Greg Madsen

Well apparently you are not a fan of the show. I really could care less about this stereo issue. They sound fine to me and they are UNCUT. I will take uncut episodes with mono sound over cut episodes with stereo sound on lifetime any day.

EricSchulz

Buena Vista Home Entertainment
(distributes Disney, Miramax, Hollywood, Dimension & Touchstone)
350 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
(818) 560-1000

Web site: http://bvhe.video.go.com/
Customer Support: http://video.go.com/support/home.html

I copied this from Digital Bits website in the "Links" section. They have contact info for almost every major studio there.

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Kevin Hewell

The show was actually on NBC.

RobertSiegel

Sorry my mistake, it was NBC, not CBS. My tapes still has the same message, I just quoted the network wrong.

That's certainly your option Greg, to buy this set. In my opinion, The problem with Hollywood on sets like these is that they think that they can spend less remastering the stereo so they give us mono, give us absolutely worthless extras and think everyone will buy a copy regardless. I guess I am one of those who demands more from the video companies, and am not going to shell out that kind of money for anything less than at least a show presented as it originally was aired. I suppose it's up to each consumer how much they value what's actually in the box, and to decide for themselves. For me? Sorry Disney. If you use the stereo tapes and give me a few decent extras, I'd be glad to buy these. Even no extras is fine, but gibve me the stereo it was originally broadcast in. To me, taking one of our best loved series and giving us mono when it was stereo, giving us a cheap Joan Rivers extra instead of what I listed is available (and I am sure more), was a downright insult to the show and to the fans (that includes the awful cover art for the box). That's just my opinion.

I LOVE this show more than almost any other tv show, but will be just fine watching my friends set, we exchange all the time. Until we let the studios know that they have real big fans buying these and they treat each show as it should be, as people's personal favorite, and transfer them correctly, they will get by doing as little as possible. Hollywood has done this for years. Imagine a mono dvd of SOUND OF MUSIC or BEN HUR or STAR WARS. To me, even though the content is quite different, there would still be no excuse for it, not when it was originally stereo.

Eric, thanks for the Buena Vista addresses

Chris Tassin

I'm a huge fan of this show as well, and I'm very disappointed to hear that this DVD set is not in stereo. That really stinks. Yes, the show has always been in stereo. It was one of the things that stood out to me when it would air. The music sounded very expansive in beautiful stereo sound. I will wait a while before I pick this set up now. I really hope they do something about this problem.

David, I agree with your comments regarding Joan & Melissa making fun of the girls' wardwrobes. I don't want to see the show being put down. Even though I've not seen the bonus material, I too think that this show should be treated with regard because it's so beloved. I know not everyone likes the fashions from the 80's, but some of their outfits were nice. I've heard numerous people compliment the wardwrobe when the show airs. Some of it may be out of date, but for the most part they were dressed well and looked attractive.

And...I agree with your coments 100%, RobertSiegel. I too will write to Buena Vista.

Chris

Shawn_Sm

Wow, I can't believe this is even an issue. Were you really going to buy The Golden Girls for it's impressive audio? The difference in sound is all but undetectable.

RichardCy

Sorry Shawn, gotta disagree on that one...

Like I mentioned earlier, listen to the fifth episode (Job Hunting) on Disc 3 with headphones or on a surround system, and skip ahead to chapter 4. The mono sound switches to stereo for about 30 seconds, at 7 minutes (end of chapter 3 and beginning of chapter 4). You will certainly find it detectable.

This was very sloppy of Buena Vista, and they must have a low opinion of GG fans.

Andrew Budgell

Did you know that The Golden Girls is the third highest watched syndicated series, after Seinfeld and Friends? Just a useless fact, but a lot of people have been bashing The Golden Girls over at DVDTalk.

BTW, a larger shot of the season two art has been posted at TSoD. I don't think Robert will be too thrilled with season two either! LOL

Andy

Elizabeth Taylor Resource

Malcolm R

Well, I purchased the set ($27.99 at Costco) and am enjoying it. It all sounds pretty good to me. I'm through the first seven episodes on Disc 1 and the only thing I've noticed so far is that the audio on Ep.3 seemed inferior to the rest (at least to start the episode).

