I've been meaning for a while to write an entry adding to the chorus of supplication for sane DVD releases of Mythbusters and Anthony Bourdain's television work. I never saw A Cook's Tour, and I've only seen a few episodes of No Reservations, mostly because I didn't have cable until last fall. Mythbusters is an incredibly informative and entertaining show for anyone with a scientific mind. I've found that I hardly care or ever remember whether the 'myth' was true or false (and often 'myth' does not seem like an appropriate term for the proposition being tested); what I treasure is the process of discovery. The hosts are both creative and thorough in their approaches, and have enviable skills in building the machines to test their hypotheses.

Happily there's now a perfectly good release of No Reservations Season One. On the Mythbusters front, so far the selection has been puzzling. Several single episodes are available as discs for $20. Who's going to pay that? The only explanation I can think of is that they're looking to the educational market, and have judged them all to be a bunch of suckers. This past Tuesday, another one of these came out, "Mega Movie Myths," and it's the first one to ever be available on Netflix. Fortunately, Amazon holds greater promise for the future: Mythbusters: Collection 1, a 4-disc set just like in the normal world, will be available May 22 for $22.49.

While I'm on the subject, there are some TV shows that seem forever to be tragically stuck in DVD purgatory, at least in part due to music licensing issues. I won't say much about the Wonder Years, because some things are just too painful to discuss. There is more hope for The State, the brilliant sketch comedy show from MTV. For years the troupe has dutifully updated its website even though there was never anything substantive to report about the status of DVDs of the show. And it's still tough to tell whether it's purely a music licensing issue, or one of perceived lack of demand (their comments on the site imply some of the latter). But now the show's first season is available for download on iTunes, which is at least something. Unfortunately all the copyrighted music has been replaced with generic versions, which according to many viewers does great violence to memories of the show and, in some cases, the comic timing.

It is really a tough issue. The fact is these works of television are tied in with this music in the mind of the viewer, and some of the credit for that belongs to the creators of that music. And yet it seems wrong that important works can be imprisoned by the connection. I keep trying to think of analogies to other forms of art or ways of business to show how ridiculous it is, but it's not really the fault of one side or another. The best solution I can think of, which many advocate for other purposes, is that copyrights should expire or be reduced in some way after shorter terms, not longer as the trends have been going. This would give the copyright holders some incentive to work out a deal while they still can, and both parties should already have incentive to release the DVD while there is still a market for it.