Another Look at the ‘Batman’ Series DVD Issue
A lot has been speculated this week after Rich Johnston reported in Lying in the Gutters that the real reason 20th-Century Fox sued Warner Bros. over Watchmen was so they could settle and gain the rights once and for all to release the Batman television series on DVD.
Many casual readers nodded their heads and muttered, “sure, that makes sense.”
TV Shows on DVD does a nice analysis on all the rights issues surrounding the 1966-1968 series and its 120 episodes. In addition to DC Comics and 20th, they review that musicians, costumers and even Batmobile designer George Barris may be entitled to shares that the studios are loath to pay out. We recommend the article.
Regardless, I would think the release of the show on DVD would make a big enough 'pie' for all parties to make money.It just sounds like a huge legal mess.For as many folks out there who demonize the series there are potentially millions of boomers out there who would love to own it on DVD.Potentially more folks than the maybe 100,000 (I'm being generous) fans who buy niche marketed comics these days.It would be nice if someone would 'get off the pot.'Besides, we get to watch Julie Newmar and Yvonne Craig (throb!).Please, someone get a BRAIN!
While I agree this series would make a lot of money, there are many other classic shows with smaller hurdles to overcome which have never been released or have come out with severe cuts and/or changes (Family Ties, Alf, WKRP in Cincinatti, The Odd Couple, The Bill Cosby Show Season One, etc.).There have been other shows from the '50s and '60s which have come out in truly complete sets (I Love Lucy, Lost in Space, Star Trek, Get Smart, etc.), but most of those had the rights fairly well spelled-out. However, the Batman rights are all over the place.Given the number of roadblocks in front of a 1960s Batman DVD set, I really doubt we'll ever see a complete set. If a trundicated set is ever released, I won't be one of the customers – just I haven't been a customer of the other travesties I was fortunate enough to learn about in advance.
For the record, both Batman and The Green Hornet (as well as several of Irwin Allen's shows and many of the classic Warner Brothers detective shows from the 50's) are all running on the American Life TV Network. Possibly the best-kept secret on cable. http://www.goodtv.com