Donny and Marie – I’m a Little Bit Country, I’m a Little Bit DVD…
R2 Entertainment, the folks behind such great nostalgic TV-DVD releases as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson – The Ultimate Carson Collection, This Is Your Life – The Ultimate Collection Vol. 1, Tony Orlando and Dawn – The Ultimate Collection and The Sonny & Cher Ultimate Collection, are going down that path once more. This time, though, the subject is Donny and Marie Osmond, as R2 is prepping the entire run of their 1976-79 variety show!
All 72 hours of Donny and Marie will eventually come to DVD if sales warrant it, but the initial release planned for April 2006 will be a collection of the best segments, running about 9 hours on (probably) 3 DVDs. Donny Osmond is personally involved in choosing the material which will appear on this first set, and has agreed to host an infomercial which will promote the release (fans will be able to buy this set via the infomercial if they choose to, but it will also be available through regular retail channels both in stores and online). This week Osmond is at the “TV-DVD 3” Conference, which TVShowsOnDVD.com owner Gord Lacey is participating in out in L.A. He (Donny, not Gord) hosted the 2005 TV-DVD Awards last night.
Over the years, Donny & Marie included a lot of guest stars, including their complete family act The Osmonds (who were a staple the first year, but were seen less often later on as the show focused on the brother-sister combination which was so popular to the viewers), Farrah Fawcett, Barbara Eden, Andy Gibb, Lucille Ball, Ray Bolger (playing the Tin Man in a Wizard of Oz sketch!), Cheryl Ladd, Florence Henderson, Andy Williams, Redd Foxx (as Obi-Wan Kenobi in a Star Wars sketch!), John Wayne, and Bob Hope…just to name a scant handful. It’s hard to imagine the monumental task of deciding which portions of the show to select to include in that first “best of” release. But one thing we can pretty much guarantee will be in it is at least one version of the famous brother-sister act singing, “I’m a little bit Country / I’m a little bit Rock-and-Roll”…the duet which became their standard!
There is still lots more information to come as this release begins to come together, so stay tuned and we’ll bring you more details, plus cover art, just as soon as R2 makes it available.
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