I had been searching for many missing titles curiously not been released here such as ALLY McBEAL and THE MUPPET SHOW. They were, however, fully released in the UK and Australia ... on PAL formats. In North America, NTSC formats are treated with a trickle of "Best of ..." and "Selected episodes" from each of the shows ... a sort of, "What's the point?" for fans. I'm sure there are similar frustrations the other way around.
PAL is the format broadcasters use in Europe and Australia. NTSC is the format broadcasters use in North America. The main difference between the formats is 1 frame per second; PAL is 25 frames per second and NTSC is 24 frames per second. Neither format can be used on the other's equipment ... think MAC and PC ... they do the same things, they're just different and not really compatible.
While THE MUPPET SHOW's full seasons are being released at a snail's pace, there doesn't seem to be any plans for ALLY McBEAL to be released in a similar fashion. So what's an intrepid rabid fan to do?
On the market there are such things as region/code-free DVD players that are able to read NTSC and PAL formats. Most computer DVD players are able to read both formats. My Powerbook plays both PAL and NTSC DVDs beautifully. If you're able to get your hands on one or something similar, great, half the battle is done. The next thing you would need is a television that can readily read the differing lines of resolution (PAL is 576 pixels of vertical resolution across your television screen; NTSC is 480) - an HD television and most computer monitors are able to make the conversion.
Apart from that, you would have to go out of your way and flex your sleuthing skills online to find that one release that seemed oh-so elusive is now within your grasp.
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