The single TV series I most want to see on DVD

Each year around this time, partly for sentimental reasons and partly because it's just awesome, I try to watch "Casablanca"--you know, the movie version. If that qualifier sounds absurd, it's there for a reason, so bear with me.

"Casablanca" is the best movie ever made, I believe, and there will be none superior. In addition--and this may have something to do with my high opinion of the film--it is the one that got me "into" watching classic movies. One late night showing of it in public television opened up a whole world for me.

I got to thinking about what I would really love to see on DVD the other day, and since I was already eyeballing the "Casablanca" disc on the shelf, it hit me: The TV series! Yes, there was a TV series based on the movie--two of them in fact--and, yes, it tanked. It was probably a terrible idea. But I still want to see it!

The early-1980s David Soul series, I can do without. I would like to see it someday, even though I recognize that it would probably irritate me, but I've seen it out there in collector's circles and I know it exists. But the one that really intrigues me is the 1950s Charles McGraw version. In fact, Warner Brothers added an episode to one of its umpteen "Casablanca" special edition DVDs, and seeing it not only did not drive me up a wall, but it appealed to me as an interesting curio.

I assume WB has the rest of these episodes (8 hourlong installments in all), and why not put them on DVD? I would consider the brand strong enough to support an actual mainstream release, too, not just an Archives job. I'm surprised the company hasn't at the very least filled out a super-duper Blu-Ray package with more of these.

I have a lot of stuff on DVD, and I know where to find a lot of the stuff that's not "officially" on DVD, but I have never seen the other 7 1955 "Casablanca" episodes. So if you ask me today what series I would most like to see get a legit DVD release, my answer is..."Dance Fever."

No, I kid. It's "Casablanca." Put the 1955 and 1983 versions together in one spiffy box set, commission a featurette called "From Beloved Movie to TV Industry Joke: What in the Hell We Were Thinking," and get a few talking heads to do commentary on a few episodes. Bam--great collection to milk more bucks out of the millions of folks who love the classic movie, or at least the thousands who are crazed enough to buy almost anything connected with it.