Which long running 50s sitcom would you most like to see get a complete release? (2 Viewers)

[Capt D McMars]

Any of the Sci-Fi series would be nice, Space Patrol, Tom Corbett: Space Cadet, and other that only ran 26 episodes was Captain Zero, which has been dropped onto fair to so-so dvd sets. Network did a very nice BD collection for the UKs puppet series, also given the name "Space Patrol", although has nothing to do with the US series of the same name. Occasionally another kids series arises Johnny Jupiter, again live and puppet show, very common for the era (Howdy Doody and the Paul Winchell Show). But not really sure how many of those epeisodes still exsist?

 

[Neil Brock]

Jack Benny finished first. I'm surprised that Bachelor Father came in second. Antenna TV and Retro both ran the show a lot over the last decade.

 

[timk1041]

Jack Benny finished first. I'm surprised that Bachelor Father came in second. Antenna TV and Retro both ran the show a lot over the last decade.

Perhaps so since many of the others haven't got much TV exposure in quite some time, but I voted for Bachelor Father simply because I like it a lot. There might be some who would also still want a series like that on video even if it was shown on TV. Maybe some never saw it on Retro or Antenna and don't have cable or satellite TV.

 

[BobO'Link]

Without finding and watching an episode I couldn't say if I've ever seen Bachelor Father. All of the others on the list I *have* seen episodes of as many were either still airing or were in syndication when I was a kid. Several played mid-mornings and mid-afternoons where I grew up.

**EDIT**
Found some episodes on youtube and watched one. Nope... never seen it before (at least that I recall). Based on that one episode I watched it looks to be along the lines of Love that Bob.

 

[Gary OS]

Without finding and watching an episode I couldn't say if I've ever seen Bachelor Father. All of the others on the list I *have* seen episodes of as many were either still airing or were in syndication when I was a kid. Several played mid-mornings and mid-afternoons where I grew up.

**EDIT**
Found some episodes on youtube and watched one. Nope... never seen it before (at least that I recall). Based on that one episode I watched it looks to be along the lines of Love that Bob.

I think it's better than Love That Bob. But to each his/her own.

And in answer to Neil's comment about Bachelor Father, I've had both Dish and DirectTV over the last 20 years and neither has carried Antenna TV and Retro - at least not when I've been subscribed. So I haven't seen the show in decades and would love to see it released.


Gary "very happy that my pick had such a good showing" O.

 

[BobO'Link]

I think it's better than Love That Bob. But to each his/her own.

And in answer to Neil's comment about Bachelor Father, I've had both Dish and DirectTV over the last 20 years and neither has carried Antenna TV and Retro - at least not when I've been subscribed. So I haven't seen the show in decades and would love to see it released.


Gary "very happy that my pick had such a good showing" O.

From that single episode, the daughter in Bachelor Father significantly tempers the lasciviousness of the main character, unlike with Love that Bob which doesn't have that restrictive factor. Otherwise, pretty similar - and that's based on watching the episode "Bentley and the Aunts."

His niece (I thought it was his daugher at first) was excluded from a school social club because one of the girl's voted against her. He takes the 3 girls on the "selection committee" to lunch to attempt to find out which girl blackballed her and discovers it was due to an aunt of one girl who has a grudge against him. He then contacts each aunt of a girl in the club that he's dated and/or dumped to find out which it is and get her to change her mind so his niece can get in the club. The assumption being he's been something of a cad to one of the 6 women and doesn't know which (implying he's a cad in general - like Bob). Of course there's a twist ending you can see coming before he starts contacting the aunts but it's still a fun episode.

There are several other episodes on youtube so I'll be watching more. I can see me liking it more than Love that Bob due to the presence of the niece and manservant, plus "Bentley" doesn't come of to be as much of a letch as "Bob."

