Now that Fox is finally releasing the remaining seasons of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, do you think theres any chance they'll follow up with The Bob Newhart Show seasons 5 & 6?:confused:

I wish!!!!

From what I've been given to understand from a VERY reliable source connected to TBNS, there was a major hangup with seasons 5 and 6: RESIDUALS. Residuals were finally built into the contracts for something beyond the first five reruns of the show. While this will be a nice plus for Bob, Bill, Peter, Jack, and Marcia, it means more expense for Fox ... probably why they waited all this time.

But if MTMS is finally being released, I think TBNS won't be far behind. So far my reliable source hasn't known anything.


Donna

From what I've been given to understand from a VERY reliable source connected to TBNS, there was a major hangup with seasons 5 and 6: RESIDUALS. Residuals were finally built into the contracts for something beyond the first five reruns of the show. While this will be a nice plus for Bob, Bill, Peter, Jack, and Marcia, it means more expense for Fox ... probably why they waited all this time.

But if MTMS is finally being released, I think TBNS won't be far behind. So far my reliable source hasn't known anything.


Donna
Thanks for that info, Donna. Keep us posted!! Hopefully, we'll also see Season 2 and beyond of Newhart as well!!

Amazon says season 5 is coming. They've set up a "we'll contact you"
for season 5. Won't be long now.

Amazon says season 5 is coming. They've set up a "we'll contact you"
for season 5. Won't be long now.
Let's hope it won't be long - and that there will be more commentaries like in Seasons 2, 3, & 4.

I've been DVRing season 6 from ALN and then transferring it to dvd. The episodes seem to be unedited running between 24 to 25 minutes without commercials. I missed most of season 5 so I hope they will keep airing it until they get back to it.

I've been DVRing season 6 from ALN and then transferring it to dvd. The episodes seem to be unedited running between 24 to 25 minutes without commercials. I missed most of season 5 so I hope they will keep airing it until they get back to it.
I've never ever seen the last 2 seasons, so hopefully it won't be too long!!

I've been DVRing season 6 from ALN and then transferring it to dvd. The episodes seem to be unedited running between 24 to 25 minutes without commercials. I missed most of season 5 so I hope they will keep airing it until they get back to it.

MeTv channel 26-2 in Chicago aired all of season 5 which I put on dvd, but they reset back to season 1 after airing the last episode of season 5. Anyone who has season 6, I would be more than happy to trade you for a copy of my season 5.

All right kids...

I was part of the interminable-but-eventually-successful push for the much-delayed Seasons 5, 6, and 7 of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and I'm very close to having the batteries recharged enough for a similar all-out push for Seasons 5 and 6 of The Bob Newhart Show...especially since I just bought Seasons 1-4 and it irks me that 5 and 6 aren't available.

I haven't figured out exactly what I'm gonna do, and I know it's gonna be even more difficult than for TMTMS, especially if 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has to pay residuals for those seasons and thus might not want to put them out, but I'm very close to making the commitment for the long effort that will be needed.

What I need to know is, how many people here are willing to get behind me, especially if I need emails or phone calls made? I can be alternately charming/annoying enough to either get something done, or to at least find out once and for all if Seasons 5 and 6 are ever gonna see the light of day. But I may need backup.

It doesn't seem as if there are quite as many people on TBNS message board as on TMTMS board, but if there are enough, or if the ones who are interested are gung-ho enough, maybe we can get something done.

So who's with me????????!!!!!!!!

This just in, as they say in the news business.

About a month ago I signed up on Amazon to be notified if Season 5 of The Bob Newhart Show becomes available. Well, in checking something else just now, I noticed that you now can sign up for Season 6 of TBNS!

I think it'd be a good idea if everybody put in their request to be notified, so spread the word.
And is it just me, or could this be a good sign about Seasons 5 and 6 coming out? Because I'm not positive the Season 6 page was there before!

I sure hope this is a good sign!!!!

I sure hope this is a good sign!!!!
I get this complete series also heard good news about it. I'm just finishing with Dick Van Dyke and got 7 Seasons of Mary Tyler Moore to start on and Mister Ed to watch.I get this series mid season hopefully Mister Ed finished by then.I need The Lucy Show to get also and I love Lucy complete but have put that off because of the packaging getting me worried of damage.

