Monday, August 13, 2018

Television's Lost Classics Volume 2: Rare Pilots On DVD And Blu-ray From VCI Entertainment On Oct. 9


DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
VCI Entertainment has tabbed Oct. 9 as the street date for the second installment in its newly-launched Television’s Lost Classics series of DVD and Blu-ray product offerings.  

Titled Television's Lost Classics Volume 2: Rare Pilots, this collection showcases four different pilot shows from the early days of broadcast television.   The first of these is the pilot episode of Racket Squad, which aired in June of 1951 and spawned 98 episodes starring Reed Hadley as Captain John Braddock.

Next up is the 1958 pilot for a proposed detective series titled Cool and Lam, starring Billy Pearson as Donald Lam and Benay Venuta as Bertha Cool … it aired once and even though it was based on characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner it never caught on.   

Before William Bendix starred in 217 episodes as Chester A. Riley in The Life of Riley (1953-1958), there was a one-off pilot episode produced in 1948 featuring none other than Lon Chaney, Jr. as Riley in The Life of Riley … it is featured here as the third entry.

And lastly, VCI Entertainment has the 1959 pilot episode for Nero Wolfe, starring Kurt Kasznar as the title character, with William Shatner co-starring as Archie Goodwin … one and done.

A bonus feature with this unique collection of rare TV shows is a blooper reel.




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