The Life & Times of Grizzly Adams (1 Viewer)

[Ron1973]

The Viacom logo appears on the end of the episodes and I still believe these to be the edited for syndication versions since it's the late 80's/early 90's Viacom logo. If it were the V of Doom of old, I might think they were unedited. The prints are terrible and show evidence, at least on a couple of episodes, of transfer straight from videotape.
The Goodtimes Video VHS prints of the movies, even though recorded in LP mode, don't look any worse than the DVD's in my opinion. Since those haven't came out to DVD yet, I ordered them from a 3rd party seller on Amazon. Like all Goodtimes VHS movies, there is no macrovision encrypted so it can be copied to a DVD if you so desire (which I will be doing).

 

[Jeff*H]

Season 2 of THE LIFE & TIMES OF GRIZZLY ADAMS arrived today from Amazon, and it's disappointing in a few respects, but features a hidden gem that makes up for the disappointments. The print quality is basically the same as the transfers from Season 1: edited videotape syndication masters have been used once again, running around 46:30 per episode. They are scratched, grainy, and fuzzy, not to mention fairly compressed since they are putting 6 episodes to a disc this season (4 discs total in the set). They look about the same as you remember them when they ran on TV, which I don't mind since this is how I've always been used to watching the series. Even more disappointing is the fact that Disc 4 features 6 episodes, INCLUDING the 2 expanded holiday episodes from Season 2: "The Renewal" (Easter) and "Once Upon a Starry Night" (Christmas). Compression, subsequently, is even a little more noticeable on this disc (especially on a large tv screen), but the shows are still perfectly watchable and enjoyable. It's nice to have these holiday shows, however, as they seldom ran as frequently in the syndication packages on TV due to their 90-minute time block (run times on these 2 shows are 1:13 and 1:10, respectively). The highlight of this set is the new 13 minute interview with Dan Haggerty featured on Disc 1. He looks to be in great shape these days, and his love and enthusiasm for the show shine through as he tells a number of entertaining anecdotes about what it was like working on the series and with the animals and his co-stars like Denver Pyle. He reveals a few interesting bits of trivia, including the fact that they filmed the cabin scenes in 3 different states: Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, and would shoot at one location whenever the snow would get too high in the other locations (apparently, NBC's research revealed that viewers hated episodes that had snow in them, thus they tried to avoid shooting episodes with snow). The interview was a pleasant surprise for me on this set, as I wasn't expecting much, and it brought back a lot of memories listening to him talk about how much he enjoyed doing the show. Overall, it's nice to complete another iconic 70s show on DVD (thanks Timeless) and while I wish the quality were better, I'm still grateful we got it released at all, frankly, and in such a short span of time (less than 6 months). I definitely recommend the release for fans of the series, and I look forward to introducing my own kids to the series this year now that it's complete.

 

[Ron1973]

I got my kids hooked on Season One and they've been bugging me forever to get Two as soon as it comes out. Sounds like a trip to Amazon before bed!!! Lol

 

[Bryan^H]

Season 2 of THE LIFE & TIMES OF GRIZZLY ADAMS arrived today from Amazon, and it's disappointing in a few respects, but features a hidden gem that makes up for the disappointments. The print quality is basically the same as the transfers from Season 1: edited videotape syndication masters have been used once again, running around 46:30 per episode. They are scratched, grainy, and fuzzy, not to mention fairly compressed since they are putting 6 episodes to a disc this season (4 discs total in the set). They look about the same as you remember them when they ran on TV, which I don't mind since this is how I've always been used to watching the series. Even more disappointing is the fact that Disc 4 features 6 episodes, INCLUDING the 2 expanded holiday episodes from Season 2: "The Renewal" (Easter) and "Once Upon a Starry Night" (Christmas). Compression, subsequently, is even a little more noticeable on this disc (especially on a large tv screen), but the shows are still perfectly watchable and enjoyable. It's nice to have these holiday shows, however, as they seldom ran as frequently in the syndication packages on TV due to their 90-minute time block (run times on these 2 shows are 1:13 and 1:10, respectively). The highlight of this set is the new 13 minute interview with Dan Haggerty featured on Disc 1. He looks to be in great shape these days, and his love and enthusiasm for the show shine through as he tells a number of entertaining anecdotes about what it was like working on the series and with the animals and his co-stars like Denver Pyle. He reveals a few interesting bits of trivia, including the fact that they filmed the cabin scenes in 3 different states: Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, and would shoot at one location whenever the snow would get too high in the other locations (apparently, NBC's research revealed that viewers hated episodes that had snow in them, thus they tried to avoid shooting episodes with snow). The interview was a pleasant surprise for me on this set, as I wasn't expecting much, and it brought back a lot of memories listening to him talk about how much he enjoyed doing the show. Overall, it's nice to complete another iconic 70s show on DVD (thanks Timeless) and while I wish the quality were better, I'm still grateful we got it released at all, frankly, and in such a short span of time (less than 6 months). I definitely recommend the release for fans of the series, and I look forward to introducing my own kids to the series this year now that it's complete.

