Finally, some interesting DVD releases for fans of classic television. Nothing truly obscure but the big title this week is a show most people probably thought would never make it to DVD. That’s right, of special note this week is the first batch of Peyton Place episodes. The soapy serial ran from 1964 to 1969 and produced a total of 514 episodes (which is an awful lot). Today you can pick up the first 31. Because Peyton Place ran twice a week, these 31 episodes were crammed into September and December of 1964.
The second set, Peyton Place: Part Two, is already available for pre-order. It comes out on July 14th, 2009. Price is $39.99 per set but you should be able to find some nice discounts. Also coming out today is Suspense: The Lost Episodes – Collections 1-3, which puts together the three already releases sets with 90 episodes.
And, finally, there’s Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 1. Fourteen cartoons on two discs with a total run time of 308 minutes. Titles include The Bugs Bunny Show, Marine Boy, The Secret Squirrel Show, Tom and Jerry, Quick Draw McGraw, The Jetsons and more.
Let’s see, that would make it the first 15 weeks of season one, as “PEYTON PLACE” aired twice a week at that time [Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30pm(et)]. The reason there were 514 episodes was because there were virtually no repeats: each episode was an original. The series never seemed to do well in syndication or cable…and I’m not sure people would shell out hundreds of dollars to see the entire series in, say, 15 “box sets”…
Nice to see that Warner Bros. is FINALLY releasing some of their “MARINE BOY” episodes on DVD {they acquired the series when they acquired original distributor Seven Arts in late 1967}, and some stations DID show it weekly on Saturday mornings [the CBS affiliate WTIC in Hartford, Connecticut pre-empted most of the network’s 1966-’67 Saturday morning schedule {up to 10:30am} with first-run syndicated shows like “MARINE BOY” and “KIMBA THE WHITE LION”, making more money selling local ad time than they would carrying the network line-up].
This is one dvd set I don’t have in my collection. I’m a child from the 80s myself so its a little before my time.
But its still great to see old shows and cartoons from the old days.
Great example from the time that shows and cartoons where still for children or for family entertainment. Not like the crap we see today.
Thanks for the post.