This past September we had
the heads-up that Arts Alliance America (formerly Hart Sharp Video) would be bringing out Burt Reynolds'
B.L. Stryker - The Complete 1st Season on DVD, as part of their "TV Guide Presents" lineup. The official announcement has now been made, and the release date is all set for
February 26th! Here are the details from the studio:
Burt Reynolds Stars As A Palm Beach P.I.
B.L. Stryker, a former New Orleans detective, returns to his native Florida and is thrust by circumstances into the life of private investigator. His lifestyle and principles clash with those of the rich and powerful in Palm Beach as he solves crimes in conjunction with the local police.
CAST: Burt Reynolds, Ossie Davis and Rita Moreno. Produced by Tom Selleck. Guest Star Appearances by Abe Vigoda, Kristy Swanson, Helen Shaver, Maureen Stapleton, Jack Gilford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Neil Patrick Harris and Michael Chiklis.
People often think of Reynolds as mostly a film star, except perhaps for his '90s series
Evening Shade. But he's been a regular in a number of shows prior to that, beginning with the 1959 Darren McGavin program
Riverboat, then continuing with his long-running role of "Quint" on
Gunsmoke, and after that playing the leading roles as police Detectives in
Hawk (during the mid-'60s) and
Dan August (in the early '70s). And all of that was prior to making it really big in the movies with
Fuzz, Deliverance, The Longest Yard, Smokey and the Bandit, Semi-Tough, Hooper and others.
B.L. Stryker was his 1989 return to the role of a television detective, with each episode running two hours (including commercials). It was part of ABC's attempt to duplicate the success of the '70s-long run of the "NBC Mystery Movie" lineup (with different "feature length" crime drama shows rotating in the same scheduled slot).
B.L. Stryker ran a dozen episodes in all: five during the first season, and seven more in the second.
B.L. Stryker - The Complete 1st Season will have a running time of 414 minutes, and cost $29.95 SRP.
Amazon's pre-order listing goes for $20.99, but as of this writing shows an incorrect ship date of Feb. 5th. The actual date, per the studio, is Feb. 26th, and other retailers (including
DVDEmpire) show the correct date. Here's a look at the cover art, courtesy of Amazon (our thanks to reader Johnnie J. Young for the heads-up for that):
