Dallas, TX (June 8, 2005) – The July issue of Cowboys & Indians Magazine, on newsstands June 14, features an article highlighting the TV Westerns that have been released on DVD in a lighthearted fashion and includes The Best of What’s Available List. There is a Buyer Beware List of just a few of the Westerns now available on DVD that were not among the most popular programs, and there is a Most Wanted List that includes the Westerns that are not yet on DVD, but may soon be due to popular demand.

 

Bonanza and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman are two Westerns that are included on The Best of What’s Available List in the July issue of Cowboys & Indians Magazine; while The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and The Magnificent Seven are among the Most Wanted List, and Branded – The Guns of Will Sonnett is among the Buyer Beware List.

 

People are just now beginning to recognize the amount of interest that exists for some of the Old Westerns, but because of the years in which most of the popular Westerns originally aired, they are harder to market on DVD.

 

“There’s definitely interest out there,” says Gord Lacey, owner and founder of www.tvshowsondvd.com. “But the fact that most Western series are from the ‘50’s and ‘60’s is part of the reason we’re not seeing many of them. The newer stuff is easier to sell because it’s fresher in people’s minds.”

 

With newer DVDs on the market such as Will & Grace and Friends, it is a bit harder for series that were popular in the ‘60’s to compete. There is a large fan base for Western series, and Andy Kemp, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at MPI Home Video, discovered the potential of the Western TV Market when MPI acquired the rights to the Chuck Connors series The Rifleman.

“We had already sold thousands of VHS tapes of the show, and those shows were among the first items from our catalog to go on DVD, says Kemp. “Their success led us to The Cisco Kid; when the opportunity for that came up we grabbed it.”

 

Both The Rifleman and The Cisco Kid have surpassed sales expectations, says Kemp. “At the end of the year we look at the numbers and go ‘WOW!’ we’re not advertising them or spending a lot of money on promotion, but they keep selling.” As a result, the company has fast-tracked more releases in 2005.

 

Perhaps in the near future, more video companies will see the need and the interest of some of America’s favorite Western Series and incorporate those into their DVD collection.

 

For more information on Cowboys & Indians Magazine or for the complete list of TV Western DVDs, contact Leah Wheeler via the information listed above.