This Week in DVD

I moaned and griped last week about the sorry slate of new DVDs, but this time I'm in a good mood. Thank goodness for television on DVD. This week we have the third season of one of my favorite shows of all time, The Odd Couple. One of the show's best-loved episodes, the one where they appear on Password, is on this set, as are appearances by Howard Cosell and Monty Hall.

Unfortunately, that ever-present scourge of the classic TV fan, music licensing, affects this season even more than it did previous ones. Loyal O.C. fans (I say it's time to take those initials back from Adam Brody and Mischa Barton) have compiled a list of episodes and scenes that are tarnished because Paramount wasn't able or (more likely) didn't bother to clear a song. In this case, we can still be thankful that most of the episodes are intact. However, a lot of still-to-be-released episodes rely heavily on music (can you say Paul Williams?), and fans are quite nervous about how they'll be edited.

But at least 3 seasons are out, the fourth has been announced, and we can presumably expect all 5 to be available eventually. The music issue bites, and I wonder what happened to the extras we got in the first season box, but this classic is on DVD and mostly intact.

A real treat this week is the sixth season of Make Room for Daddy. You see, the fifth season was released in butchered syndication prints, but S'more took over the show, put some effort into producing a worthy package with extras, and if this one sells, more could be on the way (we don't have time to get into why the DVDs started with series 5). It's heartening to see there are some companies out there really working to get older shows out there.

I am not nearly as familiar with Hawaii Five-O or Banacek, but the third and second seasons, respectively, of those series also hit shelves (at least virtual shelves at online retailers, as chain stores don't bother with old shows much anymore). And a pleasant surprise for Abe Vigoda fans: Sony releases the second season of the long-thought-abandoned "Barney Miller." For some reason, that show's profile fell off the face of the earth in recent years, but it has a dedicate fanbase--even those who don't worship Abe Vigoda--which should snap this set up so that more arrives soon.

As for movies on DVD, well, why spoil my good mood by whining about Saw IV or Sydney White or The Game Plan? I don't think I'll like them very much, but they each have their fans, and maybe THEY don't go for THE ODD COUPLE. So I'll just think of the good stuff that came out this past week and not worry about anything else.