Music Clearance Nightmare Shows (1 Viewer)

[Neil Brock]

The publisher of the music still has to be paid regardless of who sang it.

We've gone over this with him in other threads and he doesn't get it.

 

[Ron1973]

Complete versions yes. Tapes do exist of cut syndicated versions.

At this point, I'd take the cut versions because that's what I remember anyway. The picture quality would have to beat what I have now

 

[Neil Brock]

At this point, I'd take the cut versions because that's what I remember anyway. The picture quality would have to beat what I have now

A company is unlikely to put out cut versions of a show, especially one with questionable marketability. That aside, the music replacement costs wouldn't justify a release.

 

[Ron1973]

A company is unlikely to put out cut versions of a show, especially one with questionable marketability. That aside, the music replacement costs wouldn't justify a release.

Sigh, so goes life of a classic TV fan. You're right, though. The last time I remember syndication was 23-25 years ago and even then it was only on Saturday mornings and titled "The BJ/Lobo Show." I know The Dukes of Hazzard was a more popular show but I'd take BJ any day.

Someone tweeted a few years, purportedly Greg Evigan himself, that the shows were coming out last year domestically exclusively at Best Buy. That rang rather odd. I replied to the tweet and never got a response.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

A company is unlikely to put out cut versions of a show, especially one with questionable marketability. That aside, the music replacement costs wouldn't justify a release.

Companies release cut versions of stuff all the time, sometimes by accident, but sometimes on purpose.

There are plenty of examples that refute your above statement. Two that spring to mind are season sets of ALF and Mama's Family. Both were released using the edited syndication tapes, and I would consider both of those shows as ones with "questionable" marketability.

 

[TVonDVDJunkie05]

Right you are AndyMcKinney,

Don't forget to add Little House on the Prairie & HIghway to Heaven to that list, two more shows that were released with edited episodes on purpose for whatever reason?!

 

[bigshot]

The publisher of the music still has to be paid regardless of who sang it.

Yes, but a cover version is a mechanical royalty. Using the original recording requires permission. BIG difference.

 

[Brian Himes]

Complete versions yes. Tapes do exist of cut syndicated versions.

Wow! I didn't know that BJ was lost. What happened? Were the complete versions lost in the fire or destroyed on purpose?

 

[Ron1973]

the tapes were lost for BJ but the original camera negatives-film still exists (original broadcast versions) - UNIVERSAL is too cheap - stupid - dumb - ignorant - does not care enough about the fans -- take yout pic and that describes UNIVERSAL

As a fan of both BJ and Lobo, I would love to see them uncut, remastered for hi-def....the whole works. However, Neil has pointed out the fact of how cost prohibitive it would be to transfer these from the original film elements not to mention the cost of marketing, etc. We can gripe about Universal but they are just like any other company-they are out to make a profit.

Personally, I find BJ to be of a higher quality than The Dukes of Hazzard. They were both of the same genre, released to TV around the same time, etc. Sadly, The Dukes had a bigger following (and were not a Universal property either) and have a better name recognition than BJ or Lobo. Case in point is Enos, the one season spin-off of the Dukes. Warner still hasn't released it, either. It's all about what will sell and what has name recognition.

 

[Jeff Willis]

As a fan of both BJ and Lobo, I would love to see them uncut, remastered for hi-def....the whole works. However, Neil has pointed out the fact of how cost prohibitive it would be to transfer these from the original film elements not to mention the cost of marketing, etc. We can gripe about Universal but they are just like any other company-they are out to make a profit.

Personally, I find BJ to be of a higher quality than The Dukes of Hazzard. They were both of the same genre, released to TV around the same time, etc. Sadly, The Dukes had a bigger following (and were not a Universal property either) and have a better name recognition than BJ or Lobo. Case in point is Enos, the one season spin-off of the Dukes. Warner still hasn't released it, either. It's all about what will sell and what has name recognition.

 

[Ethan Riley]

And by the way, everybody moans over the fact that CBS had a "rural purge" of its lineup in the early 70s, and yet ended the decade with a top-rated "rural" show??

 

[Ron1973]

And by the way, everybody moans over the fact that CBS had a "rural purge" of its lineup in the early 70s, and yet ended the decade with a top-rated "rural" show??

Number one, yes, the "rural purge" was stupid in my opinion. Okay, even as the world's biggest Beverly Hillbillies fan, I think the show was running out of steam but one more season to wrap up the story line would have been nice. Green Acres, not a favorite anyway but I think it could've went on for a little bit longer. Mayberry RFD was finding its footing. However, the one thing I find hilarious (and gets overlooked) is that CBS also cancelled Hee Haw that year. Classy move, CBS, classy move. Hee Haw went into first run syndication and lasted until the early 90's.

