Late this Summer, Universal Home Video is celebrating the classic TV legacy of "The NBC Sunday Mystery Movie," with releases of
McCloud - Seasons 1 & 2,
McMillan & Wife - Season 1, and also a 3rd Season set for Peter Falk's beloved character,
Columbo.
These three series made up the original group of shows that begot the "NBC Mystery Movie," which started in the Fall of 1971 on Wednesday but in 1972 moved that lineup to Sundays and added "Sunday" to the program title (the old slot was replaced with a round of different detective shows, and became the "NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie" program).
McCloud was a holdover from the "Mystery Movie" predecessor, "Four In One" (which held the slot in 1970 and featured
Night Gallery among the shows in its own rotating format of series). But while
McCloud and newcomer
McMillan and Wife clearly had their popularity, the fans who have stuck to their show the most have clearly been those that enjoy
Columbo.
Perhaps that's why the L.A.P.D. Lieutenant has two more season set releases under his trenchcoat belt than the others. The first season arrived last September, and the second season has hit stores just a couple of months ago, in March. Now
Columbo - The Complete 3rd Season, will arrive with the first season sets of the other two properties on
August 9th.
The new release features 8 episodes with guest stars like Vera Miles, Martin Sheen, Vincent Price, George Gaynes, Donald Pleasence, Dana Elcar, Jackie Cooper, Ken Swofford, Katey Sagal, Robert Culp, Mariette Hartley, Jose Ferrer, Jessica Walter, Deidre Hall, Johnny Cash, Ida Lupino, Sorrell Booke and a very special appearance by none other than Mickey Spillane!
Those episodes will occupy 684 minutes of your time, and are housed on 2 double-sided DVDs that cost $39.98 SRP. Fullframe video, English Mono audio, and English/Spanish subtitles are the specs. We're still waiting on the cover art for this package, plus word on whether or not there will be any extras. Stay tuned and we'll update you when we can.
