SHOUT! Studios DVD Request: "Dream On: The Complete Series"

[stevearino]

Dear Brian Ward,

I have a proposal for SHOUT! Studios: to make a deal with NBC Universal Television Distribution for SHOUT! Studios to issue and release, for the first time EVER on DVD (in honor of its impending 35th Anniversary next year), "Dream On: The Complete Series," a loving showcase of all 121 half-hour episodes of the hit 1990-1996 sitcom "Dream On" 100% Complete, 100% Uncut, AND 100% Unedited, just as each episode originally aired on the HBO Television Network.

Created by John Landis (known for a number of Rated R Sex Comedies such as "Animal House," "Trading Places," and "An American Werewolf in London" as well as the scene from "Twilight Zone: The Movie" where Vic Morrow, in real life, was killed in a freak Helicopter Crash at age 52 in 1982, with John and 4 other men criminally charged with Involuntary Manslaughter--all of whom were Acquitted in 1986, though contrary to Public Belief, the Fatal Accident WAS NOT in the final cut of the actual "Twilight Zone: The Movie"), "Dream On" originally aired for 8 seasons on HBO from July 8, 1990 - March 27, 1996.

The show centered on Martin Tupper (Brian Benben), a recently divorced 32-year-old New York City book editor who, at the start of the series, shared joint custody with ex-wife Judith (Wendie Malick), the only real love of his life, of their teenage son Jeremy (Chris Demetral), and was encouraged by his black best friend of 25 years since Kindergarten (and Jeremy's adoptive uncle), Eddie Charles (Dorien Wilson), a local TV talk show host, to start Dating Again--and boy did Martin date over the course of 8 seasons.

Other principal characters included Toby Pedalbee (Denny Dillon), Martin's secretary at Whitestone Publishing Company; and Gibby Fiske (Michael McKean), who at the start of Season 2 bought Whitestone after coming to America from Australia (though Michael in real life is an American New Yorker).

Over the course of 8 seasons, 6 years and 121 half-hour episodes, Martin Tupper found plenty of Women to both Date AND ****, many of whom found greater fame and success--among them Michelle Pfeiffer's younger sister Dedee, Deirdre Imershein, Mimi Rogers, Salma Hayek, and future TV "Friend" Courteney Cox; other Before-They-Were-Stars Moments also included David Hyde Pierce (futurely of the "Cheers" spin-off "Frasier") and future TV "Friend" Matthew Perry (in a separate episode from fellow "Friend" Courteney Cox).

John Landis conceived and created the idea for "Dream On" based on the idea of having Black-and-White film clips used as his lead character's thought patterns; he soon afterwards hired the eventual creators of TV's "Friends," Marta Kauffman, David Crane & Kevin Bright, to help him pitch the show to execs at Universal Studios Television, where John had a film and TV development deal, which soon after greenlit the show, with the HBO Television Network becoming co-Distributor for "Dream On" and airing new episodes.

From January 8, 1995 - July 3, 1995, reruns of "Dream On" aired on FOX on Sunday nights at 9 P.M. ET after "Married With Children" while concurrently airing new episodes on HBO between Seasons 6 and 7, respectively, minus Nudity and Profanity per episode, later shown in reruns on Comedy Central after the show ended its 8 season, 6 year run on the HBO Television Network.

Tentatively, Brian, SHOUT! Studios shall issue and release, for the first time EVER on DVD, "Dream On: The Complete Series" on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 35 years to the day of its debut, at a cost of ONLY $59.99 where DVDs are sold.

Sincerely,
Steve Arino

[TJ]

The series aired for a total of six seasons, consisting of 120 episodes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dream_On_episodes

It might be difficult for them to clear the use of all the black-and-white clips. Only the first two seasons were released on DVD. Maybe streaming could be an option.

https://www.reddit.com/r/television/...dream_on_isnt/

[opus]

Has one of these DVD requests ever been fulfilled?

If so, could you request Sydney:The Complete Series

[TJ]

It did happen at least once before when he requested Cheers on Blu-ray. He predicted September 27, 2022. It was released on April 25, 2023.

https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards...d.php?t=407262

[icecream]

Dream On aired on FOX at 9:30, not 9:00. Married with Children was established as a 9PM anchor. Some sketch comedy called House of Buggin' aired at 8:30 between The Simpsons and Married with Children.

