TVSHOWSONDVD.com has posted that the complete series has not been officially announced by Fox for a May release but will arrive at a later date.

Does this surprise anyone? I actually am not, in fact I expect a cancellation notification because the economy is so bad that a complete set will not be cost efficient.

Fox could be saving this complete set for a 2010 September release to coincide with the 40th Anniversary of the show's original debut.

I feel like a guest at one of Mary's parties - it's just not going right:confused:

My guess is they're holding off the release till later in the year to coincide with the 40th anniversary.

well, whoever this guy's source is, he seemed to go out of his way to say that the complete set release hasn't been canceled, but this is not good news

it's either going to be 1) a short delay, with an eventual release; 2) a long delay because of the economy; 3) canceled entirely (partly because of the re-buying uproar)

call me a cynic, but i have to think 3 is at least a possibility, with 2 the best we can hope for.
at the very least this delay will be at least 3-6 months, which means in the next few days i'm going to start looking for bootlegs

some greed, some spite, some bad decisions and some unfortunate circumstances have all played a part, but still...I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS GREAT SERIES ISN'T _ _ _ _ I-N-G OUT YET!!!!!!!! i don't know how anybody who has played a part in causing this to happen can look at themselves in the mirror at night!!!!

I know this news, frankly, sucks. But maybe it's a good thing. Maybe Fox is re-thinking things and trying to find a way to avoid re-buying. They've been very reluctant to give us any details, which makes things doubly frustrating for us. If I thought it would help, I'd try emailing Foxdrop again, but I know better than that.

- Kristen

It could be a simple thing if they would just keep issuing the seasons one by one. But no, they had to quit after season 4 and then announce a complete series set so everyone who bought the first four seasons individually will have to shell out the money and pay for them again. I really think the people who work at these studios have no clue as to what they are doing. The worst thing a studio can do is abandon a series on DVD before it gets completed. But it happens many times, all they care about is the bottom line. Either they give up on the series completely or they come out with the complete series after half the series has previously been issued. That is just plain dumb. Hopefully, the complete series set will be scrapped in favor of continuing the individual seasons. That would be the proper thing to do, but with these studios anything is possible.

Yes it's frustrating, and I don't like it, but paying attention to the bottom line is a necessary reality, unfortunately. (Could I end more words in -y? Watching too much Schoolhouse Rock lately ;-)) Sadly (there I go again), art and business don't always go hand in hand, and the entities that cater to nostalgia fans seem more fragile as a result...look at what happened to BCI!

As an example, at the library I order and select Large Print books and I am sure there's many series I can't complete or many good books I must pass up because the demand is waning.

( Sidenote: Didn't they DENY that it was because of low sales, though?)

Either way, it seems so tough to be an MTM fan. Things looked so up a while ago, and now, difficulty after difficulty (see also: the Rhoda set). Why is there so much pain along with the obvious pleasures?!!?

And yes, I can't help but wonder if we scared them off a little over the Complete Series backlash. Which could be a bad thing (the wait) but could be a good thing (maybe they are coming out with a new strategy to appease the complainers?)

We gotta keep the faith here, people. Good things come to those who wait and all that.

well, i took the plunge!
i ordered bootleg seasons 5 and 6, which are billed as uncut, and season 7, which must have some edits, off ioffer
i can't wait til they get here, i can't wait to have the whole series, and i am happy i don't have to put another cent in 20th century fox home entertainment's pockets!!!!
i'll still follow the saga of the seasons' release, but I'M FREE, I'M FREE, I'M FREE!!!!

I can't see myself buying bootlegs, but I can def. understand fans who do. I'm with JMFabiano, we just need to hang in there (unfortunately!). We've been jerked around so much by Fox! :mad: I just hope we hear some news soon.

- Kristen

a quick update

i splurged for the bootleg seasons 5, 6, and 7, and if you just desperately want to see these episodes and don't care about the packaging, so far i've been VERY happy with my purchase

i ordered from a guy in canada on sell.com (not ioffer, as i said above) for 17 bucks a season (google "sell.com" and "mary tyler moore" and it's the first entry). they were delivered quickly, packed nicely, and while you don't get plastic cases, you get plastic sleeves which he numbers.
each dvd has its own menu for the four or five eps on that disk

i saw a couple of eps from season 5 saturday night, and the quality was just fine, and they were 26 minutes off tvland. season 7 eps are clipped, though

it's not for everybody, and ok, sure, it may be skirting that fine line of legality. but on the other hand it's criminal what the studio has put us through

i'm so happy i may not even buy the last three seasons when they do come out. but i have to admit i'm still curious about what's going on, so i may call the guy at some point fairly soon just to try to find out

Thanks once again for the update. I'm not planning on buying them, but I was curious about the price. That's not too bad.

If you do call (and of course I hope you do!), please let us know what kind of answer you get. I'm getting kind of antsy myself, since there seems to be no actual firm details to speak of.

- Kristen

Hey PGood that's who I got my copy of season 5 from!!! Haha they were VERY nice!!! I was going to get season 6, but then with the soon release about to come out I thought maybe I'll wait. If it becomes too much longer I'm gonna buy them!