TVShowsOnDVD.com is reporting that the first season of The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams is coming to DVD in November. However, the report is based solely on the fact that an Amazon listing exists, which gives a release date of November 6th and a MSRP of $29.93.
I certainly hope the listing is legitimate but Amazon has a history of playing fast and loose with reality when it comes to listings. For example, there’s an Amazon listing for AfterMASH complete with reviews, although to be fair this listing doesn’t include a release date or any actual information the way the listing for The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams does.
Hopefully, more information will be available soon.
August 23rd, 2012 Update:
The Amazon listing for The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams on DVD that I was so suspicious of the other day turned out to be correct. TVShowsOnDVD.com has confirmed that Timeless Media Group (which was acquired by Shout! Factory in May) will indeed be releasing the complete first season on DVD on November 6th. The four-disc set will presumably include all 13 episodes from the first season, which premiered in February 1977 as a mid-season replacement.
Is this true. If so I can’t wait!
One of NBC’s great mistakes was the cancellation of this series which Mr. Paul Klein dumped in the spring of 1978 just before Mr. Fred Silverman assumed the reins at NBC. Mr. Klein selected ‘Dick Clark’s Live Wednesday’ as a replacement for ‘The Life & Times of Grizzly Adams’.
The feature film that served as its pilot, THE LIFE & TIMES OF GRIZZLY ADAMS garnered a spectacular 26.6HH/43% when it aired on May 17th, 1976, and NBC set to getting it ready for series. It made its debut as a mid-seasoner in the 1976-77 season, and averaged 19.2HH for its first 13 episodes. NBC ordered up a second season of 23 episodes, and it performed admirably garnering a 18.0HH average for the season, NBC’s bright light on Wednesdays and about what ‘The Rockford Files’ averaged that season (18.3HH). However, NBC dumped it while keeping several lower-rated series…’Wonderful World of Disney’ at16.8HH, ‘NBC Wednesday Night at the Movies’ 16.7HH, and ‘CHiPs’ 16.6HH.
My theory on its cancellation (it was revived years later for a series of reunion telemovies) was that ‘The Life & Times of Grizzly Adams’ was produced by Sun Classic Pictures, a relatively small and specialized feature film producer (unlike Disney, Universal, or Dick Clark Prods) that was known for four-walling its mix of family movies, indie pickups and sensational/exploitative documentaries. Their only other tv series was ‘Greatest Heroes of The Bible’, which started as a miniseries in the fall of 1978 and it did so well (averaging 20.8HH/31%) that Mr. Silverman picked it up as a spring anthology series where it foundered and was cancelled.
I am heartened that ‘The Life & Times of Grizzly Adams’ is finally making it to DVD, which will no doubt widen its devoted fan base as the series never made a mark in syndication.