Ted and I got an email from the suppliers of this new promotion. Thought you might all be interested!

For the first time ever, discover the complete Columbo series on DVD.
The Complete Columbo: The Official Collection on DVD goes on sale Wednesday 22 August 2007 and will be available at your newsagent.

Each issue comes with a DVD containing two episodes of the classic TV series and a fascinating 16 page magazine. The series covers all 11 seasons from 1971 to 1994.

Every fortnight, follow the adventures of everyone’s favourite police lieutenant and continue to discover interesting facts about this classic television series. The magazine includes 5 sections that explore details about particular episodes, characters, actors, and writers and takes an in-depth look into the long tradition of the great detectives of crime literature. Plus much more!

Issue 1 is offered at the special price of £1.99. Subsequent issues are available at £7.99 every fortnight. Customers who want to subscribe to the series will receive free gifts and are able to do so online at www.columbocollection.com, by email at Columbo@jacklinservice.com, by phone on 0870 890 1131 (ROI +44 870 890 1131), or post with a completed coupon available on an insert available in issues 1-3.

The UK market gets all the breaks, but it seems these people just won't be satisfied until they gouge fans of this series 3 or 4 times. I mean, we know the source material has been readily available worldwide, so why else wouldn't they have done this right from the very start?

Personally, I would have preferred to have acquired the 5 seasons I have the way Columbia House used to distribute Columbo on VHS. Yes, indeed. Two episodes per one-sided disc in it's own acrylic snap case. That's what I loathe about the release-by-release inconsistency of the Universal packaging, because there's nothing universal about it. In fact, I hope the brain surgeon that OK'd the design for Season 1 is back to sweeping floors.

"The UK market gets all the breaks..."

Really? What about things like CDs, DVDs, computer game consoles, computer games, etc., all costing nearly twice as much in the UK as America?

Doesn't seem like much of a "break" to me - unless you're talking about a bad one.

This is another one of those magazine series that runs virtually for eternity and costs a huge fortune to collect. Note the £1.99 introductory price (normal price £7.99) spiel. That's a staple tactic of this kind of money-spinning venture. They often get cancelled when there aren't enough interested consumers, leaving the few who are interested high and dry.
Even if I didn't already have the first 7 seasons on DVD, I would never fall for a rip-off like this, and I advise others to think twice, or even three times, before reaching into their pockets on a regular basis to shell out for the latest issue

Hm -- well, I'm sure UKers will make the right decisions to suit themselves.

But, it seems like yesterday when I was getting a dozen emails a day, asking "When will Columbo be available on DVD?!!!". The tone of these questions was outraged, resentful, and sometimes almost desperate.

I'm very glad things have progressed enough for folks to be so discriminating.

I agree these things are expensive, but I wonder if the magazine is worth a read. I wonder who has researched it? I will try to get a peek and have a look at my newsagents!

sorry, this is a bit off-topic.....but what is a newsagent? it was mentioned twice in this thread. i'd be interested to know what it is.

Cassa, a newsagent, in the UK, is basically what we in the US would call a newsstand -- a small business that mainly sells newspapers and magazines, but may also sell some other miscellaneous items.

thank you sir!

Hi there,

At first I thought great, then went to;

www.columbocollection.com

But it does not exist, then E-mailed; Columbo@jacklinservice.com, but no reply, not even a receipt that my mail was opened.

I will check out the newsagent tomorrow and see what the quality is, and what if you miss a week or two.

The whole series is going to cost about £270, don’t think it’s for me, as I have all the 69 episodes on DVD with a menu on the discs, only problem there is no art work on the discs, anybody want to buy ???

Wayne

Hi Wayne,

http://www.columbocollection.com/ certainly does exist. I'm afraid I cannot comment on why you are unable to reach it -- please try again?

Their contact information is at this page

http://www.columbocollection.com/contact.html

Like it or hate it or leave it alone, but it is plainly false for you to suggest that it "doesn't exist".

Also, Wayne, when I sent an email to columbo@jacklinservice.com, I got an immediate response -- although, despite Stephen mentioning this address in his post, I think it would be a better idea to contact the company through the Contact page that I already cited, or through the Subscription form on their home page.

Again, it's fine with me if you or anyone is uninterested in this offering -- I have no personal interest in this company -- but I really don't know what you are talking about.

Anybody -- anybody! -- should be easily able to see for themselves that the site http://www.columbocollection.com/ does exist, and I do not know how or why you would state otherwise.

Yes!
http://www.columbocollection.com/
definitely DOES exist, just as stephen and ted had said...i went to that site just now.

Hi there Ted,

Yes your right the site is there at,
http://www.columbocollection.com/ I do say sorry, but it's not there on the WWW that Steve put in,www.columbocollection.com the / was missing, and just this hour I got an E-mail back.

Now should I start buy the collection or not hmm, asa I woulf not notice the £7.00 as it's out every two weeks.

Wayne

Hi Wayne, thanks for your help in getting that straightened out -- I was confused by the problem, now I understand.

www.columbocollection.com works regardless of "/"

I can confirm that yesterday the site was not working because I was having difficulty opening it. All they had was a coming soon heading. Seems like they were having problems because today its working.

WD

perhaps they had every columbo fan on the planet hitting their site at the same time ;-)