Were there a logical answer to the following, finding lasting world peace wouldn't be far behind:
Why are there three seasons of Keeping up with the Kardashians available for sale on DVD, but none for Brooklyn Bridge, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, The Wonder Years and Ed -- and only partial video releases of Newhart, St. Elsewhere and The Paper Chase?
Now is the season of, among other things, give and get. Great news for people who want to drink endlessly from the well of Kardashian wisdom. The tidings are of comfort and joy for Jersey Shore fans, too. Also, supporting the idea that there just may be too much of a good thing, every episode of Cheers, a great series that plays endlessly in syndication, also is available on DVD.
Others of us abide, it seems, in the house of Bob Cratchit. There are many people who would love to be able to give and get some of those impossible-to-buy classic TV series.
In September, when the subject here was the unavailability of The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, a number of people left comments that they would happily buy videos of the series. A few months earlier, the TVWW question was why Brooklyn Bridge was still locked and lost in a CBS vault. To date, more than 60 people have left comments telling how their frustration at not being able to add this wonderful series to their home library is only surpassed by their great memories of watching it during its network run.
(Both remain mysteriously out of sight. Regular checks with an outlet that might be interested in bringing Molly Dodd to the home market have not uncovered anything new. And periodic calls and e-mails to the CBS executive who is said to control the fate of Brooklyn Bridge never are acknowledged.)
The people who control the fates of these series seem to live behind high and soundproof walls. No tactic seems to have moved them to releasing the series, even though most of the people who created and produced the shows would love to see their work available again.
Most of the series in question have Amazon slots that allow potential customers to sign up for notification if and when a release happens. But Amazon repeatedly has refused to share how many names are on those lists, citing a company privacy policy. (Anyone else see an irony here? Amazon, until very recently, was the host server for Wikileaks...)
Anyway, we welcome your comments -- and hereby overtly solicit them -- about which TV series, telemovies or specials you would most like to give, or get, were they available on DVD. Of all the great TV out there, what are we missing?
More to the point, what are YOU missing?