short-lived shows without DVD releases

[minor muppetz]

I had chosen to leave off Henson shows that were short-lived, since I know that most of us want those shows on DVD, and we all know (or should know... What kind of Muppet fans would we be if we didn't?) what Henson stuff has and hasn't been announced for a DVD release.

I was wondering if a Cavemen DVD release has already been planned. It was cancled before every finished epsiode was broadcast, and ABC didn't even broadcast the remaining episodes during the writers strike. I wonder if the Geico commercials would be included on such a set.

I think that The Duck Factory should be released. It was one of Jim Carrey's earliest starring roles, long before he became a star. Jim Carrey is still popular, though maybe not as popular as he was during the era of the Ace Ventura movies, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Batman Forever, The Cable Guy, Liar Liar, and The Truman Show, but still quite popular.

The BRady Bunch shows that I mentioned -- The Brady Bunch Hour, The Brady Brides, and The Bradys -- could have some consumer interest, since many people know about The Brady Bunch. I don't know how well the season sets for the first show sold. Out of those shows, however, I'd really only be interested in having The Brady Bunch Hour.

Bob Newhart's three unsuccessful shows -- The Bob Newhart Show (variety series), Bob, and George and Leo -- would also be of interest to me. I think his first series might have the best chance of a release, since that show won an emmy and a peabody. I've seen many quotes from Bob Newhart where he says that that series won "an emmy, a peabody, and a pink slip in the same year". I don't know if there'd be any residuals problems with that series. The first four seasons of The Bob Newhart Show (sitcom) and the first season of Newhart have been released on DVD. I think The Bob Newhart Show sets have been successful, despite the fact that season four was released in 2006 and season five stil hasn't been released. The first set didn't have any features, but the other ones did. The first season of Newhart was released last week, and had plent yof featurs, though no commentary. It had three featurettes. The Bob Newhart Show sets have an average of one featurette and soem commentary tracks. I don't know if Bob Newhart would be a big enough draw for his short-lived shows to come to DVD, unless the current releases of his series are successful enough.

Happy, Baby Talk, and Baby Bob are all shwos where a baby's thoughts are heard, though on Baby Bob, the baby actually talked to adults. I guess those shows are more infamous, though I liked Baby Talk and Baby Bob (I've never seen Happy). It seems like Baby Bob was hated when it was broadcast. Back when that show was on, I'd see online comments that were normally negative, and whenever I asked people at school if they watched it, they didn't seem to have even heard of it. Most of the few other people I knew who did know about it avoided it.

 

[CBPuppets]

How about Yogi's Treasure Hunt?

 

[Drtooth]

I wish they'd put Family Dog on DVD. Some of the 10 episodes did make it to VHS and of course there's the Amazing Stories episode where it started. I think it could happen in light of all that's been released these days.

Considering Tim Burton was an executive producer or something, I can't see why it won't make it. But Universal (that's the company that did it, right?) seems to be skiddish when it comes to cartoon series DVD's. Look how long it took them to get their staple, Woody Woodpecker on DVD. I'd be surprised if the Back to the Future TAS DVDs actually go forward this time.

Happy, Baby Talk, and Baby Bob are all shwos where a baby's thoughts are heard, though on Baby Bob, the baby actually talked to adults. I guess those shows are more infamous, though I liked Baby Talk and Baby Bob (I've never seen Happy). It seems like Baby Bob was hated when it was broadcast. Back when that show was on, I'd see online comments that were normally negative, and whenever I asked people at school if they watched it, they didn't seem to have even heard of it. Most of the few other people I knew who did know about it avoided it.

I don't know the story of all of them, but I do remember one or 2 of them (not Baby Bob) being made ONLY to coincide with "Look Who's Talking?" What was the one that had Tony Danza? I saw that one as a kid, and thought it was a TV spinoff of LWT.

But Baby Bob, same mistake that the Cavemen show made, proves you shouldn't make a TV show based on a line of commercials. Cartoons are iffy, since Linus the Lionhearted was based off off cereal commercials (or visa versa, My info's not too good on that one). A gimick can only hold a TV series if the gimick can be worked into coherent plotlines. Look at ALF. That's a very gimicky premise for a TV show. A Puppet Alien who wisecracks at the family. But they were able to make ALF likable, and they were able to make multiple plotlines in which the gimmick was interweaved into multiple storylines. Something Cavemen at least tried. baby Bob really didn't.

 

[minor muppetz]

Bbay Talk is the show where the baby is voiced by Tony Danza, and one of the few shows where Tony Danza plays somebody not named Tony. I think it was really just inpired by Look Who's Talking. The title is in no way similar, and all of the characters have different names (though many are just slightly different, such as changing Mikey to Mickey, and I think changing Molly to Maggie).

 

[Xerus]

I'm hoping one day, the old DFE cartoon series will get DVD releases. So far, they have The Pink Panther and Here Comes the Grump. But I would like to see these other DFE series out someday.

Baggy Pants and the Nitwits
Bailey's Comets
The Houndcats
The Odd Ball Couple
Return to the Planet of the Apes
The Super 6

DFE always seemed to make such great cartoons.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm pretty surprised that Return to the Planet of the Apes isn't on DVD yet. I mean, the film series is extremely popular. Even the Star Wars cartoons (Droids and Ewoks) were released to DVD (granted, edited into movies). Maybe it's another 1966 Batman situation where one company owns the rights to the movie, and the other owns the rights to the cartoon.

Sci-Fi fans would clammor for it, that's for sure. The others sound a bit too obscure, actually.

 

[sesameguy]

How about Yogi's Treasure Hunt?

Wow, I remember that one! I know that they're going to release the "Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm" show at some point, so it's possible that Yogi's Treasure Hunt may get a DVD release as well.

 

[sesameguy]

The Odd Ball Couple

Wow again! It would definitely be fun to see that one released. I actually saw it before I'd heard of "The Odd Couple," so at first I thought the Odd Ball Couple came first!

 

[sesameguy]

Last year I did a blog posting listing the series that I most wanted to see released on DVD. You can read about them here:

http://heroshaven.blogspot.com/2007/04/what-needs-to-be-on-dvd.html

The list is now a bit out of date, since the original "George of the Jungle" series has now been released on DVD. ("Yay!") But I'm still hoping that the live action Spider-Man series and "Misfits of Science" will get their day. Both were rather short-lived, and a "complete series" set for both of them would be great.

 

[Son of Enik]

I wouldn't be surprised if The Brady Bunch Hour was released very soon...it was produced by Sid & Marty Krofft, and their shows have been coming out on DVD rather quickly these days, (even though we are STILL waiting for the 2nd season of Sigmund & The Sea Monsters).
Everyone brought up some great choices for short lived shows to be released on disc, and I hope everyone gets their wishes.