Well, the first one's easy: The third volume of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection comes out in late October but can be ordered now. It contains sixty more classic Warner Brothers cartoons…and I figure they can do at least five more of these collections until they have to start dipping into the ones that were unworthy of the studio's rep. The set also contains a bunch of documentaries, audio commentaries and oddments, including a TV pilot called Philbert that the studio did in 1963 combining animation with a live-action sitcom. If you have the slightest interest in WB cartoons, you're reaching this very second to click on this link to order.
Warner Home Video has brought out a "sampler" DVD containing six episodes of Welcome Back, Kotter, a TV series I wrote for in what seems like another life. As I understand it, the DVD was assembled as a special item for Best Buy but it can also be ordered, as can everything else on this planet, from Amazon. If you want to do so, click here, though I don't necessarily recommend it. If you liked Kotter, you'll want to wait for the inevitable "complete" collection…and no, no one there has said there'll be one yet but look at everything else they're bringing out. They're probably waiting until John Travolta has another hot movie. Moreover, the six episodes they chose are odd selections — two from the first season, two from the second, two from the third and none from the fourth. (One of the second season episodes, and the only episode on the set that I worked on, is from a series of episodes about the pregnancy of Mrs. Kotter. The other ones in that storyline are not included.) Still, if you love the show and can't wait until it's back in the TV Land rotation, be my guest.
Lastly, Rhino is putting out complete sets of most of the Sid & Marty Krofft shows of the sixties and seventies, but they also have samplers like Saturday Morning, which contains the pilot episodes to H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville, The Bugaloos, Land of the Lost, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, The Lost Saucer and Far Out Space Nuts. Again, I would think a true fan of the material would skip this and go for the sets, several of which are already out or announced. But if you want it, don't let me stop you. Click away. At least, you won't have to worry about purchasing something I wrote. I did a lot for the Kroffts but I worked on none of these shows since they all starred people who could speak English.