Beverly Hillbillies S2 (1 Viewer)

[Steve...O]

The Season 2 cover art I'll be posting later today, though...man, that's gotta go!

My goodness, that art is terrible and looks worse than what PD companies use. Simply awful.
Thanks for putting the item in the news story confirming that the original theme music is being used. Jerry Scoggins lives on! (Flatt & Scruggs had the hit single but didn't sing the theme)

 

[Corey3rd]

horrible box art. The least the can do is show us the iconic mansion in the background.

 

[Charles Ellis]

Exactly. And where's Pearl, Mr. Drysdale and Jane Hathaway?

 

[chadHobbick]

Come on, we all know that the box art is going to change before the release. I think they just wanted some mock up to show that they are serious w/the release.

 

[Rob_Ray]

I'm not nostalgic for any syndication-quality 16mm prints of The Beverly Hillbillies either. I'm nostalgic for the way they looked on CBS Wednesday nights at 8pm Central for the better part of a decade. And they looked a lot better than MPI.

But, having said that, I wasn't disappointed in the slightest by MPI's release. The prints looked exactly like what they were: 16mm prints saved by the show's producer for private viewing among friends and family. And I never thought I'd ever see the Winston and Kellogg theme song extensions in my lifetime. Not to mention the cast commercials. Frankly, as a result of the care that went into the extras, I was thrilled with the MPI releases. And through a freak coincidence, I found that I was watching the premiere episode on the same date as the premiere back in 1962. So I pretty much stayed in synchronization all the way through the three packages, watching the Clampetts celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the arrival of spring in real time. I can't remember when I enjoyed vintage TV on DVD more and look forward to Paramount picking up the baton with 35mm source material.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

But, having said that, I wasn't disappointed in the slightest by MPI's release. The prints looked exactly like what they were: 16mm prints saved by the show's producer for private viewing among friends and family. And I never thought I'd ever see the Winston and Kellogg theme song extensions in my lifetime. Not to mention the cast commercials. Frankly, as a result of the care that went into the extras, I was thrilled with the MPI releases. And through a freak coincidence, I found that I was watching the premiere episode on the same date as the premiere back in 1962. So I pretty much stayed in synchronization all the way through the three packages, watching the Clampetts celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the arrival of spring in real time. I can't remember when I enjoyed vintage TV on DVD more and look forward to Paramount picking up the baton with 35mm source material.

I'd say it's probably too much for us to expect Paramount to include (if they even have access to) the theme/sponsor extensions or cast commercials. Those really "made" the MPI release for me. The only "letdown" on the MPI one for me was that the commercials were presented separately, instead of integrated into the episodes as they were originally.

 

[Rob_Ray]

I don't think you'll see the sponsor-oriented theme song extensions when Paramount continues the series. That was a happy by-product of using the 16mm prints from the Henning estate. The 35mm master material was probably shorn of any sponsor-related material decades ago to prepare for the 35mm network daytime run.

But the Paramount release should look spectacular nonetheless.

Everything in life is a trade-off. If you want to see the sponsor material, you'd better pick up the MPI releases, which are very watchable on my set, scratches and all.

 

[Gary OS]

I don't think you'll see the sponsor-oriented theme song extensions when Paramount continues the series. That was a happy by-product of using the 16mm prints from the Henning estate. The 35mm master material was probably shorn of any sponsor-related material decades ago to prepare for the 35mm network daytime run.
But the Paramount release should look spectacular nonetheless.
Everything in life is a trade-off. If you want to see the sponsor material, you'd better pick up the MPI releases, which are very watchable on my set, scratches and all.

You are absolutely correct on all counts. While we will not get the sponsor spots on the CBS/Paramount set(s) like we did with the MPI sets, we will assuredly get better quality. And like many of you, I never thought the MPI sets were all that bad to begin with. No, they were nothing like the CBS sets we are getting now and will certainly get with "The Beverly Hillbillies - Season 2", but they were more than watchable.
Gary "now if only we can get CBS to put out the sister series, 'Petticoat Junction', on dvd" O.

 

[Mark Y]

If they are the best prints of the show that you have ever seen, I can only assume you have never seen the show in reruns in the past 30 years. Get out your DVD's and compare them to the reruns TV land is running right now. There is no way you will be able to say that with a straight face. I was trying to think of any TV show on DVD that looked as bad and Lancelot Link (as another post said) was all I could come up with.

