Is there a list somewhere of TV seasons that are in limbo?

[Cheato]

Is there a list somewhere of TV seasons that are in limbo?

By my question, I don't mean entire series, like the Adam West Batman series that are in limbo because of rights issues, but series that started to come out, like Superboy, but the sales or whatever weren't good, so there have been no official announcements about upcoming releases of the rest of the seasons. In some cases, maybe in an interview online somewhere, an official may have even stated that future releases are unlikely.

At this point, the studios are starting to shoot themselves in the foot (on this issue), because these days I (and I don't think I'm the only one) won't buy a series unless I am confident it will be completed. That's why I haven't bought Superboy season 1, nor any of the Sliders seasons yet. Put the rest of the seasons on the schedule, and as soon as they're out, I'll be ordering the entire series. (Of course, if the studios continue screwing over the early purchasers by putting extras in the "Complete Series" release that aren't available in the individual season purchases, that's just going to make me stop buying ANYTHING until a "Complete Series" is released.)

But back to the current issue. I am not going to waste my money again on getting a series like X-Men Evolution, only to be left with a cliffhanger at the end of the current releases, with no plans for Warner Brothers to allow me to see the ending. So you know what I did? And I hope you studios are reading this. I downloaded the final season (of TV captures) using a torrent and watched it that way. I will still buy the DVDs if they're released, but I am not going to be left hanging ad infinitum. I buy a LOT of DVDs, and there is always something else for me to get instead of a partial release that will leave me frustrated at the end.

I am hoping we can have a list where we can see series that are seemingly (or knowingly) discontinued, so we can be better-informed consumers, and so we can know which studios need letters of encouragement about releasing the remaining seasons.


Edit 2008-01-12:

Updated to include info from posts up to #84.

Thank you to everyone that has been submitting info!


As I mentioned in the last update, "Kids' Shows" have their own section, and please don't complain about "Kids' Shows" including Rocky and Bullwinkle, etc.. Other shows are divided by decade, but then a few shows have been moved forward if they aired primarily in the decade following their premiere season, and/or if they "felt" more like the next decade's show. So Adam-12 (1968-1975) stays in the 1960s, but Murphy Brown (1988-1999) winds up in the 1990s.

If you don't like the layout of the lists, let me know. However, it felt strange to me before to be looking at a list that had "Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats" sitting between "Have Gun -- Will Travel" and "Hill Street Blues" in a single alphabetical list.

As for what's included and what's not:
First, a show must be released in some kind of sequential order. "Best of" DVDs or other such releases aren't enough to be considered.

Second, shows have to be considered separate series if they were produced by different companies or were retooled and had year breaks in them, or possibly were even broadcast on different networks. Of course there can be exceptions to this. I debated about this for a while because of Saved by the Bell. Its first season hasn't been released, but the reality is that a different company owns that first season, it was produced for a different network, the show was retooled and renamed after a year off, and the DVDs for the subsequent main series have all been released. And there are subsequent series to the main series, as well (College Years, the New Class, whatever). There's a similar problem with SCTV. If I included the "first season(s)," then would I be able to draw the line between The Outer Limits and The New Outer Limits as different series, or not?

Third, as for the dates of the show's last release on DVD:
(last DVD release date) -> result
(older than 12 months ago) -> on the list
(6-12 months ago) -> on the "too early to panic list"
(less than 6 months ago, with good reason to believe there's a problem) -> "too early to panic"
(less than 6 months ago, with no other info) -> not on the list
(previously abandoned, but with an upcoming or recent release) -> on the "shaky series" list


In every update, I will always include a list of what was added to what list, as well as what wasn't added and why.


Any feedback on these "rules" for the list is appreciated. And if I turn down something for inclusion on the list, you can always request it again and explain why. If you request something, and in a list update I didn't mention that it was included, or that it wasn't included and why not, then please let me know so I can rectify my mistake.



Key:
"S1" = "Season 1"
"V2" = "Volume 2"
Dates are YYYY-MM (e.g., July, 2005 = 2005-07)

So, this entry:
Boy Meets World (1993), S4-S7 (S3: 2005-08) (poor sales)
means:
The 1993 series had season 3 released in August, 2005, but seasons 4-7 are still missing, because of, according to an article I read somewhere on the web, poor sales of the earlier seasons.


"KIDS' SHOWS" FROM ALL ERAS
C.O.P.S. (1988), S1V2-S1V3 (S1V1: 2006-02)
G.I. Joe (1984), S2V2 (S2V1: 2004-08)
Gargoyles (1994), S2V2-S3 (S2V1: 2005-12)
Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats (1984), S2V2-S2 (V1: 2005-09)
Huckleberry Hound Show, The (1958), S2-S4 (V1: 2005-11)
Rocky and Bullwinkle (1959), S4 (S3: 2005-09)
Scooby-Doo Show, The (All-Star Laff-A-Lympics) (1976), S2 (S1: 2004-03) (S1 on DVD is called "S-D, Where are You? S3")
X-Men Evolution (2000), S4 (S3: 2006-05)

SHOWS FROM THE 1960s AND BEFORE
Adam-12 (1968), S2-S7 (S1: 2005-08)
Beverly Hillbillies, The (1962), S2V2-S9 (V2: 2006-02)
Big Valley, The (1965), S2V2-S4 (S2V1: 2007-01)
Cheyenne (1955), S2-S7 (S1: 2006-06)
Dragnet (1967), S2-S4 (S1: 2005-06)
Flying Nun, The (1967), S3 (S2: 2006-08)
Green Acres (1965), S4-S6 (S3: 2005-12)
Have Gun -- Will Travel (1957), S4-S6 (S3: 2006-01)
Here Come the Brides (1968), S2 (S1: 2006-05)
Leave It to Beaver (1957), S3-S6 (S2: 2006-05)
Too early to panic, but fans are worried:
Bewitched (1964), S6-S8 (S5: 2007-07)

SHOWS FROM THE 1970s
All in the Family (1971), S7-S9 (S6: 2007-02)
Bob Newhart Show, The (1972), S5-S6 (S4: 2006-09)
Mary Tyler Moore Show, The (1970), S5-S7 (S4: 2006-06)
Night Gallery (1970), S2-S3 (S1: 2004-08)
Quincy, M.E. (1976), S3-S8 (S1&2: 2005-06)
Taxi (1978), S4-S5 (S3: 2005-09)
Too early to panic, but fans are worried:
CHiPs (1977), S2-S6 (S1: 2007-06)
Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The (1977), S3 (S2: 2007-06)
Jeffersons, The (1975), S7-S11 (S6: 2007-03)
Maude (1972), S2-S6 (S1: 2007-03)
One Day at a Time (1975), S2-S9 (S1: 2007-04)
Welcome Back, Kotter (1975), S2-S4 (S1: 2007-06)
WKRP in Cincinatti (1978), S2-S4 (S1: 2007-04) (music right problems)

