Sadly the fact is this for all the thrilled customers that claim they will buy each season the reality is there is a drop off in sales after the 1st or 2nd season --- sure there are the die hard fans that will support each release but numbers do drop off, so then it is a question will retailers - the brick and mortar places that stop carrying the mechandise as they claim they are cutting back on space for such items - Borders is in poor financial health if you follow the quarterly reports, Barnes and Noble is still losing money too - Best Buy cut back on classic dvd's Warners the studio that had the best restorations and swore they would never release a film that did not meet their image quality standards and turns around and puts out VHS era master on dvdr's no restoration and at $19.99 with no special features which is junk and you are complaining about a 5 disc set of pressed discs offering people the chance to own season 5 and more than likely season  6 meaning we will have the complete series - (if we can get the 14 cut syndie prints from season 1 in uncut form) and you are finding fault???  Look how many series have stalled and stopped - GREEN ACRES - HAZEL - BEVERLY HILLBILLIES - PETTICOAT JUNCTION and so on!

We the true fans applaud SHOUT for taking the financial risk to bring out season 5!!!!

This is very disappointing yet typical.Only 2 seasons left to go and they make it a Select title. Being in Canada the shipping charge is $29.00 US!!!!!! The set is $39.99 and there is duty on top of that.. I buy a lot of Shout products but having to spend over $160 for the last two seasons is ridiculous. I bought the first four seasons for leass than $120.

A shameful way to treat loyal customers.

It will make me think twice when going to purchase a Shout product in the future.

You know, I was a little surprised myself when the FKB:s5 didn't show up on Amazon (where I have bought the past four seasons).  This thread has explained why.  I also admit that I would like to pay the same lowered prices I paid for those last four seasons.  However, I placed my order for this FKB set this morning through Shout, because I want to show my support for the completion of this series.  As people have mentioned above and on other threads, other companies have stalled out on releasing complete series because of the almighty dollar, which leaves a lot of disappointed fans out there.  For a few extra bucks, heck, I'll bite the bullet and pay it, and focus on the hours of happy viewing I will enjoy when I receive it, and have my fingers crossed for the release of season six sooner rather than later. 

That said, when will we find out exactly what is in the season five set, besides the shows from that season?  I personally have my fingers crossed for more Windows on Main St. and at least one of the reunion movies.  Shout can leave off the radio shows--they do nothing for me.

You know the people that are voicing complaints are still not addressing the issue - that sales of all series fall off as each season are released - a good comparison is the law of diminishing returns on movie sequels - most movie sequels pull in less box office unless it is THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK we are talking about!

For SHOUT to take a chance on Father Knows Best in the first place shows they care about their customers because it was a much asked for show, the show has been out of regular syndication for quite some time - since the Family Channel was sold by Pat Robertson and discounting a very short run on TV land where they ran a very few episodes o Sunday mornings.

Don't you think SHOUT would love to have the 5th season available in every retail market to give the release the largest possible exposure??? 

By supporting the releases we will ensure the complete series is released! 

SHOUT clearly has shown they value their customers by releasing the classic shows that some of the majors will not go near - they are pushing for UNCUT episodes and providing great product!   

It is a fantastic show but it is a shame the last two seasons will have different packaging than the first four.

See season five here:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Father-Knows-Best-Season-5/14124

The slip cover has been dropped and the discs are housed in one case. Why aren't more of these shows released as complete series to avoid situations like these?

Or was this the plan all along? Will Mr. Ed end up this was as well?  Mr. Ward?

Why should I "just be happy" with the way Shout is handling the last 2 seasons of FKB? If sales drop off after the first 2 seasons then why not switch to Select after Season 2? Why keep releasing 2 more seasons? Rhoda is getting the same treatment. Will the final 2 seasons of Leave it to Beaver follow the trend as well?

 I checked several stores in my area today and they all have the first 4 seasons of FKB in stock. In fact Shout titles were plentiful in every store that I checked. There is more to this than saying the brick and mortar stores wont carry the title.

If this is how product is going to be released now by Shout then they should state that after the first season is released or just realease all classic tv via Select.

Oh and as for the shipping, it costs $10.31 cents to mail a package of  FKB's size and weight to Canada. This leaves an outreageous $18 handling charge!

As much as I enjoyed watching this show, I cant justify paying almost $80 for a single season of a tv show.

Very disappointing Shout!!!!!!

yes it is going to  be a challenge paying for the last 2 seasons. I emailed about it and got this response in 2 emails:

We completely understand your frustration, especially with the high cost of shipping and handling. We added this option for Canadian consumers, but unfortunately at this time the company that ships to Canada for us has exorbitant rates. We are working to get these rates down, but for the time being they are what they are.

With that in mind, on the day we start to sell Season 5 on our site, an authorized seller on eBay and Amazon will be selling the set as well. These are brand new copies, not used, at the same price we offer on the site. Shipping through this vendor should be much more reasonable for you. I hope this information helps and sorry for any inconvenience.

