The Fugitive, Season Two Volume 1 - Reviews - Page 35

Glenn Curtis · 11-13-2008, 05:01 AM

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Originally Posted by DeWilson

But then the under 35's who run the video divisions don't give a rats arse about some old B&W TV show their Parents or Grandparents enjoyed!

I think you hit the nail on the head. For those of us old enough to remember watching certain TV shows; The Fugitive being one of them; the music score is ingrained in our memory such that we hear the music in our head when the program is mentioned (and I just don't mean the theme). The problem is that when you watch the program with a new score, your memory comes to a juddering halt and it ruins things to the extent that you can't watch any more.

It is a shame that those responsible for the releases do not have the history of knowing these programs first hand.

michael_ks · 11-13-2008, 10:00 AM

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It is a shame that those responsible for the releases do not have the history of knowing these programs first hand.

It's even a bigger shame to see them so utterly clueless on understanding basic customer desires and expectations AFTER, no less, receiving heaps of praise for actually exceeding expectations.

Michael Reuben · 11-13-2008, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeWilson

But then the under 35's who run the video divisions don't give a rats arse about some old B&W TV show their Parents or Grandparents enjoyed!

I'm no defender of what's happened with The Fugitive, but I find the condescension inappropriate. I'm old enough to have watched the show when it first aired, and frankly the behavior of many people in this thread embarrasses me for my generation. I can imagine those "under 35s" reading some of this stuff and saying to themselves, "If this is 'wisdom' and 'maturity', you can keep it!"

michael_ks · 11-13-2008, 11:50 AM

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I can imagine those "under 35s" reading some of this stuff and saying to themselves, "If this is 'wisdom' and 'maturity', you can keep it!"

Funny, I'm not embarrassed at all. I personally don't consider it immature to single out a generation that is unwilling to show a degree of deference for something that, though they have no interest and association with, SHOULD at the very least acknowledge the reverence it has been accorded over the years. But then, I don't expect many people under 30 anyway, to have any tangible respect for Brahms, the Dutch masters or gothic architecture either. Say what you want, but I'd rather be regarded as condescending than phlegmatic.

Where "The Fugitive" is concerned, it's entirely conjecture on my part that a person or persons born in the mid-late 70s or so had anything to do with with the S2 debacle, I admit, but I'd sure be willing to lay odds.

Michael Reuben · 11-13-2008, 12:48 PM

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Funny, I'm not embarrassed at all.

IMO, that doesn't speak well for you. You admit that you don't know whether or not 30-somethings were involved with the S2 Fugitive decision, but you're willing to go ahead and condemn an entire generation's taste on that basis. This forum has many members of that age -- and younger -- who have as much, or more, reverence for classic film and TV as many of their elders.

Besides, the age of the people responsible for the decisions is irrelevant. As any reasonable reader of this thread should be willing to acknowledge, the rights situation regarding the music cues is, at best, unclear. To this day, we still don't know all of the factors that led to the decision to replace the music. The sole decision for which Paramount/CBS can be justly criticized -- and they have been -- is the misleading packaging.

Even so, the reactions in this thread from supposedly mature adults have been outlandish and atrocious. Abusive emails to a Paramount employee who, as it turned out, had nothing to do with this release; threats of frivolous lawsuits; prosecutorial parsing of every word issued by Paramount/CBS looking for the most damning possible inference; and let's not forget the accusations against the forum that's hosting all of this for being somehow "partial" to the studios.

All of it over a TV show.

Now, I value my favorite movies and TV shows as much as anyone, or I wouldn't be here. But age is supposed to bring a certain wisdom. Some things are worth getting excited about; some things are worth a roll of the eyes, a note of protest and then moving on. Wisdom is knowing the difference.

Gary16 · 11-13-2008, 01:31 PM

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Originally Posted by Michael Reuben

Now, I value my favorite movies and TV shows as much as anyone, or I wouldn't be here. But age is supposed to bring a certain wisdom. Some things are worth getting excited about; some things are worth a roll of the eyes, a note of protest and then moving on. Wisdom is knowing the difference.

