Wow - Ally McBeal! I'm speechless, almost (1 Viewer)

[HenryDuBrow]

Since Ally's out uncut in r2, wonder if that could happen to WKRP there as well (or if those butchered r1 versions are now 'official' release versions, if so, Fox be damned).

 

[Christian Preischl]

The home video market may have been well under way in the 90s, but apart from Star Trek and several best of tapes hardly any TV shows were released. That market didn't really take off until DVD (I remember the big hoopla when full seasons of the X-Files were released... at a price that nobody would be willing to pay nowadays).

Music licensing is an issue even with shows a lot newer than Ally McBeal. For example, both Scrubs and My Name is Earl featured several music edits on DVD, at least on their first seasons.

As far as 90s material is concerned, there's been loads of replacements and several edits on Dawson's Creek.

That's just some examples off the top of my head, I'm sure there's lots more.

I'm certain that if music wasn't such a big licensing nightmare with Ally McBeal, the show would have been released years ago.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Quantum Leap, another product of the 90s (for the most part) also got butchered as far as music was concerned.

But, on the flip side, shows like Freaks and Geeks, and Sports Night, were both released with music intact. However, both were short lived shows.

 

[Gary Seven]

I see... well... um... never mind.

 

[Mary_P]

See also "Cold Case," which, although currently in production, is unlikely to be released on DVD. The producers had a choice between getting the music they wanted licensed for broadcast (and, I assume, syndication, at least in the short-term), and getting it licensed for the DVD -- they couldn't afford both. And like "Quantum Leap," this is a show where the music plays a critical role in establishing the era of the story.

 

[mattCR]

I don't see how this can be done without the music. Barry White appeared not once, but three times in this show for pete sake (John's birthday as mentined above, a cameo for Ally, and in the series finale)

And then you had appearances by Al Green, a multi-episode arch about Ally being harranged by Gloria Gainor after Billy's death, etc.

I admit, I just watched through the entire series, audio in tact (non-domestic region) and can't imagine how else you could do it.

Yes, Robert Downey left the show with drug problem, but he was only there for one season really anyway (4) and so it made sense. But him singing Springsteen's "Shirley Darling" is classic, and I don't know how they can ever work to cut that stuff out and be left a show.

 

[Elena S]

Just saw that the first season is listed for $25.99 at Amazon. There's no way it can't be butchered for that price.

 

[vnisanian2001]

The thing that I really hate about Fox is that anytime there's a DVD release with lots of music edits, they like to cover it up, and pretend that no one will notice them, by not putting a disclaimer on any of their sets about music being edited. They didn't do that for "Roswell", "In Living Color", "The Fall Guy", or almost all of their other sets (with the exception of WKRP), so why on earth should it be any different for this?

And don't even give me the B.S. that Fox tried to clear the music on those shows, but couldn't. Bottom line: They didn't even try, plain and simple.

Like I said before, Fox is one of the worst studios ever when it comes to music clearances on TV Show DVD releases. They don't even know what public domain means. The fact that they replaced "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" on an episode of "Remington Steele" should tell you that.

 

[David Levine]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Peterson

Fox owns The Simpsons which was airing before Ally McBeal was. All the music is intact on their sets.

Its amazing how much money you can find when season sets sell in the MILLIONS. Simpsons operates (even after 11 seasons) in very rare air on DVD.

 

[TonyD]

I didn't watch the show to often but caught it here and there.
One ep i remember a it of is one of the guys is apparently in love with a woman on the show and he is asked why he doesn't just tell her.

He mentioned something about feeling he should only love her from afar.

Anyone remember that one?

 

[Dustin James]

I can't believe no one has yet brought up the August 7th post at tvshowsondvd.com of Fox's official press release stating that the complete series release is " Filled with all the original music fans couldn't do without..."

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Ally-McBeal-Press-Release/12444

The press release also has a disc-by-disc breakdown of all content.

 

[David Levine]

It was brought up in the thread with the press release:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/291368/tcfhe-press-release-ally-mcbeal-the-complete-series

Originally Posted by Dustin James

I can't believe no one has yet brought up the August 7th post at tvshowsondvd.com of Fox's official press release stating that the complete series release is " Filled with all the original music fans couldn't do without..."

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Ally-McBeal-Press-Release/12444

The press release also has a disc-by-disc breakdown of all content.

 

[Garysb]

Of course after Ally comes out on DVD and it is confirmed that indeed it is complete with no music substitutions, there will be many threads that say why are songs cut from "FILL IN THE NAME OF THE SHOW" . Fox was able to release Ally McBeal complete.

Saturday Night Live was advertised to be complete and then people found out the commercial bumpers were missing from the DVDs and complained. Hopefully nothing will be missing from this release.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

They were able to because they wanted it. They wanted to pay here (a newer slicker show), and probably didn't feel the same prestige for older shows. A pity.

 

[Elena S]

I'll be waiting to read some reviews from the release before I jump in to buy it. I just don't trust studios these days.

 

[MatthewA]

Originally Posted by HenryDuBrow

They were able to because they wanted it. They wanted to pay here (a newer slicker show), and probably didn't feel the same prestige for older shows. A pity.

I figured out they had that attitude as soon as they let Shout! help themselves to everything pre-Simpsons that isn't M*A*S*H.