) as I wanted to make sure 5th season would come out too before viewing both. It would have been too big of a disappointment if I'd started my 4th season set and then learned that the 5th season would not be released. I just got my 5th season set in the mail today....Oh yeah!!! 
I started the 4th season the other night, and I've not noticed any wrong credits for those episodes so far...but maybe there are some.
Well you should have asked me, Drew! I knew that 'Season 5' was coming out for sure way back from MPI when it was first announced by MPI & Mary Owen that MPI was indeed given the rights to release Seasons Four and Five. I can't believe you didn't watch 'Season 4' when you had it right in your possession!! I couldn't have done that in a million years!!! I had quickly watched a marathon of "The Donna Reed Show" episodes from 'Season 4' and within a week an a half I had completed almost all 39 Episodes and then re-watched them all again, but not in order. Mary Owen had quickly given to me the nickname, Marathon Mark! LOL...HunterMan said:I've noticed that a few of the "Donna Reed" episodes in the previous DVD sets had some "wrong" credits at the end--as perhaps they could not find the credits that went with that episode originally so they just stuck in credits from another. Usually I can tell this when the names of the guest-stars are not correct and/or do not match up.
However, I just started my 4th season DVD set (although I've had it since last year
I'm not too concerned or upset over that though...I'm just still thrilled both seasons were finally released to DVD!! I just hope & pray somehow someone/some company can get Sony to release the last 3 seasons (6-8)! :tu:
BobO'Link said:A whole week and a half for a measley 39 eps! Gosh, Mark... I thought you were a *fan* not a "casual" viewer!
The fact is Bob, I had needed to do many other things in between watching these episodes, so I did the best I could! LOL... LOL!!Greg2356 said:
Yeah...I know. I planned to watch it when I originally got the season 4 DVD set. But, I was in the middle of going through another show I collect at the time. Then I didn't hear much about Season 5 and I got into other shows yet again. I decided to wait to make certain that season 5 was for sure getting released too. I knew that Mary Owen and MPI had originally said they planned to release both seasons 4 & 5...but nothing is ever set in..."stone" (pun intended ) until I'm able to buy the set.LOL!!Greg2356 said:
I know...I planned to watch the season 4 DVD set when I bought it, but I was in the middle of watching another show I collect, at the time. Then I didn't hear much about season 5 for a while and I got into other shows yet again. I decided to wait until I knew for sure season 5 was getting released to watch season 4. I know Mary Owen and MPI said they planned to release both 4 & 5 but nothing is ever set in..."stone" (pun intended ) until I'm actually able to buy the set.
Yes, I read about the reunion show in regards to "The Donna Reed Show" from reading the back of a "TV Guide" where Paul Petersen was saying something to the effect of, that they were going to make their reunion show even more dramatic with more problems involved than the "Father Knows Best" reunion shows had dealt with... The way Paul put it, it had sounded like a big competition between "Father Knows Best" and "The Donna Reed Show." I thought to myself, "I don't know about this!" since I didn't think back then, that I would enjoy seeing a Donna Reed Reunion Show if it had involved a truly tragic and sad episode. Later on though, I too was disappointed the reunion show had never taken place!!!! I was very curious as to what it might have been like!HunterMan said:LOL!!
I too have now gotten back into watching the show. I finished the rest of season 3 and am now a good deal into season 4. After that I'll of course watch season 5, then maybe start over and watch 1-3 again (as I've not watched those seasons--except the last few episodes of season 3--for a few years). So, I'm having mini-marathons each night before bed...once I start watching I can't stop!
I really wish they could have done a "Donna Reed Show" reunion of some kind before even Carl Betz died. I read once that Donna was considering putting together some kind of reunion (as "Father Knows Best" had done a few reunions in the mid-1970's) when word came that Betz had either just passed away or was very ill. The reunion idea was then dropped.
I doubt they'd of done something too sad, tragic, or depressing...I don't think Donna Reed would have wanted or done anything like that. I think probably what Paul meant by more dramatic and more involved was that if they had done a reunion movie/show of some kind, the problems the family would be facing would be more adult, and/or more "serious" than what they had dealt with when the kids were growing up. "The Brady Bunch" did the same thing with their reunion movies and the short-lived new "Brady" series in the 80's and early 90's. Everyone's problems were more realistic and/or serious...but no one died, was kidnapped, or torturedGreg2356 said:
and it still had plenty of Brady humor and "goofiness". The "Leave It to Beaver" reunions and new series also did something similar--it was still "Beaver" humor and corniness...but everyone's problems were a little more realistic for the time. They could have still done a reunion though, even without Betz. "Beaver" did all their reunions without "Ward"...as Hugh Beaumont had passed away years before a reunion idea was considered. It's not preferable for sure...but was still possible. But, maybe Donna and the rest didn't want to do that and the reunion idea was never considered again. Paul and Shelley should do some kind of reunion...the could call it "The Stones"! But, I doubt that'd ever happen.
