What do you mean, "it's not on DVD"?

With all eight (eight!) seasons of the squirm-inducing "Full House" on DVD, you'd think just about ever movie or TV show worth watching would have made its way to disc by now. But some surprisingly worthwhile—or at least notable—films and shows ("Wonder Years," anyone?) have yet to emerge on DVD (much less Blu-ray). Check out some of the highlights (and lowlights, for that matter).

"The Six Million Dollar Man" (1974)/"The Bionic Woman" (1975)
We can rebuild him...we have the technology...but for now, at least, we can't watch Steve Austin or Jamie Sommers (the original Jaime, not the lame remake) on DVD, and that's a shame. I was about five or six years old when "The Six Million Dollar Man" first aired, and man—that show used to scare me silly, especially the episodes with Bigfoot and the killer robots. (My mom had to talk me down after one particularly frightening episode, in which Steve ripped the facemask off a guy who turned out to be a robot—revealing circuitry and artificial, nightmare-inspiring eyes inside.)

Anyway, here we have a pair of classic (if probably cheesy) sci-fi shows just begging for a DVD release. What gives?

Blame a thicket of rights issues, according to David Lambert of TVShowsOnDVD.com, with Universal still owning the actual "Six Million Dollar Man" and "Bionic Woman" shows, while Dimension Films managed to snare the rights to Cyborg, the book upon which the "Steve Austin" character is based. Turns out Dimension wanted to make a movie version starring Jim Carrey as Steve Austin—yes, it would have been a comedy—but Carrey bowed out before the cameras started rolling, and the film never got made.

And while Universal managed to release "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman" in the U.K., the studio would need Dimension's blessing to do the same here in the U.S.—and so far, that hasn't happened.

You can read the whole "SMDM"-on-DVD saga here at TVguide.com (which also explains how Universal got away with the recent "Bionic Woman" remake); in the meantime, you can always buy an import DVD of "The Six Million Dollar Man," but you'll need a region-free DVD player first.

"The Wonder Years" (1988-1993)
This much-beloved series (although not so beloved by me) ran six seasons in the late 1980s/early 90s, and chronicled the growing pains of a certain Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage), a teen who painfully navigates his way through life, love...and all that.

Again, another show that, I'm sure, would be a big hit on DVD—and hey, it's at least as deserving as "Full House" to get the complete DVD treatment.

So, what's the holdup? The music. Set in the late 60s and early 70s, "Wonder Years" was known for its soundtrack of period hits—and securing the rights to all those tunes for DVD ain't cheap.

As Wikipedia notes, a pair of "Wonder Years" compilation DVDs were released in 1999, but they're out of print—and hence, now pricey collectors' items.

The African Queen (1951)
A classic, directed by the great John Huston and starring screen legends Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, who spend the better part of the movie (set during World War I) furiously bickering—and then falling in love—as they flee the Germans in Bogart's dilapidated old boat, the African Queen. Bogart won an Oscar for his performance as the crusty old sea captain.

Released in 1951, the African Queen is a must-see for film buffs and Bogart/Hepburn fans, and it's easy enough to find on cable. But the movie never got a U.S. DVD release. According to Wikipedia, the rights to African Queen were traded from one studio to another for decades, finally landing in the lap of current rights owner CBS, which has yet to release to movie on disc.

The African Queen is available as a Region 2 DVD in Europe, Wikipedia says. There's also an African Queen DVD listed on the Barnes & Noble Web site, but watch out—as many annoyed customers have pointed out in the comments, it's dubbed in Japanese.

"thirtysomething" (1987-1991)
Either you loved the yuppie-obsessed, frequently precious, and shamelessly self-absorbed adventures of Hope, Michael, Elliot, Gary, Melissa, and the rest—or you hated it. Personally, I got a kick out of the show, which premiered in 1987 and ran for four seasons. My favorite character: Machiavellian ad agency boss Miles Drentell, who tended a miniature rock garden from his corner office while tormenting poor Michael and Elliot.

No doubt, a great (and Emmy-winning) show (its makers went on to produce "My So-Called Life" and "Quarterlife"), but so far, no DVD. There were rumors that producer and rights owner MGM was set to release the show on disc in 2005, but MGM later denied the story—and sadly, that's been pretty much that.

Also, beware the bootleg DVDs of thirtysomething that are floating around the Web—apparently, they're VHS-to-DVD transfers, and poor-quality ones at that.

Howard the Duck (1986)
Just about everything George Lucas touches turns to gold—well, except maybe for "The Phantom Menace" and this 1986 stinker, about a duck from another planet who crash-lands on Earth, meets a comely punk rocker, tangles with the authorities, and...oh, never mind.

Anyway, this George Lucas-produced film was tarred and feathered by critics, ignored by audiences, and then lingered on for years in the half-life of cable and VHS. But while Howard the Duck DVDs hatched abroad, they never made it to the U.S.—and last I checked, no one's that upset about it.

Yentl (1983)
Barbra's 1983 inspirational (or schmaltzy, depending on your point of view) epic—about a Jewish girl who disguises herself as a boy to receive religious training—may not be your cup of tea, but hey—it won an Oscar for Best Music, earned three-and-a-half stars from Ebert, and made a pretty big splash when it first hit theaters.

But while just about every movie Babs ever made is on DVD (including a 1981 gem called All Night Long—I've never heard of it either), Yentl ain't one of them—despite the fact that Barbra herself told Oprah (in this two-year-old YouTube clip) that she spent hours working on the extras for a DVD director's cut.

So where's the disc? Well, it looks like the DVD made it to Region 2 countries in Europe, but here in the U.S...no dice, and even Barbra isn't sure why. "Write UA (United Artists), or call them!" she pleads in the Oprah clip.

Got any other favorite movies or TV shows that never made it to DVD?