I looked up the TV schedule for the years it aired and know why I've not seen it - it came on Sunday as we were leaving for church *or* (when moved to Thursdays) came on at bedtime (1 year) and then opposite programs we *always* watched instead (My Three Sons and then Dick Van Dyke). If it ever ran in syndication I never caught it.

 

[ElPaBr]

I much prefer The Bob Cummings Show over Bachelor Father -- the latter is a milder, more family-friendly version of the "bachelor as proxy parent" premise, with fewer laughs and not nearly as many memorable characters. And with the comedy of Paul Henning, Bob's a reliable delight.

 

[Tom.W]

I much prefer The Bob Cummings Show over Bachelor Father -- the latter is a milder, more family-friendly version of the "bachelor as proxy parent" premise, with fewer laughs and not nearly as many memorable characters. And with the comedy of Paul Henning, Bob's a reliable delight.

I agree that Bachelor Father is a milder, safer comedy. I've been watching the Antenna TV episodes for some time. I like to see who shows up as a guest star and object of Bentley's pursuits. Also Sammee Tong is probably the funniest character for me and the least safe as he usually speaks his mind. One of my favorite episodes is the one with child piano prodigy Ginny Tiu and Marvin Miller (the check deliverer from The Millionaire) as her Chinese guardian.

I've had the Critics Choice release of Love That Bob sitting on my shelf for some time and only watched a few episodes. I should get into that a little more.

I'd love to see a release of Make Room for Daddy (my choice). Not only to see the mostly missing first three seasons, but also because it's a chore to deal with the extended commercials (and buffering) on Filmrise. They actually run more ads than cable stations. When it ran on Cozi tv, the edits were really bad. I guess the controversy over the Hagen episodes is a major reason preventing the release.

 

[Wiseguy]

The 1950 Christmas episode wasn't aired on the West Coast. The company moved from New York to Hollywood and offered a whole new episode the following week (so that the bigger New York-centric market would still see something new the following week, keeping up its every-other-week schedule). This reversed the cycle of the West Coast seeing kinescopes two weeks later.

The actual Space Patrol Kids episode -- performed August 16, 1951 -- exists and was uploaded to YouTube a few years ago (transferred from a 16mm print). It's the first broadcast with Harry Von Zell.

I would love that to be true about Space Patrol Kids but I've seen too many copies of The Speech Writer labelled Space Patrol Kids. Both episodes have the Kids playing Space Patrol. I've already mentioned the Peter Lind Hayes/Mary Healy reference at the end of The Speech Writer. Another feature of The Speech Writer has Harry Von Zell mentioning the Sylvania Pioneer Award given to B&A at the end of the episode. If either of those are in the episode then it's the Speech Writer of season two and not Space Patrol Kids of season one.

 

[Wiseguy]

In terms of availability in the long time collectors world, December Bride did air on a couple of stations in the 80s, as did Life of Riley. Love that Bob aired on CBN. Private Secretary ran uncut on Nick and Nite. My Little Margie gets treated as PD and has popped up in a number of places as well as a few DVD releases. MRFD, minus the first 3 seasons, is streaming now in a number of places, complete and some places even in the proper 4x3 aspect ratio. Burns and Allen has been running on Antenna TV for years, although syndicated cut versions, and not the first 2 live seasons. I'm not even sure if all of those even exist anywhere. As for Bachelor Father, Antenna and Retro TV have run all of the episodes complete and remastered over the last 10 years. Anyone who wanted the series could have recorded it and wouldn't have the usual explanations, like they were too young to have a VCR, or they didn't think of it at the time. Or my favorite, that they weren't born yet when ran. No excuse! Lol.
That leaves the last 2 series. Jack Benny is another one that Antenna has run through the 104 syndicated shows a number of times. But more than half the episodes aren't syndicated. Oh Susannah hasn't run anywhere since the early 70s at the latest. Gale Storm sold her set of prints to a film dealer who unfortunately broke the set up and sold them piecemeal. The only copies of the series which circulate are from Gale's collection. So those 2 series I would say are the least available anywhere.

