Beverly Hillbillies S2

FrancisP · 06-27-2008, 11:27 AM

I notice that dvdpricesearch has added The Beverly Hillbillies S2 to their database. Right now it is only listed at DVD Empire as a October preorder. Has anything been confirmed by Paramount?

chadHobbick · 06-27-2008, 11:44 AM

Uh...........yeah.

The Beverly Hillbillies DVD news: Announcement for The Beverly Hillbillies - The 2nd Season | TVShowsOnDVD.com

You should really add tvshowsondvd.com to your list of daily websites to go check out.

David Lambert · 06-27-2008, 01:59 PM

Look for a new story at TSoD, with updates about this release. I'll post it tomorrow, if all goes well.

Tony S · 06-27-2008, 02:04 PM

^Hopefully there will be some word of a Season 1 release.

David Lambert · 06-27-2008, 02:19 PM

Nope, nothing like that. Just a few more details about this S2 release, and hopefully cover art (probably early art, but I might have final by then).

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Tony S · 06-27-2008, 02:49 PM

Dave, do you know what their plans are regarding S1? I don't have the MPI sets and am reluctant to buy them because, (a) I don't want to double dip on the S2 episodes, and (b) the exclusion of the Christmas episodes on MPI sets really bugs me. Not only would I have to buy 3 MPI releases to get all of S1, the viewing order would be interupted by having to switch discs to get the Christmas episode in the proper sequence. Plus, it's the principal of the thing. They should have included those in the larger sets instead of trying to squeeze a few more bucks out of their customers.

Be that as it may, I wish Paramount would go ahead and release S1. (I can live without the extras that are on the MPI sets.) Or release a S2V2 set, at a reduced price, that picks up where the MPI sets leave off.

Gene M · 06-27-2008, 08:23 PM

So basicly Beverly Hillbillies Ultimite collection Vol 1 & 2 would be consider S1? (and x-mas special)

Carabimero · 06-27-2008, 11:41 PM

Paramount doesn't own the rights to season one so far as I know. If you want season one, it's MPI.

David Lambert · 06-28-2008, 12:40 AM

NObody owns the rights to Season 1.

Season 1 and the first half of season 2 are in the public domain...which is why there are so many crappy-looking unauthorized DVDs out there with those 55 episodes.

However, it's also why most of those do not have the real opening and closing theme songs. Because those songs are still under copyright, and owned by the estate of Paul Henning (the show creator). The PD releases that cost a dollar obviously didn't spend the money to purchase the theme song rights. Some put it on there anyway, and I believe that the Henning estate has pursued their legal options whenever that happened.

So MPI took those 55 episodes, extracted the two Christmas eps from the first two seasons and put them on their own disc. They took the remaining 53 eps and split them evenly into "Ultimate Volume 1" and "Ultimate Volume 2". They licensed the theme music from the Henning estate, then took it a step further and worked with the estate to remaster their 16mm prints in the estate's own archive. Then they delved further into the archive for the sponsor portions at the end of the opening credits for each episode, AND for the bonus material.

That resulted in a 4-disc DVD set that took you most of the way through the first season, then another 4-disc set that took you through the rest of the first season, and halfway through the second season.

So yeah, to get "Season 1" right now, get all three of MPI's releases.

Could Paramount release Season 1 themselves? Certainly, if they wanted to. Will they? Well, they have not made any announcement for it, though, nor do my industry sources yet say that they are even thinking about it. That doesn't mean they aren't thinking about it. But if they are, I have had no hint of it. I wouldn't count on it, that's for sure. If they were going to do it, they would either have put it out first, or made both available on the same date. Since they didn't, I'm guessing that it's not even on their radar, for whatever reason.

Let's just say I'm glad I already own the MPI releases.

I'm hoping to find out why include "all" of season 2 (instead of just the second half of it) on this first Paramount release, when it's clearly not necessary in light of the MPI Vol. 2 release (and the Christmas disc). So far, I haven't gotten a real clear view of that yet. If I find out, naturally I will pass on that info either here or, if appropriate, at a TSoD news post.

One guess is that the answer is that it felt odd, in the studio's eyes, to release something labeled "Season 2, Volume 2" when there's no "S2V1" they put out to go with it.

On the other hand, they could have just called it "Ultimate Volume 3" and left it at that. I doubt MPI could have done much about that (even if they wanted to, which I doubt), because that's such a generic combination of words.

Another guess, which I caution you is ONLY a theory (so DON'T get excited about this thought), is this: As I said, the MPI releases were remastered from 16mm prints. Someone said it either here at HTF in another thread, or at a similar discussion forum, that the Paramount releases would have to come from their own 35mm prints. Which I would tend to agree with. Which means that the resulting print quality ought to be at least a bit better, if not majorly so. So, PERHAPS the reason to do the Complete Season 2 is to up the PQ on those earlier episodes in that season...IF Paramount has the 35mm prints for those. Which I assume they do.

Then again, maybe they do for Season 2, but not (or not all of them) for Season 1, and maybe that would explain why they're doing what they're doing.

Well, enough rambling, tired thoughts late in the day. Bedtime. G'nite, and y'all come back now, y'hear?

Carabimero · 06-28-2008, 01:08 AM

I just hope Paramount doesn't snip out all the songs by Flatt & Scruggs (or from granny, for that matter!).

chas speed · 06-28-2008, 01:20 AM

Did anybody else think the MPI junk was unwatchable? They were clearly NOT remastered and were the type of badly dubbed 16mm prints that you would get from a public domain release. I could not even sit through that set. I was really in shock when I saw how bad they looked.

chadHobbick · 06-28-2008, 01:25 AM

I didn't find the MPI sets unwatchable. I watched the first volume w/my dad one weekend and it looked okay to me. Personally if I find a set is kinda crappy, like those $10 sets that you get at WM, it makes it more enjoyable, like you are more in the there as you watch it. I thought the picture looked good on those sets.

So should we start taking bets that Paramount won't release S1 until they do a complete series box set, and use that as the only way to get S1, outside of buying the MPI sets?