Is the b&w era of TV on DVD slowly coming to an end? (1 Viewer)

[Rick Thompson]

If there is one drawback to location footage of that era though its when southern CA locations keep standing in for other parts of the country to less than convincing effect. Many is the time when those CA mountains will wreck the illusion of a story supposedly taking place in an Eastern state!

Still happens now. NCIS, for example, has filmed scenes supposedly at NAS Patuxent River (in Maryland) with mountains showing in the background. Ain't no mountains at Pax River!

 

[Rick Thompson]

Not to mention that Quinn Martin would spend money to get good guest stars while Universal (except for certain shows like Name of the Game) mostly cast nobodies.

Universal doing things on the cheap? Say it ain't so!

 

[Ron1973]

The best example of the difference that location vs sound stage makes is taking Streets of San Francisco, which is shot all over the city vs Ironside, total studio lot as almost all cheapo Universal shows were show. Not to mention that Quinn Martin would spend money to get good guest stars while Universal (except for certain shows like Name of the Game) mostly cast nobodies.

It's almost funny to watch Universal's shows and watch certain faces keep cropping up on show after show after show!

What was really cute was watching S2 of Quincy, M.E. the other evening. A woman turned up alive at the morgue and they had to rush her to "County General." "County General" was "Rampart" from Emergency! At least they did get Bob Crane to guest star in that.....lol.

 

[Gary OS]

If there is one drawback to location footage of that era though its when southern CA locations keep standing in for other parts of the country to less than convincing effect. Many is the time when those CA mountains will wreck the illusion of a story supposedly taking place in an Eastern state!

This is absolutely true, but I'll still take it over a painted backdrop of mountains any day of the week and twice on Sundays.


Gary "I don't mind seeing the same location scenes (inside or outside) all that much - I vastly prefer it to any soundstage work" O.

 

[Jack P]

It's almost funny to watch Universal's shows and watch certain faces keep cropping up on show after show after show!

What was really cute was watching S2 of Quincy, M.E. the other evening. A woman turned up alive at the morgue and they had to rush her to "County General." "County General" was "Rampart" from Emergency! At least they did get Bob Crane to guest star in that.....lol.

I dunno but for me there's a certain charm in that because Universal in that era was giving us a TV microcosm of what the studios used to do from the 30s to 50s when they would churn out "B" movies with their contract players over and over and would of course use their sets again etc. And that even goes down to seeing sets and costumes pop up in one show that had been in another. For instance, a beautiful gown Janet Leigh wears in the "Columbo" episode where she was the guest killer was worn a couple months later by Cassie Yates in a "Bionic Woman" episode (to lesser effect!). Rather than cheapness, I see it more as a sign of "old Hollywood" in action in its last days and for me is part of the fun of watching shows this era.

 

[Gary OS]

What I found endearing was seeing Yul Brynner and Telly Savalas wearing the same toupee in different shows decades apart. I could always tell because of the way it parted on the left side.


Gary "just kidding" O.

 

[Jeff Willis]

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[Gary OS]

The guys in the Ozzie & Harriet thread mentioned an episode I haven't seen in quite a long time so I pulled it out and watched it last night. It had escaped my attention that my daughters and wife hadn't seen it yet, so we all watched it and loved every second. I'm speaking of "Ozzie's Triple Banana Surprise." Like so many of the episodes in this series, it's just amazing how they can take such a simple concept and elevate it to TV hilarity and greatness. Ozzie really does play "exasperated" and "confused" scenes so well. I just love it.


Gary "this is easily my top grail show left" O.

 

[John Hermes]

The guys in the Ozzie & Harriet thread mentioned an episode I haven't seen in quite a long time so I pulled it out and watched it last night. It had escaped my attention that my daughters and wife hadn't seen it yet, so we all watched it and loved every second. I'm speaking of "Ozzie's Triple Banana Surprise." Like so many of the episodes in this series, it's just amazing how they can take such a simple concept and elevate it to TV hilarity and greatness. Ozzie really does play "exasperated" and "confused" scenes so well. I just love it.


