CBS Press Release: Petticoat Junction Season 3 (1 Viewer)

[Ron1973]

Well, here we go again. CBS even now still believes in cutting corners wherever they can with their releases. I would rather they follow the Warner model of take their time to clear everything before they release anything at all.

Perhaps they tried to clear it? I'm not the biggest fan of CBS but perhaps Fox wasn't the most amicable to deal with for the song rights?

 

[smithbrad]

Well, here we go again. CBS even now still believes in cutting corners wherever they can with their releases. I would rather they follow the Warner model of take their time to clear everything before they release anything at all.

I wouldn't mind seeing Warners match the remastering performed on many of the CBS releases. I suppose they could both still learn a little something from the other.

 

[Tooncy]

I can see them not wanting to pay for incidental music that honestly isn't missed. A musical performance is a different matter. The remastering is phenomenal on both this and the Hillbillies set. I saw details I never noticed before. I did find it strange that none of the original airdates were listed with the synopses though. On either set.

 

[Tooncy]

Just watched episode 7, "A Doctor In The House". The Green Acres theme is definitely present.

 

[John Karras]

But I also don't think the obscure, corny songs performed in later seasons should pose much of a clearance problem with the music. After all, CBS already had to license a song by The Beatles for Season One.

Obscure or corny has nothing to do with it. Many of the "corny" songs, as you claim, they sang are known American standards and the publishers will charge what they will. Let's see if they can clear "Love and Marriage" for one of the episodes in an upcoming season.

 

[Tooncy]

If they can clear The Beatles, that shouldn't be a big deal. And like I said, the Green Acres theme actually is present in at least one episode.

 

[BobO'Link]

^Don't bet on it. You hear Beatles songs *everywhere* (especially on commercials by people who can't create) because the rights got sold years ago to people who have no respect for "art" and are just after a quick buck. I'd bet it cost more to license "Love and Marriage" than the most expensive Beatles song in the catalog.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

Just watched episode 7, "A Doctor In The House". The Green Acres theme is definitely present.

That's strange that they would use the Green Acres music for one episode and not the others.
I wonder if they just didn't spot it like the others or someone goofed and forgot to replace it?
If so, they will probably "fix" it so that future pressings won't have the theme.
Right now, its a walmart exclusive, but they might take the theme out when it becomes available from other outlets so I guess we're lucky we got at least one episode with it..

 

[Tooncy]

Meh. I don't really care if the theme is there or not. The transfers are amazing.

 

[Malcolm R]

I did notice the little "some music may have been replaced" disclaimer on both the new PJ & BH sets...so what else is new?

There's also a disclaimer that, "Some episodes may be edited from their original network versions." Whether that's restricted to a few music replacements, or just a "cover your *ss" inclusion in case mistakes were made, remains to be seen. Found plenty of copies of this and TBH at Walmart yesterday.

 

[Mark Y]

I haven't picked up the PJ set yet but a friend of mine has. Apparently there has been a small amount of music replacement. He's noticed every time Mr. and Mrs. Douglas are in a scene, some sort of synthesizer music plays. He checked his recordings from ME-TV and they play the "Green Acres" theme on those recordings. Apparently, they replaced the music on the DVD's.

Just curious about this, and I apologize if this has been answered before, but if so it's eluded me. But how exactly did Green Acres end up being under different ownership and/or distribution from the other two series in the first place?

(Other than the above, sounds good for these sets. I need to catch up, I only have the MPI releases and Season 1 of Green Acres so far. And the sequel TV movie Return To Green Acres, which I picked up in one of those Wal-Mart bins.)

 

[JoeDoakes]

Just curious about this, and I apologize if this has been answered before, but if so it's eluded me. But how exactly did Green Acres end up being under different ownership and/or distribution from the other two series in the first place?

(Other than the above, sounds good for these sets. I need to catch up, I only have the MPI releases and Season 1 of Green Acres so far. And the sequel TV movie Return To Green Acres, which I picked up in one of those Wal-Mart bins.)

I don't know. I assume that when Paul Henning was developing Green Acres, MGM or some other production company that was absorbed into MGM made him a better deal. Maybe Filmways wasn't developing new shows by the time of GA.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Green Acres was a Filmways production. Filmways was acquired by Orion in 1982. To avoid bankruptcy in the 1990s, Orion sold many of its assets. They sold most of the Filmways product to MGM. That's how Green Acres ended up there.

So the question isn't why is Green Acres MGM, but why aren't The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction?

It's because long before Orion acquired Filmways, CBS had bought the rights to those two series.

Of course, someone was asleep over at CBS and let the first season and a half of Hillbillies fall into the public domain. That's how MPI was able to release those episodes using copies from Paul Henning's personal collection.

 

[FanCollector]

Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction had a different ownership percentage deal between Filmways and Paul Henning. Henning created both shows and he had a very advantageous agreement regarding them. Green Acres was created by Jay Sommers and, although Henning certainly owned a piece of it, it was primarily a Filmways property so it went to Orion and MGM with the rest of the library. The earlier shows were distributed by Filmways, but I believe Henning had controlling ownership. They went through Viacom for syndicated distribution and that deal seems to have led to CBS Home Entertainment having the DVD rights.

 

[Cowboy]

At 2 Wal-Mart stores,sold out of PJ.