Bad news for future Punky dvd's!!!

[robby76]

Hi Punky fans, I just e-mailed Shout! Factory, the company who are releasing the first two seasons of Punky Brewster. I asked them about their future Punky plans and this is the unfortunate e-mail I got back. So guys, if you want to see future Punky releases (Seasons 3and 4), I suggest you give Shout! Factory an e-mail so that they put it high on theoir agenda.

ps: Can anyone make this a "sticky"... thanks if so.

The e-mail is as follows:

Well, I've got some bad and really bad news for the "Punky on DVD" Yahoo
Group. Sadly, we were unable to get interviews with Soleil Moon Frye or
Casey Ellison for the season two box set. Worse, NBC only had the rights to
the first two seasons when we made the deal. Therefore, Shout! Factory is
only releasing the first two seasons on DVD.

Don't fret. Punky's sold very well and it's definitely an incentive to go
after the remaining seasons, so there's always a chance. And we do have a
great interview with George Gaines on the season two set. So, there's
always that as well as several more episodes of the animated series!

Enjoy!

[Starsky]

Originally Posted by robby76

Hi Punky fans, I just e-mailed Shout! Factory, the company who are releasing the first two seasons of Punky Brewster. I asked them about their future Punky plans and this is the unfortunate e-mail I got back. So guys, if you want to see future Punky releases (Seasons 3and 4), I suggest you give Shout! Factory an e-mail so that they put it high on theoir agenda.

ps: Can anyone make this a "sticky"... thanks if so.

The e-mail is as follows:

Well, I've got some bad and really bad news for the "Punky on DVD" Yahoo
Group. Sadly, we were unable to get interviews with Soleil Moon Frye or
Casey Ellison for the season two box set. Worse, NBC only had the rights to
the first two seasons when we made the deal. Therefore, Shout! Factory is
only releasing the first two seasons on DVD.

Don't fret. Punky's sold very well and it's definitely an incentive to go
after the remaining seasons, so there's always a chance. And we do have a
great interview with George Gaines on the season two set. So, there's
always that as well as several more episodes of the animated series!

Enjoy!

This is terrible news.

We need to get Seasons 3 & 4 on dvd ASAP. Punky Power!!!

[Starsky's Chick]

This calls for some serious Punky Power action. Pronto!!

[Mr. Television]

If they are going to release the show then all seasons should be made available.

[robby76]

The production house changed hands after Season 2 and Punky was then under new ownership (don't know who by) for the last two seasons. That's why the dvd release deals have to be done with 2 seperate companies.

Seasons 3 and 4 feature "Punky's Place" (the restaurant Henry opens and runs) and of course guest appearances by Mark Paul Gosselar (Zach Morris Saved By the Bell).

ps: as Starsky said... you're never too old to muster up some of that ole Punky Power! Do it for the little kids we all once were!

[Pavan]

Dave Lambert of TVShowsOnDVD.com gives this explanation:

The 12/20/04 issue of Video Business had an article called "Nothing
Small About TV" (talking about the rise of the TV-DVD genre). The way the
headline of that article (page 27) was designed, the font and color
scheme looked almost exactly like the TVShowsOnDVD logo! Near
the end of the article, it says:

"Not all TV stars want to talk, however. 'Soleil Moon Frye didn't
want to be involved with our Punky Brewster DVD,' notes Garson
Foos, president of Shout! Factory..."


So her not wanting to participate is pretty well known, at least in
some quarters. Frye's pretty serious these days, and though she didn't mind
revisiting Punky a couple of years ago for an "I Love The 80's" installment,
she is now directing and last year directed "Sonny Boy." That one is a
documentary of her relationship with her own father, Virgil Frye, who
was a makeup artist on Easy Rider and an Elvis impersonator and a Golden
Gloves boxer and a political campaigner, according to the IMDB. The
documentary focuses on his bout with Alzheimer's, and takes a hard look at the disease's progress while he and Soleil take a journey across the country. The film has not received a distributor, according to someone posting at the
IMDB, which is a crime...I'd like to see it. Hmmm...maybe if Shout! offered
to put it out on DVD, they would probably get some participation from
Soleil.
When she's not directing, she keeps food on the table by playing the
voice of "Zoey" on the Saturday morning kid show "The Proud Family".