Hopefully a deal can still be struck if residuals are holding up the release of seasons 5 & 6-----at this time tvshowsondvd.com does not show any future release dates and they forecast ahead for several months.:(

This needs to be sorted out because all the fans are frustrated, the cast isn't making anything off of it, and Fox isn't selling DVD's.:rolleyes:

If and when they do come out I hope their style and packaging matches the first four, but, at this point, I don't care if they're black and hot pink as long as I can FINALLY complete my collection! :mad:


:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Hopefully a deal can still be struck if residuals are holding up the release of seasons 5 & 6-----at this time tvshowsondvd.com does not show any future release dates and they forecast ahead for several months.:(

This needs to be sorted out because all the fans are frustrated, the cast isn't making anything off of it, and Fox isn't selling DVD's.:rolleyes:

If and when they do come out I hope their style and packaging matches the first four, but, at this point, I don't care if they're black and hot pink as long as I can FINALLY complete my collection! :mad:


:) :) :) :) :) :) :)
If (or Hopefully when) seasons 5 & 6 get released they'll probably be the newer format slim cases like MTM seasons 5-7. One thing FOX did do that made sense is it recently made MTM seasons 1-4 available in these slimmer to match seasons 5-7, so one can have the complete series displayed nice on a shelf.

All right, a few updates as I finally get started on the push to get seasons 5 and 6 of The Bob Newhart Show out on DVD.

Unfortunately, the person at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment I talked to when we were trying to get the final seasons of The Mary Tyler Moore Show out on DVD appears to have moved on. However, I'm working on getting a few new names to call or email.

What I did manage to get was an email that I believe is different than the old "foxdrop" address back in the day. I've been told that if you email "foxconnect@orderassistance.com" and put "for_management_consideration" in the message field, it will be forwarded to management for, uh, consideration. Since I already had the phone operator i talked to put an email in for me, and I just sent one myself, maybe if a few of you do it, it will at least get the show back in their consciousness!

(I believe you also can go to "http://www.foxhome.com" and find the same contact info as well, but I couldn't fully investigate that right away, since my browser doesn't support the site.)

Anyway, that's certainly only a modest start, but if a few of you send in requests, and I soon can get a few contact numbers, maybe we can get something rolling. I'm also hoping to be able to figure out how to track down all the people who preordered on amazon to have them rattle some cages as well

For now, yours in Bob!

Quick updates:

That new email appears to be nothing more than the old "foxdrop", where they look at your request, tell you that that series is not scheduled to be released, and thank you for asking.
Unfortunate, but I guess that's the way it is.


On another matter, last week I emailed four honchos at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and asked them if they could direct me to the person responsible for making the decision on whether The Bob Newhart Show, Seasons 5 and 6 will be released on DVD. I just wanted to get a read from that person on where the releases stand.

However, I haven't heard back from any of them, which is not making me very happy. I'm going to give them a few more days, and if none of them answers, I'll be posting their emails so maybe some of you can inquire as well.

When I get some free time, I'm also gonna pick up the phone and try to get somebody live.

That's all for now.

Yours in Bob!

Another update, and it's decent news!:

Just sent my follow-up email to execs at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, and the biggest kahuna on the list, stunningly, sent an immediate reply back saying he was going to look into the situation, and he called The Bob Newhart Show "a great franchise".

He said it was going to take a week or so, as he's traveling, and I sent a quick note back saying, fantastic, and don't think I won't follow up.

So at the very least, maybe we can find out the official reason(s) Seasons 5 and 6 haven't come out...but more optimistically, maybe he'll agree that it's time!

P.S. I did kinda play the "I don't want to release email addresses, but..." card, so I hope some of you back me up if it comes down to that. But maybe it won't have to after all!

Yours in Bob.

Another update, and it's decent news!:

Just sent my follow-up email to execs at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, and the biggest kahuna on the list, stunningly, sent an immediate reply back saying he was going to look into the situation, and he called The Bob Newhart Show "a great franchise".

He said it was going to take a week or so, as he's traveling, and I sent a quick note back saying, fantastic, and don't think I won't follow up.

So at the very least, maybe we can find out the official reason(s) Seasons 5 and 6 haven't come out...but more optimistically, maybe he'll agree that it's time!

P.S. I did kinda play the "I don't want to release email addresses, but..." card, so I hope some of you back me up if it comes down to that. But maybe it won't have to after all!

