Will this show ever be released as full season sets???

[brtcmfn]

If one show needs to be brought to DVD for completed season sets- B an A is it- This show is a classic!- I only know of it being on channel WMME in Chicago- (You lucky people).
What is the main contact or distributor that has the rights that we can write to to get this show released?? (And not public domain collections!!)

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...."owns" the show. If they wanted to release it on DVD, there would have been a "demand" for it. In the '80s, they [rather, RCA/Columbia Home Video] released two episodes from the first filmed season (1952-'53) on videocassette {Sheldon Leonard guest starring in the first one, Jack Benny in the second}, complete with the original opening & closing titles, AND commercials (for B.F. Goodrich and "alternate sponsor" Carnation Milk). There were no follow-up volumes. What makes you think SONY is eager to issue box sets of a show that most people obviously have "no interest" in?

[brtcmfn]

I already know and have both of those volumes.
That was back in the early 80's- with the demand for classic TV what makes you think people would not want to have this series in collection sets?
There are alot of worse TV programs that have made it to DVD.

This show is not outdated and is still smart as the time it came out.

If the show was back on more and promoted for a new generation I think it has the potential of being a classic for these times.

[vedastone]

It is historically one of the most significant shows of the early years of TV. If people today are not interested in B&A it is likely because it hasn't had much exposure on TV in recent years, and the few episodes that have been shown are from the first three seasons, generally not the best examples. It took the show till the fourth season to really gel, and some important and popular elements (such as George's magic TV, and Ronnie) didn't show up until the 6th 7th and 8th seasons. So the public hasn't had any chance to see the best episodes, and only half a chance to see even the un-polished earlier episodes. I believe there just aren't enough people who have seen the best the series has to offer, and until the show (especially the later seasons) is shown regularly on TV, there isn't much chance of enough demand for a dvd release.

Of course, in a more perfect world, one that recognized and honored artistic achievement and creativity and was not exclusively driven by 'the bottom line", we could expect the whole show on dvd, no problem.

[jayman75]

Right now it airs on Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m. on my local PBS station. They do intros and closings as they were (if they are edited, I can't tell it).

[brtcmfn]

Originally Posted by jayman75

Right now it airs on Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m. on my local PBS station. They do intros and closings as they were (if they are edited, I can't tell it).

Hey Jayman-
What are the call letters of the station and where is it located?

[Woolworth27]

Didn't there son play on an eps on the Honeymooners called young at heart?

[treky]

I have a VHS tape of a Christmas episode of the show that was done live in, I think, 1951 or 52. It's complete with a cast commercial for Carnation evaporated milk, and it even has a spot at the end with George, Gracie, & Harry Von Zell (the announcer) also pluging it.
I sent away for it from some mail-order company around 1984 or 85.

I remember, I also got 2 tapes of "The Jack Benny show" from the same company, that were also done live, in the 50s, and are also on kinescope.

[jsummo]

Hi
yes I think the best episodes were the later years, especially with George's magic TV. However, I think the earlier ones were great too. There is no reason they shouldn't put the complete series on DVD.
Joe

[vedastone]

Hi Jsummo - I wish there were more people like you, but unfortunately it looks like we're never going to get B&A season sets on DVD. You can see that this board doesn't get very much action, and I'm afraid that this may be indicative of the general public's indifference to the show. I cannot understand it - there is so much lousy television, even among classic era shows. To me B&A has all the qualities of a great sitcom: great writing, production and a really exceptional cast, plus one of the all-time memorable characters of radio, tv and film, Gracie. I don't really know but perhaps it may be a case of the show being too intellectual in its humor - you have to be somewhat intelligent to catch many of the jokes, and have to have a decent attention span to follow some of the plots. Today's viewers may be lacking in these characteristics...I don't really know what the problem is. I'm always hoping, but as time goes by, I think B&A is unfortunately more and more forgotten.

As you say, all the seasons are good, but my favorite episodes are mostly in the 4th and 5th seasons. Frederick de Cordova became producer and director at the start of the 4th season, and Larry Keating took over the role of Harry Morton. Fred Clark's brash, over-eating, slightly unethical real estate salesman Harry had its strong points, but I believe the new very different portrayal by Keating really helped bring the show to a new level of comedy. The stuffy intellectual accountant was a perfect foil to uneducated George, and many memorable plots and scenes resulted. Just about any occasion where Harry visited George in his den turned into a hilarious interaction between the two.

WCIU in the Chicago area is showing these episodes on Saturday nights currently. I wish I knew someone there to record them. We can only hope that the show causes a big sensation and the citizens of Chicago demand a DVD release....

[treky]

yea; that's a shame that more people aren't interested in it and we'll probably never see season sets because of that. But, unfortunetaly, a lot of the other black and white sitcoms aren't shown anywhere anymore-exept for on TV LAND. Even I LOVE LUCY isn't shown anywhere else anymore.

But; back to B & A, I first discovered the show in the 70s when channel 11 in New York used to show it on weeknights, then I discovered it on radio in the 80s when a local radio station in our area (and a lot of other areas, too) used to play the old radio shows from the 30s, 40s and 50s (something else that noone ever does anymore, unfortunetaly). But, in recent years I haven't seen it anywhere. I saw a couple episodes a few years ago on the old SCREEN GEMS NETWORK.
Fortunetaly, I have some tapes of their radio show and a VHS tape of their Christmas, 1951 show.

[brtcmfn]

I used to live in NY and saw it on WPIX (When there were true independent stations) and then it was also on CBN (The christian broadcast network) on cable before it became The family channel- they used to show nightly Burns and Allen, I married Joan, Jack Benny, and Groucho Marx- those were the days

At least thanks to Sirius satellite radio I can still hear the classsic radio broadcasts of Burns and Allen, My favorite husband, Life of Riley, Jack Benny and many more on there Radio Classics channel

[The Great One]

Does anyone here know what was the total number of episodes that they made of the B&A Show?

[brtcmfn]

Originally Posted by The Great One

Does anyone here know what was the total number of episodes that they made of the B&A Show?

291

[The Great One]

Originally Posted by brtcmfn

291

Thanks for the info!