SHOWS FROM THE 1980s
Amazing Stories (1985), S2 (S1: 2006-07)
Diff'rent Strokes (1978), S3-S8 (S2: 2006-01)
Fame (1982), S2-S6 (S1: 2005-11)
Fantasy Island (1978), S2-S7 (S1: 2005-11)
Gimme a Break! (1981), S3-S6 (S2: 2006-10) (Canadian release)
Growing Pains (1985), S2-S7 (S1: 2006-02)
Hill Street Blues (1981), S3-S7 (S2: 2006-05)
Life Goes On (1989), S2-S4 (S1: 2006-05)
Mama's Family (1983), S2-S6 (S1: 2006-09) (syndicated/cut episodes released)
Night Court (1984), S2-S9 (S1: 2005-02) (poor sales)
Simon & Simon (1981), S2-S8 (S1: 2006-10)
St. Elsewhere (1982), S2-S6 (S1: 2006-11)
Who's the Boss? (1984), S2-S8 (S1: 2004-06) (poor sales)
Too early to panic, but fans are worried:
Airwolf (1984), S4 (S3: 2007-05)
Fall Guy, The (1981), S2-S5 (S1: 2007-06)
Kate & Allie (1984), S5-S6 (S4: 2007-07) (Canadian release)
Whose Line is It, Anyway? (1988), S3-S10 (S1&S2: 2007-03)
[U]Shaky series, but have future releases scheduled
Cheers (1982), S9-S11 (S8: 2006-06) (S9 scheduled for 2008-04)
Punky Brewster (1984), S4 (S3: 2006-07) (S4 scheduled for 2008-02)

SHOWS FROM THE 1990s
Adventures of Pete & Pete, The (1993), S3-S4 (S2: 2005-11)
Boy Meets World (1993), S4-S7 (S3: 2005-08) (poor sales)
Clarissa Explains It All (1991), S2-S5 (S1: 2005-05)
Dharma & Greg (1997), S2-S5 (S1: 2006-06)
Dream On (1990), S3-S6 (S1&2: 2004-10)
Earth: Final Conflict (1997), S1-S2 (S5: 2003-10)
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The (1990), S5-S6 (S4: 2006-08)
Jamie Foxx Show, The (1996), S2-S5 (S1: 2005-02) (poor sales)
Just Shoot Me! (1997), S3-S7 (S1&2: 2004-06)
Larry Sanders Show, The (1992), S2-S6 (S1: 2002-10)
Mad About You (1992), S4-S7 (S3: 2007-02)
Mad TV (1995), S2-S12- (S1: 2004-09)
Murphy Brown (1988), S2-S10 (S1: 2005-02) (poor sales)
Ned and Stacey (1995), S2 (S1: 2005-09)
NYPD Blue (1993), S5-S12 (S4: 2006-06) (poor sales)
Outer Limits, The New (1995), S2-S7 (S1: 2005-11)
Sentinel, The (1996), S2-S4 (S1: 2006-04)
Superboy (1988), S2-S4 (S1: 2006-06) (poor sales)
Too early to panic, but fans are worried:
Drew Carey Show, The (1995), S2-S9 (S1: 2007-04)
Picket Fences (1992), S2-S4 (S1: 2007-06)
Shaky series, but have future releases scheduled
Party of Five (1994), S3 (S2: 2005-12) (S3 scheduled for 2008-03)
Sliders (1995), S4-S5 (S3: 2005-07) (S4 scheduled for 2008-03)

SHOWS FROM THE 2000s
American Dreams (2002), S2-S3 (S1: 2004-09) (expensive music)
Boomtown (2002), S2 (S1: 2004-07)
Everwood (2002), S2-S4 (S1: 2004-09) (poor sales)
Jeremiah (2002), S2 (S1: 2004-01)
Joey (2004), S2 (S1: 2006-05)
King of the Hill (1997), S7-S12- (S6: 2006-05)
Loop, The (2006), S2 (S1: 2007-03)
Malcolm in the Middle (2000), S2-S7 (S1: 2002-10) (music rights)
Mind of the Married Man, The (2001), S2 (S1: 2005-08)
Mole, Celebrity (2003), S2 (S1: 2004-03) (S1: Yucatan, S2: Hawaii)
Mole, The (2001), S2 (S1: 2005-03) (S2 is a.k.a. Mole II: The Next Betrayal)
Monkey Dust [Region 2] (2003), S2-S3 (S1: 1900-01)
Once and Again (1999), S3 (S2: 2005-08)
Reba (2001), S5-S6 (S4: 2006-11)
Son of the Beach (2000), S2P2-S3 (S1&S2V1: 2003-04)
Survivor (2000), S3-S6,S11-S15- (S9: 2006-12) (released out of order; Vanuatu was the most recent release)
Too early to panic, but fans are worried:
War at Home, The (2005), S2 (S1: 2007-05)
Without a Trace (2002), S3-S6- (S2: 2007-03)

[dvd-4-life]

I am waiting on the rest of-Green Acres,Leave it to Beaver,One Day At A Time ,Cheers and All in the Family.Hoping they complete Mission Impossible and The Fugitive and I totally dislike seasons being split up.

[bluetoast]

Boy Meets World, Clarissa Explains it All, Pete and Pete, King of the Hill are ones that come to mind. A few more sitcoms from the early 90s too, if I remember right.

[domino harvey]

Dharma and Greg
Drew Carey Show
Boomtown (though who'd want those second season eps anyway, yuck)

[jmu878]

im still bitter over king of the hill...

[abrg923]

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Night Court.

[SI78]

American Dreams
Fame
Picket Fences (?)

[DarthMarino]

GI Joe might be the worst offender. The last release was the first half of the second season. Rhino lost the rights to Sony before they could even finish the season.

[dollfins1]

taxi
all in the family
king of the hill

[ShadyLPete]

who's the boss

[DouglasRobert]

Murphy Brown
Mama's Family
The Flying Nun: Season 3
Growing Pains

[johnbook]

all in the family
king of the hill

I'm with you on those two, i was hoping for a AITF S7 announcement maybe a month or so ago the last couple seasons i beleive were announced around november for a january or february release, others i would love to complete

Fantasy Island
Welcome Back Kotter

[domino harvey]

King of the Hill still blows my mind, surely it costs next to nothing to but the season sets out bare-bones like the last few, are they really selling that poorly? I wonder if there's some sort of contractual stop happening that we don't know about.

[EdTheRipper]

Another vote for King of the Hill here. Also, I wouldn't mind seeing Diff'rent Strokes, Punky Brewster and Fresh Prince complete their runs.

