Some of our readers have already seen the
Miami Vice,
Bionic Woman, and
Dream On news stories that were posted at TVShowsOnDVD in the last 24 hours. For those of you who haven't seen those, we need to explain where the story that follows comes from.
Universal has sent out a very nicely crafted book, approximately 35-40 glossy pages long and in full color. The outer cover and first couple of pages is stark black, with silver lettering, that says "Great Television on DVD is Universal. Universal Studios Home Video is Proud To Present Some of the Most Dynamic and Influential Television Shows of the Past 40 Years. The ShowsThat Defined Generations, Influenced Popular Culture and Set the Standard for Television's Most Groundbreaking Programming are Coming to DVD."
The way that is worded, it leaves little doubt in our minds that every television show covered inside is planned for a DVD release in the not-too-distant future. And there are a large number of shows in there. Some are featured prominently, with entire pages to themselves, or even two-page spreads. Others seem to be relegated to a "collage" at the back, which may indicate releases that are going to take longer to arrive. Or maybe that indicates something else; I'm just speculating about the arrangement reasons. One of those at the back, though, is a hot property that is a staple of reruns:
Leave It To Beaver started its 200+ episode run in 1957, on CBS, but finished its network first-run career at ABC. Stars like Jerry Mathers (Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver) and Barbara Billingsly (June Cleaver) achieved legendary status in their roles. It is one of the most-asked-about series for coming to DVD...though most of the people doing the requesting seem to be a tad embarrassed to go on record about it!
Fear not, we won't tell. It looks like Universal Studios Home Video is trying to get a DVD release together, though how soon and in what form we have no idea. This informational "catalog" that they sent out to selected recipients seems to be intended to give retailers a heads-up that the shows in the booklet are being worked on, so they can get ready for it on down the line. As we are all painfully aware of, though, plans can always change. It seems to be a no-brainer, though, that a classic staple like
Leave It To Beaver would make it to DVD eventually. Stay tuned, and we'll let you know what we find out, whenever more info becomes available.
