The Cosby Show - Season 1 Announced (1 Viewer)

[Mark Talmadge]

For one thing, you're willing to say "not this time" over a difference of a minute or two of edited scenes? They do this all of the time with movie DVD's and people still buy DVD's.

Even Alf is complete syndicated episodes ... and people still buy them. I have never understood why fans of this show are so nitpicky of a minute of extra footage per episode that they'd rather say "not my money ... not this time" and end up whining and complaining about not getting the broadcast episodes on DVD.

So what.

Chances are, this is the only version you're going to get because these studios are not going to waste their money re-producing these sets unless there's a manufacturing defect.

Me? I bought the set, got it for $25 and I lughed so hard that I was rolling on the floor. UrbanWorks did a Top Notch job at putting this set together and they did a very good job at putting this premiere set together.

It seems to me that everyone complained, whined, moaned and b***hed about wanting this series on DVD and when it arrives, you gripe and moan about it. I'm remembered of that song, "you can't always get what you want."

As for me, I'll continue buying future sets because I'm a fan of the show and I'll continue to support. I doubt that UW or the legions of fans of this show will worry about what version they're getting.

Oh, and they do release edited movies to DVD ... take a look at Battlefield Earth and the remark it says on the back "edited for home video."

 

[TravisR]

In all fairness, it's a decision that each consumer has to make for themselves. Some people won't mind, some people will mind. I doubt anyone is gonna change anyone else's viewpoint on the subject.

And I believe (though I'm not sure) that Battlefield Earth is re-edited for video. It's not the same cut as was in the theatre but they chose to try to correct some problems with the movie. They didn't just randomly cut out material to have it fit into a running time.

 

[Martin_C]

That is some skewed logic. If fans say, they want the Show on DVD, it is most certainly implied that they want it unedited.

If someone tells you they want the new Harry Potter, they want the whole book, not three pages missing PER chapter. Imagine the outcry!

And that's the point. We are not talking about two minutes missing from one movie, like you make it sound, we are talking about two or three minutes missing from every single episode. Thats up to an hour of missing footage per Set. No matter how you spin this, it's reasonable to be upset by this.

--

I was just thinking. Is there no way of legally binding these companies to *clearly* mark these sets as edited and not being able to call something "complete" when it actually isn't?

 

[george kaplan]

You didn't laugh nearly so hard as the people at Urban Works laughed all the way to the bank, thanks to customers like you who buy these dvds without making them do them right. They're laughing at you much, much louder than you're laughing at Bill Cosby.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Actually, since each set is most likely approved by Bill Cosby, since he created the show, I think there's a good chance that he approved the set. As what happens most commonly with boxed sets, most TV Shows have lost the broadcasted episodes.

In any event, Harry Potter ... JK Rowling has said herself that she cuts a ton of material of background material related to each character for each book.

In any event, the problem most everyone here has is that you're all finicky completists. You can't sit back and complain that a particular isn't released and then when you get it complaiun its not the version you wanted. So?

I imagine that TV Shows on DVD have enjoyed this set as well. And you hit it on the mark ... Urban Works is laughing, I'm laughing and so is everyone else who bought this set because we all have enjoyed this first boxed set.

This first season boxed set is highly entertainable ... I enjoyed it. What's going to really bother you guys is that Urban Works most likely will not release the broadcast version simply because they may not have it. If anything, the studio who produced the series probably retains orignal rights to it, maybe even Cosby himself and they may have only wanted the syndicated version released.

In any event, for those of you who are passing on this one. I feel sorry for you ... because you are going to miss one of the biggest DVD releases this year.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

This problem goes wel beyond Urban Works, given that Roseanne and now apparently 3RD Rock from the Sun are also edited. Urban Works may have only been able to work with what they were given by C/W. C/W has actually made Sony less bad in my eyes, I mean 3RD Rock is the newest of all the shows, so there's no good reason for those being sindicated, none.

Urban Works might be just as much to blame though if they knew that the tapes were edited and claimed NBC airings in that press release anyway, and if that's true they deserve some anger too, but C/W is where I am going to target my frustrations.

 

[ElijahS]

Not everyone here is as finicky as you would have it. If the masters simply do not exist, and we were told such, I would go ahead and consider purchasing this set. The fact that they haven't said that, though, and that all of the "extras" are really just part of the documentary/reunion special/(place your own title here) from a few years ago makes it harder for me to accept that, as you said, "UrbanWorks did a Top Notch job at putting this set together". Other comedies, both older and newer, have better extras and quality in their sets. That includes Roseanne, which despite the cuts to each episode, at least gives us original extras.