[Darth Maher]

Amazing Stories

[Mountain Biker]

Night Court
Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries

[critterdvd]

Everwood!

[rw2516]

I Dream of Jeannie- last season
Bewitched
Green Acres
Mr. Ed- only got two compilations
Beverly Hillbillies
Earth:Final Conflict
Bob Newhart Show
Mary Tyler Moore Show
Here Come The Brides
Dragnet '67
Adam-12
Big Valley- have they done all 5 seasons?
Cheyenne
Outer Limits-new

May not finish:
Gunsmoke- 20 seasons, no way
Hawaii 5-0 - 12 seasons, doubtful
Mission Impossible- 7 seasons. First three seasons most popular because of original cast. Seasons 4 and 5 still popular with Nimoy. Seasons 6 and 7 has revolving door of guest team members and usually don't even get shown in syndication. May make it because of brand name.
Rawhide- 8 seasons I believe. Don't think so. But then Eastwood is in the entire run.

Never because of rights:
Batman
Six Million Dollar Man
'67 Hanna-Barbera Fantastic Four
Dean Martin Show

[majorjoe23]

For Region 2, I'm still waiting for seasons 2-3 of Monkey Dust.

[RobCA]

What about Frasier? Did that finish? I'm not interested, but I know it had a weird release sequence. All 11 seasons of Frasier have been released. They jumped ahead a while back, and released the final season out of sequence, to coincide with the airing of the series finale, I believe, but other than that, they've all been released in the proper order.

I've never understood not buying a season of a series you like, just because you're not sure if they'll release the rest. Personally, I'd rather have something than nothing. JMHO :)

Rob

[DJariya]

Once and Again: Season 3 (It's the final season)

Incredible Hulk already has 2 seasons released...the show ran 4 1/2 seasons (the 5th season was only 7 episodes)

[dvd-4-life]

Rocky and Bullwinkle.

[domino harvey]

I always buy any series I like, even when I know I won't see more of it (Dharma/Drew)... but for some series I wish they'd release the last season first and works their way backwards. I know that sounds strange but very few series are best represented by their first season-- I'm thinking specifically of the Larry Sanders Show here but there are plenty of examples.

[Jack Straw]

Hill Street Blues

[Retro-Warrior]

Never because of rights:
Batman
Six Million Dollar Man
'67 Hanna-Barbera Fantastic Four
Dean Martin Show

I've heard of the Batman dilemma (due to a Fox/WB/Greenway rights thing), but what's the story on those other three?

[andicus]

Mind of the Married Man

[redcat]

Ed - Why hasn't this been released? I'm sure it has something to do with music rights. Shows like this always seem to hang in limbo forever because of music rights.

[domino harvey]

Ed - Why hasn't this been released? I'm sure it has something to do with music rights. Shows like this always seem to hang in limbo forever because of music rights.
I am a HUGE Ed fan, so I've actually looked into it. The problem is twofold. One, music clearance, but that's not a pressing concern because believe it or not, there were contractual restraints against Ed being released on DVD until a certain number years had passed between the release and the date of the last original airing. Apparently Beckerman and Burnett didn't even realize until it was too late and now they're stuck in a weird situation. I believe however that the waiting period has finally lapsed and they're trying to get something materialized. I picked up a decent DVD-R collection from someone on iOffer in the meantime but still, if ever there was a show waiting to find the audience on DVD it never had but deserved, this is it.

[KingSmoth]

Ed is all I'm waiting for.

[MTRodaba2468]

American ****ing Dreams

[DJariya]

I just don't get the delay for American Dreams. If Universal was able to release Season 1 with all the music intact, why can't they do it for Seasons 2-3?

Maybe Season 1 didn't sell that well? I know it had a really high MSRP and I remember paying $60 for it, but IMO it's worth every penny and I would gladly pay $60 a pop for the remaining 2 seasons.

[domino harvey]

I just don't get the delay for American Dreams. If Universal was able to release Season 1 with all the music intact, why can't they do it for Seasons 2-3?

Maybe Season 1 didn't sell that well? I know it had a really high MSRP and I remember paying $60 for it, but IMO it's worth every penny and I would gladly pay $60 a pop for the remaining 2 seasons.
I remember when I was finally able to pick it up for under $50... now you can find it for under $20-- the problem is they decided to release it in fullscreen even though it was a widescreen show, and presumably the sales were not enough to convince them that they should pay for the music rights for S2 onward.

[BlueCC]

Just Shoot Me (last release was June 2004)

[forumsmy]

I thought that the NEW Outer Limits was fully released = 2 seasons.

Earth: Final Conflict I thought was also fully released. I have the last 3 that I picked up cheaply several years ago directly from ADV at a sale. At that time I was not interested in the first 2 seasons, having seen them and most of the rest of the series. Did not get to finish it before it went off the air.

Maybe, and probably, since not interested in the first 2 seasons, did not register that they may not have been released.

[RobCA]

I thought that the NEW Outer Limits was fully released = 2 seasons. Only the first season has been released, along with several compilations. The show ran for seven seasons.

BTW these are the shows I'm still waiting to finish, some probably in vain:

Cheers
The Jeffersons
Joey
Mad About You
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Maude
Murphy Brown (though I probably wouldn't buy the later seasons anyway)
Ned and Stacey
Taxi

[rw2516]

I thought that the NEW Outer Limits was fully released = 2 seasons.

Earth: Final Conflict I thought was also fully released. I have the last 3 that I picked up cheaply several years ago directly from ADV at a sale. At that time I was not interested in the first 2 seasons, having seen them and most of the rest of the series. Did not get to finish it before it went off the air.

Maybe, and probably, since not interested in the first 2 seasons, did not register that they may not have been released.

The NEW Outer Limits has seven seasons. Season 3-5 of Earth:Final Conflict have been released, not 1 and 2. S2 is available in R2. Both 1 and 2 are owned by Universal.

[rw2516]

I've heard of the Batman dilemma (due to a Fox/WB/Greenway rights thing), but what's the story on those other three?

Universal's rights to Six Million Dollar Man expired. They can no longer market them name or characters in the U.S. Disney(I think) owns the rights now. Available in R2 though.
WB owns the Hanna-Barbera library but the F.F are mavel characters
Some Dean Martin shows are owned by one producer, some are owned by NBC

[johnbook]

I know that sounds strange but very few series are best represented by their first season

Agree..IMO Married with Children is another, i own seasons 2 - 7 and soon to be 8 in march, but the 1st season just didn't do it for me.

[Mister Peepers]

WB owns the Hanna-Barbera library but the F.F are mavel characters

Which shouldn't matter at all since other 60's and later superhero cartoons have been released.