What amazes me is that these first season eps are so good. I was quite young when TGG started its run, so I didn't watch it regularly until the late 80's. All my life, not really knowing what was a first season ep and what came later, I'd assumed that the first episodes were probably quite clunky like most shows. But this show seems to have been a home run pretty much from the start.

RobertSiegel

I finally got to my friends home to view this set. I have to say it looks pretty good. Time/Warner cable here in Minneapolis has the Lifetime channel on the analog channel set of 1-100, and their signal on Lifetime is horrible, so it's nice to see the show clearly. The sound is another thing. These were stereo episodes and sadly they are mono here, I think something went wrong in mastering because even the box says digital surround sound. I pulled the copies of the show I had from the first broadcasts, and although my vcr was not stereo at that time, the logo "in stereo where available" is at the begining of almost the entire first season.

The cover art looks better in person than on internet photos, though I would have chosen (as a graphic artist who does entertainment graphics) the group photo that's inside the fold-out as my cover, and definately got a little more stylish with the font typeface for Golden Girls. That's a font that professionals would rarely use in the entertainment field, it's very boring.

As for the extra with Joan Rivers that we watched last night, I find it hard to believe that they would put this commentary on a disc that would be purchsed by FANS of a program. They cut down an aspect of the show (costume design) for over the entire extra. Is this something you put on a disc that fans will be buying, probably huge fans of a show? Something that makes fun of it? If it were an awful cult show I can see it, because then the humor would have been funny, but not in this case, for me anyway. If you have not read my post immediately following the actual review, read it and you will know what is actually available to Buena Vista, none of which was added.

It was awesome to watch the first season in order of broadcast. According to many web sites on Golden Girls, they did keep the order correct, though it would have been nice to print the original broadcast date. Anyone notice how Blanche changed after the first few episodes? In the very first (pilot), her southern accent is not as strong as later, and the other big change I see that occured was Sophia. Her character at the begining of the series was made up differently, especially the pilot, and she was different, but I cannot describe it. Perhaps "meaner?" More forward?

I hope that Buena Vista is going to replace these with stereo versions for those that bought it. But I have a feeling they won't. Although the stereo was only in the music cues and the audience, it's still nice to have as originally broadcast.

RobertSiegel

I just made a report to Buena Vista about the stereo problem with Golden Girls. Here's the link to write to them to report tech problems, perhaps if we all fill this out they will know we want these replaced with stereo versions. The fact that the box says Digital Surround Sound, and there are 30 seconds of one episode in stereo (as RichardCy says earlier "If you play episode 5 on Disc 3 (The episode is called "Job Hunting" ...I think). The episode is mono, but from about 7:00 to 7:30 (end of chapter 3 and beginning of chapter 4), the sound suddenly switches to stereo for about 30 seconds." This says there is a tech problem and Buena Vista should do something about it. Here's the link to the form you can fill out:

http://video.movies.go.com/support/home.html

RobertSiegel

FOLLOW-UP. As I stated in my last post, I wrote to Buena Vista (email) to make a complaint about the Golden Girls not being in stereo, and the fact that one episode switches to stereo for about 30 seconds. They replied to me in an email that the program definately is 2.0 surround and that the dvd's are as well, and wanted me to call their tech office. I did just that, and had a long conversation with a man who was the most friendly person I have ever talked to on a tech issue. He was friendly, and very concerned about the issue.

I made a full report and was told I was the first he had talked to reporting this problem, although he said it's usually a week or two after release before they start getting responses on the discs. I gave him the information about where the show switches to stereo for 30 seconds on that 3rd disc episode, and he told me they are going to report this further and investigate the issue. I also told him some of us have the original taped-from-air episodes and they are stereo.

When you fill out the form (I gave the address a few posts earlier), it is now obvious to me, at least with Buena Vista that they have some very concerned people working at the places where you report these issues, so by all means fill out the form about this issue. They do care, I could tell that from this experience.