The Dukes of Hazzard, I watched it as a kid and loved it and still like it from time to time. However, I think B.J. and the Bear was a better written show and had a more serious overtone to it. It jumped the shark in its 3rd season, though. But in reality, The Dukes jumped the shark with the addition of Coy and Vance when John Schneider and Tom Wopat walked for a season. They went on fumes for the rest of the series IMHO.

Still to this day, though, the rural shows have not been given the deluxe treatment. PJ and TBH are stalled. Gomer Pyle had music cut out. I don't know of any music substitutions or cuts in The Dukes (which is a Warner property) and it was loaded with music on many episodes so tell me again how CBS couldn't clear a few songs that they chose to cut? Andy Griffith had issues with an edited episode or two that had the epilogue missing and missing laugh tracks. Green Acres and Mayberry RFD aren't CBS properties but they are still given the criminal treatment.

 

[Neil Brock]

Neil has no idea what he is talking about

for one thing they cost to transfer them is minimal, since they own the masters and would be doing it in-house - simply paying the people to do it for time they would be doing that - they are there anyway - so no need to incur extra costs

NEIL really shows how cluesless he is when he mentions the marketing would cost too much - LOL - 99.....................95 of shows have no marketing beyond either being on a store shelf and/or release news posted online and word of mouth - both cost next to nothing

NEIL is clueless on the music replacement

they can not make a profit sitting on product not released !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since English is obviously not your first language, I'll excuse you not understanding what I said. Put more simply, there are not enough people who would buy the show to make enough of a profit for it to be worth Universal's time. Do you think remastering and authoring a show to DVD is free? What about all of the music that has to be either cleared or substituted? Do you think companies are going to pass up releasing a show they think will make them a lot of money?

 

[Ron1973]

Since English is obviously not your first language, I'll excuse you not understanding what I said. Put more simply, there are not enough people who would buy the show to make enough of a profit for it to be worth Universal's time. Do you think remastering and authoring a show to DVD is free? What about all of the music that has to be either cleared or substituted? Do you think companies are going to pass up releasing a show they think will make them a lot of money?

Neil, I think we have a troll back under a new name.

 

[Frank Soyke]

I agree with Neil as well. As I've said before, the companies are here to make a profit, and sometimes as collectors, we lose sight of that. Although I would like to see BJ/Lobo as well, the fact is that we are dealing with a series that although popular in it's time, is largely forgotten among non-collectors. It has had very poor syndication visability over the past 30 years and Greg Evigan is not what I would call a very marketable star in 2013. Sometimes in our little microchasm of collectors, I believe we overestimate the marketability of some of these shows. Test it for yourself. Speak to others 35 and under that you know that are not collectors or on HTF and ask how many remember BJ. I venture to guess that it won't be too many.

 

[JMFabianoRPL]

I don't know of any music substitutions or cuts in The Dukes (which is a Warner property) and it was loaded with music on many episodes so tell me again how CBS couldn't clear a few songs that they chose to cut?

Because they're CBS and there's no known cure.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Number one, yes, the "rural purge" was stupid in my opinion. Okay, even as the world's biggest Beverly Hillbillies fan, I think the show was running out of steam but one more season to wrap up the story line would have been nice.

You do realise, Ron, that very few TV series in that day and time "wrapped up the story line." The networks (and presumably the production companies) didn't want their shows to have an "ending", as the thinking was it would play better in syndication that way. The Fugitive was the rare exception to this rule, and I'm pretty sure I remember reading that "the powers that be" had to be convinced before they would okay having the run "end".

Beverly Hillbillies might've had more life left in it, but you can bet they wouldn't have filmed an ending.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Complete versions yes. Tapes do exist of cut syndicated versions.

Do we know for a fact that the only tape copies are cut ones? The reason I ask is that at late as the early '90s, Universal were still offering other shows to stations in their choice of cut or uncut. I had off-air recordings of Battlestar Galactica from KWGN circa 1990 that were from uncut tapes (one episode had a VT "leader" card that got accidentally broadcast, betraying the fact they were using tape and not a film print).

Unless someone has hard evidence, it's just as likely that there are uncut VT masters of B.J. and Lobo existing in the archive alongside the pre-edited and/or sped-up ones.

 

[Richard V]

Tour of Duty, although it has been released overseas with the original music intact, nothing here domestically with the original music.

 

[Neil Brock]

Do we know for a fact that the only tape copies are cut ones? The reason I ask is that at late as the early '90s, Universal were still offering other shows to stations in their choice of cut or uncut. I had off-air recordings of Battlestar Galactica from KWGN circa 1990 that were from uncut tapes (one episode had a VT "leader" card that got accidentally broadcast, betraying the fact they were using tape and not a film print).

Unless someone has hard evidence, it's just as likely that there are uncut VT masters of B.J. and Lobo existing in the archive alongside the pre-edited and/or sped-up ones.

Yes, I'm sure they did exist BEFORE the fire that destroyed most if not all of the Universal tape library.