PHE is once again going THE BRADY BUNCH route for another one of its beloved shows... after all 8 seasons have been released, they are releasing "The Complete Series" of TAGS. Sharp-eyed fans will remember that a complete series set was released on the same day as season eight, but it was simply a shrink-wrapped package of all of the previously released seasons with no added material. So this is obviously going to contain new material. It's not on Amazon yet, but it has been reported by THE DIGITAL BITS as of yesterday.

http://thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents

Now I only have two of the seasons (1 and 5) given to me as Christmas gifts, so if the price is right I may go for this new set, even though it will look pretty unprofessional to have a duplicate season one and a duplicate season five set (and since they were gifts, I would never pawn them off). Post your thoughts here, I want to know what you guys think. If I had to guess, it will probably be able to be summed up as :mad:

:lol: Pat

I just read the news over at tvshowsondvd.com. I had a feeling this might happen. And I believe they will do the same with I Love Lucy too. I held off from buying TAGF. So I will be picking up this complete box set.

This has happened with a few series, M*A*S*H and Friends The Brady Bunch come to mind first so I waited and now will pick up the complete series. And complete series are cheaper also. If the studios keep doing this then people will wait until complete series come out. But if enough people wait then they will see that sales suffer and then they won't release seasons, it is a catch-22. They are also including the TAGS pilot from Make Room for Daddy and The Return to Mayberry Movie.

I have both those so it is no big deal for me

I don't know if they changed it or if they sent me the wrong set. The set I have didn't come with Return to Mayberry or the Make Room for Daddy episode that was the TAGS pilot. It didn't come in a special complete series box. They were just bundled together.

This is the one they sent me, which I guess was previously released in December:

http://www.amazon.com/Andy-Griffith-Show-Complete-Seasons/dp/B000HWZ4IO/ref=sr_1_11/002-8098668-6887236?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1179723474&sr=1-11

Is there anything new on the boxset?

If you waited until now to purchase any of the Andy Griffith Show season sets, this is a decent deal. For those who already have one or more seasons, the new extras in this new all-season set are no big whoop and in my opinion is not worth purchasing.

The pilot episode included in this set is a syndicated version which is edited by about 2 and a half minutes. This is the same version already available on the Make Room For Daddy - The Complete Fifth Season DVD set. The full length pilot had been released on VHS, but has been out-of-print for a few years now. Why couldn't Paramount include the full length version? We know it exists.

The two edited episodes in Season 3 remain edited. "The Darlings Are Coming" is the heavily cut syndicated version. "Barney Mends A Broken Heart" is still missing its epilogue. Source material does exist that would restore these episodes.

The episodes on discs 1 and 2 of Season 4 that were missing the laugh tracks have been corrected, but this was done way before this new box set was ever announced. If you have these discs without the laugh tracks, I believe Paramount is still replacing them with the corrected ones.

The "Opie Joins The Marines" episode of Gomer Pyle, USMC has been included. However, this will be released anyway when Season 2 of that series rolls around in a few months.

The TV movie, "Return To Mayberry" finally makes it's way to DVD as a bonus feature in this set. It is uncut and presented just as originally broadcast in 1986. Hopefully it will be released as a separate disc for those who already have some or all of this series.

Without even going into the packaging issues, this new box set is already somewhat of a disappointment. If you can afford it, stick with the individually released seasons.