[stevearino]

Hello Everyone,

I was thinking to myself a bit ago about my last post regarding my Complete Series DVD Request of "Dream On," and I'd like to clarify about WHY I said "Dream On" lasted 8 seasons in 6 years of 121 half-hour episodes.

According to this YouTube clip at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnE4X_g9JEA about 35 seconds into the clip from January 1994 (as you'll see when you play it) an HBO Promo for "Dream On" announces the new Season Premiere (its 5th) debuting on January 19.

To clarify, an earlier Hour-Long Holiday Episode, "Silent Night, Holy Cow," aired the week before Christmas 1993, technically started Season 5, but HBO aired it as a Holiday Special and not a regular episode; also, the episode "Oral Sex, Lies and Videotape" that began Season 4 on June 2, 1993 was another Hour-Long episode that split into 2 parts for International Prints to clarify.

Toward the middle of Summer 1995, on an original Season 7 HBO broadcast of an episode during the end credits, the HBO voiceover guy announced that, and I paraphrase, that the final season of "Dream On" (consisting of 10 episodes telecast from January 24, 1996 - March 27, 1996) would premiere 2 weeks from that night, I believe during an HBO rerun of "Little Orphan Eddie."

If I were making a Complete Series DVD of "Dream On" for SHOUT! Studios, how I personally would do so is that the Menu would turn itself on with a TV Remote at the start, followed by the "Dream On" logo moving to the center of the TV screen, then, to the left of the TV screen, a static TV (similar to how one looked in the '90s) would move to the left side of the TV screen simultaneously with the logo--as would a picture to the right side of the TV screen with a picture of Brian Benben (or as I like to simply call him, Benben) as well as to the bottom of the static TV the words Play (for Play every episode on the disc) or Episodes (for each individual episode).

Before I continue, I should also clarify that as the "Dream On" theme music plays, inside the Static TV, select pictures and still frames and publicity shots from the show would appear fading in and out every 8-12 seconds, tops.

If the viewer chose the Play on his/her remote, each episode on the Disc would play all at once after the TV Remote turned itself off, but if you chose the Episode Menu, a TV Remote (not unlike what you saw in the '90s) would appear with 9 individual channels; for example, if there were 7 episodes on a Disc, and you wanted to Press Channel 1, the first episode on the said Disc would Play (including if it were an Hour-Long Episode), Channel 2 would be the second episode on the Disc, and so on. Once you pressed the episode on the Disc you wanted to watch, the Remote would turn itself off, and the episode would begin with the Home Box Office Presents tag that viewers saw at the start of each original HBO Television Network broadcast show of "Dream On."

Ironically, when the first 2 Seasons of "Dream On" came out on DVD by Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal, unfortunately for yours truly, omitted the Home Box Office Presents tag that viewers saw at the start of each episode--but otherwise, the episodes were indeed as first seen on HBO.

I'm aware this is all long, but does all this sound great or what?

Oh yeah, and as far as using Black-and-White Film Clips as seen on "Dream On" were concerned, I'm hopeful SHOUT! Studios will have ZERO Problem

[stevearino]

Dear Brian,

I have a proposal for SHOUT! Factory: to make a deal with NBC Universal Television Distribution for SHOUT! Factory to issue and release, for the first time EVER on DVD, "Dream On: The Complete Series," a loving showcase of all 121 half-hour episodes of the hit 1990-1996 sitcom "Dream On" 100% Complete, 100% Uncut, 100% Uncensored AND 100% Unedited, just the way that each episode originally aired on the HBO Television Network, including Nudity and Profanity.

Created by John Landis (known for directing a plethora's worth of Rated R Sexcoms such as "Animal House," "Trading Places" and "An American Werewolf in London" to name but a few), "Dream On" originally aired for 8 seasons on HBO from July 8, 1990 - March 27, 1996; the show centered on Martin Tupper (Brian Benben), a recently divorced 32-year-old New York City book editor who shared joint custody with his ex-wife, Judith (Wendie Malick), of their teenage son, Jeremy (Chris Demetral).

