Best of Larry Sanders - Out in early 2005

[hamburger3]

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2260

Gary Shandling created quite a stir on Leno last night when it was mentioned that season 2 of The Larry Sanders Show would be released in the fall. Unfortunately that's not what's in store for the series. Columbia TriStar is working on a "Larry Sanders Collection" which will be produced by Gary Shandling and feature his favorite episodes from the series. Given his involvement in in the set, and his desire to do his favorite episodes, it's surprising that he would mention the season 2 set, especially on a nationally broadcast talk-show.

"The Larry Sanders Collection" should be a 3 or 4 disc set released in early 2005. Material hasn't been finalized yet. Maybe of you are probably shaking your heads at the announcement of a "best of" set, but it was Mr. Shandling that wanted to do this project, and Columbia TriStar hasn't ruled out future season releases, they just don't have anything planned at this time.

Hmm so do I buy this and hope season sets get released or boycot it ?

[Village Branson]

Wait for the price to drop on one or the other.

That said, it has been ages since I've seen the shows...will I be able to resist?!

[Artemis]

Fucking hell. I can only shake my head in bemusement at Columbia/Tristar for this monumental misjudgement. The way to make Sanders profitable...

1. Re-release season one with a few more juicy extras.
2. Drop the price on the aforementioned release
3. Simultaneously announce that future seasons will be released in time

There you have it. The first season didn't sell because it was too expensive, released at a time that TV shows weren't such big business on DVD, and it eventually became apparent that it may well be the only season released, putting collectors off. A 'best' of' won't sell that well, and if the project is a 'tester' to gauge how well season releases might sell, it's not a very accurate one.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I'm really disappointed about this. Alongside Seinfeld it's my favourite US comedy show (and I have to say I always though it was consistently better than Seinfeld), and it really needs to be seen in its entirety, in much the same way as something like CYE does. Mind, apparently the first season DVD sold poorly, which may be one of the reasons why.
Sadly, there appears to be no shows floating about on the net either, although I do have all the episodes on VHS back home if I get desperate.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Artemis hit the nail on the head. The first season DVD tanked because they asked a $50 MSRP for 13 half-hour episodes. People are perfectly willing to buy featureless DVD releases of TV shows (obviously the Curb Your Enthusiasm sets have done well) but at $50 you're only going to reel in the hard-core fans; certainly you're not going to get any casual buyers. Columbia subsequently lowered the MSRP to $40 (same as the Curb sets) but it was too late. I don't know what to make of the "Shandling wanted a best-of set" claim; it could be damage control BS or it could be that he wanted a best-of set simply because Columbia wouldn't do any more season sets and he decided to take what he can get. Or it may be that he genuinely doesn't want folks to see the whole series, but does anybody actually believe that?

[Rev]

I just don't get this.  It would be one thing if the show had just disappeared through the cracks and been forgotten about, but these splattery releases make no sense at all.  This is one of the very few shows I'd be happy to buy a bare-bones release of, but even that looks impossible.  Bastards.  All of them.

[FanOfKylie]

Anybody know why BBC2 haven't ever repeated any Larry Sanders shows, it hasn't been on for over 5 years now ? One of the best TV shows ever.

[Kendo Nagasaki]

Anybody know why BBC2 haven't ever repeated any Larry Sanders shows, it hasn't been on for over 5 years now ? One of the best TV shows ever.

Almost certainly a rights and/or licencesing issue.  And when the BBC did broadcast it originally, it was tucked away in the middle of the night on BBC2,  ratings were not that good.

I came upon it purely by chance - i hadnt seen ANY puffers/trailers/listings for it, at all, at the time.

[kaprisky]

And when the BBC did broadcast it originally, it was tucked away in the middle of the night on BBC2,  ratings were not that good.

I came upon it purely by chance - i hadnt seen ANY puffers/trailers/listings for it, at all, at the time.

Double-bill with Seinfeld on alternate weeknights? Yes, I remember that as a staple of their schedule while I was at college. The thing about the Larry Sanders Show was that it complimented Seinfeld perfectly, being a part chat show, part behind the scenes bitching which couldn't be categorised as either a spoof or a straightforward sitcom.