I've never watched Bachelor Father but someone here mentioned that Antenna TV wasn't showing all the episodes so I compared Antenna TV's schedule with an episode list and it seems that Antenna TV skips over as many as 38 (out of 157) episodes. And unlike most other series they don't show the series in any recognizable order, certainly not the original aired order.

 

[Wiseguy]

I had no idea how many there were - and that station did *not* air a full year's worth of those episodes (aired once a week) so that makes sense.

I've come to expect that from early TV series due to how they were produced and/or aired, especially series which aired live.

That's 52 episodes over the first two live seasons. It aired every other week throughout those years. The filmed episodes aired weekly.

 

[ElPaBr]

I would love that to be true about Space Patrol Kids but I've seen too many copies of The Speech Writer labelled Space Patrol Kids. Both episodes have the Kids playing Space Patrol. I've already mentioned the Peter Lind Hayes/Mary Healy reference at the end of The Speech Writer. Another feature of The Speech Writer has Harry Von Zell mentioning the Sylvania Pioneer Award given to B&A at the end of the episode. If either of those are in the episode then it's the Speech Writer of season two and not Space Patrol Kids of season one.

Yes, the episodes are often mistaken because they both include the obnoxious kids.

The correct Space Patrol Kids episode (uploaded in 2018, since removed) includes both Von Zell and Bill Goodwin, and includes a mention at the end of George and Gracie's appearance on the September 1951 cover of Radio Television Mirror. So, the good news is: it does exist!

 

[timk1041]

I've never watched Bachelor Father but someone here mentioned that Antenna TV wasn't showing all the episodes so I compared Antenna TV's schedule with an episode list and it seems that Antenna TV skips over as many as 38 (out of 157) episodes. And unlike most other series they don't show the series in any recognizable order, certainly not the original aired order.

That's right Antenna does that for some odd reason. I have all the episodes recorded off RTV/RTN. The only issue is that a couple of the early Season 3 episodes are missing the last few minutes: Bentley & The Dog Trainer and The Case Against Gisele. I bought the set from a dealer and he explained that the endings weren't aired!! Strange. I think he just didn't set the recorder properly. If someone has copies of those complete episodes on disc, I would be happy to buy them.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

I voted for Bachelor Father, but honestly, I think I'm done buying anymore DVDs. I even stopped recording shows off TV, too. I have so many complete series just sitting on my bookshelves (and in storage boxes) collecting dust that I'm thinking about selling some of them on ebay. LOL I'm fine with occasionally watching these shows on Antenna TV, Tubi, or youtube, etc.

 

[JoeDoakes]

I voted for Love that Bob. As Paul Henning was the writer, I think I would enjoy it the most. I've listened to a lot of Jack Benny radio shows, and I think it went downhill over time. Imo the peak was in the late thirties culminating with the beginning of WWII.

 

[Gary OS]

I voted for Bachelor Father, but honestly, I think I'm done buying anymore DVDs. I even stopped recording shows off TV, too. I have so many complete series just sitting on my bookshelves (and in storage boxes) collecting dust that I'm thinking about selling some of them on ebay. LOL I'm fine with occasionally watching these shows on Antenna TV, Tubi, or youtube, etc.

I'm close to where you are, Ron. I'm not done buying Blu's or DVD's entirely, and I doubt I'd sell anything I have, but I still get the sentiment. I've got a huge collection and a good portion of it is just collecting dust. Right now my biggest obstacle is that I'm not retired and don't have that much time to indulge. So big swaths of my collection are just sitting on the shelf as my hectic life gets all the more busy.

