Maude on DVD

… and NOW there’s MAUDE !

UPDATE! …finally

I wanted to wait a few days before posting this to make sure it was legit. It was back in 2007 when Maude Season 1 was released on DVD from Sony Entertainment, which was received very well by Bea’s fans. Since then Maude has appeared on various streaming sites and finally iTunes and Amazon for digital purchase. Season two, which seemed right around the corner after the success of season 1, never appeared. So, a few days ago when the complete series, all 6 seasons, 141 shows started to spring up on Shout! Factory’s webpage seven years later, I was and still am hesitant about its existence. Meanwhile, fans seem pretty happy about it and I have been receiving messages with no mention of any reserves about this specific release.

Shout! Factory seems to be the reincarnation of Rhino, which I am very familiar with. You can read more about their history here via their about page. After learning this, I feel more comfortable with this release. That being said, I doubt it will be available on Amazon, iTunes, and the like anytime soon, if ever at all due to it’s unique commercial licensing. I also just found out from our contributor Alex, that this is now listed on the creditable site TVShowsOnDVD.com.

It looks like this is the time to get your long-awaited box set of Maude: The Complete Series!

If you do order this, please send photos of your unboxing, embracing, and absolute joy-ing in sharing this momentous occasion starting on March 17, 2015!

Television history has given us many memorable, amazing women… and then there’s Maude. Bea Arthur (The Golden Girls) stars as the feisty and funny title character in Maude: The Complete Series, finally available on DVD from Shout! Factory.

Created by Norman Lear (All In The Family), Maude pushed the boundaries for network television during its six-year network run from 1972 to 1978. Often controversial and always refreshingly honest, the series never shied away from tackling the topical issues of the day, yet its depth of character and humor left audiences laughing all the way.

Decades after its initial broadcast, Maude remains a benchmark in television for its sharp, intelligent writing, impressive supporting cast (including Bill Macy, Adrienne Barbeau, Conrad Bain and Rue McClanahan) – and of course, the amazing Ms. Arthur. In a role that earned her a well-deserved Emmy® award, Bea Arthur created an indelible portrait of a fiercely liberated woman, paving the way for other noteworthy, female-driven sitcoms from Roseanne and Murphy Brown to 30 Rock.

Right on, Maude!

Until next time, Kev! [ UPDATE – JAN 09 2015 ]

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More detailed information has been announced on the contents of the box set from our contributor Alex, below:

“And then there’s Maude. Bea Arthur (The Golden Girls) stars as the feisty and funny title character in Maude: The Complete Series, finally available on DVD from Shout! Factory on March 17, 2015.
The box set contains all 141 episodes on 19 DVDs, as well as a 40-page collector’s book containing an essay by Pulitzer Prize-winning TV critic Tom Shales, and several bonus features.

Maude: The Complete Series Bonus Features:
Original All In The Family episode “Cousin Maude’s Visit”
Original All In The Family episode “Maude – Pilot”
Unaired episode 115 “The Double Standard”
Unaired episode 316 “Maude’s New Friends”
Syndication Sales Presentation (Hosted by Norman Lear)
Featurettes:
And Then There’s Maude: Television’s First Feminist
Everything but Hemorrhoids: Maude Speaks to America
Memories of Maude – featuring new interviews with Adrienne Barbeau and Bill Macy”
Source: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Maude-The-Complete-Series/20631

*The two unaired episodes of Maude share titles and story elements that eventually did air. “The Double Standard” was originally shot for Season One as episode 15 and did not air. However, the same script was reshot for Season Two with cast changes and aired on 10/30/73. “Arthur’s Friends” (a.k.a. “Maude’s New Friends”) was originally shot for Season Three as episode 16. This version also did not air, but the script was reshot in Season Five with cast changes and aired 11/29/76. Tapes for both episodes were recently found in the Sony vault and have never been seen by the public until now.
Source: https://www.shoutfactory.com/tv/comedy/maude-the-complete-series

Over the next couple of years, the highly anticipated release of Maude on DVD will take place. This section of the website will be dedicated to this exciting release! The first release of season 1 will start on March 20th, 2007. It is only assumed that the following seasons will then be released months later, similar to how the Golden Girls has been released. Now that the Golden Girls’ final season has been slated to be released in February, we can get re-energized for the release of Maude within a month’s time!

I know that I have personally waited over 7 years for Maude to be released on DVD, so this is personally very exciting for me, as well as, for many Bea fans. Golden Girls is beyond wonderful, but I have always felt that Maude was Bea’s baby and is definitely a work of art in itself, to be archived and relived for many decades to come. If you have never seen Maude before, prepare for smart comedy tucked into many very sensitive matters in the way of living in the 70s and how so much has and hasn’t changed since then.

