McCloud - There Ya' Go! The 'Sagebrush Sherlock Holmes' Is Riding Onto DVD!

We've been telling you for more than a year that McCloud was coming to DVD in 2005, and today Universal has made it official with their announcement of McCloud - Seasons 1 & 2 for release on August 9th in a 3-disc set (each one double-sided). For $39.98 SRP you get 946 minutes containing what ought to be 14 episodes. Why so few for two seasons? Don't forget that McCloud, along with McMillan & Wife and Columbo and sometimes others, were part of a rotating selection of shows that shared a (1.5-2 hour) timeslot under the group name "NBC Sunday Mystery Movie", so each characters' series only appeared every 3rd or 4th week. Prior to that, McCloud was briefly part of NBC's "Four In One" program in the same timeslot, which had the same "rotating shows" concept.

McCloud told the story of one Sam McCloud (played to perfection by Dennis Weaver), a Deputy Marshal from Taos, New Mexico whose pilot episode had him traveling to New York City to transport a prisoner to the NYPD. Later, he stays in the Big Apple to learn law enforcement techniques there (and to be near his lady (Star Trek/ST:TNG's Diana Muldaur), who works for her daddy's NY newspaper), but his down-home style also ends up teaching the big-city cops a thing or two. No only did this classic show work as a great detective story, but there was also lots of humor to be had from the program's fish-out-of-water concept.

Glen A. Larson was one of the Executive Producers of this series, so it's no surprise that you'll find Battlestar Galactica's Terry Carter ("Colonel Tigh") on board as Sgt. Joe Broadhurst, who was friends with McCloud despite Chief Clifford's grouchy manner in respect to Sam's style. Other regular cast seen in the show when appropriate included Teri Garr and Della Reese. The pilot episode (if included on this set) guest stars Julie Newmar and Raul Julia, among others. Throughout the first two seasons you'll also see the likes of Susan Strasberg, Lorraine Gary, Doug McClure, Richard Dawson, Susan St. James, Randolph Mantooth, Sebastian Cabot, Alan Oppenheimer, Elisha Cook Jr., Stefanie Powers, Joan Blondell, Vincent Gardenia, Pat Morita, Burgess Meredith, Gary Collins, Shelley Fabares, Avery Schreiber, Vic Tayback, and the incomparable Milton Berle.

Expect the DVD to present this classic series in the orginal Full Frame video and English Mono audio. English and Spanish subtitles are also going to be included. Stay tuned for box art, plus any updates that may or may not include extras.