Yours in Bob.
That's great that you got a response and from the biggest kahuna on the list too! Hopefully this will start the ball rolling that gets seasons 5 and 6 released at last!!

Wow...another biggie on the list just got back to me, so they might have talked. Maybe this IS good news!

I'll keep you posted!

Wow...another biggie on the list just got back to me, so they might have talked. Maybe this IS good news!

I'll keep you posted!
:thumbsup:

OK kids, this is UNBELIEVABLE news!
I just got an email from a VP of Marketing at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, and in it was the following:

----
Your email was forwarded to me as I understand you’re interested in the 2 remaining seasons of The Bob Newhart Show. Please know that we are working on releasing them by early in the 4th Quarter this year. There should be a pre-order button going up on Amazon within a month or so.
----

So I'll use this person as the contact now, instead of the bigwigs, but can you believe it? The final seasons finally are going to come out!!!!

P.S. If you're truly interested in Seasons 5 and 6, please be sure to preorder when they come up on Amazon!

GREAT news!!!:)

OK kids, this is UNBELIEVABLE news!
I just got an email from a VP of Marketing at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, and in it was the following:

----
Your email was forwarded to me as I understand you’re interested in the 2 remaining seasons of The Bob Newhart Show. Please know that we are working on releasing them by early in the 4th Quarter this year. There should be a pre-order button going up on Amazon within a month or so.
----

So I'll use this person as the contact now, instead of the bigwigs, but can you believe it? The final seasons finally are going to come out!!!!

P.S. If you're truly interested in Seasons 5 and 6, please be sure to preorder when they come up on Amazon!
That's excellent news!!!!

'bout time!!! First The Mary Tyler Moore Show, now (hopefully) The Bob Newhart Show! Thankyou for your perseverance, PGood! I hope they move on with Newhart Season 2, next!!!

Woohoo!!!! :dance: party: :bouncers :jig:

Well, just like with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch, but it seems like we're going in the right direction on The Bob Newhart Show, another classic!

In posting the good news on the Amazon page, I think I saw that Season 4 was released in 2006? Five years is a long time to wait, but maybe they've realized that it's time.

It really bothered me that only four of the seasons were out, and hopefully that won't be the case for too much longer!

A quick update:

I'm trying to stay on the point person at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment regarding the release of Seasons 5 and 6, and today I was told that the Amazon pre-order button should be there by the end of this month.
Also, they're aiming for a November/December release date.
The person said they were currently choosing cover art and the like.
What I couldn't determine is whether this release date is for both seasons, or just Season 5, but I'll try to get that info down the line.

It seems as if things still are moving in the right direction, though!

:) :cool: :happyface

Hallelujah! If anyone sees the pre-order button at Amazon, let us know! I will definitely be ordering either one or both seasons. When I start collecting a DVD set, I want to be able to have the whole thing!

Wow!
It's true!
There IS a Season 5 pre-order button up on Amazon!
Whoop, whoop!
Everybody get cracking!

http://www.TVShowsOnDVD.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=15729

Ordered, though there still is no release date listed...



Donna

I hope Fox doesn't do the same thing that they did with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, announce they're going to finish of the series after years since season 4, and then continue for monthes leaving us guessing when we'll see the last 2 seasons!

Apparently you can now preorder Season 6 on Amazon, too!

Get out there and preorder, people!

Just got some bad news on the release of Seasons 5 and 6 of The Bob Newhart Show, folks.

I checked in with the 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment exec who's been the point person on this, and I was told that the releases are on hold because of the dreaded musical clearance issues, and that a holiday rollout won't happen.

The shred of good news is that I asked point-blank if that meant the releases were off, and the exec said right now it's a "delay" and that they are "working on other solutions."

I said I'd check back in a few months, but that I knew a lot of people were not going to be pleased, and that if we don't end up getting the final two seasons after strong indications that we would, people would be even more unhappy.

So I guess we just have to wait and see, hoping for the best, and if the process does come to a halt decide what we want to do then.

Yours in Bob.

"Musical clearances"? They didn't use any popular songs that I know of. That really, really bites. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Yeah! What musical clearances???? :confused:

Bob was probably just humming something under his breath, and it will cost them millions and months more of delays...

I think I read that the cast sang "Happy Trails to You" in the series finale, but that's all I can think of.

