MCA had a habit, during the ’60s and ’70s, of taking their “one-season wonders”, and turning them into Universal “theatrical movies” for domestic and overseas release, then releasing them into “movie packages” for local stations, years later. “The Far Out West” (1968) is one example of how four episodes of “PISTOLS ‘N’ PETTICOATS” were “stitched” into a movie (minus the original laugh tracks), with new transition scenes inserted inbetween the episodes to make it appear as though it were a “feature-length” story. “Tammy and the Millionaire” (1967) was four episodes of Universal’s 1965-’66 “TAMMY” series similarly strung together, as was “The Pill Caper”, which is how most people know about “MR. TERRIFIC” these days.

As for copyright, I believe NBC Universal {as it’s known today} still controls it, although “PISTOLS” is SUCH an obscure series (and I honstly believe it might have gotten a nod at a second season if Ann Sheridan hadn’t died before the season ended), they MIGHT have let the copyright lapse by 1984-’85 [28 years was the original limit on copyrighting movies and TV shows from that period].

And yes, there’s a five minute “preview” of the series (scenes from the pilot episode) featured in the 1966 “CBS Fall Preview” the network sent out to its affiliates for local broadcast before the season began. The special was structured in “individual segments” so that each new series could also be “previewed” outside of the special, shown at any time of the local affiliate’s broadcast day (at their discretion) before the season began.

Regarding the public domain, I’ve long hoped to find a lawyer who knows his way around the issue and pick his brain. With shows that are actually in the public domain, if a DVD company can’t find quality or color prints, they have to release what they do have.

As an aside, I remember reading once that a public domain DVD company was set to issue several episodes of Sky King on DVD only to learn that those episodes were still copyrighted. I wonder how often that happens. It doesn’t seem to be easy, or at least not cheap and quick, to ascertain what is or is not public domain.

Something that still has me shaking my head in wonderment. This is one of the worst series I’ve ever watched, and I can imagine what a trial it was for Ann Sheridan, who died of cancer shortly afterward.

I don’t know that much about what gets into the public domain and what doesn’t, so I enjoyed reading the info you provided–particularly narrowing down the dates and all. As to Petticoats’ curious black & white status, could it be similar to the last season of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, which was also filmed in color but many of the “public domain” prints remain in monochrome?