And starring as the hero, the best voice over guy in the business, Will Lyman, who luckily is still the voice of Frontline (he’s one of the three or so actors I love for their voice alone).
You know, the minute that link started to open, I remembered having seen that before somewhere. Maybe in a dream, but still.
:makes that “call me” gesture with hand, only the e-mail version, whatever that is:
All I can say is thank goodness for the alt.binaries.multimedia release groups. Practically everything that’s aired at all since 2003 or so has been preserved for the ages. Cavemen? Six Degrees (excellent show, btw)? Four Kings (another excellent show, which the last 8 episodes only aired in Australia, but still got preserved digitally)? I’m sure they even did Starved, although I never heard of it. This is a problem of the past…
One that I find amazing is that they’ve never released the original Simpsons shorts from The Tracey Ullman Show on DVD.
I’m pretty sure the rights to those are part of the rights to The Tracy Ullman Show. When those rights are settled, then the shorts will be seen again.
I just watch episode two, thank you. It was better than I feared. The music was too much but it was still a nice little show.
It’s been twenty years. I have to assume the legalities aren’t that complex, especially when you consider Gracie Films produced both shows. How difficult can it be for a studio to sell itself distribution rights?
If it’s a question of market value, the time is passing. The shorts would have been worth more in 1995 then they were in 2000 and more in 2000 than they were in 2005. In another ten years, the distribution rights might be worth as much Family Dog or Fish Police.
Apparently, Matt Groening is embarrased by how poor the original Simpsons shorts are. Also, I’m not sure Ullman and the Simpsons are on speaking terms- she unsuccessfully sued in 1992 for shares of the royalties to the series, believing that she was directly responsible for the Simpsons’s success due to their origins on her show.
I didn’t say that it wasn’t available – my post notes that some of the series are, like The Prisoner. But I have NEVER seen thios on sale in any video store, despite the fact that I can own the entire run of other, much lesser series both old and new, well-known and obscure.
A few months ago I found John Clarke’s website, and there’s mention that they are working on a release of series 2 of The Games, due to popular demand. This thread inspired me to send an e-mail to make the demand even more popular.
Got a reply, says they’re hoping to do it this year.
I’m still waiting for Andy Richter Controls the Universe.
I came in to wish for Tweny-first Century with Walter Cronkite, but a check shows that it does seem to be available from at least one source. It’d be interesting to see how close they came/are coming 35 years ago to guessing the future.
I’d pay handsomely if they’d release People Like Us, the BBC docu-comedy, on US DVD. They’ve been available in the UK, but not here. I’ve only seen three episodes, once each, but a show like that needs probably five viewings to catch all the jokes.
Also two votes (I’m a big guy) for Mad Movies with the LA Connection, a series that aired briefly in the 80s. LA Connection is still around, making stuff, but I haven’t found their original 80s material (legitimately) on DVD.
Something you gotta understand about the Simpsons Shorts - they SUCKED. Aside from having some of the same characters, there is almost no resemblance to even the first season of The Simpsons. Lisa was simply a female Bart, Marge had no personality at all, Homer was the enforcer of the family but wasn’t stupid…the only characters which were true to their character were Bart and Krusty. Tracy Ullman is not allowing her show to be released on DVD simply because she knows the only reason anyone will buy it will be for the Simpsons, and she’d rather not make money than give those fans that satisfaction. Besides, all of those shorts have been preserved digitally as well and if you look hard enough, you can find them. And then feel let down that you wasted your time downloading them.
I second the 1960’s Batman. I’d pay top dollar for that.
Also, I was going to ask for an obscure science show from over the water, The Secret Life Of Machines, but I just found it.