The Best of Bonanza (DVD, 2007)

Although this version is typical of the countless 31 or so Public Domain versions of Bonanzas you will find out there, this version has one good thing going for it. All of the Public Domain episodes are all together in one collection, and the quality is reasonably good! I work in Television and I know why the music is missing on all the current versions. Although these episodes are in the US Public Domain, the Music bed (Open and Close) was renewed or still under Copyright. In order to sell the episodes with the original music themes, the distributors would have to pay a royalty on each episode for the music, which would then cause the price to be much more. This underlying copyright is the reason for these episodes to be found this way. TV stations are allowed to run these with the original music, because they pay an annual Broadcast Fee under BMI and ASCAP for a "blanket performance license", which is paid to copyright holders of music for "performance to the public". The only way to get the Bonanza Episodes with the original music is to either copy it off the air (it is legal) or hope that the original copyright holder of the other Bonanza Series will release the original series with the music "restored". Otherwise these 31 episodes will not be seen until the underlying music copyright expires. NBC originally ran these and Paramount was the original distributor. You will enjoy these rare "lost episodes" despite the missing music themes. Besides, the price is MORE THAN FAIR for THIRTY-ONE HOUR-LONG EPISODES + THREE ORIGINAL OTHER TV SHOWS AS A BONUS. THOSE EPISODES HAVE THE ORIGINAL MUSIC (Non-Bonanza Shows). A GREAT BARGAIN!