The Best Television Shows Not on DVD

And Why Aren't They?

Have you ever taken a look at the television series section in your local DVD store? And when browsing through that section have you ever wondered how on earth some of those TV shows made it to DVD? I mean Swamp Thing has made it to DVD, but St. Elsewhere hasn't? I know that Hollywood is a town that is run by lawyers and all that jazz, but how is it that shows that were on TV were one season back in the mid-sixties can be found on DVD, but some of the greatest shows in history cannot? What's the deal with that?

That said, I now present ten shows that really should have boxed sets on DVD by now. I mean why is that I can watch three volumes of something called the Saddle Club but not the following?

1) St. Elsewhere. The holy grail of TV shows not yet on DVD. The finest television writing this side of the Simpsons in the golden age. "Dr. Lingus to the operating room. Dr. Connie Lingus, please report to the operating room." This is the show that defined inside jokes and postmodernism on television. It was also perpetually ripped at the Emmy Awards by such incredibly lesser accomplishments as LA Law and Hill St. Blues.

And in comparison to St. Elsewhere, ER looks like Marcus Welby. This is arguably the finest hourlong drama ever to air on American television and the only argument you can really make involves Twin Peaks. Why is St. Elsewhere not on DVD? Aside from the fact that it contained the best mixture of drama and comedy EVER, it also launched the careers of several of the most well-known actors of today, including two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington.

Who can forget such seminal episodes as the one involving dream sequences, the amazing episode where Dr. Boomer Morrison gets raped and, of course, the Christmas episode where Santa dies and William Daniels gives the most heart-wrenching performance of the episode's run? There must be a reason why St. Elsewhere lives in the vacuum of DVD-dom. Anybody know the answer?