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ABC's The Ten Commandments broadcast for 2009

post #1 of 8
4/11/09 at 7:31pm
Thread Starter 
Wasn't ABC's broadcast of The Ten Commandments in widescreen last year? It's 4:3 this year.

It just started airing here in the West Coast, maybe it's a mistake. It looks low res too. Maybe my local ABC affiliate goofed? Gotta see DeMille's classic in it's full grandiose glory!
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post #2 of 8
4/12/09 at 6:08am

Re: ABC's The Ten Commandments broadcast for 2009

HD feed or standard? The most affiliates are just chopping off the sides for all SD brodcast now.
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post #3 of 8
4/12/09 at 9:01am
Thread Starter 

Re: ABC's The Ten Commandments broadcast for 2009

Good question. I do all my broadcast viewing via over the air, and is digital and my ABC affiliate broadcasts at 720p. So Primetime viewing is always very nice hi-def.

I guess my memory is faulty and the 10 Commandments must have been cropped last year too. The image also looked very standard definition compared to normal Primetime HD fare.

Maybe I thought it was widescreen because I often just put the DVD on because I can't stand how bad it looks on broadcast! It's kind of surprising that the yearly airing of The Sound of Music on ABC is in HD, though slightly cropped to fit the 16 x 9 format. So I would have thought that Paramount must have a master of The 10 Commandments in HD that could be used for TV.
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post #4 of 8
4/12/09 at 12:17pm

Re: ABC's The Ten Commandments broadcast for 2009

It was imported in Canada as 4:3 on HD as well.

However, I can't understand why, year after year, ABC gets it wrong and shows The Ten Commandments at Easter. TCM gets it right, and broadcasts Ben-Hur (along with several other Easter-themed films), which, while based on a fictitious work (- don't say it! -), places events more correctly at the time more relevent to the celebration of Easter, as opposed to the fleeting Passover reference in a story based on a book of the Old Testament. Maybe they just can't get behind a story that converts a Jewish aristocrat to Christianity...(and Oliver! is a happy-go-lucky tale of larceny, child labour, kidnapping and spousal abuse )

They both have "cold, dead hands" Heston, but maybe Anne Baxter's the hammiest actress this side of Miss Piggy.

Besides, neither of these films have The Easter Beagle.
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post #5 of 8
4/12/09 at 1:51pm

Re: ABC's The Ten Commandments broadcast for 2009

ABC has never shown this in widescreen or hd
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post #6 of 8
4/12/09 at 2:07pm

Re: ABC's The Ten Commandments broadcast for 2009

Last year I timed my DVD of The Ten Commandments to start SIMALTANIOUSLY with ABC's Version. When my copy ended ABC still had 98 Minutes left to go!

I wonder why?
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post #7 of 8
4/12/09 at 5:00pm
Thread Starter 

Re: ABC's The Ten Commandments broadcast for 2009

That's funny. I also queued up The Ten Commandments and The Sound of Music with the TV broadcast with the same results.

Thanks Tony, I could not remember if it ever was broadcast in HD or not. I guess I thought it was at one time.
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post #8 of 8
4/13/09 at 11:12am

Re: ABC's The Ten Commandments broadcast for 2009

When did they move it from Sun to Sat? It's just not the same.
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