And the thing about the separate rights to the 3rd and 4th seasons is
actually more worrisome, because I don't know who those rights lay
with, but if its someone with a "we don't license anything out" company policy - like Sony/Columbia-Tristar, for instance - then it just ain't gonna happen.
On the other hand, if the company (whoever they are) is amenable, then I'm
sure it will be a no-brainer for Shout to work with them, as long as sales
of Season 2 justify the continuation of the DVDs.

On a final note: yesterday my wife, Stephanie, was perusing CNN and saw a story about an avalanche. She comments, "Avalanches, tsunamis, earthquakes, blizzards, freak windstorms, tons of hurricanes hitting Florida a few months ago...didn't the predictions of the end of the world say that it would start like this?" My reply to her? "Stephie, when Punky Brewster was first announced for DVD release, a lot of people said it was a sign of the apocalypse!" Funny, huh? But true...so many folks reacted badly to that release, it was unreal. "If Punky Brewster can get a DVD release, then why can't <insert show name here>?" They just don't understand how rights and deals work, but oh well.

[robby76]

Very enlightening post! Thanks for the added info... bar the Punky jibes... poor old Punky! Is she really that unpopular? Maybe it's a little too "kiddies" for some of the more older / serious sitcom fans.

[musiclvr14]

I agree, this really sucks that they arent releasing Punky seasons 3 and 4!! Season 3 is one of my FAVE seasons, along with season 2. I also love season 4 and I love all the Punky's Place episodes and stuff. I was really looking forward to seasons 3 and 4 being made while we were watching the season 2 dvd. and I was really looking forward to season 3 maybe coming out later this yr. And I was REALLY looking forward to having the entire punky series collection on dvd soon. And it kind of puts a damper on the season 2 dvd knowing that its going to be the last one when it wasnt supposed to be, and that when we are done watching it, there wont be anymore to look forward to like there was supposed to be. Its totally unfair that they only release half of a tv series! There's only 2 seasons left, it wont take them that long to make them where shows like Friends has 10 seasons to do! They really need to release seasons 3 & 4 of Punky and make a complete set out of it, instead of just leaving us hanging like this when we all thought we were finally getting the entire series back after ALL these yrs of waiting and never seeing this show!

Does anyone have any email addresses of places we can write to, to get them to release seasons 3 & 4? What about starting an online petition or soemthing? anyone have any updates on this or any ideas? this is really disapointing as I'm a fan of the WHOLE show and want to see and have all of it like we are supposed to, not just half. I know NBC only had the rights to seasons 1-2 and all, but if Shout factory got the deal with NBC to make dvds out of the first 2 seasons, then Shout factory should be able to get the ok from the company that has the rights to seasons 3-4 to finish the rest of the series too then. Why cant they just make a new deal with the company who has seasons 3-4 too? They just cant release half of a tv series and leave us all hanging when we all know there is more to it than that. its totally unfair. Hopefully they'll finsih the show and get started on seasons 3-4 SOON!

if anyone has any email addresses to write to them about it or ideas and updates about this let me know.

[robby76]

Right on, right on!!!

Musiclvr14 for President!!!

[musiclvr14]

LOL thanks! yeah Punky Power all the way! and thanks to you for letting us know about it too, now hopefully we can help do something to get our punky back hehe

[faraj]

This is so sad. I'm so looking forward to the last 2 seasons. Especially since I haven't seen that series before till it came out on DVD. Ah meeeeeeeyan. But at least there's still a hopeful chance, so let's just keep our fingers crossed.

[faraj]

Holy Maconoli! Just when I thought it was the end, look at this link => http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5446

I'm so happy. I knew they'd get to S3.

Punky Power works again!!!