I’m still a nut for old TV shows. Sure there are a lot of them that could be considered dated, but they still make for great TV. Back in the 1970’s, NBC came up with a block of movies they called “The NBC Mystery Movie.” Each week they rotated different detectives, and from those came some of the most memorable and endearing of Television’s crime busters. Columbo, the team of McMillan & Wife, and McCloud were just a few of the gumshoes you could count on cracking the case week after week. Universal is counting on their lasting popularity to drive sales of the recent DVD releases for some of the more famous names and faces. They’ve already enjoyed great success with the few seasons of “Columbo” that have hit store shelves, and more recently they’re giving the same treatment to two of the other favorites I mentioned above. Thanks to my parents I had the mystery bug early in life so I used to watch detective shows all the time to see if I could solve the crime before the writers did.

Of the two more recent releases I was a bigger fan of “McCloud.” As wide a variety of roles that actor Dennis Weaver had over his career (which included the lead in Steven Spielberg’s excellent “Duel”), this is the one he’s best remembered for. Using the old ‘fish out of water’ formula, the series took Southern boy Deputy Marshall Sam McCloud and deposited him on the streets of New York City. Here he faced a seemingly endless barrage of some of the city’s worst criminal elements and used what he learned back home to take them down. He was often mistaken as none too smart, but he always found a way to outsmart the bad guy.

The DVD release of “McCloud” serves up 11 episodes of the first two seasons, and they include a pretty impressive lineup of guest stars including, Burgess Meredith, Pat Morita and even the late great Milton Berle. There aren’t any special features to speak of in this 3 disc set, which I’m sure has a lot to do with the experimental aspect of this release. Extra features can get quite costly and the studio might not want to make the gamble on low sales. Of course, this is a bit of a catch-22 as the extra features might actually cause sales to increase. Interestingly there is a bonus episode of “McMillan & Wife” on this set. Universal has done this recently with some of the other recent releases as a sort of cross promotion in the hopes of creating additional sales. Admittedly I think it’s a good idea.

This brings me to the other series making its debut on DVD… the just mentioned “McMillan & Wife.” I realize I can’t count on those reading this review to all be of the age where they might have heard of either of these shows, but this particular series was interesting in that it brought the movie star legend Rock Hudson into viewers homes of the small screen. Hudson starred as a brand new police commissioner in San Francisco, and as the newbie everyone has high expectations of his abilities. Fortunately for him, he has a whip smart wife with more than a penchant for solving crimes. As expected, the paring of these two turns out to be a liability to the criminal element in old San Fran.

While it was great to see Hudson in such a fun role, it was equally great to watch the lovely Susan St. James at work as his wife Sally. She could be loving and adorable one second, and tough as nails the next. The two shared a great chemistry, and thanks to the sharp writing of TV legend Steven Bochco, “McMillan & Wife” never failed to deliver an entertaining episode.

The new DVD set offers up only the first season of 11 episodes, and no extras at all. Not even a bonus episode of “McCloud,” which might have been a good idea to carry over the cross promotion idea.

Both DVD sets deliver fairly decent transfers, but really nothing to write home about. Some of the audio is occasionally a little muddy, though not necessarily horrible. It will only annoy only those who require perfection from their sound system. What is nice is that despite the fact that these transfers aren’t perfect, they beat the quality you’ll find on any of your old VHS tapes lying around.

Again, there are those who might find these shows to be a bit outdated, but for those poor souls I can only recommend they broaden their entertainment horizons.

“McCloud: Seasons 1&2” Episodes:
Portrait of a Dead Girl
Man from Taos
Manhattan Manhunt
Murder Arena
Encounter with Aries
Top of the World, Ma!
Somebody’s Out to Get Jennie
The Disposal Man
A Little Plot at Tranquil Valley
Fifth Man in a String Quartet
Give My Regrets to Broadway

Starring: Dennis Weaver
Extras: Bonus Episode of “McMillan & Wife”
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Studio: Universal
Release Date: 8/16/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

“McMillan & Wife: Season 1” Episodes
Once Upon a Dead Man
Murder by the Barrel
The Easy Sunday Murder Case
Husbands, Wives & Lovers
Death is a Seven Point Favorite
The Face of Murder
‘Til Death Do Us Part
An Elementary Case of Murder

Starring: Rock Hudson, Susan St. James
Extras: None
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Studio: Universal
Release Date: 9/16/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give both McCloud: Seasons 1&2 and McMillan & Wife: Season 1 a B.