Roseanne, on the other hand, I still might purchase, even with syndication cuts, but it is farther down on my purchase list now.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

That is my feeling as well...I have so much other stuff to watch right now anyway, and September is a big month, so my wallet won't be disappointed.

 

[Martin_C]

About that 'everybody's laughing' business. The people that sell bootlegs will be the real ones laughing, cause they can now offer *exactly* what the DVDs do, but at a much cheaper price. The same goes for everyone that recorded the shows from syndication. They won't have to pay for something they already own.

I really can't get my head around why studios don't see this. But they probably do, and that's why they always hide such edits, so that the casual consumer won't know of them until they wrap the thing open and pop in the first Disc. And most people don't have the guts to return the Set and ask for a refund. It smells like fraud and it probably is.

 

[WillG]

If there were reasonable explanations for why syndicated episoded were used, then we might have a different story when it comes to people who refuse to buy. If the studio issued some kind of statement saying something to the effect of "we tried, but the original elements were lost or unusuable" Then things might be different, but the problem is that in most of these cases, the studios will not provide any explanation. Sometimes I don't understand all the secrecy in this industry.

 

[Joseph_S_Walker]

It's the arrogance of it that bothers me. This company assumes that they can do these sets the lazy way and make a huge profit because most consumers won't know the difference. The fact is, though, that those consumers are being shortchanged. They aren't being respected, and the material isn't being respected.

And particularly given that this set was actually advertised as having the complete NBC cuts, I don't see how this can be anything other than deliberate deception--no matter how "entertainable" the remaining material might be.

I think there needs to be a real effort to inform the public at large--not just the minority of consumers who read these kinds of sites--of the issue of syndicated prints, in order to increase the demand for complete episodes every time, for every series. Such a campaign can succeed--look at how much more accepting the general DVD buyer is of widescreen than they were when DVD debuted. It's the rare movie that is only released in pan-and-scan these days, and it should be the rare TV series that is released in syndicated form.

So how to inform more people? Stand by the racks at Best Buy and wanr them? The negative reviews at Amazon probably do some good, but how about a feature story in Entertainment Weekly or TV Guide, where executives could be forced to try to defend these decisions?

 

[Malcolm R]

Never happen. Those publications accept too much advertising from the studios, often for the very sets we're talking about, to bite the hand that feeds them. EW themselves routinely gloss over such issues and issue top ratings to edited sets.

Perhaps Consumer Reports?

 

[Rob P S]

Then they should produce the discs right the first time and they wouldn't have to waste their money.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

How about calling up the studios who have been advertising these sets as complete and letting them know we want our money back...

These aren't the NBC versions of 3rd Rock. That's false advertisement... isn't that illegal?

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Who cares, these companies that release syndicated version know that these sets will so and a small handful of fans crying foul will never be enough to get them to change their mind because they are in a small minority.

There's nothing about secrecy when it comes to the industry releasing these boxed DVD sets.

And for everyone thinks that these aren't complete sets, they are. They are the complete syndicated season sets. Everyone complaining about these sets not being completed are quite incorrect. Just because they aren't the broadcast sets everyone's complaining ...

While I applaud everyone for continuously "whining" about this fact ... it does start to sound like the "spoiled child" syndrome. Let's face facts, original broadcast sets seem to be selling faster and no amount of whining or complaining will change this fact.

 

[TravisR]

Exactly

 

[MatthewA]

But the fact that they claim network-length versions on the box means they are guilty as sin.

 

[Steve Phillips]

People would be upset if the latest "Harry Potter" book was missing 10-20% of the pages.

People would be upset if their paycheck was missing 10-20% of their money.

Why then, do some of these same people think nothing of allowing these companies to get away with chopping 10-20% of a TV episode out, and call us "whiners" when we balk at it?

Bottom line....if they release edited product, the packaging needs to disclose it.

The Consumer Reports idea is quite good. They might actually do an article on that if they knew how widespread this issue is becoming.

 

[WillG]

So what if studios decided to release television versions of films with the usual edits and compressions to fit a certain time slot and show commercials as well (and not disclosing it either). Would you call that the "Complete" film just because technically it has a beginning, middle and and end?

 

[Robert Ringwald]

In fact, whenever that happens don't they have to state it on the box? I know that certain DVD releases with replaced music mention it on the packaging (movies do usually at least). Why not force them to put "SYNDICATED CUTS" on the back?