Why is it that, when a show is popular enough that multiple seasons are released on DVD, the earliest, most varied, wildest episodes are nowhere to be seen?

I refer (as I did in an earlier posting) to SCTV. There are four seasons available on DVD -- and a three-disc set that Kindly Brent brought in this morning. That set is titled SCTV: Best of the Early Years, and I must say that I deny the title. The earliest episode is dated Oct. 21, 1978 -- and the best of the early years, doggone it, are those for which Harold Ramis was Head Writer and appeared in the show: 1976-77.

Doctor Tongue's House of Cats, the aforementioned Ben Hur (in which Ben Hur was told that his mother and sister had become -- not lepers but -- leopards), the installment-long Captain Combat (with his sidekicks Mr. Green Fatigues and Gunny Rabbit -- and introduced by kiddie-show host Muley, who was Harold Ramis as the Grapes of Wrath character played by John Qualen) ... Impossible to describe, so it'd be absolutely terrific to have any of these to show the delicious difference between the always-imaginative, wildly varying early sequences and the 87 virtually identical later routines featuring Edith Prickley or the McKenzie Brothers.

Obviously, later episodes had charm of their own, but my heart belongs to the fresh delights of syndicated episodes from 1976 and 1977. I hope I have some few buried among the stacks of Beta tapes that languish on my shelves -- but I'd prefer to put money in the pocket of Shout! Factory, which is the firm that's been releasing these other sets. Come on, guys. Let's see SCTV: The Harold Ramis Years!