Well, I'm taking the person at his word, and I have no reason to doubt him so far. I half expected to hear that the reason was the rumored residuals situation, and when I heard musical clearance I thought that might not be as bad. But still, just one song like "Happy Trails To You" could add enough that it would upset the profit margin, however limited.

It's a process, and unfortunately now we have to wait two more months before we can be more sure what they are or aren't going to do, and then what we are or aren't going to do. I'm streaming through re-watching Seasons 1-4 (great shows!), and when I get to 5 and 6 I'll probably buy those bootleg, like I had to do with The Mary Tyler Moore Show. And then hopefully, they'll come out with the last two seasons, like they did with TMTMS.

We really have not yet even begun to fight...and I don't give up easily, anyway.

^ Woohoo!! I'm not giving up, either.

How greedy can people be expecting money because someone hum a tune. These greedy people should suffer in life, and if there is a after life suffer pain never seen before. There family should suffer as well pushing for their greedy $. The public don't care a stuff about their anal music, they care on the TV series. I like others like nothing edited from any TV show, as it basically cut storyline that don't make sense, when there is a music in the background. These music artist from the past, should have no write to DVD formats. They were either paid when the series was in production, making the series and everything own on it owned by the company who created it. The new TV series are different, the music would be in some agreement on future releases. I reckon all these Company should band together, and fight music artist, that they waived their rights to the music on their shows before 2000. It's time we stop this silliness seeing shows like Happy Days and Perfect Strangers getting Ass raped by greedy offsprings.

It's a tricky situation.

Let's see if the people at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment can figure something out before we get too worked up, though.

But if they don't, I'm sure we can use some of your enthusiasm in some way down the line!

Hopefully the last two seasons of The Bob Newhart show will be released. Delays are a pain.
For example it's been over 2 & 1/2 years (March 2009) since the last realease of Family Ties. Seasons 6 & 7 still haven't been released.

I, for one, would like to see the last two seasons of The Bob Newhart Show as I have never seen the episodes before.

I somewhat understand the reason why the record companies want to be paid for use of their tunes, but what do they really gain by being such sticklers? The tunes in question on most of these shows would probably bring in nothing for the companies outside of their use in the shows, so why not just charge a token rate and be happy to get it? If anything, I would think the use of tunes in these shows would serve to raise awareness of them and increase the demand, if anything.

If (or Hopefully when) seasons 5 & 6 get released they'll probably be the newer format slim cases like MTM seasons 5-7. One thing FOX did do that made sense is it recently made MTM seasons 1-4 available in these slimmer to match seasons 5-7, so one can have the complete series displayed nice on a shelf.

Anything would be preferable to those fold out cases where you have to undfold the whole thing to get one disc out.

I somewhat understand the reason why the record companies want to be paid for use of their tunes, but what do they really gain by being such sticklers? The tunes in question on most of these shows would probably bring in nothing for the companies outside of their use in the shows, so why not just charge a token rate and be happy to get it? If anything, I would think the use of tunes in these shows would serve to raise awareness of them and increase the demand, if anything.
:confused: Again, WHAT TUNES???? This is The Bob Newhart Show were talking about, not WKRP in Cincinnatti!

:confused: Again, WHAT TUNES???? This is The Bob Newhart Show were talking about, not WKRP in Cincinnatti!

True enough...but whatever they may be, I can't fathom holding it up for that.

Anything would be preferable to those fold out cases where you have to undfold the whole thing to get one disc out.

For any set more than 4 discs, I couldn't agree more. The worst offender of this digipak travesty I've ever seen is the Alien Quadrilogy DVD (haven't seen the Bluray of it). There are enough "pages" for 9 discs plus an extra flap for a booklet - longer than a coffee table when totally unfolded. First time I saw it was at a friend's house after I suggested we watch the much-ballyhooed director's cut of Aliens. He just let out a big sigh and said "clear the couch..." It was literally the length of his full-size couch. The irony of the situation made me collapse in laughter. The Alien series is very notable for it's agile, stealthy, efficient aliens while the packaging for it couldn't possible be any more cumbersome, overly large, and impractical. What moron(s) thought this would be cool?

After that I'm not going to cry if seasons 5 & 6 of Bob Newhart, with their measly 3 or 4 discs, come in digipaks.

