Revisit TV's favorite husband-wife detective duo as they take on crooks, murderers and the windy streets of San Francisco in the captivating complete first season of McMillan & Wife. Written by TV legend Steven Boch... more »co (NYPD Blue), this classic mystery series stars the dashing Rock Hudson as San Francisco's newest police commissioner and Susan Saint James as his loyal and inquisitive wife, Sally. He may be a top-ranking official in charge of the safety of one of America's largest cities, but she's the housewife with more than a few case-solving tricks up her sleeve! One of the original shows in the NBC Mystery Movie lineup, McMillan & Wife proves that when it comes to solving crime, two clueseekers are always better than one.« less
"In August 2005, Universal will finally release some long-overdue programs of that '70s mainstay, the NBC Mystery Movie. Tell me you can't hear that whistling theme song in your mind as you read those words!
In March 2005, season one of the most famous Mystery Movie, Columbo, was released. Clearly, Columbo is still popular, as this release was quickly followed with season two. In August, season three of Columbo makes it to DVD, along with (finally!) season one of both McCloud and McMillan and Wife. For the first time in DECADES, we can see these detective shows UNCUT and COMMERCIAL-FREE. This is great news for fans of terrific '70s TV!
Season one of McMillan and Wife consists of one two-hour pilot, ONCE UPON A DEAD MAN, and seven episodes, each 90 minutes long (73 minutes sans commercials). The episodes originally aired from Sep. '71 - Mar. '72, and their titles are:
MURDER BY THE BARREL (directed by John "Gomez Addams" Astin!)
A barrel contains dishes, then a body, then the body disappears.
THE EASY SUNDAY MURDER CASE
A woman's husband and dog are both kidnapped.
HUSBANDS, WIVES, AND KILLERS
Mac and Sally go to a masquerade, where a necklace is stolen.
DEATH IS A SEVEN POINT FAVORITE
A mysterious note is discovered inside a football.
THE FACE OF MURDER
Sally is targeted for murder by a jewel thief.
TIL DEATH DO US PART
Mac and Sally are sealed in their home to be fumigated to death.
AN ELEMENTARY CASE OF MURDER
An old flame of Mac's comes back into his life.
Support '70s detective shows on DVD by picking up all of these babies that you can. Maybe Streets of San Francisco will be next!"
BEWARE OF UNIVERSAL COMPILATIONS!
Jennifer Cole | Dallas Texas | 10/27/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"If my review were based solely on the merits of "McMillian & Wife", it would easily score five stars. This modern interpretation of Dashelle Hammett's Nick and Nora Charles from "The Thin Man" is, to its fans, almost flawless television. It was my favorite of the NBC Mystery Movie entries, and today I enjoy it even more than I did then. How delightful to slip back into the more innocent, gaudy, fun times of the 1970's with Mac and Sally.
However, one must beware of DVD compilations released by Universal Studios. Like all of my other Universal sets, skips and sticks beset this one. Two of the eight episodes are ruined, one has a gap of about 90 seconds that is lost to a sticking problem, and another loses almost ten minutes in this same fashion. There are similar comments all over Amazon reviews by others who have had these same problems with Universal sets. We also own the Dragnet set, which skips, sticks, and has a totally jacked menu. We recently purchased the Adam-12 set, and it not only skips and sticks, it appears to have actually damaged our DVD player. Now the machine makes a loud whirring sound, and has begun to skip and stick on ALL DVD's.
I can't imagine what is wrong with those people at Universal, but they are putting out some seriously botched product. Buy any set from them with caution.
"
Finally on DVD - My favorite show from the 70's
Kathleen Crouch | Ventura, CA United States | 11/03/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was still in grade school when the Sunday Night Mystery Series came out but watched it every weekend with my mom. McMillian and Wife was always my favorite. Watching the show brings back fond memories of watching with mom, but also of the effervescent Susan St. James, the bitingly funny Nancy Walker, endearing John Schuck and of course the ultra-cool and patient Rock Hudson as the commissioner.
I'll have to echo the comments already aired here about the lack of any special features or inserts. What gives here? Also, the dual layer DVD's are a real drag. How about a little more substance for the season two set, Universal? Don't be so cheap!
Finally, you've got to add in the Mystery Movie whistle theme...
Love the show, so glad to see the DVD's. Let's go Season Two!
PS: Having watched the entire season now, I found a hidden episode with Claude Akins. It's not documented on the DVD packaging, probably because the last 20 minutes are riddled with DVD skips. This episode has Mac and Sally visiting Palm Springs to play golf with Mac's old buddy played by Claude. On the way back in the private plane they're in, the pilot gets shot and Mac has to land the plane in the middle of nowhere. No explanation of how they find a phone, but hey, that's okay. It's still cute, if you can stand the skips at the end. I found it by selecting "play all" on disc 2 side B."
Universal needs to recall BAD DVDs.
T. Brewer | Roanoke, VA USA | 01/09/2006
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Universal seems to be having problems with their DVDs of TV Shows.
I gave my wife the McMillan and Wife Season One set. It freezes and skips throughout. It's a shame because she loves the show. The discs are not damaged in any visual manner...no smudges or scratches. They just freeze.
She gave me the Dragnet series of DVDS...another Universal product.
My joy turned to aggravation though as those Discs kept freezing up as well.
And it is not just our DVD player. We have four in the house and it did it in all of them.
It's obvious Universal is having a problem with the production of DVD's.
I did a little checking on the internet and it appears alot of other people are having the same problems. Universal needs to recall their compilation series.
Evidentially the Adam-12 discs have the same problem.
So be warned, if you buy Universal TV series DVD's, there could be problems.
"
UNIVERSAL SUCKS
Ognir Rrats | Mars, Ca | 09/15/2008
(1 out of 5 stars)
"McMILLAN AND WIFE is a five star show, Universal is a negative 100,000. Do not expect to see any new McMillans from them, this show will have to be farmed out to get released in full. I am so sick of buying the first season of a series only to realize that the rest of the series won't be, like Kojak, etal. Or, you can buy the whole series, one DVD release at a time like I did for the Wild Wild West only to have it then re released WITH the two made for TV movies included and no you can't get the movies separate at this time. Keep ripping us off and sooner or later, no one will bother with your crap."