The Month in Home Media is a monthly column highlighting short-lived or rare television series, specials, miniseries or made-for-TV movies released on DVD or Blu-ray during the previous month, as well as recent additions to streaming services like Warner Archive Instant. The releases discussed in this column are encoded for Region 1 use in the United States and Canada. The Month in Home Media is published on the first Thursday of each month.
December 2013 was a quiet month, with only a handful of DVD releases and no new streaming additions. It was a double release month for Alpha Video, with new releases on December 10th and December 31st. Of particular interest from Alpha Video are its The Tim McCoy Show and Rare TV Comedy releases, the latter of which includes an episode of the short-lived 1959 CBS sitcom Peck’s Bad Girl.
DVD/Blu-ray Releases
Monday, December 2nd
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson – The Vault Series: Volume 3 (DVD, Carson Productions)
Two episodes: from December 5th, 1975 and December 12th, 1975 plus a bonus clip from the December 2nd, 1975 episode featuring Lucille Ball.
Tuesday, December 3rd
Salvage 1: Hard Water (DVD, Sony Pictures Entertainment)
This two-part episode of Salvage 1 originally aired on NBC in November 1979, kicking off what would have been the show’s second season. However, the network decided not to air the remaining four episodes produced. Manufacture-on-demand.
Tuesday, December 10th
The Golden Age of Television – Volume 16 (DVD, Alpha Video)
Includes one episode of Four Star Playhouse from 1954 and three episodes of Stage 7 from 1955. Manufacture-on-demand.
Also from Alpha Video: The Buccaneers – Volume 8 and Lock-Up – Volume 5.
Tuesday, December 31st
The Tim McCoy Show (DVD, Alpha Video)
The scant description states that this release contains “four lost episodes of Tim McCoy’s story-telling kids series” and gives the release date as 1952. I’m guessing these are actually episodes of the 1955 syndicated The Tim McCoy Show (39 15-minute episodes) produced by Mercury-International Pictures and distributed initially by Motion Pictures for Television. Also included is McCoy’s 1955 unsold pilot “Indian Agent,” again produced by Mercury-International Pictures. Manufacture-on-demand.
Rare TV Comedy (DVD, Alpha Video)
Includes one episode each of The Beulah Show, The Ruggles, Behind the Scenes and Peck’s Bad Girl. I’m not sure what Behind the Scenes actually is. [Update: Behind the Scenes is a 1955 unsold pilot]. Sitcom Peck’s Bad Girl, starring Wendell Corey, Marsha Hunt and Patty McCormack, ran for just 13 episodes on CBS from May to August 1959. I believe this is the first time any episode of the series has been released commercially. Manufacture-on-demand.
Also from Alpha Video: The Buccaneers – Volume 9 and Lock-Up – Volume 6.
DVD/Blu-ray News
Warner Archive will release The Jimmy Stewart Show on DVD (manufacture-on-demand) on January 21st. Included will be all 24 episodes from the 1971-1972 on NBC. The series has been available via Warner Archive Instant since May 2013 (TVShowsOnDVD.com).
Streaming
N/A
Hit the comments with any news about upcoming DVD/Blu-ray releases or additions to streaming services.