Disney owns most of the early Marvel animation and there have been at least 4 early cartoon series releases.

I think it's just that it won't sell well.

[dvd-4-life]

I guess that WB won't be releasing the rest of Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear so you can add that to everyone's list.Fantastic Four would be a must buy along with The Herculoids.Whatever happened to the studio rep from Paramount that was a member of DVDTalk Forum?

[rw2516]

Which shouldn't matter at all since other 60's and later superhero cartoons have been released.

Disney owns most of the early Marvel animation and there have been at least 4 early cartoon series releases.

I think it's just that it won't sell well.

The other super heroes released by WB were either invented by Hanna-Barbera or are DC superheroes which WB owns. Disney has a deal with Marvel. Most likely it's a case of WB owning the show but Disney owning the dvd rights to Fantastic Four.

[Cheato]

It's quite possibly a lot more complicated than that.

Warner Brothers also made X-Men Evolution, even though it was a Marvel title, and made it at the same time as the X-Men movies were coming out from a competing studio, but still managed to release most of the series on DVD.

We now have the Fantastic Four movies and the Fantastic Four animated series DVDs being produced by Fox, at the same time that Disney has a deal with Marvel on a bunch of their older animated stuff, including the 1994 animated series, while WB has the 1967 series, and who-knows-who has the 1978 series. There could be a lot of exclusive contracts going on that prevent the release of other studios' products based on the same property.

[deto]

i want The War at Home: Season 2

[domino harvey]

So you're the one

[Double_Oh_7]

I would eat a stack of Lisa's hotscakes for the rest of Green Acres. Best. Sitcom. Ever.

[Deadman31]

I'm very angry that we most likely aren't going to see the rest of Taxi.

[xfilefanfreak]

chips
quincy
simon and simon
freakylinks

[undrwrldangel24]

Reba. They stopped at 4 and there are 6 seasons.

[basaro]

Dream On.
S1&2 was released by Universal on October 12, 2004. There are 6 Seasons, but there is no follow-up announced yet.

[Gunde]

Son Of The Beach
Vol. 1 (season 1 and first half of s2) was released April 29 2003

[shill66]

Mad TV

[Cheato]

List has been updated to include info from posts up to #51.

PLEASE provide more information than just the series name. If you're buying the series, you know what seasons have been released and what haven't. And you can fairly easily look up when the last one came out. I don't have time to be verifying everybody else's information and filling in all the blanks. If all you know is the series, that's fine--something is better than nothing (RobCA)--but just not as useful.


Added the following:

Chips
Dream On, seasons 3-6 (Seasons 1&2: October, 2004)
Freakylinks
Huckleberry Hound
Jeffersons, The
Joey
Just Shoot Me (Season ?: June, 2004)
MadTV
Maude
Ned and Stacey
Quincy
Reba, seasons 5-6
Simon and Simon
Son of the Beach, 2nd half of season 2 and up (Volume 1: April, 2003)
War at Home, The, season 2
Yogi Bear

[MTRodaba2468]

I just don't get the delay for American Dreams. If Universal was able to release Season 1 with all the music intact, why can't they do it for Seasons 2-3?

Maybe Season 1 didn't sell that well? I know it had a really high MSRP and I remember paying $60 for it, but IMO it's worth every penny and I would gladly pay $60 a pop for the remaining 2 seasons.

Season 1's MSRP when it was released was $89.99, due to the music rights.

Naturally, it didn't fly off the shelves with that high of a price tag. As a result, Universal doesn't feel it's worth releasing the other two seasons period, let alone with all the music intact (which is a necessity; the music is too integral to the show to be replaced).

I've got bootleg copies of Seasons 2 and 3, but would gladly buy them if officially released.

[DVDMagic]

I'd love for 'Without A Trace' to continue getting released. It's now in it's 6th season on TV yet only the first 2 seasons have been released on Region 1.

Season 1 - 14th September 2004
Season 2 - 13th March 2007

I know Season 3 saw a release in Australia and I think Asia because my brother got me a copy from eBay.co.uk not realising it was a bootleg copy.

[matome]

Gimme A Break
Kate & Allie

Another :( for King of The Hill

[matome]

Oh, you can remove Punky Brewster from the list for now. Season 4 is coming on 2/26.

[Shampoohorn]

Malcolm in the Middle. Season 1 came out, sold a ton and that was that. Stupid music rights or some nonsense.

[Cheato]

OK, I gave in and looked up the information myself. But thank you to everyone who did give me info about some series.

I updated the list, and added these:

Gimme a Break! (1981)
Jamie Foxx Show, The (1996)
Kate & Allie (1984)
Malcolm in the Middle (2000)
Without a Trace (2002)

And removed these:

FreakyLinks (2000) - nothing released so far, so this doesn't qualify for the list
I Dream of Jeannie (1965) - season 4 was released just 4 months ago, and season 5 is the only one left
Mister Ed (1961) - only "Best of" sets released so far, so this doesn't qualify for the list
Yogi Bear Show, The (1960) - complete series was released; earlier episodes were part of Huckleberry Hound, which is on the list

[abintra]

Jeremiah.. season 2. Season 1 was released 4 years ago.
Larry Sanders Show.. S2-6. Best of and S1 re-released last year but S2 has been long MIA.
Life Goes On.. S2-4. S1 released 5/06

Ally McBeal.. only select episodes have been released. S1-5 MIA.
Spin City.. only select episodes have been released. S1-6 MIA.

[Double_Oh_7]

Cheers S9 just announced for April 29th.

[starman9000]

Relic Hunter has only had a best of release in R1 (even though I have never actually seen it)

[hokies5007]

Does anyone know the reasons behind the rest of the Fresh Prince and Growing Pains seasons not being released?

[redcon1]

I'd like to see the last three seasons of "Have Gun Will Travel",
more "Leave It To Beaver" and "WKRP In Cincinnati", although considering the music right problems they had with Season 1, that might be a longshot.

[Michael Corvin]

Great thread, btw.

[neilo13]

I am wondering about these episodes of classic Scooby-doo. Someone please releases these as they are some of my favorites! I also know that there are several unreleased episodes from The New Scooby-doo Movies series (the hour long ones with guest stars) but I assume those will never be seen due to rights issues.

We have all of the other episodes before what I call the scrappy-doo run, my collection has a hole in it!!!
And before some one mentions it "Vampire Bats and Scaredy Cats" is on the Scooby's spookiest tales disc.


Season 2 (1977, as segments on Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics)
Episodes 2.5-2.8 The First Episodes of Scooby Doo Where Are You! Season three.


