Shout Factory Press Release: Maude: The Complete Series (2 Viewers)

[The Obsolete Man]

Musical '78...


Episode runs 25:03, video quality is surprisingly good for nearly 40-year-old videotape, though the very right edge of the picture seemed to have a little... I dunno, fringing on it in the first half.


Anyway, everything appeared to be intact. All of the castmembers had musical numbers. Adrienne Barbeau sang Fever, Conrad Bain did pieces of "Feelings" surrounding a poem about the Country Doctor, Bea Arthur had a solo number (Smile?), and there was a medley of songs at the end of the telethon.

 

[Malcolm R]

Did they include the extra-long opening credits theme song as portrayed on Family Guy?

 

[classictvfan40]

I think Overstock.com has the cheapest price for this that I have seen.

I ordered Mork and Mindy complete series from them because they had the cheapest price and their service was great and delivery just as good.

 

[FanCollector]

I just watched the two unaired shows. Interesting to see the variations in both, but the big surprise was that in the original version of "Maude's New Friends," the psychiatrist was played by Gene Saks, who was Beatrice Arthur's husband. It's an entirely different conception of the character from the later James Coco performance. I wonder if there was any awkwardness involved in shelving an episode featuring the star's husband.

 

[Kasey]

Musical '78...


Episode runs 25:03, video quality is surprisingly good for nearly 40-year-old videotape, though the very right edge of the picture seemed to have a little... I dunno, fringing on it in the first half.


Anyway, everything appeared to be intact. All of the castmembers had musical numbers. Adrienne Barbeau sang Fever, Conrad Bain did pieces of "Feelings" surrounding a poem about the Country Doctor, Bea Arthur had a solo number (Smile?), and there was a medley of songs at the end of the telethon.

I am glad to hear this episode is complete because "Fever" was my favorite musical number in this. Still hoping my set arrives tomorrow because it's a long weekend here and I am dying to dig in.

 

[JohnMor]

Mine arrived today! Can't wait to dive into it tonight!

 

[FanCollector]

I checked the three earlier musical episodes. They all clock in at around 26 minutes and I didn't note any missing songs. Shout seems to have done a wonderful job on this set. They even cleared difficult songs like "There's No Business Like Show Business." Of course there are snippets of songs used throughout the series, and those will take a while to check, but they did great work with the four musical episodes that must have been very expensive and time-consuming.

 

[Brian Himes]

Well, I looked all over the set itself and no where did I see the 'some music may have been edited for this home video release' disclaimer. So, I'm taking that as a good sign.

 

[macfan601]

Price alert: Target.com has Maude the complete series on sale today for $101.19. Using promo code DEAL20 drops the price to $80.95 with free shipping. Of course if you have either of the Red Cards you get another 5% off. Up until now Overstock had the lowest price. I canceled my order with Overstock and reordered with Target.



*********UPDATE: Looks like the sale or possibly site error only lasted a couple of hours and is over now. Hope some members here were able to get in on it. Target is good about honoring their site errors so if that is what it was and you preordered it you are good to go.

 

[JohnMor]

GREAT price! If I hadn't already ordered through Shout I'd jump on that!

 

[classictvfan40]

My copy arrived in the mail today!!

 

[FanCollector]

Been watching more of the episodes, and numerous other songs were cleared besides those for the four musical episodes. I really wish Shout had gotten The Odd Couple...

 

[JohnMor]

Started with the bonus disc, then on to Season 2. I think the 1st part of Maude's Facelift is absolutely marvelous. The writing, directing and acting are top notch each moment of the ep. Shame the 2nd part is such a terrible comedown, imo. Man, I am going to love revisiting this series.

 

[Kasey]

I am still waiting for mine---damn customs!


Can anyone confirm if the [instrumental version of] Josie and the Pussycats theme is heard in "Maude's Facelift Pt 2"? It's in the scene where Walter and Philip are sitting on the bed watching cartoons.


Also in "Walter's Ethics", Carol hums a few bars of The Hustle while dancing. I hope this remains intact.

 

[Brian Himes]

Can anyone confirm if the [instrumental version of] Josie and the Pussycats theme is heard in "Maude's Facelift Pt 2"? It's in the scene where Walter and Philip are sitting on the bed watching cartoons.

Also in "Walter's Ethics", Carol hums a few bars of The Hustle while dancing. I hope this remains intact.

Yes, both scenes are complete and intact.

 

[Kasey]

Yes, both scenes are complete and intact.

Thanks for confirming those Brian. I forgot to ask about "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" from "The Tax Audit" episode. If that's there, then I can live with any other music omissions, but it sounds like Shout got everything cleared, which is awesome since this is my Favorite Show Ever!

 

[Dave Lawrence]

Can't wait to receive my copy. I'm so glad to read that the musical episodes are all intact, the "Josie and the Pussycats" theme didn't get removed from the facelift episode, and so many other music-inclusive scenes survived.


Can someone tell me if these 2 music moments survived:

1) From "Vivian's First Funeral" (one of my favorite episodes) - the song "The Girl From Ipanema" plays in the background at the funeral home.

2) From the beginning of "Maude's Big Decision" - Maude enters the room singing "I Am Woman" while starting to paint one of the diningroom walls "Lorne Green".

 

[Mr. Handley]

I just put my pre-order in on Amazon this morning for $101.19. Seems like that first season release was eons ago now. Sounds like most (if not all) of the episodes are intact, so can't wait to take it all in...right on MAUDE!

 

[Brian Himes]

Ok, I did some more spot checking and here are the results.


Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree is there in Tax Audit.


I Am Woman is there in Maude's Big Decision.


The Girl From Ipanema is there in Vivian's First Funeral.


I'm gonna guess that since there is no music disclaimer on the packaging anywhere, that this set does have all of the original music intact.

 

[FanCollector]

Started with the bonus disc, then on to Season 2. I think the 1st part of Maude's Facelift is absolutely marvelous. The writing, directing and acting are top notch each moment of the ep. Shame the 2nd part is such a terrible comedown, imo. Man, I am going to love revisiting this series.

The first part really is terrific. The second part suffers from serious pacing problems. It's a reveal that takes forever and there isn't any surprise or interest left by the time it happens. Also, I think the joke is hurt by the fact that Ms. Arthur looked exactly the same in both parts of the show, so it wasn't inherently funny for Walter not to notice any difference.

Writer/producer/blogger Ken Levine once wrote that two-part television episodes are usually padded because someone has an idea that doesn't quite fit into a regular episode, but it doesn't necessarily have enough story to fill two episodes. He isn't always right about that and there are even some excellent multi-episode Maude stories, but this one did indeed seem padded.

The two parts are also credited to different writers. If they really wrote them separately, that might explain the disconnect. Part One sure sounds like Susan Harris's writing. It's possible though, since Part Two is credited to producer Rod Parker that Ms. Harris wrote the whole thing, Parker did a heavy rewrite, and the split credit was their way of handling that. Does anyone know for sure?