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Nathan Barley DVD - Well Fucking People Like Us Series 2?

Started by TJ, June 27, 2005, 02:22:02 PM

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Jemble Fred

I assume that it will be the old compilation of series one and two thrown out with an awful cut & paste paintjob cover. And interactive menus.

13 schoolyards

Actually, I take back everything I've just said.  I've just realised that the utterly shit Aussie TV series Let Loose Live - which was cancelled earlier this year after a grand total of two episodes - will never, ever, ever get a DVD release.  So I guess it's only shows that people watch that'll survive this brave new world.  Again, that still leaves Barley in limbo

The Mumbler

Will it be, though?  Given Hugh's turn in House (which seems to have been given a puzzlingly warm reception from most quarters, if you ask me), and all of Jeeves & Wooster on DVD, why not all of it?  I really don't see why not anymore.   I mean, Christ - Three of a Kind *Series 1* is coming out in August!  Why not A Bit Of?

Who could have imagined, even two years ago, that all of, say, Press Gang would have been released (well, we've still got S5 to go, but it's really just a question of "when" now)?

Jemble Fred

Quote from: "The Mumbler"I mean, Christ - Three of a Kind *Series 1* is coming out in August!  Why not A Bit Of?

Hm. that's a pretty convincing argument, actually.

But is 3OAK a BBC DVD? I couldn't imagine Auntie farming out F&L, they'd be more likely to keep it to themselves and make a sow's lughole out of it. I suppose I've learnt to be cynical when it comes to Fry & Laurie getting any proper treatment.

By the way, I rather enjoyed Hugh's 'Me & My Spoons' in the latest Private Eye. Easy to write no doubt, but it made me larf.

Neil

Pretty Dead Boy spotted this in Popbitch the other week:

Quote from: "Popbitch"tit: Spotted on Charlotte St: Chris Morris &c filming an episode of Nathan Barley. CM is surprisingly handsome in the flesh.

Popbitch, so presumably/hopefully nonsense.

Jon_Norton

Other great extras for a F&L box:

- the 1981 Footlights revue, which got a TV version;

- Stephen Fry's musings about TV weathermen, featured in an edition of Did You See?

- odd appearances on TV sketch/variety shows. They did actually turn up on ITV's Live At The Palladium-type show in 1986 or thereabouts,

- you could have the Saturday Live stuff, but that would be better included in a Saturday/Friday Night Live box of its own.

- appearances at Amnesty shows, etc. Their Comic Relief bits.

Jemble Fred


The Mumbler

Quote from: "Jemble Fred"
But is 3OAK a BBC DVD? I couldn't imagine Auntie farming out F&L, they'd be more likely to keep it to themselves and make a sow's lughole out of it. I suppose I've learnt to be cynical when it comes to Fry & Laurie getting any proper treatment.quote]

Yeah, produced by Paul Jackson - three series and a special, 1981-83.  Consider this: Tracey Ullman has given permission (and she wasn't thrilled by some of it, apparently)!  A Bit of has been repeated on Paramount lots in recent years, Stephen and Hugh are still speaking to each other, and I've spoken to Nick Symons (producer, S2 and S3) who has nothing but fond memories of it.

The Mumbler

And as if to prove just what a bloody strange world Planet DVD really is, I've just checked Amazon for the company releasing Three of a Kind S1 - it's Cinema Club - and what do I find?  They're releasing TOAK *Series 2* on October 10th!

I mean, I don't even like TOAK that much.  But I can't help being pleased it's coming out.

Jemble Fred

Hang on, you just said it was a BBC DVD! Obviously 3OAK was a BBC programme, but I was asking if they'd given the rights to another company to make the DVD. Which they clearly have. And I got all excited as well.

So there we are – I can't see F&L being licensed out to anyone else, and I can't see BBC Worldwide doing a good job with the discs. I would put money on them re-releasing the old compilation on a barren disc.

Emergency Lalla Ward Ten

Quote from: "The Mumbler"My Mother The Car.

Bloody hell - really?

With all these riches available or on the horizon, it makes it even more maddening when obvious things aren't released. Or are given releases which aren't very good. It irritates me a huge amount that Smith & Jones is only getting a compilation, like it's still 1992 or something.

alan strang

Quote from: "Neil"Popbitch, so presumably/hopefully nonsense.

Maybe they're doing a Christmas Special.

Christ, imagine that - something from the Warp catalogue (with Morris rattling jingle bells over the top) as the sig. Everyone walking down a snow-draped Hosegate in slow-motion wearing Santa Hats. The Three Wise Men turning up at Suga Rape bearing gifts. A Baby Jesus/Crazy Frog animation.