# Episode title Villain Original airdate
2.1 "The Curse of Viking Lake" The Viking Ghosts of Viking Lake September 10, 1977
2.2 "Vampire Bats and Scaredy Cats"1 The Great Skull Island Vampire September 17, 1977
2.3 "Hang in There, Scooby-Doo" The Terrordactyl Ghost September 24, 1977
2.4 "The Chiller Diller Movie Thriller"1 The Ghost of Milo Booth October 1, 1977
2.5 "The Spooky Case of the Grand Prix Race" The Phantom Racer October 8, 1977
2.6 "The Ozark Witch Switch" The Ozark Witch October 15, 1977
2.7 "The Creepy Cruise" The Future Shocker October 22, 1977
2.8 "The Creepy Heap from the Deep" ² The Creepy Heap From the Deep October 29, 1977

[El Talon Del Monstruo]

Universal's rights to Six Million Dollar Man expired. They can no longer market them name or characters in the U.S. Disney(I think) owns the rights now. Available in R2 though.
WB owns the Hanna-Barbera library but the F.F are mavel characters
Some Dean Martin shows are owned by one producer, some are owned by NBC

Disney does own the rights to The Greatest American Hero, matter of fact IIRC in 2002 there were rumors going around Disney that a film version was in the works with Jim Carrey as the lead.

[El Talon Del Monstruo]

As far as American Dreams go, it sold so poorly that at one point in late August/early September Wal-Mart was blowing out the season 1 sets at a $19.96 price point (IIRC). I blind bought it and it was in fact very much worth it.

[joltman]

Technically not a 'season' release, but a proper chronological release: Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats had a Volume 1 with the first 24 episodes in September 2005 and no word of anything else yet. There's 41 season 1 and all 21 season 2 episodes yet.

[RichDB10]

Still waiting for further series of St Elsewhere.......

[Barth]

Here's a couple that I want more of that might be in limbo:

The Fall Guy (1981), S1: 2007-06 (Have not heard anything about S2)

This probably falls under the shaky series, but have future releases scheduled:
Party of Five (1994), S3 (S2: 2005-12) (S3 scheduled for 2008-03)

[BackStJoe]

Son Of The Beach
Vol. 1 (season 1 and first half of s2) was released April 29 2003

YES! Son of the Beach...
I'd also love to see The Loop:S2

[Numes]

Night Gallery (1970), S2-S3 (S1: 2004-08)
Larry Sanders Show, The (1992), S2-S6 (S1: 2002-10)

Note: They did re-release the first season of The Larry Sanders Show this year, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything definitive.

P.S. Great Thread. I'm surprised I never read this one before.

[Infusion07]

Life Goes On.. S2-4. S1 released 5/06

I was going to add this one as well. Just to complete the info, the series debuted in 1989.

Great thread!

[Yankee8156]

I'm waiting on King of the Hill (which I still can't believe has been stopped), Green Acres and Rocky and Bullwinkle.

[mzupeman2]

Somebody mentioned The War At Home Season 2. There is no season 2. There was a break in the airing of episodes, but all the aired episodes are actually 'Season 1' and on the set that's out already.

[Yankee8156]

Somebody mentioned The War At Home Season 2. There is no season 2. There was a break in the airing of episodes, but all the aired episodes are actually 'Season 1' and on the set that's out already.

I'm not a fan of the show, but Wikipedia lists 44 episodes (Season 1, Episodes 1-22; Season 2, Episodes 23-44). The Season 1 set has only the first 22 episodes.

[Cheato]

Thank you to everyone for providing some good, complete information!

Updated the list again:

moved Cheers to the "shaky series" list

added to the main list:
Have Gun -- Will Travel (1957), S4-S6 (S3: 2006-01)
Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats (1984), S2V2-S2 (V1: 2005-09)
Jeremiah (2002), S2 (S1: 2004-01)
Larry Sanders Show, The (1992), S2-S6 (S1: 2002-10)
Life Goes On (1989), S2-S4 (S1: 2006-05)
Loop, The (2006), S2 (S1: 2007-03)
Night Gallery (1970), S2-S3 (S1: 2004-08)
Scooby-Doo (1977), S2V2 (S1&S2V1: 2004-03) (All-Star Laff-A-Lympics episodes missing)
St. Elsewhere (1982), S2-S6 (S1: 2006-11)

added to the "shaky series" list:
Party of Five (1994), S3 (S2: 2005-12) (S3 scheduled for 2008-03)

added to the "too early to panic" list:
Fall Guy, The (1981), S2-S5 (S1: 2007-06)
WKRP in Cincinatti (1978), S2-S4 (S1: 2007-04) (music right problems)

didn't add (no actual season/chronological releases yet):
Ally McBeal
Relic Hunter
Spin City

As for The War at Home: epguides.com shows that a full S2 aired through April, 2007. Is this wrong?
This reminded me that Boomtown is pretty questionable. I added it to the list figuring other people would help with any necessary corrections.
The DVD listing on Amazon says 810 minutes, which would mean 18 episodes, which is how many were in S1.
But the episode listing on epguides.com says there was a S2 with 2 eps aired and 4 unaired.

[Numes]

As for The War at Home: epguides.com shows that a full S2 aired through April, 2007. Is this wrong?


The War at Home was definitely two seasons. I watched every episode. Great show.

[wlverinefactor]

The Mole only got season 1 released. There are two seasons.

Celebrity Mole got season 1 released but not season 2

Survivor is a series that's filled with gaps and hasn't seen a new release in a year or so.

[Rooked]

1980's shows:

Whose Line is it Anyway? UK (1988), S3-S10 (S1&S2: 2007-03)

1990's shows:

Whose Line is it Anyway? US (1998), S2-S8 (S1V2: 2007-10)

[Numes]

Here are a few more that came to mind:

C.O.P.S. (1988), S1E22-S1E65 (S1E1-S1E22: 2006-02)

Not sure if this counts, they released 2 DVDs with some random episodes:
Get a Life (1990), S1-S2 (Various S1-S2: 2002-09)

Although Space Ghost Coast to Coast "Volume 4" was released recently, it could be touch and go on the rest of the episodes because of rights issues and volume 4 was only released by Williams Street.
Also, they did not release all of the episodes in the existing DVD releases for the first 3 volumes. I can provide the missing episodes if we count it.
Finally, it is hard to classify Space Ghost Coast to Coast in "seasons" for some of the later episodes.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1994), S6-S8 (S5: 2007-12)

Another tricky show: SCTV. Some more research on this is required. I'm pretty sure the original Canadian episodes were only released in a "best of" compilation.

Yet another tricky show: Saved by the Bell. The first season was called "Good Morning, Miss Bliss," and as far as I know, it has not been released on DVD. Another one that requires investigation.

