Thursday checklist

I’m kind of in hunker-down mode right now because I have two posts outside the purview of TDOY that I’m scrambling to get assembled.  One of them is the Gone Too Soon blogathon being sponsored by Comet Over Hollywood—my contribution is due Saturday.  I’m also working on a film tribute for Ed Copeland…also due on Saturday.  (Saturdays are also Serial Saturdays here on the blog, so if I can complete this hat trick it will be a miracle on ice.)

But I wanted to take a brief second to give you a heads-up on some bodacious TV-on-DVD announcements—one that will be right around the corner next Tuesday (March 13).  TVShowsOnDVD.com has announced that the Warner Archive will bring the first season of the TV version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ jungle man creation (played by future Name That Tune host Ron Ely), Tarzan, to DVD…and you probably already figured this out when you saw the “Warner Archive” mention but it will be a split-season release (Volumes 1 [with 15 episodes] and 2 [the remaining sixteen]) and each set will set you back a SRP of $39.95.  Sigh.  I’ve said this so many times in the past I know folks are tired of hearing it…but how anyone can afford to shell out those kind of simolians for that sort of presentation is a mystery to me.  I’d snap it up in a heartbeat if it weren’t split-seasoned and had a reasonable price tag on it…but in the end, the show wasn’t all that remarkable to command that sort of tariff.

In Timeless Media Group news, the company has announced that they will release Riverboat: The Complete Series in a 6-disc collection on May 15th; Riverboat being the 1959-61 Western adventure starring Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds (who left the show after squabbling with his co-star).  The company previously released a “best of” collection (with 15 episodes) back in 2007—but this new collection is the whole enchilada.  The program aired a total of 44 episodes and while I’ve only seen one or two of them I wasn’t completely bowled over by it…it might be that I have to tuck a few more installments under my belt to appreciate it a bit more.  Fortunately for classic TV fans, Timeless is a little more realistic when it comes to these releases—the set will sell for $39.98 SRP and if you do a little sleuthing online you might be able to find it at a discounted price.

An earlier announcement about the March 20 release of 11 episodes of the short-lived 1964-65 sitcom My Living Doll has generated some positive buzz (Mercurie at A Shroud of Thoughts told me on Twitter that he’s pre-ordered a copy) and the scuttlebutt is that a second volume will also be forthcoming if and when they’re able to locate the remaining 15 episodes.  At TSOD, David Lambert reports that “our good friend Peter Greenwood of Chertok TV” (he’s being far too generous, but my problems with Mr. Greenwood are archived on this blog, so I won’t go into the sordid history) “has spent 5 years looking all over the world for the episodes of this show. He has searched Air Force bases in Germany, stations in Greenland and Australia, and he's crawled under houses and pulled boxes out of storage; no stone has gone unturned.”  (I’d advise him to quit looking under rocks…he might find a relative.)

In this week’s “longest-wait-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop” department, Sony will resurrect the Benson DVD franchise this April 3rd with the sitcom’s second season release…the bad news is that it will bestow upon the series MOD (manufactured on demand) status, which means it will sell for $35.99 and will only be available online from the Warner Archive or Amazon.com’s CreateSpace sites.   (The inaugural season of the Soap spin-off was first released to disc in 2007…it’s a shame Shout! Factory couldn’t get in on this one.)

In conclusion, I wanted to give a shout-out to my Facebook chum and fellow Radio Spirits scribe Rodney Bowcock for generously providing me with the entire run of the classic 1958-61 Western Bat Masterson on DVD last week…I may or may not have mentioned this on the blog in the past, but I am quite the TV western fan.  And I thought what better way to close out the post with a look at the cover art for the upcoming May 29th release (thanks ever so, Warner!) of Maverick: The Complete First Season.

(I have a feeling Laura of Miscellaneous Musings fame was out of the room when this one was chosen.)