Gary "this is easily my top grail show left" O.

Yeah, Gary, that's a great episode. It is like so many others where Ozzie as director and actor expertly builds the confusion or exasperation over the course of the show. How anyone could not find these extremely funny is beyond me, but, we've been through that before here.

 

[Gary OS]

Yeah, Gary, that's a great episode. It is like so many others where Ozzie as director and actor expertly builds the confusion or exasperation over the course of the show. How anyone could not find these extremely funny is beyond me, but, we've been through that before here.

Absolutely agree, John. Tonight we watched the classic of classics, "Tutti-Frutti Ice Cream", and although we've watched it several times we stilled loved it.


Gary "this show is easily a Top 10 favorite of mine" O.

 

[Ron1973]

Gary, I'll be honest and say I've never watched O&H. It's one of those I'd still blind buy (I am a pretty big Rick Nelson fan.....just burned off 3 CD's today to give to a friend at church) but I'd like to catch a few episodes on the 'Tube. Any recommendations to get a feel for the series?

 

[Gary OS]

I'm probably not the guy to ask because I really do like all of them. I've never given a lot of thought to "best of the best" with this series (because I really do enjoy every episode I watch), but I think the ones I've mentioned over the last couple of days are both great. But they might not be the best in terms of focus on the family. Ricky and Dave aren't center stage in either of those, although they both appear. The "Kappa Sigma Party" is a favorite of many people (including Ozzie himself I believe). And even though it's a holiday episode I think "Busy Christmas" is a great episode that would give you the flavor of the series nicely.


Gary "I'm sure other fans could chime in with more recommendations" O.

 

[Ron1973]

Thanks, Gary!

 

[Vic Pardo]

I did a piece on "Rediscovering Classic TV" on my film blog:

http://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/rediscovering-classic-tv/#more-1626

I chronicled recent efforts to track down shows I'd never seen ("The Buccaneers," "The New Breed," "The Asphalt Jungle") and discovering on YouTube shows I'd never even heard of ("Everglades!," "Rescue 8," "This Man Dawson").

Here's a link to the "Asphalt Jungle" episode (which is actually specifically based on John Huston's 1950 film of that title):
The Asphalt Jungle: "The Professor"


Doing the piece also allowed me to use stills from my collection, such as this one:

 

[Jack P]

There was just one last detail I meant to add about overused southern CA locations in classic TV shows. Whenever I see a western that does a scene at Vasquez Rocks I keep waiting for the Gorn from the Star Trek "Arena" episode to pop out!

 

[Guy Foulard]

The best example of the difference that location vs sound stage makes is taking Streets of San Francisco, which is shot all over the city vs Ironside, total studio lot as almost all cheapo Universal shows were show. Not to mention that Quinn Martin would spend money to get good guest stars while Universal (except for certain shows like Name of the Game) mostly cast nobodies.

It really makes a difference--if a Streets episode has a dumb plot, I can always just enjoy the vintage SF scenery, but Ironside has nothing else to fall back on. Also the Achille's heel of the FBI, which is hobbled by the Warner backlot despite being a Quinn Martin show.

 

[Jack P]

"Ironside" has its share of good guest stars. I disagree with the idea that only Quinn Martin knew how to hire good guest stars for his shows compared to other producers because overall I think every major company and every major show has that quotient of good familiar reliable names whether the shows are filmed on location or on the back lot. It's when the show is shot overseas that you run into the problem there and need to be more dependent on the story IMO.

One area where we do know Quinn Martin saved a buck was on music by deciding to have his shows rely mostly on library cues the whole time instead of commissioning a share of original scores per season as the other companies did. With all due respect to the love we have for the CBS Music Library on "The Fugitive" that really represents a dime store approach to crafting music for your TV series. It would have been nice if some of the big names of the era like Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams (who were cutting their teeth on TV in the 60s) had done some scores that were specifically for those titles (the Bronislau Kaper work for the early S1 episodes of "The FBI" is probably the best commissioned music for a QM show I've heard).

