Two months ago Cannell Productions and Mill Creek Entertainment
announced a new DVD distribution deal for Cannell's programs, including many re-releases of previously available shows. Prior to that agreement there had been a "test batch" of releases in August, and one of those was
Wiseguy - The Complete 1st Season, a 4-disc set that cost $14.98 SRP.
Now, with the extended deal in place, Mill Creek is going beyond that with a 13-DVD, 1400-minute set called
Wiseguy - The Collector's Edition. The cost is $44.98 SRP for this
March 9th release, and today
an Amazon pre-order listing was added for that title. Cover art isn't available for that yet, but stay tuned for that, once it comes through. It seems to be an entire-series release of the popular Ken Wahl program, and the pricing, although extremely inexpensive (using industry standards) for a show that ran 4 seasons, happens to be right in line with what Mill Creek charges for a "complete series" DVD package.
Update: This is a near-complete series set. Unfortunately it won't include the "Dead Dog Records" arc as it contained music integral to the episodes which couldn't be removed. The set will contain 68 episodes.
Despite the title indicating a "collector"-aimed release, we do NOT expect it to be an as-broadcast version with all the original music. Fans have been upset at the music changes in all of the DVDs, especially the omission of the Moody Blue's song "Nights in White Satin" from a highly climactic scene in the show's first dramatic story arc. This is the way Cannell has been providing the episodes for DVD release, and it's obvious that inexpensive re-releases aren't going to have "more" on them than a previous release would have had (especially when you consider the costs involved with licensing the music). We hate to disappoint fans who might be hoping otherwise, but since we always get asked these questions right after any news post on
Wiseguy, we thought we should handle the issue up-front this time.