Prepare to live and/or relive the era of MAUDE ON DVD!!! Finally, geez!

Kev!
01.09.07

“The head of CBS asked ‘Who is that girl? Let’s give her her own series,’” Arthur said. “It’s a Cinderella story, but much older.”

1972-1978, 6 Seasons, 142, 30-minute episodes

Cast of Maude

Editorial from TV.com

Maude was one of the most popular shows during the 70s. Not only was it one of the most popular, it was one of the most controversial. The show was real and told it like it is – much like the show that first introduced us to Maude, All in the Family.

Maude was outspoken and stong-willed… which lead her to many interesting and controversial situations. Maude wasted no time becoming one of the most controversial shows ever when she, at age 47, became pregnant and decided to get an abortion (the first show to ever have the lead character get an abortion). By the end of the show Maude was heading to Congress, ready to take on a new world. And it seemed we would get to see Congresswoman Maude, but Bea Arthur decided to leave the show. Maude remains as part of TV history and has since become a true classic.

Others in the cast include, Maude’s fourth husband, Walter, and her divorced daughter, Carol from her first marriage. Arthur was the next door neighbor who later married Maude’s best friend, Vivian and Phillip was Carol’s son.

Maude had a spin-off, Good Times, which centered around the life of the Findlay housekeeper, Florida. Mrs. Naugatuck become the new housekeeper in 1974. She would later marry her boyfriend, Bert Beasley.

Spin-off of: All in the Family
Spin-offs: Good Times

Nielsen Ratings History:

#4 in the 1972-1973 Season
#6 in the 1973-1974 Season
#9 in the 1974-1975 Season
#4 in the 1975-1976 Season

What the fan’s are saying!

From the And Then There’s Bea Yahoo Group

I was in 6th grade when MAUDE debuted…and loved every minute of it! Of course, I was a fan of ALL IN THE FAMILY…and generally “gobbled up” whatever Norman Lear put out (except for MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN).

But even at the tender age of 11 (going on 12), I sensed that Bea Arthur was special. What a whirlwind!!

Stayed with the show until its end….was sad to see it go, but it did seem to be “winding down” in terms of comedic possibilities.

I always loved that MAUDE, like most of the sitcoms filmed before a studio audience in those days, was staged like a small play in two acts…. you got the sense that there were very few stops for retakes…it was played through by a group of professionals who knew their marks and their lines.

I know that we only have Season 1 ahead of us at this point, but who can forget Maude’s run for Senate? Or the “Maude at the Analyst” (was that its title?) episode which was basically a 23-minute monologue by the incomparable Bea?

I have waited for YEARS now for MAUDE to come to DVD, and the wait is almost over!

Excited!!!
Doug

From the @ccess the Golden Girls Forums

Casper writes ::

I have watched most of Disc 1 and am finding the show to be very enjoyable. 🙂 The one-liners are becoming sharper and I am beginning to follow the rhythm of an episode much easier. Also, the topical nature of the show really intrigues me and I thought the second episode was really entertaining due to the non-comedic debate about declining morals in American society following two 8 year old kids being found “playing Doctor” behind Maude’s garage. :lmao: It was also very funny for Maude to accuse her black maid of being a bigot because she wouldn’t let Maude treat her as an equal and was content to live by the social prejudices African Americans faced at that time. There is a lot of clever writing in this show.

There is also a great deal of feel-good comedy in this show and it is such a refreshing change to see Bea in a role which isn’t a carbon copy of Dorothy. Although both characters have a domineering edge to them, Maude is much more frazzled and obsessive than Dorothy, and it makes the mother-daughter relationship in Maude so much more different than the one in The Golden Girls.

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Theme Song: “And Then There’s Maude”

Written by: Alan and Marilyn Bergman and David Shire
Sung by: Donny Hathaway

Lady Godiva was a freedom rider
She didn’t care if the whole world looked.
Joan of Arc with the Lord to guide her
She was a sister who really cooked.

Isadora was the first bra burner
Ain’t you glad she showed up? (Oh yeah)
And when the country was falling apart
Betsy Ross got it all sewed up.

And then there’s Maude. (And then there’s Maude.)
And then there’s Maude. (And then there’s Maude.)
And then there’s Maude. (And then there’s Maude.)
And then there’s …

That old compromisin’, enterprisin’, anything but tranquilizing,
Right on Maude.