***EXCLUSIVE***
Two weeks after news began to filter out about a forthcoming single-disc selection of material from The Dean Martin Show, due for release on October 4, The Golddiggers Super Site has learned that an even larger collection is on the way.
It was the website MusicTap.net that on August 17 first revealed box art and a 10/4/11 street date for a single-DVD volume entitled King of Cool: The Best of The Dean Martin Variety Show (see below), carrying a suggested retail price of $12.95 (though online merchants such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble are already pre-selling it for more than one-third off).
Now, the Super Site can report that, in line with the path of the first wave of Dean Martin Variety Show DVDs released by Time-Life last spring, a SECOND 6-DVD set will hit the market on November 1 — one month after the debut of the single-disc compilation and under the same King of Cool rubric — with a list price of $59.95 (again, sure to be heavily discounted by vendors, as were all of the initial compendiums).
While the new 1- and 6-DVD entries mirror the release pattern of the earlier Dean Martin Show reissues, it appears that there will be no 2-DVD set this go-round, although we cannot confirm that at this time. Meanwhile, we’re still awaiting word about the content of the new 1- and 6-volume sets, and as soon as we have that information, we’ll pass it along to our readers.
For a complete review of the first 6-DVD Collector’s Edition of The Best of The Dean Martin Variety Show, click HERE.
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With a title like “King of Cool”, this follow-up to the first “Best of” set already has a LOT to live up to. Here’s hoping mistakes made on the first collection are not repeated on THIS one!
We’ll drink to that, Russell!
As we all wait for the next Dean Martin 6-DVD set, it should be noted that in the Amazon editorial review for the abbreviated set that came out on Oct 4, it’s described as having “four full episodes”.
Cautious optimism, anybody?
As much as we might wish it were true, Russell, we’d advise taking that description of “four full episodes” with a hefty grain of salt.
If you browse the websites of a number of other online vendors for details about the single-DVD edition of the new King of Cool release, you’ll find the exact same verbiage as appears in Amazon’s “Editorial Review” — a clear indication that it wasn’t written by one of Amazon’s staffers, but rather, copied wholesale from a press release supplied by the DVD’s distributor.
What’s more, if you take a look at the “Product Details” portion of Amazon’s page for King of Cool, you’ll note that the running time of the disc is listed as “1 minutes” (sic). So, obviously, the claim of “four full episodes” isn’t the only suspect information floating around this title.
A more realistic running time for the single-disc King of Cool can be found on the website of DVD Empire, which pegs the length at 160 minutes. If we assume that’s accurate, and that at least 60 of those 160 minutes are occupied by Bonus Interviews (as was the case with the first wave of Best of The Dean Martin Variety Show DVDs released last spring), then that leaves about 100 minutes of material from the original shows.
Now, we hate to say it, but do the math: 100 minutes divided by 4 episodes equals 25 minutes for each episode (some might be more, some less). When first broadcast on NBC, each episode (minus commercials and promos) had a run time of approximately 52 minutes. So, unfortunately, with numbers like those, the odds don’t favor the prospect that these are “full episodes”.
News concerning the newest Dean Martin Show reissues has been slow to trickle out, but we’ll have more about the 1-DVD King of Cool release that’s already available, as well as the 6-DVD set that’s on the way, in the coming days.
It pays to be cautious, then, as I think your math on the breakdown of content for the short compilation may be accurate! It seems Amazon product info is very inconsistent, as a rule.
Can you make an educated guess on how well the first 6-DVD set has sold, so far? A lot of griping about it hints a lot of people bought the thing.
While sales figures for the first serving of Time-Life’s Dean Martin Show collection haven’t been made public, it’s safe to assume that they were substantial enough to warrant the second helping that will be ready on November 8. For an update on that spread, topped with a complete listing of all of the episodes it will contain, why not sample our newest post: https://thegolddiggers.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/visions-of-dean-come-into-focus