[Numes]

Cheato - another thought. If a series DOES miraculously come out of the limbo, may I suggest you have another section that lists those series? It would be cool to see if any of these shows that we are listing (I can't believe there are so many!) were brought out of limbo. You might have a qualifier that they are not in the "Too Early to Panic" or "Shaky" sections.

[Ayre]

Jack & Bobby from Everwood creator Greg Berlanti only last 1 season, but a full 22 episodes. Oddly it has been listed at Netflix for years, but I seriously doubt Warner will release it considering the poor sales of Everwood.

[Zbu]

Looking at all of these series, it makes you wonder why they simply don't release complete series runs and be done with it.

[Cheato]

Updated again...


Added to the list:
C.O.P.S. (1988), S1V2-S1V3 (S1V1: 2006-02)
Mole, Celebrity (2003), S2 (S1: 2004-03) (S1: Yucatan, S2: Hawaii)
Mole, The (2001), S2 (S1: 2005-03) (S2 is a.k.a. Mole II: The Next Betrayal)
Survivor (2000), S3-S6,S11-S15- (S9: 2006-12) (released out of order; Vanuatu was the most recent release)
Whose Line is It, Anyway? [UK] (1988), S3-S10 (S1&S2: 2007-03)

Added, but without season info
Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1994), ? (V3: 2005-04) (each volume skipped episodes and crossed seasons)

Not added:
Get a Life (1990) (no complete chronological/season sets released so far)
Jack & Bobby (2004) (only one season, not released yet)
Saved by the Bell: The Junior High Years (1987) (a.k.a. Good Morning, Miss Bliss) (only one season, not released yet by Disney)
SCTV (1976) (original Canadian series, not released)
SCTV (1981) (all out on DVD already, as SCTV Volume 1-4)
SCTV (1983) (only one season, Cinemax, not released)
Whose Line is It, Anyway? [US] (1998), S2-S8 (S1V2: 2007-10) (last volume only 3 months ago--unless you know there's a problem with future volumes, it's not ready for the list yet)


@Numes: Even if a show comes out of limbo and sees a release, I wouldn't consider it anything other than "shaky" until it is completely finished. Sliders is about to have Season 4 released, but I don't think that means a whole lot as far as Season 5 is concerned.

The companies that are making these things have made it pretty clear that they have a foolish view of the profitability of these season sets. There could be 25 seasons of a show, and if the first 23 were profitable, but the 24th wasn't, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the release of the 25th.

They don't seem to understand at all that THEIR lack of support for one show directly influences the level of support WE will show for the next one. It's a vicious circle where they're expecting US to shoulder ALL the risk, while THEY accept NONE. The old "Fool me once, shame on you…" adage really takes on new meaning when it's "Fool me 127 times…"

Dr. Katz was my last mistake for buying TV series. In the future, I can be patient and wait for a whole series to come out. I won't support a show unless I am EXTREMELY confident the future seasons will see releases (24, Lost). There are plenty of other things to buy.
Same with movies. No more (or at least a bare minimum of) double-dipping for me. Sony, do you honestly think I will shell out even $1 for Spider-Man 3, even in its "Two-Disc Special Edition?" No thanks. I'd rather buy a soda and enjoy that. I'll wait and get the full version of the movie when you get around to finishing it.

The people that make the decisions to abandon these TV series' DVD releases are the same breed of people that have canceled TV shows after not giving them anything close to a reasonable chance.
These are the same people that release "Complete Series" sets with extras unavailable separately for purchase by the people that actually supported the series in the first place.
I mean, the very idea of using a "Best of" disc to judge the desirability of a series is so ridiculous. Whoever came up with that one needs to be fired. Idiots. Can you imagine a "Best of Prison Break Season 1" which just includes 4 random episodes that somebody thought were the best ones from the season? And then if that didn't sell well: "I guess there's no interest..."
Why not just take it to the next step and request donations up front? "We'd like to release The Larry Sanders Show Season 2, so if you want to see it, please send $10.00 to us and we'll consider it. Thank you."

I guess they really do think we're sheep that will just accept whatever the hell they give us, no questions asked, because there's nothing we can do about it, and that we won't learn from their behavior and in turn make different decisions about future purchases.
Seriously, if this trend continues, the end game is this: nothing gets released until a series is completely finished, and then it gets released as a complete series ONLY if the people holding the rights decide that the complete series will be profitable.

Sorry for the rant, but this industry is so pathetically misguided, it's ridiculous. Every eye is only on the short-term gains. Can you imagine what would happen without all these "rights" that the companies have? We'd see EVERYTHING being released, in multiple formats by multiple companies, creating competition to make good product. It would be a consumers' market, good product would be supported, bad product would fall by the wayside, companies that provided products that consumers wanted would thrive, the others would fail and go away, consumers would get what they want, and the creators/stars would get a piece of the pie that they can''t get now because the "rights" holders are holding out so that the President can get a $110 million bonus instead of just $100 million.

Instead, I wind up with TV rips of the 1966 Batman show stored on my computer while 65 companies fight over who gets to release DVDs that will probably have some kind of problem (edited, music replaced, missing episodes, whatever). The ones I have on my hard drive are good enough for me. Let the companies struggle over their rights, and I'll be glad to share the episodes I have with my friends in the meantime. (Please don't PM me and request them; it's not gonna happen.)

[Rooked]

I wonder if the companies really have no intention of releasing additional seasons of the shows... ever. I wonder if they put something out like "Maude Season 1" so that even 2 years from now, someone will be wandering the aisles of Best Buy, looking for something to get Aunt Suzy. And they will come across "Maude Season 1" and think "Great! I'll get that for Aunt Suzy! She always loved that show." Maybe these shows even saw the light of day in the first place was so the average person could say "Hey look, Maude is on DVD! I'll pick that up" with no idea how many seasons it ran. If you look at Cheato's list on the first page, that's an impressive list of TV Shows on DVD. Maybe it's so the companies can put a little check box next to each of the shows that might make any amount of money. "Bob Newhart Show, check. All in the Family, check. Wow, look at all the TV shows we have on DVD!"

Just some thoughts.

[Trevor]

Maybe this was discussed already, only scanned the thread, but I'd suggest putting everything in alphabetical order rather than by decades.

Many people don't have the slightest clue as to the years a show ran, and some of these series spanned decades.

But great thread either way!

[rw2516]

I wonder if the companies really have no intention of releasing additional seasons of the shows... ever. I wonder if they put something out like "Maude Season 1" so that even 2 years from now, someone will be wandering the aisles of Best Buy, looking for something to get Aunt Suzy. And they will come across "Maude Season 1" and think "Great! I'll get that for Aunt Suzy! She always loved that show." Maybe these shows even saw the light of day in the first place was so the average person could say "Hey look, Maude is on DVD! I'll pick that up" with no idea how many seasons it ran. If you look at Cheato's list on the first page, that's an impressive list of TV Shows on DVD. Maybe it's so the companies can put a little check box next to each of the shows that might make any amount of money. "Bob Newhart Show, check. All in the Family, check. Wow, look at all the TV shows we have on DVD!"

