Turkey's Away" (Other than a commentary track for that episode). Instead, the features include a mini-documentary of 'KRP's 'Fish Story' episode, a piece on Loni Anderson's Jennifer Marlowe character and commentary on only TWO episodes ('Turkey's Away' and the Pilot).

Sorry to be a buzzkill about this; but for the benefit of the diehard fans of 'KRP (myself included), it must be known. Maybe 20th Century Fox could put those other features on a future release, (though where will the 'Turkey's Away' feature fit on Season 2?) but for now, I guess we have to make do with it. - Justin Kaplowitz

That's interesting. I wasn't sure what Justin was referring to so I looked over at my review of WKRP and, in the sidebar under DVD features, it reads:

DVD Features:
Available Subtitles: Spanish Available
Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
Commentary by Cast Members
Don't Touch That Dial - The Making of WKRP
Turning A "Turkey" Into a TV Classic
"Doctor Johnny Fever, and I am Burnin' Up in Here!"

Sure enough, the actual DVD release has two different mini-documentaries substituted for 'Turning A "Turkey" Into a TV Classic' and 'Doctor Johnny Fever, and I am Burnin' Up in Here!' and there's no 'Making Of' feature. Sometime between the press release and the mastering of the final DVDs these substitutions were apparently made. Probably saving them for some super-duper-deluxe DVD set in a few years. The current product listing on Amazon has those wrong features listed as well.

Which brings me to a point I wanted to make about the short documentaries found on TV DVDs. They all too often annoy me as much as anything. I love the interviews, seeing what people look like years later, the behind-the-scenes stories and hearing from experts who can put it all in context but I can't stand the heavy-handed use of clips that are interspersed with the interviews which inevitably take all the best punch lines (or dramatic moments) from that very collection and throw them back at you, sometimes more than once. This lessens the rewatchability of the shows by burning those lines into your head and ruins that moment in the series if you watch the documentaries before the shows. It's a tricky new format that needs a new template.

Friday, May 4, 2007 - 4:12am
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BITS & PIECES
FROM THE MAILBAG: I checked out your blog and I really dig it! I am an indie artist and my song "Momma's Boy" is going to be featured for over 2 minutes in tonight's (Thursday) episode of Grey's Anatomy! The song is played at a big moment, I'm excited! You can check out the song on www.myspace.com/timmyermusic and it's also available for download on itunes. Cheers, Tim Myers

RATINGS NOTES: I love Veronica Mars. If you haven't had the pleasure the series is readily available on DVD. I'm halfway through the second season. But while Veronica Mars on still airing on The CW, ratings were lousy for her return the Tuesday night - a meager 1.6/ 2 share with a loss of 47% of the audience from the lead-in Gilmore Girls. Producer Rob Thomas is hoping the network will let him re-format the show by aging the character a few years and making her a CIA agent. Sounds good to me.

The Adult Swim programming block on Cartoon Network continues to dominate cable TV when it comes to the all-important adults 18-34 demographic with 16 of the top 50 programs during the month of August, more than any other cable net.

Oprah has been the most popular daytime talk show for 415 straight weeks while Judge Judy has dominated the court for 553 weeks. Divorce Court and Judge Alex were just renewed through 2008-09 but numbers are falling. I like Judge Alex if I happen to catch the show while I'm working. He's a likeable guy but watching too many of those court shows can only have an ill effect on your mental hygiene.

Thursday, May 3, 2007 - 7:17am
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IN THE NEWS
This guy found out his real father was an actor on the TV shows he watched growing up. They mention the actor starred on The A-Team and Battlestar Galactica but didn't name him. Well, we can pretty easily guess who the actor is since both shows shared a prominent cast member.

I wonder if they met up at Starbucks for some Face time?

Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - 9:37am
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CHUCK MCCANN
I'm interviewing the great Chuck McCann today. I was reminded that McCann played W. C. Fields in the TV movie Mae West. I remembered his characterization being dead on - and found a clip on You Tube to prove my memory wasn't faulty. Ann Jillian portrayed Mae West and it looks like she did a fine job as well.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - 9:15am
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PROGRAM NOTES:
TBS has announced the launch dates of three summer series -- Tyler Perry's House of Payne, The Bill Engvall Show, a new family sitcom headlined by the Blue Collar Comedy Tour comedian, and season two of My Boys. House of Payne, which has already aired in a limited number of markets across the country, will begin its national run on Wednesday, June 6 at 9 p.m. ET. The Bill Engvall Show kicks off on Tuesday, July 17 at 9 p.m. ET, while My Boys returns with new episodes on Monday, July 30 at 10 p.m. ET.

NBC Sports' critically acclaimed documentary "Barbaro: A Nation's Horse" will premiere in primetime on NBC Saturday, 8 p.m. ET. "Barbaro" was scheduled to debut Sunday, but was pre-empted due to extended live coverage of the double-overtime Sabres-Rangers NHL playoff game.

WTF? The question probably never occurred to viewers in the 1970s and 1980s, but suddenly it is highly relevant: exactly how much worthwhile entertainment content was there in shows like "Charlie's Angels," "T. J. Hooker," and "Starsky and Hutch"? In the '70s , Kate Jackson, left, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith took a half-hour to solve a crime. Now, in "minisodes," they do it in minutes. The Sony Corporation and its production studio, Sony Pictures Television, which controls the rights to those and many other relics of a distant era of television, have come up with an answer to that question: three and a half to five minutes. Here's the story.
- - -12 years of TVparty have taught me that people don't want to sit in front of their computer to watch more than five minutes of anything. Did you know TVparty was the first site to ever offer clips from TV shows?

NEW ONLINE TV SHOW: The first 3 episodes of the web only comedy series Home Purchasing Club are now online at www.BuyHpc.com.