I completely understand your frustration. We do not sell titles via the Shout! Select brand because they did not sell. It is more a result of diminishing returns. Season 1 of Father Knows Best sold very well, but by the time we got to season 4 the sales had diminished to the point where normally we would discontinue the line all  together. It is not cheap to produce a season and get it into retail. In addition by the time we got to season 4 almost no retail stores would carry the product. Amazon carries all titles, so this is why you see it there. We understand that fans hate it when a studio starts a series and then abandons it. In an effort to appease fans, and not lose money in the process, we have taken some titles to the Shout! Select side. We make less product, cut out the middle man and therefore do not lose money and (hopefully) makes fans happy. I hope this makes sense. We are in no way trying to be sneaky or greedy. We value our fans and take pride in our product.

I appreciate Shout for putting these shows. I have purchased alot of Shout titles this year. The biggest disappointment is being penalized for living across the border and being charged double the price as those in the US.

Too bad more of these titles can't come out in complete seris such as Leave it to Beaver.  It is up there with I Love Lucy and the Dick Van Dyke Show for best set ever released.

I appreciate Shout for putting these shows. I have purchased alot of Shout titles this year. The biggest disappointment is being penalized for living across the border and being charged double the price than those ordering in the US.

Too bad more of these titles can't come out in complete seris such as Leave it to Beaver.  It is up there with I Love Lucy and the Dick Van Dyke Show for best set ever released.

Well, one way to save on shipping costs to Canada is to wait for Season 6 to be released and then

order seasons 5 and 6 together. Shipping cost is only two dollars more and Canada Post's service

charge remains the same.

So after David Landau emailing me to say I am out of luck to buy FKB % in Canada. Doesn't it show up on Amazon.ca for $28.  Hmmm that would have been just the shipping cost.!!!! Oh and I get free shipping. So I am $12 ahead from everyone ordering from Shout. Something smells here folks.

http://www.amazon.ca/Father-Knows-Best-Season-Exclusive/dp/B003Z0CT1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1281802223&sr=8-1

Well it is about time we got a break on being gouged for shipping charges for years.

Good for Shout for coming through. I am sure we Canadians will appreciate it. Although I imagine a good percentage of sales came from here.

I have pre-ordered my copy already.

The season 5 DVD is nice, but as is sometimes the case with DVD's from Shout Factory, I found a few problems. Nothing major, just the usual minor irritating stuff.

1. Gone are the nice slip cases and they are replaced with that cheap style amaray case. This was probably a cost cutting move, but it would have been nice if they had considered uniformity and continued with the slip cases used in seasons 1 thru 4.

2. The episodes seem uncut, but the last 10 seconds or so of the closing credits are cut off and the Colex Enterprises logo appears instead. Again it's not a big deal, but the closing credits were intact in seasons 2, 3, and 4. So why not now with season 5? Also, the opening credits are not the original ones, the copyright is MCMLX (1960) and this season aired in 1958-59.

3. The episode menus have changed. This in itself is not an issue, but what IS an issue is the numbering sequence of the episodes was altered. For seasons 1 thru 4, the episodes were numbered consecutively. For example, the season 4 episodes were numbered from 101 to 133. But with season 5, the first episode Vine Covered Cottage isn't numbered 134, instead the numbering sequence starts all over and the episode is listed as number 1. To me, that's a pretty big error. They probably shouldn't have numbered the episode titles in the first place, it really isn't necessary.

Other than that, it's a nice DVD set. I enjoy the episodes. Hopefully season 6 will be soon forthcoming. The episodes of Window On Main Street are a nice bonus.

I have to wait another week for season 5 to be available from amazon in Canada. But it is too bad about the packaging.

You are right alot of studios change to the cheaper packaging. As for the openings would they have used season six opeinings?

You can compare the openings here:

http://www.fatherknowsbest.com/

Hi Gary

On the closing credits -- we  all need to remember FKB is now owned by the family of Robert Young and the Estate of Eugene Rodney. Sony has been great in working with SHOUT to supply the uncut versions, if the versions have the closing logo cut off unless the family and estate of the rights holders are willing to spend mucho money to do all new transfers and restorations situations like this will happen.  The same thing happens on Season 1 of THE DONNA REED SHOW again because the show is now owned by Reed's family.  And reminds us of OZZIE AND HARRIET where only syndicated prints are available and unless David Nelson wants to pay for new masters that is all fans will get, syndicated versions, considering the show is a classic and probably made a nice bit of change for their family it is a shame that the Nelson family won't restore the show.  

Good to see we agree on something, Gary. :-)

A few more things I observed about the season 5 DVD:

6 of the 38 episodes are remakes/repeats of previous shows. The other 32 are new, original stories.

Art Of Romance is the same exact episode that is seen on the season 3 DVD.

Margaret Goes Dancing is the same exact episode that is seen on the season 1 DVD.

Promised Playhouse is the remake version with some new footage, but it is the same edited 22 minute version that is seen on the season 1 DVD. This falsifies Shout's claim of "all 38 uncut episodes" on back of the DVD case. To put it more accurately, 37 of the 38 shows are uncut.

Bud The Snob, Christmas Story, and Live My Own Life are the full uncut remake versions with some new footage. It appears that the uncut remakes of Art Of Romance, Margaret Goes Dancing, and Promised Playhouse are lost episodes.

Preparing for season 6- There are 32 episodes, 27 original stories and 5 episodes that are remakes/repeats of previous shows from season 2.