The other issue I'm running into now is that, other than ClassicFlix, companies are not releasing my preferences when it comes to TV. I want the 50's and early 60's material primarily. And that appears to have all but dried up. So my excitement level has dropped tremendously. The same is true for films. The 30's - 50's are my sweet spot. But the only things being released are Noirs or other genres I'm burned out on. The stuff I really crave (b-westerns, domestic comedies, mysteries, b-musicals and fun adventure films) seem to be on no one's radar. Warners has material I'd dearly love to see, but the Weissmuller Tarzans and Abbott & Costello films don't seem to be getting any traction. So I'm just not very enthused at the moment.

To get this post back on track, I'll reiterate that I'd purchase most of the series on the list. But my favorites would still be Bachelor Father, Life of Riley, Jack Benny and then December Bride (if for no other reason than Frances Rafferty).


Gary "my belief now is that precious little I'd like to see will be released on physical media going forward" O.

 

[timk1041]

I voted for Bachelor Father, but honestly, I think I'm done buying anymore DVDs. I even stopped recording shows off TV, too. I have so many complete series just sitting on my bookshelves (and in storage boxes) collecting dust that I'm thinking about selling some of them on ebay. LOL I'm fine with occasionally watching these shows on Antenna TV, Tubi, or youtube, etc.

I can understand that. I'm near that point..... well....maybe

 

[timk1041]

I'm close to where you are, Ron. I'm not done buying Blu's or DVD's entirely, and I doubt I'd sell anything I have, but I still get the sentiment. I've got a huge collection and a good portion of it is just collecting dust. Right now my biggest obstacle is that I'm not retired and don't have that much time to indulge. So big swaths of my collection are just sitting on the shelf as my hectic life gets all the more busy.

The other issue I'm running into now is that, other than ClassicFlix, companies are not releasing my preferences when it comes to TV. I want the 50's and early 60's material primarily. And that appears to have all but dried up. So my excitement level has dropped tremendously. The same is true for films. The 30's - 50's are my sweet spot. But the only things being released are Noirs or other genres I'm burned out on. The stuff I really crave (b-westerns, domestic comedies, mysteries, b-musicals and fun adventure films) seem to be on no one's radar. Warners has material I'd dearly love to see, but the Weissmuller Tarzans and Abbott & Costello films don't seem to be getting any traction. So I'm just not very enthused at the moment.

To get this post back on track, I'll reiterate that I'd purchase most of the series on the list. But my favorites would still be Bachelor Father, Life of Riley, Jack Benny and then December Bride (if for no other reason than Frances Rafferty).


Gary "my belief now is that precious little I'd like to see will be released on physical media going forward" O.

 

[BobO'Link]

I'm pretty much in your boat, Gary. The majority of what I'd like to see released is 50s/60s TV and pre 60s B-Westerns, comedies, "fun adventure films," and the few holdout Horror and SF titles - the things I've loved all my life.

I'd buy the Weissmuller Tarzan films on BR in a hot second...

I already own the Abbott & Costello films on BR (I'm surprised you've not sprung for that huge Universal set) with the holdouts being only those titles held by Warner Brothers: ...Meet Captain Kid, Rio Rita, Lost in a Harem, and ...In Hollywood - though I *do* own copies of those on DVD (as well as the TV series).

I would support BRs of the Martin & Lewis filmography as well as that from The Stooges (even those rather lame late 50s/early 60s feature films).

 

[timk1041]

Same with me, Gary. Although I plan to retire soon so I'll really have to watch the spending on more TV and movies. My first pick was Bachelor Father and probably Danny Thomas after that and almost any of the others would be fine. There are a couple I'm not familiar with. That Bachelor Father is more enjoyable every time I watch it. Noreen Corcoran really was a good, talented young actress. I saw her in an episode of Mr. Novak and she played a part much different than Kelly Gregg in Bachelor Father. I noticed in the last season of Bachelor Father that her character Kelly was much more mature and she changed her hair style. Looked really nice. Bernadette Withers and Jimmy Boyd are always nice to watch even though their characters are kind of goofy at times. Sammee Tong is terrific as Peter. A fun show for sure.