StarVista Entertainment/Time Life proudly announces that two of
Dean Martin China Beach their acclaimed and best-selling 2013 DVD sets have captured two awards in the 4th Annual Home Media Magazine Awards. CHINA BEACH: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION won for “Best Vintage TV Series” and THE DEAN MARTIN CELEBRITY ROASTS: COMPLETE COLLECTION was named “Best Comedy Disc”. The home entertainment submissions are judged by a panel of industry experts, as well as the general public who voted online.
“We’re thrilled to have won two Home Media Magazine Awards for our two most significant and acclaimed DVD releases last year,” says Jeff Peisch, Senior VP, Senior Vice President, Entertainment Programming & Marketing for StarVista Entertainment/Time Life. “As curators of some of the most classic TV DVD releases in the marketplace, we’ve long been meticulous about what goes into each individual release – from the construct of the package itself to hours of our specially-produced extra content. It’s nice to be acknowledged for turning out award-winning product.”
Routinely praised for high-quality TV DVD collections and an archivist’s attention to detail, StarVista had previously captured six Home Media Magazine Awards, including “Best Vintage TV Series on Disc” for THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION, “Best Music DVD/Blu-ray for THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME 25TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT, “Best of Show”, “Best TV DVD: and “Best 1960s Series” for GET SMART: THE COMPLETE SERIES and “Best 1950s/1960s Series” for THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.: THE COMPLETE SERIES.
As one of the most requested unreleased TV DVD sets, and in time to celebrate its milestone 25th Anniversary, CHINA BEACH: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION was released to great fanfare in 2013. Offered as a superlative 21-disc collector’s set, the handsome package featured all 62 episodes and over ten hours of exclusive, never-before-seen bonus features including a recent cast reunion, extensive interviews with Dana Delany, Marg Helgenberger, producers John Sacret Young and John Wells, original featurettes, as well as “Tales from the Five & Dime”, a collectible memory book containing character notes, rare, archival photos, emotional, heartfelt letters from Vietnam veterans and more.
THE DEAN MARTIN CELEBRITY ROASTS: COMPLETE COLLECTION followed StarVista Entertainment/Time Life’s best-selling releases of “The Dean Martin Variety Show” and marks the firs
t time that most of these classics from the Golden Age of TV were released on DVD in a single collection. Featuring all 54 roasts from both “The Dean Martin Show” and “The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts,” the program’s notable roastees included many of the 20th century’s most accomplished performers and athletes, politicians and personalities (complete list below), including: Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson, Sammy Davis Jr., Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, George Burns, Don Rickles, Kirk Douglas, Danny Thomas, Gabe Kaplan, Hank Aaron, Wilt Chamberlin, Joe Namath, Muhammad Ali, Ronald Reagan and Dean Martin himself.
Featuring over 40 hours of top-shelf comedy from hundreds of celebrities including Phyllis Diller, Jonathan Winters, Dick Martin, Joey Bishop, Henry Fonda, Gene Kelly, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Redd Foxx, Ruth Buzzi, Flip Wilson, John Wayne, Angie Dickinson, Billy Crystal and many more, the collectible set also contains over fifteen hours of bonus programming including comedy sketches from “The Dean Martin Show,” rare Dean Martin TV specials that have not been seen since the original broadcast: “Dean’s Place” (1975 & 1976), featuring Angie Dickinson, Peter Graves, and Gov. Ronald Reagan; and “Dean Martin’s Red Hot Scandals of 1926” (1976 & 1977) featuring Dom DeLuise, Abe Vigoda, and Jonathan Winters, exclusive interviews with roasters and roastees including Betty White and Jackie Mason, as well as Winters and Diller in heartfelt interviews taped before their recent passing. The set also contains specially-produced featurettes, rare home movies with Dean, family and friends and a 44-page collector’s book loaded with behind-the-scenes photos, classic quotes and production materials. Adding hours of classic comedy to this superlative collection, also included are two bonus DVDs featuring seven episodes from “The Dean Martin Variety Show” .
In Q3 of 2014, StarVista has on tap one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of the year: THE WONDER YEARS: THE COMPLETE SERIES. The most requested TV series never to be released on DVD, garnered multiple Emmy® Awards, a Golden Globe® and a Peabody®, and was named by TV Guide as one of the “Top 20 Shows of the ’80s” will make its very long-awaited debut to a excited fanbase who has waited for more than twenty years for its home entertainment release.
