Arli$$ (the whole series not just the “best” episodes)
China Beach
Karen Sisco
Liquid Television (another series only released as a “best of”)
Minoriteam (released in Australia but not the US)
When Things Were Rotten
The Wonder Years (yet another “best of”)
Add your own suggestions
Music rights are gonna make Wonder Years tough. (Though I’d buy it in like 10 seconds)
The Nutt House
Wizards and Warriors
Dave Allen At Large (US release, please)
Liquid Television is going to be difficult, as well. It was a compilation series with every segment done by a different animator or animation studio, each of whom would need to be negotiated with separately. (It’s a common problem for “animation festival” compilations. The DVD releases often differ significantly from theatrical/television versions.)
There are two MTV series I’d like to see: The Idiot Box (Alex Winters sketch comedy) and The Sifl & Olly Show (surreal puppet show). Both showed music videos, but unlike Beavis and Butthead, the music videos weren’t integrated into important parts of the show, and I’d be willing to give up the music rights to get access to the sketches.
For ages, I’ve been hoping that “You Can’t Do That on Television” would come out on DVD, but I don’t think it ever will. But I’ve been able to get a fix by watching some episodes on YouTube.
Growing up in the 80s, I of course watched a lot of Nickelodeon and this was one of my favorite shows (along with Danger Mouse, which I do have on DVD). Compared to today’s live-action kids’ shows (at least, the little I’ve seen) the humor was more sarcastic and less slapstick. Well, I guess the green slime could be considered slapstick, but a lot of the skits were really very clever. I don’t think the show was quite the same after Christine left, and I never warmed up to the “all new” cast of 1989-90. But still, a great show!
I’ll second Karen Sisco. I’ve never been much of a fan of Carla Gugino either before or after, but she was freaking awesome in that show.
I’d really like to see Whiz Kids again, which I remember loving when I was 13. Although I suspect it may not have aged well.
I’ve got a two-disc “Best of Whose Line.” I don’t know that they need to release every episode ever aired, but I’d definitely buy “The Second-Best of Whose Line.”
It’s available to stream on Amazon and Netflix if you need a Wonder Years fix.
I think I’ll be forever waiting for “Ed” to be released on DVD. Same issue as Wonder Years w/ the music rights holding things up.
Sifl & Olly, a thousand times yes. I remember some video specials, but I don’t recall videos during the shows themselves; there was singing, but mostly they did original songs. They did occasionally perform well-known songs, like “Heart of Glass” and “Just What I Needed”. And of course Chester sang “Seasons In The Sun” that one time.
They did put out an “official” DVD of Season Three, stuff they’d recorded that had never aired. So far, that’s all.
The Drew Carey Show
The rest of King of the Hill
Mad About You
The Jack Benny Program
During the original airing of season one, music videos (often truncated) were used as commercial bumpers for the show; in later airings, they just used the sketches IIRC. There are purists who would want the originals for completeness’ sake, but I just want the sketches.
I missed out on the season 3 DVD (which I think was done in a small batch by the creators), but I have seen it. It’s relatively… dark compared to seasons 1 and 2. I kind of wasn’t surprised that MTV pulled the plug when they did.
“Head of the Class”
“Unnatural History”
It was only on for one year, but I thought it was a very smart show and enjoyable. Don’t know if it was ever popular enough to put to DVD though.
Concur.
Also, the rest of Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and the rest of Good Eats.
Passions. Yes, the soap opera. I started watching it late in the game, when I went to grad school and I’d like to see the earlier episodes.
Foster’s was a great show. The episode “The Big Cheese” from Season Four, where everyone gets locked out of the house, is an absolute classic.
Agree with Who’s Line…(the whole series, please) and the rest of King of the Hill.
My favorite TV series in all of history and probably the entire future is Northern Exposure. I would pay seriously big bucks to have the complete, as-aired version of that series on DVD, not the ersatz one that’s out now.
Yes.
I HAVE GINGIVITIS!
Also, to add what I omitted from my earlier list, the rest of WKRP.
Wiseguy is another show that’s had a never complete release. They released the complete first season but then only released a “best of” version of the series. The final three seasons were never fully released in the US. All four complete seasons have been released in Australia however.