Pre-Order Hogan's Heroes: The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (2 Viewers)

[Daniel Melius]

Here's a review of it covering all the extras and there seems to be a ton of them:

Blu-ray Review: Hogan’s Heroes (The Complete Series) – Inside Pulse

Will there ever be a TV show as outlandish and successful as Hogan’s Heroes ? Could any broadcasting network executive in the 21st Century sign off for a

insidepulse.com

 

[BobO'Link]

The reviewer, who's supposedly a researcher, has at least one of his facts wrong - that the pilot was B/W because CBS was the last network to go color.

Both ABC and CBS were pretty much forced into going full color the season *after* Hogan's Heroes began because NBC (who was owned by RCA, the major color TV manufacturer at the time, so there was a vested interest) used color broadcasts as a ratings ploy (plus to sell color sets for RCA) and had gone almost full color in the fall of 1965 (only 2 series on NBC that season were B/W - Convoy and I Dream of Jeannie). Both ABC and CBS presented a bit over half their combined 1965/66 product in color, only shifting to all color broadcasting the following year. Hogan's Heroes was one of those CBS series presented in color in the 1965/66 season.

It's more likely that the Hogan's Heroes pilot was shot in B/W because it was much less expensive and that the decision had not been made at that point that it would be one of the series to be presented in color during that 1965/66 season (and it wasn't the only series that season with a 1st episode in B/W followed by all color - even NBC had a couple with Get Smart being one). Color was expensive and, in those years, you typically only produced shows you thought would be hits in color, especially pilots. That pilot had also been shown to NBC first, who supposedly rejected it thinking it was so funny that subsequent episodes just wouldn't be as good. It was then sold to CBS.

ABC was technically the "last" network to air a program in color, starting in 1962 with 3 cartoons, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Beany and Cecil, though CBS was the last to present *regular* programming in color beginning that in the fall of 1965. Prior to that year, CBS aired occasional specials and sometimes its bigger weekly variety shows in color.

 

[RobertMG]

The reviewer, who's supposedly a researcher, has at least one of his facts wrong - that the pilot was B/W because CBS was the last network to go color.

Both ABC and CBS were pretty much forced into going full color the season *after* Hogan's Heroes began because NBC (who was owned by RCA, the major color TV manufacturer at the time, so there was a vested interest) used color broadcasts as a ratings ploy (plus to sell color sets for RCA) and had gone almost full color in the fall of 1965 (only 2 series on NBC that season were B/W - Convoy and I Dream of Jeannie). Both ABC and CBS presented a bit over half their combined 1965/66 product in color, only shifting to all color broadcasting the following year. Hogan's Heroes was one of those CBS series presented in color in the 1965/66 season.

It's more likely that the Hogan's Heroes pilot was shot in B/W because it was much less expensive and that the decision had not been made at that point that it would be one of the series to be presented in color during that 1965/66 season (and it wasn't the only series that season with a 1st episode in B/W followed by all color - even NBC had a couple with Get Smart being one). Color was expensive and, in those years, you typically only produced shows you thought would be hits in color, especially pilots. That pilot had also been shown to NBC first, who supposedly rejected it thinking it was so funny that subsequent episodes just wouldn't be as good. It was then sold to CBS.

ABC was technically the "last" network to air a program in color, starting in 1962 with 3 cartoons, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Beany and Cecil, though CBS was the last to present *regular* programming in color beginning that in the fall of 1965. Prior to that year, CBS aired occasional specials and sometimes its bigger weekly variety shows in color.

Great reading - Hogans Heroes is one of those shows that never grow old the writers were great they kept the show going longer than the war actually lasted-love your history!

 

[ponset]

Bob Crane and his Orchestra perform their version of "The Hogan's Heroes" theme.

 

[Mr. Handley]

Got a $100 Amazon gift card for Xmas, so I just placed my order for this set. Used to watch this show (in reruns) with my Dad, so will bring back some fond memories, I'm sure.

 

[moviebuff75]

The first half dozen episodes don't have the in color bumper here.

 

[Mr. Handley]

Got my set a couple of weeks ago. The quality is top notch. I forgot how much I enjoyed this show. The entire cast is great, but Banner was the best. My Dad used to pull into the driveway after work just as the theme song was playing and if he was a little late, he always asked me what he missed. Great memories...

 

[bmasters9]

The first half dozen episodes don't have the in color bumper here.

Do they just go right into the title sequence/title track?

 

[moviebuff75]

Yes

 

[RobertMG]

Got my set a couple of weeks ago. The quality is top notch. I forgot how much I enjoyed this show. The entire cast is great, but Banner was the best. My Dad used to pull into the driveway after work just as the theme song was playing and if he was a little late, he always asked me what he missed. Great memories...

Amazing how some shows never left the air - this along with others actually built many indie stations from scratch - Ted Turner said Andy Griffith and Perry Mason established Turner Broadcasting

Yes

Does the title sequence seem time compressed? On METV they seem to be is this included in the set?

 

[moviebuff75]

No, the titles aren't time compressed. Yes, there is a gag reel.

 

[bmasters9]

What is the menu like on this Hogan's Heroes Blu?

 

[Wiseguy]

Do they just go right into the title sequence/title track?

The DVDs have them on all first-season episodes (except the pilot of course).

 

[Dan McW]

Do the Blus or DVDs retain the sponsor logos in the end credits that were seen on some of the Columbia House VHS tapes?

 

[moviebuff75]

Not that I have seen

 

[moviebuff75]

The menus have a list of episodes on the left and a group shot on the right with the name of the season with it.

 

[compson]

I watched the pilot tonight. The disc begins with the Paramount logo before the menu, and the logo identifies Paramount as “a Viacom company.” That’s strange. Viacom, which owned Paramount, was merged back into CBS in December 2019. The merged company was initially named ViacomCBS, and for a time, the Paramount logo on discs identified Paramount as “a ViacomCBS company.” (The company took Paramount Global as its name in February 2022 and now the disc logo refers only to “Paramount.”) Either someone responsible for this Hogan’s Heroes set, released in late 2022, mistakenly used a three-year old logo (which seems very unlikely), or the set was prepared at least three years before it was released.

 

[smithbrad]

Either someone responsible for this Hogan’s Heroes set, released in late 2022, mistakenly used a three-year old logo (which seems very unlikely), or the set was prepared at least three years before it was released.

I would say the second. CBS/Paramount was in a mode of transferring many of their properties from film elements into HD prior to their DVD release. This approach not only created great DVDs but also future proofed each series for future HD syndication/streaming. The Hogan's Heroes DVD sets came out no later than 2007. Thus, HD prints would have been available by that time. It sounds like the fault is that no one went back and changed the logos after the HD prints were originally made.

 

[bmasters9]

(The company took Paramount Global as its name in February 2022 and now the disc logo refers only to “Paramount.”)

Semi-OT: this is the case on my copy of the DVD of that 2022 Paramount+/Paramount Players film The In Between that had Joey King and Kyle Allen; it has that version of the Paramount logo, before going to the menu.

 

[ponset]