I understand what you mean Drew, but I still think Donna at that time would have gone along with Paul if he had wanted a very dramatic program with a lot of trauma in it in order to outdo "The Father Knows Best" reunion shows. Paul was having a rather rough time of it back then, which I won't go into any detail about here, and Donna would have just about done anything for him at that particular time in an attempt to try and help him. She wasn't just Donna Reed the actress, but was truly a second Mom to Paul. And Donna wasn't too happy with the role she had played on "The Donna Reed Show" at that time either, because of her bitterness over her divorce from Tony Owen. I had read in a book that was quite an eye opener, where Donna was talking about her TV Series in the darkest and bitterest of tones, it was really shocking!!! Later on in life Donna Reed went back to praising her TV series! One of the "Father Knows Best" reunion shows I thought had Betty, Bud, and Kathy seeming a little too unhappy with all their many problems, and if "The Donna Reed Show" reunion episode had gone further than that one sad "Father Knows Best" reunion show which had been centered around the Christmas Holidays, I think strongly that "The Donna Reed Show" reunion show would have certainly failed with the viewers. I do agree with you that Donna Reed could have done a Reunion Show without Carl Betz, but the cast was much too close to Carl to have ever made it through it! For example, the cast loved getting together every month at a Restaurant after "The Donna Reed Show" had ended it's run, but after Carl had died they had tried to get together once again, but Shelley Fabares said, it was just too hard, just too hard, and they never got together again for a very long period of time! In fact, I was initially relived when the reunion show hadn't taken place for "The Donna Reed Show" because I had thought it might have greatly taken away from the memory of the original series. And with the state of mind Donna and Paul were in at that particular time in their life, they probably would have killed off one of their own cast members in the name of drama!!!!!! I mean this in a very tongue and cheek manner, because I don't THINK they would actually have dared go that far! Maybe they would've had one of the cast members near death, but recover just before the Reunion Show Movie had ended. LOL... Later though I had thought, I would have loved seeing Donna Reed once again coming down those stairs, but this time in color! And I also would have enjoyed hearing a new arrangement of the Theme Song.HunterMan said:I doubt they'd of done something too sad, tragic, or depressing...I don't think Donna Reed would have wanted or done anything like that. I think probably what Paul meant by more dramatic and more involved was that if they had done a reunion movie/show of some kind, the problems the family would be facing would be more adult, and/or more "serious" than what they had dealt with when the kids were growing up. "The Brady Bunch" did the same thing with their reunion movies and the short-lived new "Brady" series in the 80's and early 90's. Everyone's problems were more realistic and/or serious...but no one died, was kidnapped, or tortured
If they had been lucky enough to have done a "DRS" reunion, I think they'd of done something similar. It would have been very interesting to see what was going on with the Stones say 10 or 15 years later. But, Carl's pipe smoking finally caught up to him in 78, as he passed away from lung cancer.
Mark,Greg2356 said:I understand what you mean Drew, but I still think Donna at that time would have gone along with Paul if he had wanted a very dramatic program with a lot of trauma in it in order to outdo "The Father Knows Best" reunion shows. Paul was having a rather rough time of it back then, which I won't go into any detail about here, and Donna would have just about done anything for him at that particular time in an attempt to try and help him. She wasn't just Donna Reed the actress, but was truly a second Mom to Paul. And Donna wasn't too happy with the role she had played on "The Donna Reed Show" at that time either, because of her bitterness over her divorce from Tony Owen. I had read in a book that was quite an eye opener, where Donna was talking about her TV Series in the darkest and bitterest of tones, it was really shocking!!! Later on in life Donna Reed went back to praising her TV series! One of the "Father Knows Best" reunion shows I thought had Betty, Bud, and Kathy seeming a little too unhappy with all their many problems, and if "The Donna Reed Show" reunion episode had gone further than that one sad "Father Knows Best" reunion show which had been centered around the Christmas Holidays, I think strongly that "The Donna Reed Show" reunion show would have certainly failed with the viewers. I do agree with you that Donna Reed could have done a Reunion Show without Carl Betz, but the cast was much too close to Carl to have ever made it through it! For example, the cast loved getting together every month at a Restaurant after "The Donna Reed Show" had ended it's run, but after Carl had died they had tried to get together once again, but Shelley Fabares said, it was just too hard, just too hard, and they never got together again for a very long period of time! In fact, I was initially relived when the reunion show hadn't taken place for "The Donna Reed Show" because I had thought it might have greatly taken away from the memory of the original series. And with the state of mind Donna and Paul were in at that particular time in their life, they probably would have killed off one of their own cast members in the name of drama!!!!!! I mean this in a very tongue and cheek manner, because I don't THINK they would actually have dared go that far! Maybe they would've had one of the cast members near death, but recover just before the Reunion Show Movie had ended. LOL... Later though I had thought, I would have loved seeing Donna Reed once again coming down those stairs, but this time in color! And I also would have enjoyed hearing a new arrangement of the Theme Song.