 

[Gary OS]

It really makes a difference--if a Streets episode has a dumb plot, I can always just enjoy the vintage SF scenery, but Ironside has nothing else to fall back on. Also the Achille's heel of the FBI, which is hobbled by the Warner backlot despite being a Quinn Martin show.

That's how I look at the situation as well. Having on location scenery just adds so much more to the overall experience for me. And if the plot drags I can at least enjoy the surroundings.

One area where we do know Quinn Martin saved a buck was on music by deciding to have his shows rely mostly on library cues the whole time instead of commissioning a share of original scores per season as the other companies did. With all due respect to the love we have for the CBS Music Library on "The Fugitive" that really represents a dime store approach to crafting music for your TV series. It would have been nice if some of the big names of the era like Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams (who were cutting their teeth on TV in the 60s) had done some scores that were specifically for those titles (the Bronislau Kaper work for the early S1 episodes of "The FBI" is probably the best commissioned music for a QM show I've heard).

I'm one of those that love the CBS and Capitol Library music cues, so I was fine with the use of them. In fact I can't imagine watching The Fugitive without them. I was one of those that found the early releases of the show, where only the Rugolo cues were restored, to be completely unacceptable. For me there was an endearing and comforting quality to hearing those cues in the different CBS series at the time. Many of them were just fantastic, imho.

On another note, while it's been nice to at least have some speculated hope that a few more b/w series *might* be coming in the future (Our Miss Brooks, The Rebel, The Dakotas, Ozzie & Harriet, etc), the reality is that right now we are on pace for an all-time low in this portion of the TV on DVD market. And if we eliminate the online-only or "Amazon/Walmart exclusive" release sales (WBA, Sony Archives, CBS, etc) then it gets even worse.

The silver lining for me, and at least a few friends who have mentioned this same thing, is that this gives our wallets a chance to rest. And it also gives us a chance to really concentrate on what's on our shelves right now. So that's the positive of the slowdown.


Gary "there are still a lot of things I'd like to see released or unstalled from the b/w era, but I fear that's coming to a close" O.

 

[Ron1973]

That's how I look at the situation as well. Having on location scenery just adds so much more to the overall experience for me. And if the plot drags I can at least enjoy the surroundings.



I'm one of those that love the CBS and Capitol Library music cues, so I was fine with the use of them. In fact I can't imagine watching The Fugitive without them. I was one of those that found the early releases of the show, where only the Rugolo cues were restored, to be completely unacceptable. For me there was an endearing and comforting quality to hearing those cues in the different CBS series at the time. Many of them were just fantastic, imho.

On another note, while it's been nice to at least have some speculated hope that a few more b/w series *might* be coming in the future (Our Miss Brooks, The Rebel, The Dakotas, Ozzie & Harriet, etc), the reality is that right now we are on pace for an all-time low in this portion of the TV on DVD market. And if we eliminate the online-only or "Amazon/Walmart exclusive" release sales (WBA, Sony Archives, CBS, etc) then it gets even worse.

The silver lining for me, and at least a few friends who have mentioned this same thing, is that this gives our wallets a chance to rest. And it also gives us a chance to really concentrate on what's on our shelves right now. So that's the positive of the slowdown.


Gary "there are still a lot of things I'd like to see released or unstalled from the b/w era, but I fear that's coming to a close" O.

On the S4 release of The Beverly Hillbillies, CBS replaced some of the background music in a couple of episodes. Sure, I'd rather have that than not having the episodes at all but when you've been hearing one thing for 40 years, it's jarring!

 

[Richard V]

Has anyone contacted TMG by email to ask them if this perceived slow down in B&W releases is just that, or for real? i.e. - Are they just reloading, or are they really "out of ammunition"?