I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series DVD Set Coming November 4, 2008 from Sony

[Pavan]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Barbara Eden & Larry Hagman Uncork All the Magic!

I DREAM OF JEANNIE: THE COMPLETE SERIES 20-Disc Box Set Features 139 Fanciful Episodes on DVD November 4


Culver City, Calif. (August 25, 2008) – I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series, starring Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman in one of the most beloved sitcoms in television history, comes to DVD in collectible bottle packaging November 4 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. This collector’s set also includes episode cards with trivia from each season. The 20-disc box set features the romantic magic of all 139 episodes and will be available for $174.95 SRP.

Eden (TV’s “Harper Valley PTA”) starred in her career-defining title role with Hagman (TV’s “Dallas”) who played the hapless Major Tony Nelson. The heady chemistry and deft comic timing of the adorably mismatched couple was made even more successful by series’ talented regulars Bill Daily (TV’s “The Bob Newhart Show”) as Tony’s best friend and secret-keeper, Major Roger Healey; Hayden Rorke (The Unsinkable Molly Brown) as nosey Dr. Bellows; and Emmaline Henry (Rosemary’s Baby) as his wife, Amanda Bellows.

Inspired by other supernatural shows of the time (particularly “Bewitched”), I Dream of Jeannie began its five-season run on September 18, 1965. Created by best-selling author Sidney Sheldon, the series cleverly blended romantic and slapstick comedy with outstanding special effects, making it an immediate success. I Dream of Jeannie enjoyed renewed popularity when it went into syndication during the 1970s; and, to this day, Eden and Hagman’s good-natured, high-spirited antics continue to attract new generations of fans.

DVD Special Features Include:
• Digitally Remastered Audio and Video
• Full Screen Presentations
• Audio: English, Spanish, Portuguese
• Subtitles: Spanish, Portuguese
• Closed Captioned

BROADCAST YEAR: 1965-1969

I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series has a run time of approximately 3138 minutes and is not rated.

[Lee G]

So it appears the 1st season episodes will be the colorized ones, not the original black and whites. Wow, that's bad. I will hold on firmly to my 1st season set in black and white, those discs will be valuable like gold.

I am not a fan of these complete series releases after the individual seasons have all been issued. It is just greed and overkill by the studio, instead they should devote their time and resources on issuing remaining seasons of other fan favorites like Flying Nun and All In The Family.

[Adamantium]

Originally Posted by Lee G

So it appears the 1st season episodes will be the colorized ones, not the original black and whites. Wow, that's bad. I will hold on firmly to my 1st season set in black and white, those discs will be valuable like gold.

I agree. I don't know why Sony is pushing the colorized versions so much. When the first two seasons of "Bewitched" came out, I had a hard time finding the Black and White version (Which I preferred). Eventually, however, I was able to find them. The same goes for "Jeannie." I'm proud to say that I own the first two seasons of "Bewitched" in black and white and the first season of "I Dream of Jeannie" in black and white as well.

I have absolutely no reason to buy this complete series set. I like the look of the box but that's all. I hear that they're not including the reunion movie (either of them) and with the news of the colorized version for the 1st season, I can't just sell all five seasons and rebuy the series. I'll just stick with what I've got.

[Lee G]

Yep, in addition to season one of Jeannie, I also have seasons one and two of Bewitched in the original black and white. If something was filmed in black and white, that is how it's meant to be seen. Colorizing a movie or TV show that was originally black and white is an act of vandalism in my opinion.

[TeeVeeCloset]

I too am not a fan of these complete series either, they are all style but not practical for storage...I like the idea of individual boxes and artwork for season sets....the jeannie packaging, the I Love Lucy packaging....yes they look nice in clear boxes for sitting on a shelf if you have no desire to ever open and actually watch the discs, but look at the jeannie picture, the discs are all squeezed together, again not practical for actually watching the discs.

[Jack77]

True the studios are getting really stupid with these LARGE SIZE "Complete Box Sets" that you can't even fit on your shelf with all your other regular sized DVD's. Now if you really want to see a great Box Set of a complete series that is coming out, check out The Munsters The Complete Series coming in October. At least that set is a normal size box set that will fit onto your shelf! Also they have added a few new extras.
It's really disgusting that Sony one of the worst studios to distribute tv shows on DVD is trying to fools fans into buying I DREAM OF JEANNIE THE COMPLETE SET and spend this ridiculous amount of money on the same disks we already bought, but this time stuffed into a cheap looking replica bottle!

