Every Tuesday I take a look at obscure and/or classic television programs, specials, miniseries or made-for-TV movies being released on DVD. For the record I consider anything broadcast prior to 1980 to be classic or else there wouldn’t be much to discuss. The releases referred to in these posts are encoded for Region 1 use in the United States and Canada.
Out today from Shout! Factory is Adam-12: Season Four, containing all 24 episodes from the 1971-1972 season. No special features are included but according to a Sitcoms Online review the episodes appear to be uncut. Also out today, from Paramount Home Entertainment, is My Three Sons: Season Two, Vol. 1, with the first 18 episodes from the 1961-1962 season. Sitcoms Online once again provides a review, although unfortunately this one indicates that “there have been some musical changes in the set, primarily with the transitional music played in the episodes,” although presumably only viewers familiar with the series will know the difference.
As usual, given that today is the last Tuesday of the month, Alpha Video has a few new public domain releases: Roy Rogers With Dale Evans, Volume 15 (better known as The Roy Rogers Show, aired from 1951-1957 on NBC), Mr. & Mrs. North, Volume 10 (1952-1954, CBS/NBC), and Annie Oakley, Volume 9 (1954-1957, Syndication). Each single disc release contains four episodes. And finally, in case you missed it, more information on a potential DVD release for I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster is now available. And TVShowsOnDVD.com has news regarding the third season of Mr. Ed, the last two seasons of Alias Smith and Jones and Tales of the Gold Monkey (which I admit premiered after my 1980 cutoff but is a very popular, recent obscurity).
Even though Frank DeVol wrote the memorable theme for “MY THREE SONS” and a background score, most episodes in the earlier seasons also used “canned production music” from Capitol’s “Hi-Q Production Music Library” during “transition scenes”. I believe those are the cues that were “replaced” in the DVD box set; apparently, CBS/Paramount couldn’t negotiate the rights with EMI [Capitol’s parent company] for their use in this reissue {financial concerns are always a “sticking point” when it comes to music clearance for hoime video releases}.
And in the case of “ADAM-12”, again, NBC/Universal handed the “home video rights” to Shout!, saying in effect, “Here’s another season- dole it out as you see fit, we’re too busy with our latest volumes of ’30 ROCK’ and ‘COMMUNITY’ to bother with an old show nobody really wants to see, but we need the money, anyway…”.