If I'd known that the show wouldn't be repeated again on terrestrial TV I would have taped the whole bloody lot at the time.

[Munday's Chylde]

This is sad news to me, i've just been re-watching the first season dvd and it's great - i'm afraid when it comes to laughter-track free comedy it's this and curb I go for - the wackier things like scrubs, malcolm in the middle and potentialy that new arrested development just leave me cold. I've always been assuming that the second season dvd isn't far off... whats happened? I dont want a fucking best of, these things need to be watched sequentialy not scattered. Wasnt this show a big enough hit in the US or something? I thought it was massive.

[rjd2]

what the fuck happened gary shandling? he died on his ass presenting the emmys.. sad to see.

[Artemis]

what the fuck happened gary shandling? he died on his ass presenting the emmys.. sad to see.

He did, didn't he? I found him a bit weird and uncomfortable to watch even in Sanders! But at least his character was similar so you could call it good acting. It seems he's just as odd in real life though; I've heard that as Sanders cruised towards its final series, Shandling became more and more like his character. He's a weird little fucker, to be sure. I haven't seen him in anything else really - only his appearence on the Ben Stiller Show, Sanders and now the Emmys.

His best bit of the Emmy's was undeniably his reunion with Tambor, but only because of the old magic which was mainly due to Tambor.

Don't know what popular opinion is on Shandling, but I find him a strange little man.

[hamburger3]

I wish this would be released as well.

Fantastic show.

http://rapidshare.de/files/767695/Its_Garry_Shandlings_Show.wav.html

[hamburger3]

Just posting as this was supposed to be out early this year and has now dissapeared of the fucking planet.

I bid on the complete series on dvd via ebay and the listing was removed before I completed the sale.   ARSE.

If Columbia released them i would not have to buy illeagel copies of them on dvd.

For fucks sake i just want all the episodes one way or another.  Is that too much to ask ???

Sorry but this is so frustrating as a hugh LS fan.

Sigh.....................

[hamburger3]

Oh and not official or anything but someone posted two days ago on imdb.

"Hey there --
Good news, Larry Sanders Fans - more Larry Sanders should be coming to DVD soon. Apparently, they are at work on a four or five disc set that will contain the best twenty five episodes of The Larry Sanders show, complete with TONS of extras. Garry Shandling is hard at work on the DVDs now...and they should be out sometime late this year or early next year. "

No source for this but sounds reasonable..

[abbot lau]

I bid on the complete series on dvd via ebay and the listing was removed before I completed the sale.   ARSE.......

I managed to get seasons 2-6 of 'Larry Sanders on DVD from ebay without the sale being shut down, but they were transfers from NTSC and the picture was pretty poor. Luckily the sound quality was adequate.  

My advice is to keep checking ebay. Sometimes a seller will contact people who bid before  their auction shut down  and do the deal privately. Against the ebay rules, but so what? I got an entire Seinfel set  for £60 that way, and it was worth every penny.

[Artemis]

I'll be slightly happier if they're putting twenty five episodes onto the 'best of' compilation (how will they fit 25 45 min episodes with loads of etxras onto 4 or 5 discs??) - it's much better then the max of a dozen or so I was expecting...

...but....

it's still not good enough, is it? I think it's far more unlikely they'll do a decent release of all seasons once this compilation is on the market, which is a tragedy.

Still, twenty five episodes plus the entire first season which has already been released is better then nothing, I suppose. Just a shame because I rate Larry Sanders as the funniest, and cleverest comedy I have ever seen.

[hamburger3]

LS is not 45 mins.  Its a half hr show.

[Artemis]

Nah, that's not right, surely. I remember it used to be on BBC2 straight after Newsnight - so around 11.20pm. It was followed at midnight by Seinfeld, so it's at least 40 mins.

[hamburger3]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103466/

Runtime: 30 min (89 episodes)

[Artemis]

Well, bloody hell. I stand well and truly corrected.

Feels longer then half an hour.

That's all I have to say in my defence. (Piss poor, I know).

[hamburger3]

Fuck those cunts on ebay.

Arseholes making it fucking hard to buy their dvd's.

Cunts.