DVD Tuesday: The Fugitive; Peter Gunn; Sea Hunt

Every Tuesday I take a look at obscure and/or classic television programs, specials, miniseries or made-for-TV movies being released on DVD or Blu-ray. 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.

Today’s Releases

The saga of The Fugitive on DVD is a long one, a story filled with twists and turns, replaced music, recalled sets and a lot of frustration and disappointment on the part of fans. Today, almost a year to the day after it was supposed to go on sale, Paramount Home Video is releasing The Fugitive: The Most Wanted Edition. The 33-disc set was recalled days before its November 1st, 2011 release date, although some sets shipped early. Reportedly, most of the music that had been replaced on the individual season sets has been restored. Here‘s a thread at the Home Forum Theater that has been following the drama since August 2011. Another complete series set out today is Peter Gunn – The Complete Series from Timeless Media Group. The 15-disc set contains all 115 episodes of the half-hour detective series starring Craig Stevens that aired on NBC from 1958 to 1960 and ABC from 1960 to 1961. The first season was released back in 2002 in two half-season sets but this is the first time the entire series has been available commercially.

TGG Direct is releasing a number of “24 Hour Marathon” best of collections today, including sets for Bat Masterson and Sea Hunt. The 8-disc sets contain about 60 episodes each. Note that individual season sets for both series will be released at some point late next month, according to TVShowsOnDVD.com (see here and here) although for some reason the third and final season of Bat Masterson has not been announced yet. For the record, the other two series getting “24 Hour Marathon” collections today are In the Heat of the Night and The Young Riders.

Shout! Factory has two new releases today: Fantasy Island – The Complete 3rd Season, which includes all 23 episodes from the 1979-1980 season, and The Ernie Kovacs Collection, Volume 2, which contains eight episodes of The Ernie Kovacs Show, three episodes of Take A Good Look, an ABC game show Kovacs hosted, an unsold pilot for a proposed CBS series to be titled Medicine Man (with Buster Keaton) plus bonus sketches and more. Also out today, from Paramount Home Video, is Perry Mason – Season 7, Volume 2, with the last 15 episodes from the 1963-1964 season. And from Warner Bros. Home Video comes Shazam! – The Complete Series, a 3-disc set containing all 28 episodes of the live-action Saturday morning series that ran on CBS for three seasons from 1974 to 1977.

Reviews

The Ernie Kovacs Collection, Volume 2: DVD Talk, DVDizzy

Peter Gunn – The Complete Series: NewsOk.com, DVD Verdict

News

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will be released Bridget Loves Bernie on DVD in December (TVShowsOnDVD.com).


Related Posts

Become a Patron Today

Are you a fan of obscure television? Please support Television Obscurities on Patreon by becoming a patron today.