A couple of weeks ago, at the end of January, we
broke the news that Fox Home Entertainment is planning a DVD release of
The Mary Tyler Moore Show - The Complete Series on
May 5th. We haven't heard anything official from the studio since then, but as of late yesterday afternoon our retail sources for that info have confirmed that Fox is still teasing them with a forthcoming announcement for this 22-disc set.
And, shortly afterward, we received a reader e-mail (thanks greatly to Mark Stevenson) letting us know that
Amazon is taking pre-orders for the release. The big e-tailer doesn't give a release date yet, or any other details (or package art, for that matter...just a group shot of the cast). But they do confirm the $179.98 list price we previously reported. The even-better news is that they'll let you lock in a prepurchase of this 7-season collection for $125.99. That's the cost as of this writing, in any case; it's subject to change at Amazon's discretion, without notice...but if the price is lower at the time they ship it to you, then your credit card will only be charged for the cheaper amount.
At that price, though, it comes to about $18 per season if you don't own any of them so far, and if you already do own all four season sets that Fox previously released, then you're purchasing the remaining three seasons you need at $42 each (which isn't that bad). And if you do own any of the separate season for one through four, keep in mind that you can give them to a friend or family member who would appreciate them, sell them on eBay, wheel-and-deal with them at your local used disc retailer, or donate them to any number of places such as a library, Goodwill, an old age home or to soldiers serving overseas.
But yes, the economy is bad right now and Fox is certainly asking a lot to require folks to repurchase seasons that they may already own, in order to get the remaining episodes. Our advice? "Be patient." If this complete series sells well enough, then it will be a no-brainer for Fox to take the already-mastered discs for Seasons 5, 6 and 7, and go ahead and release them individually. Is that already part of their plans? Not to our knowledge, but then again, it makes sense that it could, would and should happen down the line. Stay tuned and we'll let you know if we hear anything.
