Back in January 2004, fans in-the-know about the
promotion got themselves a taste (literally) of
The Donna Reed Show on DVD, when General Mills offered it and three other sitcoms as pack-in deals inside specially marked cereal boxes of "Total" and other, similar breakfast cereals. In the case of
The Donna Reed Show, two episodes from the eighth (and final) season of the show, "Four on the Floor" and "No More Parties, Almost", were found on these promotional discs.
Following this, fans urgently wanted more "
Reed on DVD" (and they weren't, of course, satisfied with her
year on Dallas as "Miss Ellie"). All was quiet, though, about getting the classic sitcom on home video until this past Friday. Then, trade magazine
Video Business posted a story about how Reed's "son" in the show, played by Paul Petersen, is getting honored at next month's EMA trade show event with a Home Entertainment Award for "Legendary Television Son".
The
Video Business story comments that "
Arts Alliance America plans to release The Donna Reed Show on DVD in the summer."
Following that story, we have been trying to get in touch with Arts Alliance America to confirm this info, and hopefully get more details about release plans: Can fans expect season sets, or some other configuration? Will these be the original broadcast edits, or - like the versions on the cereal pack-in disc - will they instead be "syndication cuts" of the episodes? Will there be bonus materials? Etc.; fans are very curious!
It was difficult to get in touch with the right people at the studio, though, primarily because many of them have been in Cannes, France this week for the city's annual prestigious film festival (AAA is there to strike other distribution deals). However, despite the distance, we owe a debt of thanks to Arts Alliance America president Joseph Amodei, who went out of his way to reply to our questions...all the way from Cannes!
Unfortunately, Joe tells us that
VB was incorrect in one critical aspect of their comments: There's "nothing until [the]
4th quarter," Joe told us. "We are putting the plans together now." The
Donna Reed Show IS indeed coming from AAA, but a summer release is NOT correct, and we won't see our first DVDs of the show until around the end of the year.
As such, it's too early to say exactly what the details are going to be, and so we can't get you the answers to those other questions just yet. We'll be on the lookout, however, for updates about these long-awaited, highly anticipated releases. We'll bring you new info as developments occur, so stay tuned!