Was she upset and angry over her role on the show while it was still on...or did she become dissatisfied later, after her divorce from Tony Owen? I'm glad she again embraced her character and the show before she died! I know Robert Reed always hated his "Mike Brady" role on "The Brady Bunch", and the whole corny, goofy shallowness of the show itself. He originally wanted a more serious and realistic show, but the producers and creators said no and went with the "fluff" style instead. But, "The Donna Reed Show" was never "fluff" (although it had some goofy and silly moments too) and it had way more depth than say "The Brady Bunch"!
Drew, I absolutely have never seen a color episode of "The Donna Reed Show." I wouldn't mind if they colorized the series though... I know that they would all look great!!HunterMan said:Mark, I did know that at one time Paul Petersen was going through a "dark" time, and things were not going well. I also knew that Donna was like a real mom to Paul and Shelley...not just a "TV" mom and the main cast member. However, I did not know that Donna, at one point, was so bitter towards her show! That's too bad!
Yeah, I didn't think there was one...but I don't believe I've seen every episode either. Maybe they knew for sure that was the last season and the show was not coming back, so that was a show they chose not to do a color episode?? Anway, it woud be awesome if they colorized it and also put out the DVD sets in color--but that would probably cost way too much money and..."others" would probably have the perverbial "cow" if it was even proposed.Greg2356 said:Drew, I absolutely have never seen a color episode of "The Donna Reed Show." I wouldn't mind if they colorized the series though... I know that they would all look great!!
Yes Brock, MPI had the money to make the new transfers for 'Season 4' in spite of what you said about them being a smaller studio who didn't have the money to spend a few hundred grand on remastering 40-50 year old shows that are going to sell a few thousand copies. I do agree with you though, that "Shout! Factory" probably would NOT have the money, or want to spend the money to make new transfers, but at least "Shout! Factory" has a good relationship with Sony and would have been able to obtain from them the 1985 transfers for "The Donna Reed Show" as they did with "Dennis the Menace." Maybe though like was mentioned, Sony wouldn't be able to give anyone the 1985 transfers for "The Donna Reed Show" since they no longer owned the rights for the first five seasons of this series. The majority of people thought these copies that "Shout! Factory" was able to obtain from Sony which were from 1985 for the "Dennis the Menace" series, were quite nice copies when they had purchased them and were able to really view them on their own! "Virgil Films & Entertainment" obviously did not get these same 1985 transfers from Sony for "The Donna Reed Show," and wouldn't have the money behind them to even begin negotiating a deal with Sony of which they could afford to be able to obtain these 1985 transfers, if indeed they even could as I said before, with Sony no longer having the rights to The Donna Reed Series' first five seasons. This company "Virgil Films & Entertainment" was badly struggling financially, unlike "Shout! Factory" who quite obviously wasn't in this same financial predicament.MPI is now willing to make a deal with Sony to obtain the rights to the 'Sixth Season' in regards to "The Donna Reed Show" because the sales for this series 'Fourth Season' and 'Fifth Season' were very successful I was told!!! Personally, I thought the episodes with Bob Crane were sort of a welcome change because Shelley Fabares I had felt in some instances had started to become a little affected with the way she acted out her role for the Mary Stone Character. In some of the episodes for example, "The Make-over Man," Mary's voice was sounding higher than when she began the series, almost like a little girl voice, she was slowly becoming actress Ann Margaret. LOL... I happened to see an episode from 'Season 6' where Shelley just did a type of walk through appearance, with her coming down the stairs and then hugged her father while he was sitting in the living room in saying a few words to him and then walked back up the stairs again. The Mary character with the way Shelley had acted out her lines in this walk through segment, treated her Father like a complete and utter stranger, and when she had said her lines it wasn't even convincing! And the camera treated Shelley like a 'Queen' with the closeup they were giving her when she was merely walking back up the stairs, and then she turned her head sideways towards the camera with a very posed smile, as if she were a glamous princess and disappeared up the stairs out of the camera's sight. It was an odd little scene with Shelley Fabares acting like a movie queen rather than the Mary Stone character.The scenes Shelley Fabares did in her other guest appearances for the sixth & seventh season of "The Donna Reed Show" when her Mary Stone character had a bigger part were much better and enjoyable, I do admit! Don't get me wrong, I loved Shelley Fabares in "The Donna Reed Show" before she knew she was leaving the show to be in movies, which I had felt her knowledge of this fact affected her acting in some cases, but certainly not in all cases!Neil Brock said:
The original set is OOP and the license landed with MPI for seasons 4-5, so they're going back and getting 1-3 back out there.jimmyjet said:
Maybe someday I'll spend the $ to get MPI's re-release sets...but I already have the original sets of Seasons 1-3, so I'm not sure spending that much more $ for something I already have is warranted at this time. I'm more interested in spending the $ for Seasons 6-8...yeah, I know, like that'll ever happen.The Obsolete Man said:
