HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season - Page 2

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

If Time-Life had been able to release the complete series, would there have been less music cuts?

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

Depends... Time Life charges more per season and perhaps that would give them more flexibility in having funds to clear music.

But...

It might mean less overall sales

But...

the sets being sold direct would mean more of a profit margin.

In other words, with all the factors, it means maybe, maybe not.

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

I was going to ask about that fade out.......
I think they did a good job with the edit on "This Is The Army Mrs. Madison" they even "added" the sound of the light switch and footsteps.

Of all the edits I think this one pisses me off the most.

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

Same here, Steve. I think that's because a pretty good funny bit is completely gone as a result. Here it's not just a matter of replacing a music moment with new music and retaining the scene (like with the salvaged end of "This is the Army, Mrs. Madison").. but instead, a whole little scene is missing, and a good comic gag (re: "The Insominacs").

Even other snips aren't too costly. For instance: Not having Myrna singing "I'm Myrna, Fly me..." and Felix's response of "That's not a stewardess, that's a slow-talking secretary" is not a big deal. At least we now have the scene with Myrna standing there and Felix saying "-- that's a slow-talking secretary".

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

I can't believe I'm saying this, but after the Fugitive debacle, some of these edits now seem trivial in comparison (but only in comparison).

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

I think they are rather trivial, when you consider how chopped up the TV broadcast versions are.

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

All of these music edits once again makes me wonder if the cost to clear the music might have something to do with the perceived quality of the property. In other words, shows like Saturday Night Live and The Muppet Show (except season 1) have managed to get all of the music cleared but other shows can't seem to get the music cleared. I'm wondering if the music owners when approached to get music clearance look at the show and if they feel that the show is what they percieve to be a quality show, then they charge an reasonable amount and the music is cleared. However, for shows they feel are of lesser quality, they charge an outrageous price knowing full well it won't get paid and have to be cut from the show.

To me it is beginning to look more and more like these music costs are arbitrary and changes from property to property. If the rights holder likes the show and feels it's a quality show, the more likely it is for the music to get cleared. And sitcoms seem to be the shows that tend to get the biggest shaft when it comes to getting a break. Especially when a show like The Odd Couple uses more old 'standard' music versus shows that uses more contemporary music (meaning stuff before 1990 or so).

There seems to be no consistancy. The Muppet Show can get clearance to show a certain song in it's entirety (The Banana Boat song for example) but The Odd Couple can't seem to get a less than 30 second segment of the song cleared.

Now either the studio isn't even trying to get the song cleared or the music rights holder is jacking up the price for a 30 second snipet of a song purposely so it doesn't get cleared.

Either way, there is something really odd going on with this whole music licensing issue.

Also, may be that the price for the song is the same if you need the whole song or just a piece of it. If that is the case, then there needs to be some kind of serious revamping of the process. It's just plain greedy to be charging the same price for one or two lines of a song (be they spoken or sung) as you would charge for the use of the entire song.

Again, no matter how you look at it, there is something seriously wrong with this whole process.

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

Or...Paramount versus Disney.

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

Disney, while flawed in some respects, tries to get the music. They cleared everything on The Golden Girls and seasons 2 and 3 of The Muppet Show.

Paramount does not appear to even try to get a deal.

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

I can tell you that this is an absolute fact. Rights-holders can ask for whatever they want, for whatever reason they want. So yes, anything can be a factor, including whether they like the show, the context the music is used in, and what side of the bed they woke up on that morning

The difficulty in comparing sets against each other is that there can be so many factors we have no idea about, first and foremost being how the music rights were negotiated when the show was originally produced.

And yes, as you suggest, it's very, very possible that a snippet of "Banana Boat Song" costs as much (or nearly) as the full song, and if that was (say) $10,000, it's worth it for a whole segment on "The Muppet Show" but not six seconds of "The Odd Couple."

A very music heavy show (a variety show, for instance) may have had a very different initial deal for the use of music than a sitcom like "The Odd Couple," and of course a rights holder might give the studio a break if the studio is buying eight songs from them for one season set, but not if they're buying them a la carte.

I have dealt with music clearance a lot in my career (I work in television), and the only thing I can tell you with certainty is that there is no consistent way to anticipate what somebody will ask for the rights for a song. I have no insight into how Paramount has worked on these "Odd Couple" sets, and for all I know they've barely tried. But I can't damn them, because I know how impossible this task so often is.

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

And thus is the crux of the situation. There should be some kind of standarization when charging for music rights. Charging $10,000 bucks for someone to use the entire song and charging the same amount for the use of one or two lines (or even up to 30 seconds) of the same song is just greed.

In a perfect world, this whole thing wouldnt' be an issue at all.

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

Yeah, if they are charging through the nose for using a couple lines from a song, I can't say I much blame Paramount if they decide to just cut it instead.

As long as they made a fair effort to clear music at fair prices I don't hold the deletions against them.

But I wish they don't pull that "Might" stuff. "Some episodes might be edited from their original versions." They ought to state on the back(or at least on the inside wrapper) that there were so and so deletions made on this episode because the rights to a song used in it could not be fairly secured. It would have the effect of leveling with the purchaser and letting them know an effort was made.

I am miffed by the knowledge that these deletions were made but unlike many in this thread, I am not familiar with the episodes before DVD. I did watch Odd Couple in syndication but was not familiar with the episodes like a died in the wool fan would be.

So, hearing about these lost moments makes me want to see them.

Re: HTF DVD REVIEW: The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season

I used to watch The Odd Couple alot while it originally aired (starting in 1972) but I was young (about 6 or 7) so I don't remember each episode frame by frame. As for watchign it in syndication, I only caught the show a few times so again I don't know the show backards and forwards. It was always a show that I remembered very fondly and I'm glad that I have it on DVD.

So, hearing about the cuts while it bothers me, I'm not all that upset about it. However, in the season 4 set, a few of the cuts are quite noticeable and a bit jarring. I think those few moments could have been handled a bit better.

All in all I'm enjoying watching this series quite a bit. I can't wait to get the final season.