Shows that really should be on DVD
I wish there was a Television euivalent of Criterion, to release high quality DVDS of great, but almost forgotten TV series.
Here is my list, a bakers Dozen( many of the shows are available on Bootlegs of dubious quality.)
1. Slattery's People. Yes, I know I have beaten this into the ground, but this series was well written, superbly acted, and a continuous series of lessons about the true meaning of Democracy. There are three, count em' THREE episodes available on bootleg. 32, count em' 32 , episodes are in the CBS vaults. The Museum of broadcasting has ONE episode, The ABC archive has three or four, and The Library of Congress has a few. Incredibly, The Paley Center has NONE.
2. The Great Adventure Perhaps the greatest show ever done about American history. Still languishing in the vaults, utterly forgotten by the brain-dead powers that be at CBS
3. He and She
4. The Westerner. This is shown very, very, very rarely on Encore Westerns. Apparently, it was still well remembered enough for Brian Keith to make a cameo appearence as Blassingame in one of those horrific Kenny Rogers Gambler flicks.
5. East Side West Side
6. The Rogues. Briefly rerun on the CBC about twenty years ago.
7. The Richard Boone Show. The best of the "anthology shows". It was rerun in Detroit on Channel 62, eons ago. I was in Virginia at the time.
8. The Name of The Game. In its first two or three seasons, this was brilliant. Weirdly, never released on DVD.
9. Channing. The only show ever set in a high-brow liberal arts college. Never spawned any imitators. Gee, I wonder why?
10 My World and Welcome To It. Best comedy ever. Period.
11. The Trials of O'Brien
12. Profiles in Courage. The SECOND best show ever done about American history. Weirdly, I first saw it in reruns on CANADIAN tv.
13. Saints and Sinners.
Thats my list. Anybody with alternative ideas?
Joseph Anthony Harder