Just some thoughts.

I've often wondered if studios release a little bit of this, a little bit that in order to have a diverse catalog selection. Does the average consumer seek out and purchase complete series' or just an occasional set here and there?
Back in the days of Columbia House vhs libraries very few subscribers ever stuck with it past the first few tapes. Complete sets are very rare. On ebay the first few tapes would sell for about $1 and gradually increase to as much as $60 per tape for the final ones in the series. I sold my complete sets for an average of 50% above what I paid for them.

[Numes]

@Numes: Even if a show comes out of limbo and sees a release, I wouldn't consider it anything other than "shaky" until it is completely finished. Sliders is about to have Season 4 released, but I don't think that means a whole lot as far as Season 5 is concerned.


Fair enough. I would still suggest that when all of the seasons of a show that were on the list are released they still get captured in your first thread.

[Bluelitespecial]

I would still like to see the rest of The War at Home, and I have another one. Isn't there another volume of animaniacs? I hope WB doesn't forget it.

[Cheato]

Maybe this was discussed already, only scanned the thread, but I'd suggest putting everything in alphabetical order rather than by decades.

Many people don't have the slightest clue as to the years a show ran, and some of these series spanned decades.
That was the original form, but the list was getting long, and as I say now in the first post, it was really strange to see some series sitting next to others alphabetically.

Personally, I feel like it's fairly easy to identify the decade of a show. I think 90+% of them have a specific feel, in terms of fashion, hair, home decor, cars, video quality, directing style, lighting, etc.. But maybe it's easier for me to identify the decade because I lived through most of them on the list! Other people probably think it's strange for me to have the 1960s and earlier all lumped together.

If enough people feel as you do, Trevor, I'll be glad to switch it back.



@Numes: Do you mean that you'd just like to see a kind of historical record kept: as in, "yes, some series actually do come out of limbo and get completed, so 'keep hope alive' for YOUR favorite series on these lists?" That seems fine to me--potentially useful and informative. If anyone knows of any series that did get completed after a long break in the middle, let me know and I'll add them to the list.

[nothingfails]

what about Facts Of Life, seasons 4-9 need to be released, but not a word from Sony since season 3 came out in Oct 2006

[GizmoDVD]

Ed s really the only show that is a MUST HAVE for me.
Wonder Years is a close second.
Unsolved Mysteries a third.

[Numes]

@Numes: Do you mean that you'd just like to see a kind of historical record kept: as in, "yes, some series actually do come out of limbo and get completed, so 'keep hope alive' for YOUR favorite series on these lists?" That seems fine to me--potentially useful and informative. If anyone knows of any series that did get completed after a long break in the middle, let me know and I'll add them to the list.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. :)

[WallyOPD]

If enough people feel as you do, Trevor, I'll be glad to switch it back.

I vote for returning to alphabetic as well. It would be much easier for me to find a specific show.

[Jbrobson]

I still want X-Men Evolution (2000), S4 (S3: 2006-05) :horse:

[klandersen]

Is there an updated list?

From 70s
S.W.A.T. Where is season 2? Season one was released but no season 2 yet.


Also any word on IF Max Headroom will ever be released?

[Numes]

Is there an updated list?


The list is post #1 in this thread. Cheato updated it on 1-11, there has only been one other additon after that update, The Facts of Life (and yours)


Also any word on IF Max Headroom will ever be released?

This thread is really only for TV shows that have had some sort of release, but are in limbo (not saying you can't ask, though)

[Disc-Flipper]

Five Mile Creek (1983), S2-S3 (S1: 2005-11)

Wake up Disney! Nicole Kidman doesn't make her appearance until Season 3.

[wlverinefactor]

I don't remember seeing The Jetsons on the list and only one season has been released.

I actually went through my tv show dvds and monkeyed around with the layout so now the completed series are together and ones that have been "dropped" have been shelved in a smaller spot.

That way I won't get confused :(

[RobCA]

I don't remember seeing The Jetsons on the list and only one season has been released. If you're talking about the 60's series, I believe it only aired for one season (http://www.epguides.com/jetsons/).

Rob

[djskyler]

If you're going to mention The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres, then certainly don't leave out the third partner of the Henning Country Trilogy: Petticoat Junction, which has seen only a S1V1 release of what was 7 seasons.

One of the most glaring examples of bonehead executives banishing a show to limbo is My Favorite Martian. After releasing complete seasons 1 & 2, Rhino Home Video opted to dump this series from their roster. There is only one season remaining, and it was the only season shot in color!

To be fair, Universal Home Video was straightforward about tossing Night Gallery into instant limbo: The S1 boxset had bonus "Best of" episodes from the other two seasons.

[dvd-4-life]

If you're going to mention The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres, then certainly don't leave out the third partner of the Henning Country Trilogy: Petticoat Junction, which has seen only a S1V1 release of what was 7 seasons.

One of the most glaring examples of bonehead executives banishing a show to limbo is My Favorite Martian. After releasing complete seasons 1 & 2, Rhino Home Video opted to dump this series from their roster. There is only one season remaining, and it was the only season shot in color!

To be fair, Universal Home Video was straightforward about tossing Night Gallery into instant limbo: The S1 boxset had bonus "Best of" episodes from the other two seasons.
My Favorite Martian season 3 is available in New Zealand and its region 0.

[wlverinefactor]

I always thought Jetsons ran longer than one season. How odd.

Amazing race is another series with only 2 seasons on dvd. Big Brother also came out with season 3 on dvd and a best of season 4.

[RickWJ324]

I want my collection of Disney's GARGOYLES (including The Goliath Chronicles) to be completed!!! Such a great cartoon!!

[Machinegunrap]

I have a feeling this will be rejected, but what about "Even Stevens." I know it hasn't been released here, but the first season was released in Region 4 Australia on 7/26/06 as evidenced here: http://www.madman.com.au/actions/catalogue.do?releaseId=7042&method=view

I just picked it up last week. I e-mailed Disney about this and said there were no plans but would relay interest to their marketing department. I just figured this summer would be a great time for it with LeBeouf continuing to blow up with Indy 4 and Eagle Eye poised for release.

In case anybody cares, the Region 4 disc doesn't have anything extra on it. Not even the highly coveted "subtitle" feature. But it looks good. Better than WGN recordings.

[Trevor]

I always thought Jetsons ran longer than one season. How odd.

You're sort of right. It ran for one "real" season, 1962-1963. Then they made a couple more seasons in the 80s, and mixed them in with the old ones in syndication.

