Movies Unlimited, a 30-year old home video retailer based out of Philadelphia, runs a regular "Hollywood Q&A" column, where their customers often ask "Movie Irv" about their favorite films, and whether a release of it might be in the works. In the
most recent column, dated August 31st, a reader asked about
St. Elsewhere. In his response, Irv gave up some info about
The Mary Tyler Moore Show:
Q) Can we expect a release of the remaining seasons of St. Elsewhere? As this was one of the truly great TV series, it would be a shame to leave it at only Season One.
A) We’ve heard from a reliable source that many of the MTM-produced TV series like St. Elsewhere and The Mary Tyler Moore Show will receive major DVD boxed sets in 2009. By major, we mean look for sets that include the entire series, which seems to be the latest trend for the TV on DVD phenomenon.
Now, as fans of
The Mary Tyler Moore Show who spend time here at TSoD
already know, a recent interview in the
New York Times quoted Steven Feldstein, Fox's Senior Vice President for Corporate and Marketing Communications, as committing to releasing the final three seasons of
MTMS on DVD.
The way the story read, people were mostly left with the impression that Seasons 5, 6 and 7 would get individual season set releases first, prior to any complete series release. But now the info shown above from Movies Unlimited indicates otherwise, and it's beginning to get quite some attention around the internet from concerned fans! So we asked Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment about this, and here is what a studio spokesperson told us:
"We are committed to releasing all three remaining seasons - in what
format (individual or full set) remains to be determined."
So if you're a fan who has purchased the first four season sets separately, and prefer to just buy the final three seasons one-by-one, don't worry yet. Fox hasn't finalized any plans so far one way or the other. When they do, we'll be certain to let you know, so stay tuned!
Fans of
The Bob Newhart Show have been writing in lately, asking us what we think Fox's plans for
Mary Tyler Moore Show mean for the continued DVD releases of their favorite program. The truth is that we simply don't know yet, as the studio hasn't commented about
Bob so far. When they do let the cat out of the bag, though, we'll be sure to post about it.
As for
St. Elsewhere, please look for our separate news post where we talk about Fox's response to us in regard to what Movies Unlimited had said about that show's DVD outlook.
