Tuesday, June 30, 2009

From the Artful to the Awful

This is hardly a new question, but it’s still a good one: If you could order up DVD sets of any old TV series that aren’t currently available in that format, what would you choose? My own selections would include Harry O, Hec Ramsey, Banyon, The Name of the Game, It Takes a Thief, City of Angels, Assignment: Vienna, Private Eye, and Search--none of which feature among PremiumHollywood.com’s alphabetized picks. Instead, we get AfterM*A*S*H, CPO Sharkey, Flying Blind, James at 15, Manimal, and When Things Were Rotten. A pretty rotten list altogether, though the site’s choices also include L.A. Law (why the hell isn’t that on DVD already?) and The Quest, both of which I’d be happy to sit down and watch again.

Click here to see--and ruthlessly judge--all of the site’s choices.

(Hat tip to TV Squad.)

READ MORE:What’s On YOUR Wish List of TV Shows That Ought to Be Out on DVD?” by David Bianculli (TV Worth Watching).

11 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

AFTERMASH? Manimal? The others I've never even heard of.

Stephen D. Rogers said...

I loved "When Things Were Rotten" at the time.

GaRY said...

My vote is for "Call to Glory" with Craig T. Nelson. I think it was 1984 or 1985. I know I didn't see all of the episodes then and it disappeared forever.

Gordon Hopkins said...

The Sci-Fi channel did a show years ago called The Sci-Fi Series Collection, which were short run series that usually didn't get repeated because there weren't enough episodes made. Some only had 6 or 8 episodes. I remember liking "Probe" (co-created by Isaac Asimov), "Nightmare Cafe" (Created by Wes Craven), "The Immortal" (based on the book by James Gunn) and Otherworld.

Randy Johnson said...

Indeed a bad list. Not being an L.A. Law fan, that one doesn't really bother me either.
Can't disagree with any of your picks, either. In Banyon and City of Angels, I love those period piece PI shows. And It takes A Thief is where I became acquainted with Gil Brewer when I bought his three tie-in novels.

Julia Buckley said...

I fondly remember James Franciscus in LONGSTREET. He was the blind detective, and I was in love with JF.

My husband votes for HONEY WEST, the girl with the pet ocelot.

MysterLynch said...

I have to say I am suprised that L.A. Law has not been released. It has been a long time, but I remember enjoying it.

I will say I am thriled that Wiseguy is going to be released!

Tom Mason said...

My vote for a reasonably well-known series for DVD is Harry O. The 2nd season with the Harry/Lt. Trench dynamic is great TV. My vote for an obscure series would be The Delphi Bureau with Lawrence Luckinbill as Glen Garth Gregory. I loved the original movie/TV pilot - which I still watch on an old VHS - but I haven't seen any of the short-lived series since its original run, and I'd spend the money just to satisfy my curiosity.

J. Kingston Pierce said...

Hey, Julia:

You should tell your husband that Honey West is already available in DVD format. I just watched the original episodes a few months ago.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/releases/Honey-West-
Complete-Series/7976

Cheers,
Jeff

J. Kingston Pierce said...

Thanks to everyone for the great ideas. Let me add four more suggestions to the list of series overdue for translation to DVD: The Defenders, which featured E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed as father-son lawyers; Ellery Queen, starring Jim Hutton and David Wayne; Petrocelli, a legal drama set in the Southwest and starring Barry Newman; and Tenafly, starring James McEachin as a corporate private eye and father in New Jersey. I'd buy all three of those in a snap.

Cheers,
Jeff

Julia Buckley said...

Thank you, Jeff--I'll tell him.

And I agree with Ellery Queen; I was a big Jim Hutton fan and very shocked when he died.