Garry Shandling’s Groundbreaking First Television Series to Debut on DVD October 20

Production Underway for the Long-awaited "It’s Garry Shandling’s Show: The Complete Series" DVD Box Set

From Shout! Factory for Worldwide Home Entertainment Release

Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Garry Shandling, has announced the start of DVD production on a spectacular new complete series collector’s set of Shandling’s groundbreaking first TV series It’s Garry Shandling’s Show. For years, fans and critics alike have been anxiously waiting for the DVD release of the show, which has never been available on home video. It’s Garry Shandling’s Show: The Complete Series DVD box set is set to debut for the first time on DVD and digital distribution this October 20, 2009.

The DVD box set will be comprised of 16-DVDs, featuring the complete 72 episodes from the entire four seasons, a payload of bonus content and much more – all collected in a lavish package. Garry Shandling and Shout! Factory are currently developing a wide range of in-depth bonus content, including extensive featurettes, commentaries, outtakes and much more!

Before the Internet and reality TV, no one saw the true potential of television more humorously and with more vision than award-winning actor/writer/producer/director Garry Shandling. In 1986 Shandling was poised to become a permanent guest host on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show. Instead, he took a chance on an offer from fledgling cable network to create his own television series.

Shandling teamed with Saturday Night Live’s Alan Zweibel, and a crew of talented young writers including Tom Gammill & Max Pross, Al Jean & Michael Reiss, David Mirkin (Seinfeld and The Simpsons) and Ed Solomon (Men in Black). With the September 1986 premiere, television history was made. TV Guide immediately recognized the show as “audacious, satirical, hip, sophisticated and wonderfully silly, and often miraculously all of the above at the same time.” It’s Garry Shandling’s Show went on to garner numerous honors and accolades. In 1988, the show was the first cable comedy series to receive multiple Emmy® nominations for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series. Over the years, guest stars (playing themselves) on It’s Garry Shandling’s Show included Tom Petty, Rob Reiner, Vanna White, Dan Aykroyd, Martin Mull, Gilda Radner (in her last TV performance), Carl Reiner, Chevy Chase, Red Buttons, Jeff Goldblum, The Turtles, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and more.

A surreal look at the daily life of a young single man who is a comedian, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show was not a typical sitcom. In an incredibly bold show of respect for his viewers, Shandling broke the “fourth wall” and included the studio audience and the viewers at home in on the actual making of the show, while performing in the show. Experimenting with the sitcom form meant inviting the audience onto the set, playing with the passage of time (“It’s now two weeks later”), and generally exploding the genre and making art of the debris.

From its unforgettable theme song to its closing credits, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show epitomized award-winning, mind-bending television for four seasons, and its influence is clearly seen in the best TV comedies through the decades to follow.