And what do they have in common? Lancelot Link as released by Image was also a public domain release (even though it has a licensing credit from some UK company that is not the copyright holder), from 16mm syndication prints. They tried, but they couldn't even come up with all 17 half-hours. (This is one show that likely will never be released or shown again in its original one-hour form -- the rest of the hour consisted of Warner Bros. cartoons!)

 

[Jack Cleveland]

"now if only we can get CBS to put out the sister series, 'Petticoat Junction', on dvd" O.

Absolutely- I'll buy Petticoat Junction and the Hillbillies!!

 

[David Rain]

I have both MPI releases and the show does indeed look bad. I was very disappointed with the picture quality. Oddly enough I have had Columbia House VHS tapes with eps that looked better.

If you care about picture quality be very careful about how you buy this series.

 

[JLKINSER]

The real question is can you trust Paramounts release???? Look at what they are doing to thier TV shows. Especially look at The Fugitive Season two volume one. Until Paramount goes back and fixes The Fugitive, I won't buy another DVD that comes from Paramount. The Andy Griffith shows had parts cut out: Parts that TV Land shows and that says a lot. Gomer Pyle is butchered! Seems like the question we need to ask is How is Paramount going to butcher the Hillbillies?

 

[WhitneyG]

The real question is can you trust Paramounts release???? Look at what they are doing to thier TV shows...

They've screwed up a lot of releases. That much is true, but there are plenty more that ended up being uncut. Early Edition's first season just came out and seems perfect so far. If you are afraid, wait and see what the rest of us say. Word will get out if they cut this show. Many people say to boycott the releases they aren't perfect, but it needs to be said that it's also important to buy the releases that aren't cut. It reminds them how profitable we can be to them when they get it right...

 

[WhitneyG]

Ironic that the last post in this thread is me defending Paramount and now I'm hear to pass on some unfortunate news.

Some episodes may be edited from their network versions. Music has been changed for this home entertainment version.

Source: The Beverly Hillbillies DVD news: Rear Box Art for The Beverly Hillbillies - The 2nd Season | TVShowsOnDVD.com
I might be off a word to two given the low resolution of the image, but this gist of it is there. Syndicated versions might be included and music definitely has been changed. Now we just have to wait and see how bad the damage is... With some luck, the editing disclaim is just there as a CYA for paramount and only one brief piece of music was changed (under those circumstances, I'll still buy it), but I'm not holding my breath...
On the bright side, we'll be getting some good bonuses, such as the sponsor opening and closings and Irene Ryan's screen test.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Those sentences with the word "may" in them drive me crazy. What kind of information is that? It would be like the weatherman saying, "It may rain tomorrow, and it may not." So what have we learned?
Now, the music sentence is definite. It says it HAS been changed. We need to know what, why and by how much.
This can be one aggravating hobby!

 

[TV_Fan]

I've come to expect these things from Paramunt's shows. Unless it's a show that I really want & music doesn't mean that much to me, I won't buy it until I read reviews about how much is cut/replaced. Paramount is great at releasing older classic shows, but just as great at butchering them.

 

[David Lambert]

It may not mean anything at all. It's CBS/Par's default, standard warning they now seem to rubber-stamp on many releases...and as actual experience has proven, some of these releases that carry the warning have no changes at all. Whatsoever.

I'll try to ask somebody in-the-know if they think this has had any changes along these lines, but right now I'm taking it with a grain of salt until I know better.

 

[WhitneyG]

I'll try to ask somebody in-the-know if they think this has had any changes along these lines, but right now I'm taking it with a grain of salt until I know better.

I'll keep my fingers crossed hoping they are willing to share...

 

[wh5916]

has been changed. Now we just have to wait and see how bad the damage is... With some luck, the editing disclaim is just there as a CYA for paramount and only one brief piece of music was changed (under those circumstances, I'll still buy it), but I'm not holding my breath...
On the bright side, we'll be getting some good bonuses, such as the sponsor opening and closings and Irene Ryan's screen test.

I'm no fan of Paramount and its home video releases, but this same disclaimer about music changes is on the bottom of the complete set of "I Love Lucy." If there are any musical alterations in that set, I've yet to see them or hear about them.
Maybe they're simply slapping this disclaimer on all of their sets now?

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I was hoping to find some information here as to whether or not this Season Two set of "The Beverly Hillbillies" has the dreaded music replacement ...