Warner Brothers is an interesting case. It has released some real rarities on DVD through its Warner Archive label, it seems committed to utilizing its animation library (See the MeTV Toons partnership), and it released many shows on streaming with its Warner Archive Instant service.
Warner Brothers has licensed a lot of interesting material in recent years to modern streamers, like The New Dick Van Dyke Show, and it still "bothers" with DVD (77 Sunset Strip, long thought un-releasable due to music clearances, is on the way).. However, it also has a habit of licensing material out for a short period and then not doing anything with it for a while, like Welcome Back, Kotter.
Paramount is different in that it has apparently given up on using its library. On the other hand, Paramount Plus, though not the most sophisticated streamer out there, at least has an assortment of classic TV shows (Though it still irritates me that it exiles the likes of The Fugitive and Have Gun Will Travel to Pluto), but HBO Max's classic TV selection is practically nonexistent.
So Warners is different, but there are still some nuggets to pull from the vaults and put on a real streaming service. Here are some of my picks:
Casablanca: This 1983 David Soul reimagining did get a DVD release, but I was too cheap to pay what I thought was a high price (I thought so because it was) from a boutique label, and now it's out of print. My most wanted TV show, period, might be the 1955 version with Charles McGraw, but I'm focusing on the BOTNS era here! Warners loves to exploit the classic film Casablanca, but the TV shows? Not so much.
Harry O: Warner Archive is great and ha released a lot of TV over the years, especially in its pre-Blu-Ray era. I find it odd that The FBI, for example, is all over streaming, yet this atmospheric David Janssen private eye show is not. At least it's there on DVD, but it would be great to get this one on streaming.
Banyon: Speaking of private eyes, this one is Quinn Martin, Robert Forster, 30s L.A. 'Nuff said.
The People's Court: Judge Wapner was one of the iconic TV personalities of the Eighties, but the old shows are not easy to see.
The People's Court: Judge Wapner was one of the iconic TV personalities of the Eighties, but the old shows are not easy to see.
Flatbush: I mentioned Makin' It in the previous post, so how about letting us see this notorious flop, also seemingly inspired in part by Saturday Night Fever? The Lorimar sitcom showed a group of recent high school grads, but the Italian-American stereotypes sparked complaints, and CBS yanked it after 3 airings.
Fred and Barney Meet the Thing: I'd settle for The Thing segments! This animated series on NBC combined modern-day Flintstones toons with new ones starring Ben Grimm.
Dallas and Alice: If only there were a 1980s nighttime Lorimar soap called Palace. Earlier I mentioned the tendency of Warners to license shows for brief periods of time. In each case here, that trend combined with the tendency of Prime Video to obtain shows for brief periods of time. So the full run of each long-running series was on Prime for a while, then disappeared and didn't come back. Oh, the shows are available on disc and can be purchased as digital downloads, but it's about time they came back to SVOD. I am surprised Tubi hasn't picked up either of these.
Dallas and Alice: If only there were a 1980s nighttime Lorimar soap called Palace. Earlier I mentioned the tendency of Warners to license shows for brief periods of time. In each case here, that trend combined with the tendency of Prime Video to obtain shows for brief periods of time. So the full run of each long-running series was on Prime for a while, then disappeared and didn't come back. Oh, the shows are available on disc and can be purchased as digital downloads, but it's about time they came back to SVOD. I am surprised Tubi hasn't picked up either of these.
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