In 2005 and 2006, MPI Home Video worked with the estate of show creator Paul Henning to take every episode of
The Beverly Hillbillies that is available in the public domain and remaster those 55 episodes, license the original theme song and include it (along with the original sponsor commercials, which appeared at the end of the opening credits) and put it all together "as originally broadcast" on three different DVD releases, which each included several rare extras (some directly provided by the Paul Henning Estate):
This took fans of the show through the middle of the 2nd Season of the classic sitcom, providing 19 of that season's 36 episodes. Fans wanted more from the show's nine-year run, naturally, but rights to the remaining episodes have been held by CBS/Paramount. A
report in November 2005 - that Paramount was looking like they had a continuation in mind - had to be retracted about five months later, as signs took a turn in the opposite direction. However, now it looks like things are moving again at last!
This morning CBS/Paramount announced
The Beverly Hillbillies - The 2nd Season DVD set, due to arrive on
October 7th. The running time provided is 15 hours, 18.5 minutes...meaning that we'll see all 36 half-hour episodes from the show's second season, and not just the 17 missing from MPI's collection(s). For folks (like me) who already own MPI's excellent releases, it might seem strange (and cost more than necessary) to buy the first half-season all over again. On the other hand, CBS/Paramount *might* be banking on the idea that there's a large group of potential customers out there who may have missed out on these 2-3 year old sets (on the other hand, if that's the case then what about the first season for those people?).
Pricing, package art and extras (if any) were not revealed so far. The only other provided info at this time is about the basic specs for this release: full screen video, English mono audio, and NO word yet about whether these have been remastered, as MPI's releases were. Stay tuned, though, and we'll try to find out more about it and update you as soon as possible!