Regarding whether it's really the music rights issue, I can only go by what they said.
Sure, it could just be a stalling tactic, but I also realize it's a process, which they seemed to have started.
I think pushing too hard now could hurt things. So, like I said, at the end of the year, I'm going to start pursuing it, and we'll see where it's at then.
Nothing else I can do now.

Regarding whether it's really the music rights issue, I can only go by what they said.
Sure, it could just be a stalling tactic, but I also realize it's a process, which they seemed to have started.
I think pushing too hard now could hurt things. So, like I said, at the end of the year, I'm going to start pursuing it, and we'll see where it's at then.
Nothing else I can do now.

Yeah, I was thinking that's a general response they give reguarding any inquiries about TV show dvd releases. I mean I think many of us have been racking our brain, trying to remember any special musical scores used on TBNS!!

Isn't the last episode of the series. "Happy Trails to You" where Emily sings Oklahoma? (When she gets depressed-she sings an upbeat tune, but only knows the words to two songs, Oklahoma and Melancholy Baby.) And Howard says, "I thought she was moving to Oregon!" LOL! I'll bet that there could be a big beef with the Rogers and Hammerstein estate/licensing executives over the lyrics to Oklahoma. They wouldn't be able to cut out the song, or improvise a tune, because that would kill the episode, and Howard's last line, is one of the funniest of all time in regards to why he can't sing the song! LOL!

Jack

PS. I do not recall "Happy Trails to You" being sung in this episode. However, I know that is its title.

Isn't the last episode of the series. "Happy Trails to You" where Emily sings Oklahoma? (When she gets depressed-she sings an upbeat tune, but only knows the words to two songs, Oklahoma and Melancholy Baby.) And Howard says, "I thought she was moving to Oregon!" LOL! I'll bet that there could be a big beef with the Rogers and Hammerstein estate/licensing executives over the lyrics to Oklahoma. They wouldn't be able to cut out the song, or improvise a tune, because that would kill the episode, and Howard's last line, is one of the funniest of all time in regards to why he can't sing the song! LOL!

Jack

PS. I do not recall "Happy Trails to You" being sung in this episode. However, I know that is its title.

Well, they sang It's A Long Way To Tipparary on the last episode of TMTMS. Also, remember Georgette dancing to the song, Steam Heat, in a season 7 episode. These songs werenot edited out.

Well, public pressure was rising at the end regarding releasing the final seasons of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, including Oprah calling for them, so they probably paid the piper in that case.

There's not as much public outcry here...but I will say I've had more than a few people contact me off the Amazon site. So between them, and the people here, hopefully we can come up with a good plan of attack.

But maybe it won't have to come to that, either.

If this stuff had a higher demand for release, then they wouldn't even bat an eye at paying for music rights and getting it out. Its understandable the studios don't want to shell out big bucks for musical clearances if they know for a fact the sets aren't going to fly off the shelves. For all we know, 20th Cent. Fox may need X amount of pre-orders secured before they can pay for the rights without losing money.

It's become quite obvious the copyright laws need reformed. Any show produced before DVD was invented should be given a certain amount of leeway with music rights. In decades past there was NO WAY to even imagine home video let alone paying any such licensing fees. ASCAP & BMI are so secretive about the whole process that we can only guess the extent of their greed. It really makes it hard to blame one party for the hold up.

Hi kids!

Some possibly promising news on the release of Seasons 5 and 6 of The Bob Newhart Show on DVD!

I just talked to the public point person on the releases, and he said that 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is "in the middle of deciding on distribution on these two seasons plus some other shows". He said he'd update me soon when he had definitive word.

I have to admit, I'm sensing a kind of positive vibe here. Maybe they've worked around the music rights issues, or have just bitten the bullet. Maybe Amazon wants the product for all of us who have signed up. Maybe it's just time.

Of course, having gone through this with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I'm also prepared for the answer to be no. However in that case, as I told the PR fellow, I've gotten lots of people on this site and the Amazon site who would be willing to send emails, make calls, and maybe execute a boycott or two of other programs. It WOULD BE time for that, but hopefully we don't have to do it.

I will let you know as soon as I get the answer!

I think FOX just does this so that when they FINALLY do release them they will have generated so much enthuseasum that people will rush to purchase these two seasons. The same with The Mary Tyler Moore Show seasons 5-7! I don't see how music could be an obsticle for this show.