Also, there were several TV movies and specials.

[Cheato]

I have a feeling this will be rejected, but what about "Even Stevens." I know it hasn't been released here, but the first season was released in Region 4 Australia on 7/26/06
I'll be glad to add it to the list, but please provide full info so I don't have to go look it up myself. If you see the format of the list, I also want to be able to include what hasn't been released (as in, how long did the show go--are we just missing Season 2, or more than that).

I will update the list within a couple of weeks. There haven't been many additions recently by people posting here; However, I began a project gathering data from various sources and will add (possibly many) more series to the list once I finish compiling and analyzing that data.

As for alphabetizing or leaving the list the way it is now, only two people have commented that they prefer it alphabetized. As for now, I will leave it as is. But, if you do want to see it alphabetized, it is an easy thing to highlight the text, and copy it into an Excel (or whatever) spreadsheet, and sort it alphabetically. If I alphabetized it, it would not be possible to simply un-sort the list back to its current form. So having the data posted the way it is in the first post in this thread actually provides the information in two ways--the second of those requiring only a simple step by the end-user.

[Silverscreenvid]

Just in general, many TV shows decline in quality and popularity considerably in their later years. Reasons for this include cast changes, writing changes and a lack of new story ideas. ER is a good current example of this. The reason these shows were cancelled to begin with is that viewers picked up on that when they first ran. Although some shows go out with a great final episode, like the Fugitive, very few maintain their quality level throughout the run.

Personally, I've enjoyed the early season releases of Mission Impossible and Hawaii 5-0, but even if the last couple of seasons of those shows are ever on DVD, I doubt I'd buy them because of the drop in quality that led to their departures.

So, in most cases, DVD producers are aware of this phenomenon and monitor series sales very carefully. They have to assume that later season sales will drop off and won't continue to release them unless early signs are very positive. There are a few cult fans and completists of a lot of series out there, but they, by themselves, are not enough to sustain viable DVD sales.

[Cheato]

Silverscreenvid, I couldn't disagree with you more about what will sell and what won't and what's "sustainable" and "viable."

If "Galactica 1980" can be distributed on DVD, then anything can. Talk about appealing to "cult fans and completists." That's the *ultimate* example. I'm sure it didn't make the profit that Season 1 of "Lost" made, but it's pretty likely to have made a "small" profit--and if it didn't make a profit on its own, it contributed to the profitability of other season or series sets--even the Battlestar Galactica franchise itself--by getting people into the stores or onto the stores' websites to get that and impulse buy something else. I don't know about you, but I almost never buy just one thing--I wait and submit an order of 2 or more. In addition, releasing it showed a company's willingness to support their own product by actually *releasing it* instead of releasing a single episode or two to "test the waters."

My opinion is that:
(1) the people deciding to release things are shortsighted and operate as if each season set exists in its own private universe and that sales of one don't affect sales of another, and
(2) those same people are merely concerned with one thing: maximizing profit in the short term.

I have no problem with the idea of trying to maximize profit, but doing so only for the short-term at the complete expense of the long-term is the downfall of all businesses, and you can't look at each product you make as independent of each other product.

The end result of this is: because of the tremendous number of series that aren't being "finished" (e.g., the list in this thread), sales of future series are directly being affected (i.e., reduced). In addition, because of the recent trend of releasing "complete series" sets that include exclusives that are available only to those sets, and aren't available for purchase separately, the very fans that actually support the DVD releases all the way through in the first place are the ones getting screwed (way to go! f--- your biggest consumers!). That also directly affects the next series that the companies decide to start releasing with a season 1 to "test the waters." And lastly, the "Best of" DVDs are also, by now (as if ever, in my opinion) completely useless to gauge consumer demand because everybody thinks "why bother--I'll just wait for the full seasons."

So all this brilliant planning by the brilliant minds working for these companies has resulted in a chain of thinking that goes:

1a) "Best of" DVD released:
Many consumers react with: "I'll wait for the season sets..."
or
1b) "Season 1" DVD released:
Many consumers react with: "Nah, I'll wait for the complete series set."
or at least:
"I was screwed before by not getting the final seasons of the last show I shelled out my hard earned money for that I really love, so I'll wait until they're all released."

2a) "Best of" sales are low:
Company reacts with "There's no demand for the series."
or
2b) "Season 1" DVDs are lower than they could have been, resulting in the "sustainable" level being through a shorter run than could have been (e.g., instead of lasting to Season 3 or 4, maybe only 1 or 2 are released).

And the feedback from the cycle repeats ad infinitum, as the companies "learn" from bad data, and the consumers learn more about the companies' unwillingness to support their own products, resulting in fewer and fewer sales each time.

Believe me, as a programmer (computer, not the guy who picks shows for the networks) and engineer, I have been in many meetings with sales people, marketing people, managers, and other higher-ups who initially construct flawed models and then collect flawed data, and then make flawed decisions based on it--and in the end, refuse to take responsibility for a demand that doesn't meet expectations. There's nothing like watching a bunch of non-scientists trying to use scientific method to analyze data. Amusing, if it weren't so sad and frustrating.


Finally, as I mentioned before, I can download almost any episode of any series that I want to find with torrents or from usenet or other file-sharing methods. If the companies aren't willing to release what I want, then I'll do that. If their "small" profit isn't enough for them, then let them have none whatsoever.

[Machinegunrap]

I have a feeling this will be rejected, but what about "Even Stevens." I know it hasn't been released here, but the first season was released in Region 4 Australia on 7/26/06 as evidenced here: http://www./actions/catalogue.do?releaseId=7042&method=view

I just picked it up last week. I e-mailed Disney about this and said there were no plans but would relay interest to their marketing department. I just figured this summer would be a great time for it with LeBeouf continuing to blow up with Indy 4 and Eagle Eye poised for release.

In case anybody cares, the Region 4 disc doesn't have anything extra on it. Not even the highly coveted "subtitle" feature. But it looks good. Better than WGN recordings.

I apologize. There are three seasons of the show. Therefore two and three and still awaiting release.

[buffmovie]

Good vs. Evil. It was on USA network for a season then went to Sci-fi channel for another before it was axed. I miss that show so much.

[Lecithin]

I'm also waiting to finish my Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, King of the Hill and Rocky and Bullwinkles DVD collections. However, I'm guilty of not even finishing up watching all the episodes of the ones I DO have, so it's not a pressing issue for me at the moment, just a completist desire.

Of course, the one series I want to see all of is St. Elsewhere and having bought the first season, it looks like I appear to be the only one who did (just like I felt like I was the only one watching it on TV when it was constantly in danger of cancellation in the 80s) and that I will now not get to own the later, more interesting seasons after all.