TV Shows Only Partially Released on DVD/Blu-ray

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Yep, a few of us still buy DVDs.

Anyway, I was surprised to find out Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell got a season 1 DVD release. No other seasons though.

[Spider2024]

Mr. Sunshine, a failed Matthew Perry sitcom that only made it to 13 episodes (and only 9 actually aired on its original U.S. run, but all 13 would air internationally.)

Shortly thereafter, they put the entire series on DVD. ALL 9 EPISODES!

(Yeah, the other 4 episodes all existed in full, but couldn't even be bothered to be copied to a DVD, not even to entice any additional interest to sell a few more copies of the set maybe by offering previously unseen episodes.)

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Where is my season 3 of the Adventures of Pete and Pete Viacom? I know you made them the creators said so

[BlackoutCreature]

Murphy Brown at one point was the most popular show in the 1990's, but only its first season was released on DVD way back in 2005.

The Drew Carey Show, another major show from the 90's, only released a first season set, as well as a six episode Best Buy exclusive compilation set that includes a handful of season two, three and four episodes.

Parker Lewis Can't Lose had its first two season released on DVD, but not the (less well regarded) third season. Supposedly this was due to music rights.

Jul 28, 2021 20:27:51 GMT -5 Vice honcho room temperature said:

Where is my season 3 of the Adventures of Pete and Pete Viacom? I know you made them the creators said so

In a similar vein Clarissa Explains It All only got its first season released on DVD. Which is still better then Salute Your Shorts, which has nothing on physical media (although I have heard stories that if you ever run into Donkey Lips, he well sell you bootleg DVD's of the entire series out of the trunk of his car).

[Timeless Hayterade]

Yu-Gi-Oh Uncut English dub. I'm a huge fan of the original Yu-Gi-Oh. I still have a shit ton of cards. In fact, September 29 will be the 20th Anniversary of Yu-Gi-Oh premiering in the United States.

Between seasons 4 and 5, they started releasing English dubs of the original Japanese version of the show. I prefer the Japanese version over the 4Kids version because of how censored the latter was. In all, they released the first nine episodes over three DVDs. There was supposed to be a fourth and there were even promos for it, but it was never released. The whole project just stopped, and I think that sucks because the Japanese version of the show was a lot better and it was a lot darker.

With this year being the 20th anniversary of Yu-Gi-Oh premiering in the United States, I'd like to see the entire series be released in an uncut English dub. I would empty my pockets for that. Sadly, I doubt that'll happen.

[Gravedigger's Biscuits]

All Region 2:

For several years only the first 4 seasons of South Park were available on DVD. They finally started releasing every season in 2007.

King of the Hill was the same with the first 5 seasons. Season 5 was released in 2007 and then it took until 2015 for the remaining seasons to come out.

Grounded for Life I think only ever released the first season, at least in the UK although I think I've seen a complete series release in German.

And finally, my biggest gripe as it's one of my favourite shows, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Only the first two seasons have ever received an official release in the UK. This is especially annoying when you consider Netflix have removed certain episodes so there is literally no way to legally view them over here.

[CMWaters]

The Muppet Show stopped at Season 3 IIRC. Might have been 2. Music rights are the most likely culprit there.

[Feyrhausen]

The Tick cartoon never released the third season. Plus there was an episode left out of both season 1 and 2.

[Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast]

The Adventures of Pete and Pete's third season set was printed, but are essentially rotting in a warehouse and will never be released.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic's sets end at season 7 with no plans for 8 or 9 ever.

[Mr PONYMANIA Mr Jenzie]

KYTV series three

[agent817]

California Dreams had most of the series released, except for Season 5. Instead it was a "best of" compilation.

[Rumble McSkirmish]

Warner Bros had this weird thing where they would commercially release the first couple of seasons of various shows then after that the remaining seasons would be released through their Warner Direct service where they would mail you bare boned and burnt DVD's of said show.