I got my copy yesterday, and I agree with you on all points. IT isn't the qulaity of the masters, but the compression that hinders the viewing. I really am glad to own this series complete, but darn if only it was handled with a little more love.

 

[r parker]

I got my copy yesterday, and I agree with you on all points. IT isn't the qulaity of the masters, but the compression that hinders the viewing. I really am glad to own this series complete, but darn if only it was handled with a little more love.

I got my copy yesterday, and I agree with you on all points. IT isn't the qulaity of the masters, but the compression that hinders the viewing. I really am glad to own this series complete, but darn if only it was handled with a little more love.

I got my copy yesterday, and I agree with you on all points. IT isn't the qulaity of the masters, but the compression that hinders the viewing. I really am glad to own this series complete, but darn if only it was handled with a little more love.

I k

Does anyone remember this wonderful show from the 1970's? Dan Haggerty, Denver Pyle & Ben... The theme song was great. It had incredible photography, shot in the mountains. Do you know who owns the rights? This is a show I would love to see come out on DVD. Anybody with me on this one?
I just have to say that 2004 has been a wonderful year for releases and continues to amaze me: Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Kung-Fu, Starsky & Hutch, Jetsons... still to come: Partridge Family, Land of the Lost, The Munsters and many others... my wallet keeps getting lighter and lighter!

Does anyone remember this wonderful show from the 1970's? Dan Haggerty, Denver Pyle & Ben... The theme song was great. It had incredible photography, shot in the mountains. Do you know who owns the rights? This is a show I would love to see come out on DVD. Anybody with me on this one?
I just have to say that 2004 has been a wonderful year for releases and continues to amaze me: Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Kung-Fu, Starsky & Hutch, Jetsons... still to come: Partridge Family, Land of the Lost, The Munsters and many others... my wallet keeps getting lighter and lighter!

 

[r parker]

I know this is an old post, and though this post is old doesn't change the fact, Shout Factory's release of The Life and times of Grizzly Adams was a sad occasion! I have read the posts on here, people saying it looked bad because of the type film they originally made the shows on was to blame? Really? If You own both seasons , then You will see, season two looks far worse? Why, You ask? Look at the episodes they put to each disc on season two, if You noticed season one looked a lot better then season 2? Why? because they put fewer shows on season 1 discs, I think 3 or 4? Season 2 they drowned the discs with 5 or maybe even 6 episodes on one disc?4 discs that are 4gb not 9gb discs? If they had been 9gb, then they would have looked better! and the very last of season 2 they had two extended episodes, and if you had noticed, that disc was the worst of the bunch! I own the U.S. ver. and a U.K. ver. The U.K. season 2 was released on 8 dvds, Yes you read right, 8 dvd's! In my books, it looks better, yes it is true that they could have cleaned it up some, but at least the sound doesn't drag like it does in the U.S. ver. and to me the picture is much better! If You get a change order season 2 ~ 8 disc set from the U.k. make sure it is 8 disc and from "Studio: Via Vision" You will need a region free dvd player to play them. Regards!