So we should spend our money based on what we think is an unaltered release of a classic TV series and then, when we discover that large changes have been made with no advance warning, we should roll our eyes, write a note of protest, and then move on? Where's the part about getting our money back or some sort of compensation for the lack of truth in packaging? And where do we move on to? The next series that is altered without warning (as in "My 3 Sons")? This forum, IMO, has done exactly what it should do -- make it known that changes of this type are not acceptable and should not be tolerated from any studio unless there is upfront acknowledgment or warning so the buyer can made an informed decision. Wisdom is also not being taken for a sucker when it comes to making a purchase.

Michael Reuben · 11-13-2008, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary16

So we should spend our money based on what we think is an unaltered release of a classic TV series and then, when we discover that large changes have been made with no advance warning, we should roll our eyes, write a note of protest, and then move on? Where's the part about getting our money back or some sort of compensation for the lack of truth in packaging? And where do we move on to? The next series that is altered without warning (as in "My 3 Sons")? This forum, IMO, has done exactly what it should do -- make it known that changes of this type are not acceptable and should not be tolerated from any studio unless there is upfront acknowledgment or warning so the buyer can made an informed decision. Wisdom is also not being taken for a sucker when it comes to making a purchase.

It would be nice if you referenced the part of my post that dealt with this point:

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The sole decision for which Paramount/CBS can be justly criticized -- and they have been -- is the misleading packaging.

But the bulk of this thread hasn't been about the packaging. Most recently, the wholesale dismissal of 30-somethings had nothing to do with the packaging issues, and everything to do with the music replacement, the precise reasons for which are still unknown.

Your own post demonstrates my point. It's a 35-page thread, and you still want to fight.

Gary16 · 11-13-2008, 01:51 PM

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Originally Posted by Michael Reuben

Your own post demonstrates my point. It's a 35-page thread, and you still want to fight.

Until this past week, there have been no posts from people telling the rest of us to grow up and accept it. Where were you 35 pages ago? In any case,
I'm not fighting per se, I'm just expressing the fact that CBS/Paramount did not do the right thing here and has shown no evidence that this will change. Done.

Michael Reuben · 11-13-2008, 02:07 PM

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Originally Posted by Gary16

Where were you 35 pages ago?

I've been in and out of this thread since page 6, trying to calm it (admittedly without much success). You'll also find me in a parallel thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary16

Until this past week, there have been no posts from people telling the rest of us to grow up and accept it.

There have been posts from early on asking people to be reasonable. And I haven't told anyone to "grow up" so much as suggested that people complaining about the "kids" at the studios should consider acting their age. I stand by the suggestion.

Harry-N · 11-13-2008, 03:57 PM

We WERE told, by the powers that be here, probably in this very thread, that the powers that be at CBS/Paramount are NOT just a bunch of 20 and 30 somethings - that they are reasonable, intelligent folks who probably had to make some very difficult decisions.

That they weren't upfront with their customer base is the issue here, as Michael has stated.

Sometimes I think that after a period of time goes by, people tend to pop back into a thread and forget what has gone before. There was a fairly long period of inactivity in this thread until a recent semi-controversial post by "Point-Blank" set everyone off again.

That CBS/Paramount has remained silent on the issue is somewhat disquieting.

Harry

DeWilson · 11-13-2008, 04:39 PM

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Originally Posted by Harry-N

We WERE told, by the powers that be here, probably in this very thread, that the powers that be at CBS/Paramount are NOT just a bunch of 20 and 30 somethings - that they are reasonable, intelligent folks who probably had to make some very difficult decisions....

That they weren't upfront with their customer base is the issue here, as Michael has stated...

....That CBS/Paramount has remained silent on the issue is somewhat disquieting.

Harry

This is something I think we can all agree on (Although i'm sticking with my view of generation gap as a contributing factor in many cases of botched releases!) That LACK OF COMMUNICATION on the part of CBS-P caused more problems than the actual changes.

We're the consumer - we want to consume the product - and If we knew ahead of time the changes were made,we might have been less angry and more forgiving if we were told why. What we got is like opening a package on christmas morning to find not what we expected,but something less and then being told "Oh,we had to get you something less becuase of...".