Road To Avonlea: Seasons 1-7

My wife and I ordered "The Road to Avonlea" the complete series from Amazon through "Two Thumbs Up." The set arrived as scheduled and we immediately started binge watching the show because we wanted to make sure all of the DVD's worked. We loved watching The Road to Avonlea series, and apparently many others did as well since the series was nominated and won numerous awards, including 16 Emmy nominations, four Emmy Award wins, 18 Gemini Awards & Cable Ace Awards: Best Dramatic Series, 1991; Best Dramatic Series, 1993; Best Dramatic Series, 1994.Upon watching a few episodes, it's easy to see why Jackie Burroughs won (3 Gemini Awards) for Best Performance by a Lead Actress for her role as Hetty King in 1990, 1991 & 1993. Her physical comedy is amazing.Cedric Smith won a Gemini Award in 1993 for Best Leading Actor for his role as Alec KingLally Cadeau won a Gemini Award in 1994 for Best Actress for her role as Janet KingPatricia Hamilton won a Gemini Award in 1995 for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Rachel LyndeKay Tremblay won a Gemini Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1996 for her role as Great Aunt Eliza"The Road to Avonlea" also featured all-star guest appearances such as Peter Coyote (Romney Penhallow), Michael York (Ezekiel Crane), Madeline Kahn (Pigeon Plumtree), Christopher Lloyd (Alistair Dimple), Christopher Reeve (Robert Rutherford), Ned Beatty (Wally Higgins), Treat Williams (Zak Morgan), August Schellenberg (Simon Redfox), Meg Tilly (Evelyn Grier), Robby Benson (Jonathan Ravenhurst Blackwell), Bruce Greenwood (Caleb Stokes), Stockard Channing (Viola Elliot), Faye Dunaway (Countess Polenska), Maureen Stapleton (Maggie MacPhee), Eugene Levy (Rudy Blaine), Sheila McCarthy (Betty Blaine), Ryan Gosling (Bret McNulty)… Apologies to anyone we missed.A few of these guest appearances resulted in awards, such asChristopher Lloyd won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Dramatic Series for his role as Alistair Dimple, 1992Dianne Wiest won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Dramatic Series for her role as Lillian Hepworth, 1997Stockard Channing won a CableACE Award in 1995 for Actress in a Dramatic Series & was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 1994 for her role as Viola Elliot.Bruce Greenwood won a Gemini Award for Best Guest Performance in a Series by an Actor in 1995 for his role as Caleb Stokes.We did have a problem with disc 4 of season 5 not being able to load. We tried running it on 4 different players (2 Macs, Dell, and XBOX One), but still were unable to get it to load. Upon looking at the center of the disc you could see the circle where the DVD manufacturing process the "print" did not complete. Since we were still under warranty we sent an email to "Two Thumbs Up" informing them of the problem with the defective disc and included pictures. Within the two days we got a response letting us know that "Two Thumbs Up" was sending us a replacement disc and that they had verified it was good. We were so happy we were going to be getting a replacement disc and not have to take the time to repackage and return the entire set. Amazon does make it difficult to contact a seller directly but the information is there if you dig deep enough.The replacement disc arrived by two-day delivery, and was incredibly well packaged (5 layers). The disc arrived in a small 8 and ½ by 6 and ½ box (layer 1) with a sealed cushioned envelope (layer 2) with additional packaging material around it to prevent damage (layer 3). Inside the cushioned envelope was a basic hard plastic DVD case (layer 4) and inside the case, a paper towel was carefully placed around the DVD itself to prevent any damage (layer5). We have been impressed with the level of customer service. We highly recommend "Two Thumbs Up" and would buy from them again.The Road to Avonlea was first broadcast in Canada between January 7, 1990, and March 31, 1996, and Avonlea, as it was known on The Disney Channel, aired consistently between March 1990 and January 1997. As you watch the episodes, you will notice the order which the episodes should have appeared is off (I.e. the age of the children clearly older in one episode than appearing much younger in another episode, then back to being older again in the following episode). Not sure if it was CBC or Disney that may have opted to air some episodes out of order but it is a bit annoying.Warning: If you are against animals in entertainment and/or the wearing of fur, be prepared for numerous cringeworthy moments.Over all the series has been well worth the money and we would highly recommend people to buy/rent/watch the Road to Avonlea series. This is definitely a series we will watch for over and over again for years to come.

Love, love, love this show! I first saw it on the Disney Channel in the early 1990s. I loved it then and I love it now. The story writing and musical score are first rate. The scenery and costumes are beautiful. The actors are amazing. Sarah Stanley and the King children are perfect in their roles. Gus Pike was a welcome addition and the adults are great. Felix is my absolute favorite, but I have to confess a sneaking liking for Aunt Hetty as well. This is not just a children’s series. It appeals to adults as well. Kevin Sullivan, the producer, has done many other shows, including the acclaimed Anne of Green Gables series. These DVDs are well worth the price.

FAMILY CLASSIC

We enjoyed Anne of Green Gable series so wanted to watch Avonlea, also. However, many of the shows are filled with arguing and just plain dumb decisions. There are a few really enjoyable shows and a few that didn't seem to belong -- Jasper's family visit, for instance. I had ordered Season One earlier from Amazon for $42.84 and the quality is very good -- no skipping; music was not overpowering, etc. Buying this set of seasons 1-7 was disappointing -- the cost was less per disc, but this is obviously poorly done --music overpowering; most disks had skipping and a few wouldn't play at all. (We even tried a different player.) Even the disc labels are ghastly, or should I say ghostly?

This is a great series, akin to Anne of Green Gables with some crossover between the two series. Each episode is a vignette into these lovely characters' lives and after a while you feel like you're visiting old friends. There's lessons to be learned, so it's great for kids too, but it's not at all preachy. Wonderfully flawed characters, variety of plot lines, and gorgeous sets to boot - there's not much missing here. The acting isn't always top notch, but the veteran actors just hit it out of the park every time. As for the quality of this DVD set, don't expect HD. It's a slightly older series and your eyes (or expectations) need to adapt a bit. I was ready to return it after watching the first few minutes because of the poor video quality (a bit blurry and unfocused), but after fiddling around with the tv settings, I was able to improve the quality. Just don't watch it up close on a large tv and check the digital noise filter in the tv settings (I set mine to high). This is definitely one of my favorite series of all time!

I love this series and I can't wait to watch it again. I bought just the 1st season but couldn't watch it because it wasn't compatible with my dvd player.

This is church an amazing show it is heartfelt and fun in the Willy. Do not make them this good anymore.

We enjoyed watching these from start to finish. The last episode on each dvd always skips or pauses and you are not able to watch the whole episode tho. I was disappointed about that for the price I paid for them. There are no scratches on the dvd to show reason for this.