 

[smithbrad]

I know this is an old post, and though this post is old doesn't change the fact, Shout Factory's release of The Life and times of Grizzly Adams was a sad occasion! I have read the posts on here, people saying it looked bad because of the type film they originally made the shows on was to blame? Really? If You own both seasons , then You will see, season two looks far worse? Why, You ask? Look at the episodes they put to each disc on season two, if You noticed season one looked a lot better then season 2? Why? because they put fewer shows on season 1 discs, I think 3 or 4? Season 2 they drowned the discs with 5 or maybe even 6 episodes on one disc?4 discs that are 4gb not 9gb discs? If they had been 9gb, then they would have looked better! and the very last of season 2 they had two extended episodes, and if you had noticed, that disc was the worst of the bunch! I own the U.S. ver. and a U.K. ver. The U.K. season 2 was released on 8 dvds, Yes you read right, 8 dvd's! In my books, it looks better, yes it is true that they could have cleaned it up some, but at least the sound doesn't drag like it does in the U.S. ver. and to me the picture is much better! If You get a change order season 2 ~ 8 disc set from the U.k. make sure it is 8 disc and from "Studio: Via Vision" You will need a region free dvd player to play them. Regards!

I checked my disks and my findings are definitely different. The first three disks for season 1 are on single layer disks that comes out to about 1.4 GB per episodes. The last disk for season 1 is dual layer so the four episodes comes to about 1.85 GB each. All four disks for season 2 are dual layer, so at 6 episodes each it comes to about 1.3 GB's per episode (not much difference than season 1). The last disk in season 2 does stretch it a bit with extended episodes. BTW, single layer disks come in around 4.3 GB each, while dual layer disks just under 8 GB's each (not 9 GB's). So in reality the differences between most of the episodes in season 1 and season 2 (size wise) is actually less than 10%. Interestingly, the last disk in season 1 is closer to a 25% improvement (size wise), yet the display wasn't noticeable better.

So are there compression issue, yes (especially on the last disk of season 2). Is this the biggest issue, not in my opinion. I've seen better looking releases with even more compression when a better source was used. In this case, I'd still say the source prints used were the biggest problem. Whether that be older tape transfers from a studio, or the more likely old 16mm prints from an estate.

And if I read it correctly, if you are stating your season 2 disks are only single layer then they are probably very convincing bootlegs because it was released on dual layer disks by Shout!. There are some very convincing copycat releases being sold on eBay and Amazon Marketplace that look identical to the real thing except for they are based on single layer disks. If you got one of those then yes you would have higher compression issues with season 2 as a result.

 

[Ron1973]

I checked my disks and my findings are definitely different. The first three disks for season 1 are on single layer disks that comes out to about 1.4 GB per episodes. The last disk for season 1 is dual layer so the four episodes comes to about 1.85 GB each. All four disks for season 2 are dual layer, so at 6 episodes each it comes to about 1.3 GB's per episode (not much difference than season 1). The last disk in season 2 does stretch it a bit with extended episodes. BTW, single layer disks come in around 4.3 GB each, while dual layer disks just under 8 GB's each (not 9 GB's). So in reality the differences between most of the episodes in season 1 and season 2 (size wise) is actually less than 10%. Interestingly, the last disk in season 1 is closer to a 25% improvement (size wise), yet the display wasn't noticeable better.

So are there compression issue, yes (especially on the last disk of season 2). Is this the biggest issue, not in my opinion. I've seen better looking releases with even more compression when a better source was used. In this case, I'd still say the source prints used were the biggest problem. Whether that be older tape transfers from a studio, or the more likely old 16mm prints from an estate.

And if I read it correctly, if you are stating your season 2 disks are only single layer then they are probably very convincing bootlegs because it was released on dual layer disks by Shout!. There are some very convincing copycat releases being sold on eBay and Amazon Marketplace that look identical to the real thing except for they are based on single layer disks. If you got one of those then yes you would have higher compression issues with season 2 as a result.

I would go with tape transfers. The late 80's/early 90's era Viacom logo appears at the end of the episodes AND they are obviously edited which would scream tape.