Other Principal Characters included Toby Pedalbee (Denny Dillon), Martin's Secretary at the Whitestone Publishing Company where he worked; Eddie Charles (Dorien Wilson), Martin's Black Best Friend whom he'd known for 25 years, a local NYC TV Talk Show Host who served as Jeremy's Adopted Uncle; and Gibby Fiske (Michael McKean), an Australian Immigrant who became Martin's Employer in the 2nd season.

John Landis conceived and created the idea for "Dream On" based on the idea he had of using Black-and-White Film Clips for his lead character's thoughts; soon afterwards, John hired the future creators of TV's "Friends," Marta Kauffman, David Crane & Kevin Bright, to write a Pilot Script for him and help him pitch the show "Dream On" to execs at Universal Studios Television, which greenlit the show and co-distributed the show with the HBO Television Network airing the show in the US.

After Seasons 5 and 6, reruns of "Dream On" aired on the FOX Television Network from January 8, 1995 - July 3, 1995 on Sunday nights at 9 P.M. ET after "Married With Children" minus Nudity and Profanity, edited for Content, later seen in reruns on Comedy Central after the show left the HBO Television Network behind.

During its 8-season, 6-year run on HBO, many guest stars appeared on "Dream On," among them future TV "Friends" Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry (in separate episodes during Season 3), Salma Hayek, David Hyde Pierce, David Bowie, Warren Zevon, Ricardo Montalban, Eva Gabor, Phil Leeds, and Melvin Van Peebles.

Season 1 of "Dream On" aired on HBO for 14 weeks from July 8, 1990 - October 7, 1990, while Season 2 aired on HBO for 14 weeks of 15 half-hour episodes from July 7, 1991 - October 6, 1991; Season 3 aired on HBO for 25 weeks of 26 half-hour episodes from June 6, 1992 - November 21, 1992; Season 4 aired on HBO for 12 weeks of 13 half-hour episodes from June 2, 1993 - August 18, 1993; Season 5 began with a special 1-Hour Holiday Episode on December 15, 1993 followed by 11 weeks of regular episodes totaling 13 Half-Hour Episodes on HBO airing from December 15, 1993 - March 23, 1994, while Season 6 aired 13 Half-Hour Episodes for 13 weeks in a row on HBO from June 22, 1994 - September 14, 1994; Season 7 aired 13 Half-Hour Episodes for 13 weeks in a row on HBO from July 19, 1995 - October 8, 1995 followed by a month-long break before finishing the last 4 Half-Hour Episodes of Season 7 from November 1, 1995 - November 22, 1995; Season 8, the Final Season, consisted of 10 Half-Hour Episodes airing for 10 weeks in a row from January 24, 1996 - March 27, 1996, as advertised at the start of each season on the HBO Television Network.

Personally, Brian, if I were to make a DVD menu for each disc of "Dream On: The Complete Series," how I would do it is I would, after the SHOUT! Factory logo, have a Remote turn a Static TV on, followed by a White Screen, then have the "Dream On" logo appear at the top of the screen. On the left side of the screen, at the top, I'd have a '90s style TV and a VCR at the bottom, and Inside the TV, I'd have still photos from throughout the series' 8-season, 6-year run appear as the show's theme plays, and on the right side, I'd have the words play for play all episodes, and episodes for each individual episodes. When you press the episodes menu, there'd be a TV Remote, Each Channel (1-9, depending on episodes per disc) would contain an episode. The first 2 seasons would have 7 channels, a channel per episode.

Season 3 would have 8 channels on Discs 1 and 3, and 9 channels on Disc 2.

Seasons 4 and 5 would have 6 channels on 2 Discs each, while Season 6 would have 7 channels on the first disc and 6 channels on the second disc.

Season 7 would have 8 channels on the first disc and 9 channels on the second disc, while Season 8, the final season, would have 5 channels on each disc.

Tentatively, SHOUT! Factory shall issue and release "Dream On: The Complete Series" on DVD on Tuesday, July 8, 2025--exactly 35 years to the day of its original HBO Television Network debut--at a cost of ONLY $59.99 wherever DVDs are sold, with a plethora's worth of Bonus Features including HBO Promos.

Sincerely,
Steve Arino