Now as for the whole black & white vs. colorized first season sets. From what I heard from several sources, there really is no difference if you watch the black & white episodes or the colorized episodes because Sony did not bother to use the original master B&W prints from Bewitched or I Dream Of Jeannie. For those of you who think they are really watching the original B&W prints, guess what? All Sony did was turn down the color on the new prints they already had and sold it as "The Black & White Set"
For you Bewitched fans, this can be confirmed when you watch the B&W sets of Season 1 & 2 and the opening is the same as Season 3-8 but in B&W. Again, all Sony did was turn off the color. The last & only time we we saw the ORIGINAL B&W Episodes of Bewitched & Jeannie were when they aired on TV Land. If anyone recorded them back then, go back & see for yourself. Now those episodes from TV Land will be a collectors item if anything!

[Lee G]

I'm considering buying The Munsters complete set, mainly because they did it the right way now and the episodes are on single sided discs. The individual season sets have those lousy double sided discs.

You may be right Jack about the black and white vs. color thing, at least Sony gave Bewitched and Jeannie fans a choice when the individual seasons came out and made DVD sets in both versions. I'm just happy to have it in black and white, regardless of how they did it. I believe the TV Land airings of Bewitched and Jeannie were not uncut, so their collectible potential is probably limited. With the I Dream Of Jeannie season one DVD, the correct opening and closing theme is present in the episodes, but they used the theme from the color seasons on the DVD menu screen. With Bewitched, it's not as noticeable because the theme song was basically the same thruout the entire series, one black and white version has a slightly different orchestration. The main thing you notice watching the black and white DVD episodes is the copyright year is wrong, the 3rd season opening credit is used.

Check this out from you tube: 1964 opening credits for Bewitched with Chevrolet as the sponsor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnDF3...eature=related

[IDoJOnline]

Originally Posted by Jack77

True the studios are getting really stupid with these LARGE SIZE "Complete Box Sets" that you can't even fit on your shelf with all your other regular sized DVD's.!

In actuality, the complete series boxed set for Jeannie is DVD height. It's wider but it is no taller than an average DVD box. So it will fit fine height wise.

Originally Posted by Jack77

It's really disgusting that Sony one of the worst studios to distribute tv shows on DVD is trying to fools fans into buying I DREAM OF JEANNIE THE COMPLETE SET and spend this ridiculous amount of money on the same disks we already bought, but this time stuffed into a cheap looking replica bottle!

It's true that the price is high and the contents of the DVD's is the same. However the DVD's have been reprinted with the opening cartoon animation stills on the faces of the DVD's. Plus there are 55 collectible cards (50 cards with brand new/correct episode synopsis with rare trivia and never before seen photography and 5 character profile cards) which come in their own display box. The 'cheap looking' replica bottle was in fact modeled after Barbara Eden's bottle and a bottle painted by Brian Fetser. It's printed on silver foiled heavy cardstock and embossed. It looks far from cheap, I know because I already have one of the sets (minus the DVD's).

I seem to remember you going looney toons over here late last year as you struggled to accept that the boxed set would not include any extra features. You in fact swore it did and that I was completely missinformed. After replying to your posts a few months back I decided it was best to just let the set come out and you'd see I was right, so I requested my posts be deleted. Now just over two months before the official release I just have to remind you that this set you blatantly trash and make rude comments about, is the same set you were promoting months ago. You sure changed your tune fast.

[CAJeannieFan57]

I've looked and looked at the photos I've seen of the box that the new complete set is coming in. It just won't fit in with my regular DVD's no matter how you slice it. Also, the addition of 55 cards isn't enough incentive for me to buy the whole set again. Even the 1985 movie, had it been included, wouldn't have been enough incentive.

The ONLY things that would have gotten me to buy the entire set again would be DVDs of extras - interviews, BOTH movies (even though they both weren't all that good), AND the cartoon series.