Or they could film the whole thing in black and white and do an It's A Wonderful Life pastiche. An angel could show Nathan what the world would be like if he'd never been born (ie exactly the same as it currently is).

Bean Is A Carrot

Quote from: "Emergency Lalla Ward Ten"
Quote from: "The Mumbler"My Mother The Car.

Bloody hell - really?

No one really NEEDS a My Mother The Car DVD do they? You just listen to Sammy Davis Jr's cover of the theme song (on his album That's All) and you have the entire plot.

The Mumbler

Quote from: "Jemble Fred"Hang on, you just said it was a BBC DVD! Obviously 3OAK was a BBC programme, but I was asking if they'd given the rights to another company to make the DVD. Which they clearly have. And I got all excited as well.

So there we are – I can't see F&L being licensed out to anyone else, and I can't see BBC Worldwide doing a good job with the discs. I would put money on them re-releasing the old compilation on a barren disc.

Obviously, if it's commentaries and suchlike that you want, then neither BBC or Cinema Club are going to do that, chances are.  But maybe Network would.  And if we just want the full eps, then Cinema Club might be the place.  It is, after all, putting out On The Up, Chef!, Punt & Dennis, Terry & June (Complete Series 1!), the first series of It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Sayle's Stuff.  I still don't see why F&L's an impossibility.

Emergency Lalla Ward Ten

Quote from: "alan strang"

Or they could film the whole thing in black and white and do an It's A Wonderful Life pastiche. An angel could show Nathan what the world would be like if he'd never been born (ie exactly the same as it currently is).

Or the angel could show us what the comedy world would be like had The 11 O'Clock Show never existed.

Cut to it snowing Absolutely DVDs, etc.

Emergency Lalla Ward Ten

Quote from: "The Mumbler"Punt & Dennis.

Woah, woah, woah...what? Is that TITPADS, or the eponymous second series?

On the Up is ridiculous. *Nobody* will buy that. Not even people from the New Tricks fan club. Not even Dennis Waterman's mother.

Jemble Fred

I loved On The Up. Perfect BBC1 8PM-ish sitcom. It's got Sam Kelly and Joan Sims, for fuck's sake!

Quote from: "The Mumbler"I still don't see why F&L's an impossibility.

For the exact reason that you said it was a possibility – because Hugh Laurie's hot at the moment, etc. Therefore the BBC aren't just going to let anyone release it, they'll want it for themselves. And they won't make much of an effort with it, will they? I'll begrudgingly admit that they might just put the whole episodes and the Comedy Connections doc on there, but I wouldn't hold my breath for even that.

The Mumbler

But what are you basing that arms-folded assumption on?  That the BBC don't put out full series?  That it's just sod's law?  Sorry, when it comes to DVD releases, I have almost no cynicism at present.

The Mumbler

Quote from: "Emergency Lalla Ward Ten"
Quote from: "The Mumbler"Punt & Dennis.

Woah, woah, woah...what? Is that TITPADS, or the eponymous second series?

On the Up is ridiculous. *Nobody* will buy that. Not even people from the New Tricks fan club. Not even Dennis Waterman's mother.

TITPADS [is that why they called it that unwieldy title?  That would explain it...]:
Benthalo's opinion on the matter [from Renwick Punishment? thread]: "It'll be the series 1 comp from 1995 if it's Cinema Club. I imagine."  

Didn't that contain unused "Martin" sketches?  I never got round to buying that.

Who wrote On The Up? Wasn't it Bob Larbey?  Are they just putting it out so that Little Britain fanatics can discover for themselves that Dennis sang its sig tune?

Darrell

For clarification, Cinema Club is a branch of 2Entertain, who are BBC Worldwide and VCI amalgamated.

So Alexei's Dead Donkey, Pent and Dunnis, Terry of a June etc are are all technically BBC DVD, just in fancy clothes. There's no distinction any longer - 2Entertain can release whatever BBC or C4 stuff they want - which route it takes through assorted production offices makes no difference anymore.

One of the key points of the BBCWW/VCI merger was so they could collaborate on funding and release a bigger range of titles, with room to experiment a little. They've drained money off a few other things to help (seemingly the extras budgets for contractually-obligated new-release BBC DVDs have been allocated elsewhere, for one).

I was very worried about this merger, but the announcement of the Comic Strip box alone made 'ah, this is definitely a GOOD thing' noises to my ears.

Jemble Fred

I'd forgotten about that. The merger also makes it very difficult to pin down PR officers. Especially when you've annoyed them once...

