The Untouchables - Season 2, Volume 2 (1 Viewer)

[Mark666]

A very sad ending to the Untouchables dvds if true. I love this show but I did not get Series 2 Pt 2 because I object to buying crap transfers. If they had kept the high standard of S1 pt 1 I wonder how many copies they would have sold. I wonder how big DVD would be now if it had consisted of transfering VHS to DVD with no enhancement. Paramount did it on the cheap and paid the price.

 

[Mark666]

Perhaps showing people how good they could make Series 1 pt 1 and then shafting them with very grainy follow-ups was not the good idea it at first appeared to be. Perhaps Paramount could set the new standard for DVD..... just conect a VHS player to a DVD Recorder and press record. The BBC copies in the UK are better than the DVD versions.

 

[Stephen Bowie]

Honestly, I thought the second season looked fine -- not quite as crisp as the first, but then CBS went way overboard with the DNR on some (not all) of the first season episodes. (See the first ep after the pilot as an example.) So it evens out.

It's a shame this seems to have slowed down. One of the few important series of that period that I'd just started watching on DVD, so of course CBS is going to quit in the middle.

 

[Bob Gu]

I thought Season 2 looked fine also, especially when compared to the dark syndication prints that were on tv in the '80s.

It's unfortunate that they messed with the bumpers, but most releases don't have any at all. Where's the bumpers for Perry Mason and Rawhide?? And no release, that I know of, ever had all three mid-break bumpers.(end of act bumper..commercials...mid-breakbumper..commercials....beginning of act bumper..)

My biggest concern, at this point, with the continuing Paramount releases is the replacement music issue.

 

[jdee28]

Is the release schedule of The Untouchables slowing down? They only release a season a year. Last year, The Streets of San Francisco had it's second season released in July and November. I'm hopeful the two split seasons sets for Season 3 will pop up sometime during the course of this year.

I wouldn't let picture quality issues prevent anyone from getting the season two sets. The transfers are good, probably the best we've ever seen and the best we're ever likely to get. It's just that CBS/Paramount didn't put the finishing touches on them that you'd see in a Perry Mason or Fugitive release; grain reduction and contrast control; no doubt to cut costs. It's too bad that all classic series aren't created equal in their eyes.

 

[Corey3rd]

The grain issue on the later Untouchables is nothing compared to how Universal has completely lost any sense of quality control on the Emergency boxset.

 

[chuckmusic]

great info! i love the untouchables, thanks for the information

 

[MartinP.]

I do not pay as much attention to the minute quality details that
many of you guys do. I am hoping that Paramount releases
the remaining seasons of The Untouchables. The last release
I thought was fine. I used to own all of the Columbia House VHS
releases of The Untouchables which included 18 episodes of the final
two seasons. KDOC Ch. 56 in Southern California was airing this
show two or three years ago, in order, but the last season kept
getting pre-empted for Hockey games and such and then the
order got really mixed up somehow and the last season was hardly
seen. I think there are still about 35 episodes that I've never seen.

The Paley Festival for Television spotlighted this show in the 1980's
and I attended. Most of the lead group of Untouchables were in
attendance and they showed the episode called "Snowball" from the
4th season which starred a young actor named Robert Redford.

Whassup Paramount?

 

[cajunhillbilly]

Any news on Mission Impossible, season 6?

 

[kingfish]

I am wondering where season 3 is. I also don't see the wisdom of breaking these shows up into two parts for each release.

 

[Carabimero]

kingfish, the wisdom is to lower the price point so giant retailers like Wal-Mart will carry the title.

 

[Gary OS]

The CBS Distribution Bible is reporting that they have finished transferring Season Three of THE UNTOUCHABLES to HD. That probably bodes well for a dvd release in the near future!

Gary "I'm really surprised about this - I thought this show was dead in the water" O.

 

[michael_ks]

Thanks for this bit of good news, Gary. Let's hope Paramount reverts back to the quality control they used in S1, with bumpers intact. Great character actor Frank Sutton ("Sgt. Carter") made two of his four appearances starting with S3 and I'd very much like to see him in those episodes.

 

[MartinP.]

A very positive development indeed!
Good to hear!

 

[WaveCrest]

Tested out my Untouchables Season 2 set last week. The Region 2 set has the ad bumpers which are not in the Region 1 set...unless what I think are ad bumpers are something else. The Region 1 set for the first season had these illustration cards showing a drawing of people from that era which the show was set in, along with "The Untouchables" title.

I agree with what people have said about the print quality, not being as good as the first season's. Even with the sharper PAL resolution and the digital remastering, the Season 2 print quality isn't as good as the first season.