Next: ‘My Mother the Car’?

Gord Lacey’s love of Fox’s animated series “Family Guy” spurred him, several years ago, to collect more than 500 electronic signatures from fans yearning for a DVD of the show. But he says he encountered a not-so-small impediment during this quest: “I didn’t know what to do with the petition.”

So the 26-year-old Web developer from Edmonton, Canada, created www.tvshowsondvd.com, which provides online lobbyists a forum for telling studio execs exactly what television shows they want on DVD.

In addition to listing new release dates and housing a database of more than 3,000 TV shows, miniseries and specials available on DVD, the site lets users vote for shows they would buy on disc -- guarding against “poll tampering” by desperate fans. (Lacey doesn’t sell DVDs, but earns a commission for referrals to e-tailers like Amazon.com.)

As the site established itself, studios began taking note of the numbers, and now they check in with Lacey to see what’s in demand, and even to test art for DVD cases. If Lacey and company have their way, the DVDs will keep on coming. Their wish list ranges from “Seinfeld” to “Keen Eddie” and “The Sentinel.”

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-- Christine N. Ziemba