TV series released in incorrect aspect ratio (1 Viewer)

[Kirben]

I was surprised to notice several older live action TV series were produced for widescreen, but only released cropped to 4:3 for their DVD releases. I know this happened with many animated TV series from Warner Brothers, but I'm only interested in live action TV series for this thread.

I know of the follow TV series so far:
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (Last season or two?)
Source: Interview with Michael Hurst
Starhunter (Complete Series)
Source: Released in widescreen on DVD in Germany
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Pilot & Complete Series)
Source: Comparison of season 1 episode on forum
Xena: Warrior Princess (Partial Season 3?, Season 4 - 6)
Source: Interview with Michael Hurst

What other series have only been released on DVD cropped? I specifically mean TV series originally produced for widescreen (or to be widescreen safe), and not series which were cropped to widescreen later for HD presentation.

It is really annoying we still can't get complete uncut versions of many TV series, due to this continued cropping.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Law and Order, seasons 4 (maybe) and 14 (definitely)
Law and Order SVU - Seasons 1-5
Law and Order: Criminal Intent - Seasons 1-3
Law and Order: Trial By Jury

Universal was really bad at releasing shows cropped early on in the TV on DVD era, and L&O got hit pretty bad by it.

I'm also thinking Reba was released cropped by Fox, since it's airing widescreen on at least three different networks now and it doesn't look obviously tilt and scanned and was from the era where shows started shooting for widescreen.

 

[Matt Hough]

The last season and a half of Will & Grace were done in widescreen, but the Lionsgate DVDs of those seasons are 4:3.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

How much of Scrubs was shot widescreen?

It didn't go widescreen on network TV until season 8, IIRC, but the DVDs for the final two seasons were cropped.

The Blu release of S8, however, was widescreen.

 

[jcroy]

Are we just talking about shows which were originally done as 16:9 widescreen, which were dumbly (or pan-and-scanned) cropped to 4:3 fullscreen for the dvd versions?

Or more generally, are we also talking about 16:9 widescreen shows, where the dvd versions were done as non-anamorphic where there are large black bars on all four sides of the shrunken "16:9" image?

For the latter case, one which sticks out in my mind is season 1 of The Closer.

 

[Kirben]

Are we just talking about shows which were originally done as 16:9 widescreen, which were dumbly (or pan-and-scanned) cropped to 4:3 fullscreen for the dvd versions?

Yes, Just this case.

Or more generally, are we also talking about 16:9 widescreen shows, where the dvd versions were done as non-anamorphic where there are large black bars on all four sides of the shrunken "16:9" image?

No, at least can zoom in these cases, although the lower resolution when zooming is just as annoying.

 

[Lord Dalek]

As mentioned at this forum thousands of times, just because the show was shot future proof in 3-perf does not necessarily make that the "correct aspect ratio".

 

[Kirben]

As mentioned at this forum thousands of times, just because the show was shot future proof in 3-perf does not necessarily make that the "correct aspect ratio".

That sounds more like TV series which were not really kept widescreen safe, causing unexpected errors (equipment or people) showing up with widescreen at times.

The later seasons of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess were definitely meant for widescreen though, and we are really missing out based on this quote from the Michael Hurst interview linked above:

INTERVIEWER:
The syndication uplink is not widescreen yet.

[31] MICHAEL HURST::
Probably not because what they're doing is future proofing it for when everybody will be showing it in on widescreen. You'll probably see the Hercules that no one else has seen because some things get framed for widescreen, and we are deliberately doing that - putting people on the edge of frames, and then when most people see it they won't be seeing what those people are doing. So there's little secrets that will be revealed. They're not majorly important secrets, just little things that enhance shots. That does happen because we have to frame for the widescreen format.

I wonder if Young Hercules was produced for widescreen too, since it produced around the same time.

 

[BobO'Link]

I was surprised to notice several older live action TV series were produced for widescreen, but only released cropped to 4:3 for their DVD releases. I know this happened with many animated TV series from Warner Brothers, but I'm only interested in live action TV series for this thread.

I know of the follow TV series so far:
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (Last season or two?)
Source: Interview with Michael Hurst
Starhunter (Complete Series)
Source: Released in widescreen on DVD in Germany
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Pilot & Complete Series)
Source: Comparison of season 1 episode on forum
Xena: Warrior Princess (Partial Season 3?, Season 4 - 6)
Source: Interview with Michael Hurst

What other series have only been released on DVD cropped? I specifically mean TV series originally produced for widescreen (or to be widescreen safe), and not series which were cropped to widescreen later for HD presentation.

It is really annoying we still can't get complete uncut versions of many TV series, due to this continued cropping.

In looking at the screen captures from L&C, and that the site referenced doesn't appear to be any type of authoritative site, I'd argue L&C was *not* "protected for WS" during shooting but was a typical 35mm "protected for 4:3" shoot. The frames shown lend themselves to that interpretation as there's little additional head/foot room and mainly just the sides opened up. It looks like what was done with The Avengers in that the 4:3 protected area actually leaves enough on the sides to make such a conversion feasible without sacrificing composition too much. IMDB says it was shot 4:3 and there's no other source I could find saying otherwise other than that *single* post on the forum linked.

 

[Kirben]

In looking at the screen captures from L&C, and that the site referenced doesn't appear to be any type of authoritative site, I'd argue L&C was *not* "protected for WS" during shooting but was a typical 35mm "protected for 4:3" shoot. The frames shown lend themselves to that interpretation as there's little additional head/foot room and mainly just the sides opened up. It looks like what was done with The Avengers in that the 4:3 protected area actually leaves enough on the sides to make such a conversion feasible without sacrificing composition too much. IMDB says it was shot 4:3 and there's no other source I could find saying otherwise other than that *single* post on the forum linked.

I have been unable to find other references so far, but another post mentions a video tape of that episode in widescreen was offered on eBay in the past. So that seems to be the source for that screenshot comparison.

The IMDB isn't the best source for aspect ratio for TV series, many TV series are listed incorrectly (especially animated TV series from the 2000s).

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

Has anybody kept their Route 66 S2, V2 sets in widescreen from Infinity/Roxbury? I got rid of mine years ago!

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Hmmm .. I've always wondered about "Xena".
The video commentaries included with the later seasons show the actors viewing the episodes in Widescreen. It was very annoying that the actual eps on the DVDs were presented in 4:3.

OTOH, as far as I'm aware the first run syndication was all 4:3 ... So it can be argued that the DVDs are providing the OAR.

Whatever ... I wouldn't mind repurchasing the series on Blu -- especially if the set included the later seasons in Widescreen.