May 2018: The Month in Home Media

The Month in Home Media highlights short-lived or rare TV shows released on DVD or Blu-ray in the United States during the previous month.

I’m late with this month’s column for two reasons. First, I’ve been busy redesigning the Television Obscurities website and catching up on e-mails. Second, and more importantly, TVShowsOnDVD.com shut down on May 24th. It has been my primary source for TV on DVD news and without it, putting this column together every month will be more difficult. But I will keep at it, gathering information on new releases from various sources. The TVShowsOnDVD.com Facebook page has been reactivated. I also keep a close eye on the TV on DVD and Blu-ray section of the Home Theater Forum. I will also be relying on my readers to let me know about DVD announcements and release dates.

Two somewhat obscure TV shows came out on DVD in May 2018. One season wonder A Man Called Shenandoah (ABC, 1965-1966) and the more recent, and short-lived, Level 9 (UPN, 2000-2001). Plus, Alpha Video released five new titles, including episodes of The George Burns Show (NBC, 1958-1959) and a compilation of car commercials from the 1950s and 1960s.

DVD/Blu-ray Releases

Highlight of the Month: A Man Called Shenandoah

Robert Horton stars as an amnesiac gunfighter searching for clues to his identity in this half-hour Western that ran for 34 episodes on ABC during the 1965-1966 season. Guest stars include Leonard Nimoy, Ed Asner, DeForest Kelley, and Martin Landau.

Support Television Obscurities and purchase A Man Called Shenandoah from Amazon.

Other Releases

Level 9
Clutch Cargo, Volume 5 [Alpha Video]
Car Commercials of the 50s and 60s [Alpha Video]
The George Burns Lost TV Collection [Alpha Video]*
Great Hollywood Actors on Television, Volume 2 [Alpha Video]**
Atomic Attack [Alpha Video]***

*Contains two episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (CBS, 1950-1958) and three episodes of The George Burns Show (NBC, 1958-1959).
**Contains one episode each from, The Star and the story (syndicated, 1955-1956), Errol Flynn Theatre (syndicated, 1957), General Electric Theater (CBS, 1953-1962), and the long-running religious program The Christophers.
***An installment of The Motorola Television Hour (ABC, 1953-1954).

News

Alpha Video plans to release two volumes, each containing four episodes, of Captain Z-Ro (syndicated, 1955-1956) on June 19th. The company’s website claims this is the “first authorized release of this groundbreaking series.” But the same episodes are available on Mill Creek’s Classic Sci-Fi TV – 150 Episodes box set, released in 2009.

Mill Creek will release Born Free – The Complete Collection on September 11th. The set includes the feature films Born Free (1966) and Living Free (1972), the short-lived TV series Born Free (CBS, 1974-1975) (NBC, 1974), and the 1996 made-for-TV movie Born Free: A New Adventure. Sony released the 1974 TV show on DVD in 2012 but it is out of print (TVShowsOnDVD.com on Facebook).


Hit the comments with reviews of recently released DVD/Blu-ray sets or news about upcoming releases.


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4 Replies to “May 2018: The Month in Home Media”

  1. A mistake made on the Born Free series: It ran on NBC, not CBS. Also. the last episode was broadcast on December 12, 1974, therefore the 1975 dating is errorneous!

      1. One last comment, Wikipedia says Born Free was last broadcast on December 30, not December 12, but both my sources agree there were no 1975 episodes. Also, this series was released by Sony as a MOD in 2012.

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