Johnny Cash TV-show

Why are there not any DVD's of the Johnny Cash TV show? Especially since his death, many clips have been running from them. On VH-1 and CMT you hear over and over how great it was and important it was. It was even getting solid ratings when ABC canceled it, probably due to Johnny's politics and control of the show (like what happened to the Smothers Brothers at CBS). You hear how Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, and James Taylor made important apperances there. You would think that if CMT could secure the rights and air the Glen Campell Goodtime Hour from around the same time period, they would do the same for the much superior Johnny Cash show! It would be even better if DVD's were made of it. One of his last shows aired, featuring the Man in Black going to Vanderbilt University and talking to the "kids" there in an open and honest way was recently voted as a "Top TV-Rock Moment" by VH-1. It also is the show that probably broke up his fragile relationship with ABC. Not the he really cared about being canceled, he admitted that it was getting to be to much of a grind, but he did wish that ABC would have contacted him personally instead of reading about his cancellation in the newspaper one morning! I believe that a great artistic and commercial opportunity is being ignored by not re-airing the shows and/or putting them out on DVD.

 

And i think The Monkees made an appearance on his show.

 

And Dylan and Derek & the Dominos.

 

Well, there is something:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...ref=sr_1_2/104-0918645-9507940?v=glance&s=dvd

Of course, it ain't everything - but can you imagine the undertaking it would be to release all the shows from 30 years?

 

Like a lot of vintage television shows involving music, I'm guessing that getting the DVD rights to the songs would involve astronomical sums of money. No one had any idea that years later, there would be a market for selling this stuff for home viewing, so they only got the rights for the original broadcasts.

Could be another reason why the shows haven't shown up on cable.

Uh...that's a Johnny Carson collection...

Although I do remember Carson doing a version of Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" while riding a donkey once!