"Mama's Family" ratings on i Network boad well for DVD releases! (1 Viewer)

[MarkDukes]

A real disappointment that these are edited episodes.

I am spoiled by Warner, who did a great job on my favorite show of all time, The Dukes of Hazzard, but I have been waiting for Mama's Family on DVD and now I find out it is going to be a second rate release.

My only question: why bother if they are going to just show the edited ones on TV, too?

 

[MatthewA]

After this, I'm letting Universal off the hook for that overpriced Kate & Allie: Season 1 abomination.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

A very good review, and I want to highlight this part:It would be great if this set sold zero copies.

 

[Jason_V]

Well, it's now official. Crying shame, if you ask me. I guess the bright side is I'm saving $17 which I can put to better use making the BF very happy with Curious George.

Terribly bad form, WB, terribly bad.

 

[MatthewA]

I'm saving up for Facts of Life S3, Bewitched S4, and Sesame Street Old School.

Maybe when I mail my letter I'll enclose a picture of the money they're not getting.

 

[David Rain]

If enough people complain clearly but politely that edited eps are unacceptable then perhaps Season 2 and beyond will be released uncut. It's happened before with Roseanne & Cosby.

 

[MatthewA]

But season 1 will remain bastardized. I think it should also be stated that we would buy an uncut reissue of season 1, something not done with the two shows you mentioned.

 

[Jay_B!]

the prob with Mama's Family is that there's only one season to go where syndicated edits would be an issue, the show went into first-run syndie in it's third season in 1986 and the rest of the series played out from there. There could be a Roseanne style "okay, we know what went wrong and won't do it again", but there's only one other season where syndicated edits would hurt.

I just wish Warner would politely recall the set and reschedule a corrected version, the difference in sales would be unbelievable. I notice even hardcore Mama's Family fans don't want this set. It'll wind up like Cosby Show season 1 which originally went for $40 and is now marked down to $14.99 at Best Buy in an attempt to give it away. While I am not excusing syndicated edits, this is not a case like ALF where fans might actually go "you know, I haven't seen it in such a long time that I don't mind the edits", but for something like Mama or Cosby or Roseanne (even though I believe Anchor Bay has really made up for the season 1 blunder by releasing the other sets uncut and at a very nice pace, s1 isn't my fave anyways) that is so commonly shown in syndication, who really wants a bunch of edits that you can watch on TBS or Nick At Nite? At least while ALF was unacceptable, the relative obscurity in present-day syndication/cable probably turned some customers its way that never would've considered buying Cosby s1.

 

[Jason_V]

If we get to a Season 3 and those episodes are the full first run syndication versions, I'll bite. But as long as S1 and S2's network versions are cut and mutilated, no go.

The other thing about this set is that the price point is nowhere near Cosby's $40. In fact, Target has it on sale this week for $17. A steal to be sure and a deal I hate to pass up, but I'm doing it because of my perception of right and wrong.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I agree with Jason V. It's going to break my heart to see this at Target at such a nice price and pass it up -- but I'd rather have a broken heart than cut episodes!

 

[MatthewA]

17 bucks is 17 bucks too much.

Ironically, ALF had been shown uncut in its first cycle on Hallmark Channel (when it was still Odyssey), and I managed to snag most of the episodes from there on SVHS. They even had the NBC "In Stereo Where Available" tags with the then-current Odyssey logo plastered over the peacock. So no-go. But I was lucky. Apparently many people didn't get the channel at the time. It looked pretty good (in spite of Time Warner Cable's reception problems with that channel), along with the 3-uncut-episode Canadian DVD, which makes Liar's Gate "the syndicated tapes were in better condition" excuse total BS.

Plenty of shows haven't been seen on TV for years but they still bothered to release them uncut anyway.

Cosby and Roseanne have never been MIA on TV since they began. Mama's Family has not been MIA since TBS got the rights nearly 10 years ago.

My letter's going out in today's mail. All I'm spending on this travesty is the 37 cents postage.

 

[Jay_B!]

one thing to be noted about all of the infamous syndicated butchered shows... ALF, Mama, Roseanne, Cosby, A Different World, etc... they weren't OWNED by the companies distributing the DVD's, but they were licensed to them. It's been well documented that Carsey/Werner were responsible for the season 1 abonimations of Cosby, Roseanne, A Different World, 3rd Rock and so on, they supplied the syndicated masters to the companies to distribute. I think the same thing happened with Mama's Family, Warner accepted the prints that was given to them and they released it, but the fans knew better. I don't think Warner would honestly butcher a set like that on purpose, they've not yet done it to a show they own outright.

 

[MatthewA]

True, but whatever their intentions, they did*screw up majorly, and this can not be allowed to stand.

 

[Jay_B!]

very true, Warner should've looked at the prints before transferring it to DVD and gone "excuse me, but these aren't the complete episodes" instead of just passing it onto disc hoping that the fans wouldn't know better.

 

[MatthewA]

I just wrote a negative review of the set on Amazon.com.

 

[Jason_V]

I understand what you're saying and hope there is a complete S2 down the road. However, it's follish of a major company like WB just to take what they get and slap it on some discs. Is there no quality control?

 

[MatthewA]

Furthermore, the IMDb's listing for Harvey Korman's credit in the show mentions all three roles he played: Ed Higgins, Thelma's late husband Carl (in flashbacks), and, yes, Alastair Quince.

 

[JeffWld]

I totally disagree. Warner's acquisition of "Mama's Family" included the broadcast and DVD rights. As such, Warner is accountable to assess the integrity of any product they plan to release on DVD-including determining if they have complete versions in their library. If they don't have complete versions, there is nothing in their rights status that stops them from sourcing complete masters other than laziness. The old "we just used what we were given" argument doesn't cut it in this situation.

 

[MatthewA]

It is possible, too, that the uncut versions are only on analog tape and they didn't want to pay for the transfer to a new digital tape master.

 

[Jay_B!]

well, we are talking about a company that cared so much about preserving the integrity of the show that they'd rather not release Everwood and Without A Trace season 2 because the music rights would cost too much that they'd be losing money, than to replace the music and have a subpar product and make a profit. They also were so patient and apologetic over the greediness that prevented "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" as the theme song to the Life Goes On DVD. I am not the biggest fan of Warner but up until this DVD, they've always seemed to really care about the integrity of their sets, even tho I do think it's time they let Friends go and concentrate on something that isn't completed already.