Emergency Lalla Ward Ten

Read this list and salivate:

http://www.zetaminor.com/dvd/incoming.htm

Anyone got the Drop the Dead Donkey DVD? Does it really feature a 'raw studio recording'?

'John and Yoko' coming up in October. What the fuck could that be?

Slaughterhouse Five? Cor...

The Mumbler

Ah, in fact you can't get My Mother The Car from the States - I was told this the other night, but can't find it on the Amazon site there.  Shame - James L. Brooks got his first writing credit on that apparently, and I was curious.

But look what *is* out there to buy:

4 seasons of All In The Family (1971-74)
S1 & S2 of ALF
Andy Griffith Show [S1-S3]
Barney Miller S1
Bewitched S1
Bob Newhart Show S1 & S2
Brady Bunch S1 & S2
17 volumes of The Carol Burnett Show!
Cosby Show S1
Dick Van Dyke Show S1 – S5
Diff'rent Strokes S1
Ellen S1 – S2
Flintstones S1-S3
Gilligan's Island S1-S3
Golden Girls S1-S2
Good Times S1-S5 [which was the original model for The Fosters with Norman Beaton and Lenny Henry]
Green Acres S1-S2
Happy Days S1
Hogan's Heroes S1
I Love Lucy S1-S5
In Living Color S1-S3
The Jeffersons S1-S3
Jetsons S1
Kids in the Hall S1-S2
King of the Hill S1-S4
Laverne & Shirley S1
Married with Children S1-S3
Mary Tyler Moore Show S1-S2
Monkees S1-S2
Moonlighting S1-S2 box set
Mork & Mindy S1
Munsters S1
Muppet Show S1 [Complete! With original pilot!  Jesus]
Murphy Brown S1
2 volumes of Best of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Sanford & Son S1-S6 [the US version of Steptoe & Son - bloody good too]
Saved By the Bell S1-S4 and The New Class S1-S2
Dozens of Sesame Street titles including a Cookie Monster compilation
Soap S1-S3
Taxi S1-S2
Three's Company S1-S5 [the US version of Man About The House]
Too Close For Comfort S1-S2 [US version of Keep It In The Family]
WKRP In Cincinnati S1

And bloody hell, the Complete Dame Edna Experience (both series & specials) is available on R1.

I'm not about to suggest that all of the above is fantastic, but in terms of implications for future releases, it's staggering.  And exactly the same thing's happening in the UK.  Fry & Laurie should be relatively easy because 1) relatively small cast, 2) they're the only writers, 3) it has a biggish following (well Christ, if On The Up can get a release, then yes it has), and 4) they're extremely bankable these days.

Lee

Quote from: "Darrell"For clarification, Cinema Club is a branch of 2Entertain, who are BBC Worldwide and VCI amalgamated.

So Alexei's Dead Donkey, Pent and Dunnis, Terry of a June etc are are all technically BBC DVD, just in fancy clothes. There's no distinction any longer - 2Entertain can release whatever BBC or C4 stuff they want - which route it takes through assorted production offices makes no difference anymore.
Also worth pointing out they've just released Kath and Kim for Flextech (who own Living TV), rather than it just being a standard BBC release. I'm sure there's all sorts of rights reasons as to why that's the case.

No, I don't want to see an NB DVD.

Jemble Fred

A F&L DVD of some kind is inevitable, that's not the argument. The question is whether it'll be any good, whather any real effort will be made with it. I very much hope that we have seen the end of those old BBC cut & paste jobs, but I'm just not convinced.

The Mumbler

Interesting point: there are going to be B&W eps of Magic Roundabout on the DVD of that bloody film.  

I forgot about Outside Edge.  And the speculative list on zetaminor is jaw-dropping.

The Mumbler

Sorry, put the text for a new topic in here by mistake.

vladyeti

Quote from: "TJ"There's a rumour that the release of the planned Nathan Barley DVD has been cancelled due to 'lack of interest'. Has anyone heard any more about this?

I still haven't gotten around to watching episodes 4, 5 and 6 yet, despite downloading them months ago.  Meh.

In the meantime I've managed to watch every episode of Arrested Development.  Very good.

Jon_Norton

Quote from: "Emergency Lalla Ward Ten"It irritates me a huge amount that Smith & Jones is only getting a compilation, like it's still 1992 or something.

Maybe for (one of ) the same reasons the NTNOCN doesn't get a full release: they can't trace all the 486 writers who contributed.

The Mumbler

Yes, but in which case, how the hell have they managed to clear Three of a Kind for release?  A series which was written by people as diverse as Kim Fuller, Ben Elton, Hale & Pace, Ian Hislop, and at least 40 other people.