Two notable examples of this practice would be Night Court and the Cartoon Network series Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Jul 28, 2021 22:00:10 GMT -5 Rumble McSkirmish said:

Warner Bros had this weird thing where they would commercially release the first couple of seasons of various shows then after that the remaining seasons would be released through their Warner Direct service where they would mail you bare boned, burnt DVD's of said show.

Two notable examples of this practice would be Night Court and the Cartoon Network series Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

I didn’t know that.

I guess it was better than some other companies who would say more seasons were coming and then never put them out.

[King Boo]

Jul 28, 2021 20:28:32 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

Jul 28, 2021 20:27:51 GMT -5 Vice honcho room temperature said:

Where is my season 3 of the Adventures of Pete and Pete Viacom? I know you made them the creators said so

In a similar vein Clarissa Explains It All only got its first season released on DVD. Which is still better then Salute Your Shorts, which has nothing on physical media (although I have heard stories that if you ever run into Donkey Lips, he well sell you bootleg DVD's of the entire series out of the trunk of his car).

I bought a copy from him off of ebay, if you're looking to get *something*. It was at least a year ago, so I have no idea if he's actually still selling there, but it could be worth a look.

[chrom]

Goof Troop had 3 or 4 episodes released on one then forgotten about

[thechase]

Disney were notorious for this.

[thatloser]

I have volume 1 of Freddy's Nightmares which has a whopping three episodes on the disk. From what I know volume 2 and 3 where announced but where never made. But in the 2011 Blu-ray collection of the original seven A Nightmare on Elm Street films there are two episodes as special features but I believe those episodes are the same as the two of the three in the Freddy's Nightmares Vol 1 DVD

[James Fabiano]

Where do we begin?

The Raccoons only got (somewhat altered) choice episodes from seasons 2 and 3.
Happy Days I think stopped at Season 6 (again with altered episodes. On the other hand, Laverne and Shirley got all its seasons released)
My Three Sons didn't get beyond the second season (and again, this is CBS we're talking about so it may be a good thing)
St. Elsewhere only got ONE season, the first, released.

I know a lot of this is a moot point with streaming and retro channels, though.

[Sparvid]

Jul 29, 2021 1:49:37 GMT -5 thechase said:

Disney were notorious for this.

Looking around, it seems like Duck Tales and Tale Spin are the only early 90s shows which have been fully released on DVD.

[saneiac]

Jul 28, 2021 21:10:06 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

The Muppet Show stopped at Season 3 IIRC. Might have been 2. Music rights are the most likely culprit there.

The Muppet Show released 3 seasons out of 5. The original reason given for season 4 being delayed, back in 2010, was rights issues over the Star Wars themed episode. Of course in 2012 Disney bought Star Wars, but there hasn't been any official statement since then. Seasons 1 and 2 both had a few episodes edited to remove a musical number they couldn't get rights for, and for some reason, various versions of these episodes made it into the set in different countries (ie an episode on the US DVD release that had one song removed was shown complete on the Italian DVD release, but some other song was removed from a different episode)

Jul 29, 2021 1:49:37 GMT -5 thechase said:

Disney were notorious for this.

See above. But, to their credit, they did eventually get around to releasing the entire original DuckTales. DuckTales Volumes 1 through 3 were released between 2005 and 2007. DuckTales Volume 4 FINALLY released in 2018 to finish the series.

Unrelated to Disney, The Bob Newhart Show (the old one, where he's a psychologist; not the hotel one) has only released 4 seasons out of 6.

The New Scooby-Doo Movies (the hour long shows featuring guest stars like The Harlem Globetrotters or Sonny and Cher, frequently split into two episodes for TV) had 24 episodes. Only 23 of them have been released on DVD. Warner Brothers were unable to get the rights to release the Addams Family episode.

Jul 28, 2021 22:00:10 GMT -5 Rumble McSkirmish said:

Warner Bros had this weird thing where they would commercially release the first couple of seasons of various shows then after that the remaining seasons would be released through their Warner Direct service where they would mail you bare boned and burnt DVD's of said show.

Hanna-Barbera had something similar for a lot of their more obscure cartoons that only ran for a season or 2.