This hilarious and twisted online video series spoofs the world of home shopping networks, and features cast from The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Office Space. Here's a sample.

Home Purchasing Club

FROM THE MAILBAG: Thanks for posting the re-encoded Hank clip. It's a dream of mine that this obscure series someday makes it to DVD. Not very likely, I suppose -- I've heard from all manner of folk that the prints were lost, tossed, destroyed. A shame, really, as Dick Kallman was such a talent, an actor I'd like to see more of. Since he's dead, that really only leaves us his past work, of course. I've collected some of his TV singing appearances here and there (two are posted on YouTube) but I'd really love to see more of "Hank." Seems like it would compare favorably to another one of my favorite short-lived series of that time, "Gidget." Anyway, thanks for keeping the flame alive! - John Hamilton

Here's one of those You Tube clips of Dick Kallman with Leslie Gore:

GREAT NEWS FOR CLASSIC TV FANS: From the press release - On September 18, S'more will be releasing the entire series run of "The Get Along Gang" in a 3 disc box set at $24.99. This series has not been previously available on DVD and I know when I mentioned this to my 28 year old twin daughters, they flipped out. A lot of people grew up with this series and perhaps more importantly the series was a product of the 80's, when various "Parent Action Groups" held a great deal of control in regards what kids watched on TV. That meant the series that were intended for young viewers and produced during that time period emphasized positive values and the importance of group harmony over individual accomplishments and validation, as opposed to today's overt violence. We're still working on compiling special DVD features but have a wealth of storyboards and original art drawings to include.

On October 2, we'll be releasing the amazingly bizarre, iconic and entertaining "Paul Lynde Halloween Special" as a single DVD at $14.99! Not only is the resplendent Lynde in fine form in this October 1976 TV special, he's joined by Margaret Hamilton (who dons the entire costume from "The Wizard of Oz" for the only time since the original 1939 release, including the green make-up). She is joined by Witchie Poo (Billie Hayes) from "H.R. Pufnstuf" playing her ‘sister', Tom Conway, Donnie and Marie Osmond, Billy Barty, Roz "Pinkie Tuscadero" Kelly", Betty White, Florence Henderson and as musical guests - KISS, in their first TV appearance! KISS performs 3 songs and the footage of them on stage ‘talking' with Lynde is priceless.

On October 16, S'more will be releasing "The Littles" with all 29 episodes in a 5 DVD box priced at $39.99. The TV series was based on a successful book series, read by millions of children since the initial book printing in 1967.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - 8:36am
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BLOG RERUN
I posted this a few months ago but thought I'd share it again. For no good reason.
You know what I did this weekend? I re-encoded 500 video clips that somehow got corrupted, at least they look that way when they're played in the new Real Player 10. It took the entire weekend, from Friday until now (and I'm still not done) - tracking down, pulling and encoding all of those clips - by hand, mind you. It caused me to notice that digital video will really break down over the years. I've noticed that with .gifs - they start deteriorating at around five years and eventually turn to digital mush. The same thing is happening to video I captured five years ago.

Along the way, I re-discovered a few random clips I thought I would present for your pleasure:

Here is an unlikely trio: John Wayne, Tom Smothers and Red Skelton as colonial figures reading the words of Ben Franklin. No question, these words resonate as strongly today as ever. Wayne & Skelton were publicly very conservative, Tom Smothers an unabashed liberal. Yet all can agree on the message here - or at least we could 30 years back.

"For, when dissent becomes a crime, hope becomes despair. Dissent, but dissent honorably," Franklin wrote. "Speak out for what you believe in at least as loudly as you speak against the system. For gentlemen, if ours is a generation to say democracy will not administer to the people, let it be a conscious decision arrived at only after every opportunity for man to rule himself has failed."

Speaking of Tom Smothers, here's a short bit from one of the Smothers Brothers' first prime-time appearances, on the Bing Crosby Show.

In a marvelous bit of type-casting, Ida Lupino and Howard Duff (married in real life) portrayed married movie stars in Mr. Adams & Eve; the maid was played by Olive Carey, seen in many classic John Wayne / John Ford movies including The Searchers. In this scene, pampered Eve decides to live what the 'typical woman' experiences in a day.

One of my favorite cartoons when I was a wee lad was - The Mighty Heroes - a spoof of the super hero team-ups that were popular in comic books at the time. Here's the rollicking theme song.

In 1965 there was a charming sitcom called Hank starring Dick Kallman - about the first college drop-in. College drop-outs were a common theme in the culture in '65 but this show was about a clean cut guy who disguised himself as a student he knew was going to be absent that day. In this way, he could get a college education and continue to take care of his orphaned sister. Aaaaaaaw!

The theme song to Hank sported lyrics by Johnny Mercer:
He's up with the sun
And he's got the college ringin'
As he goes upon another swingin' day;
With jobs to be done or errands to run
He's A-Number one OK.
He'll dry-clean your clothes,
Be a butler or a porter
If it means another quarter in the bank.
He'll get his degree, his Phi Beta Key --
And get 'em both for free.
That's Hank!

Monday, April 30, 2007 - 12:56pm
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NEW VIDEO & AUDIO CLIPS
This scene from The Hathaways is from 1961. If you don't know the story of The Hathaways, it's your typical suburban family sitcom - average dad, everyday mom and the rambunctious little ones. Well, the kids were a bit different. The superb cast included Jack Weston, Peggy Cass and Mary Grace Canfield who played much the same character on Green Acres a few years later.

It's up to Kid Power! The theme (audio only) for Kid Power, a 1972 Saturday morning show. Thanks to Stuart Gitlow for audio clip, he taped it off of the TV at the time.

Monday, April 30, 2007 - 11:20am
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