All in the Family Season Sets (1 Viewer)

[Chris:L]

I just found out on TVshowsonDVD after reading the review of Spider-Man Season 1... that Columbia TriStar which owns the show, has chosen to fill the set with special features. Now... why don't they do that for AitF?

 

[Gord Lacey]

Umm....because AitF is an old show and Spider-Man is a new one which makes it easy for them to get access to the people that worked on the show. It's much, much easier for them to do special features for newer shows.

Gord

 

[MatthewA]

Perhaps there are issues with the original tapes that are holding up the releases. These shows are over 30 years old, and 2" magnetic videoreels are not the most permanent media in the world...

 

[Dane Marvin]

Yeah, maybe Columbia actually wants to do some remastering. I say let 'em since they always get hounded about this from reviewers.

The market is a giant swimming pool being flooded with great TV product. One of the first things that is striking me about all the announcements and releases in 2004 is that I feel no sense of urgency for any title to be released anymore (except for those series that have not been announced, like "The Wonder Years"). There are so many things coming out each week that I really want that the wait for titles like AITF season 3 is too easy. Especially if it means getting it done right.

 

[Chris:L]

Excuses, excuses, excuses

 

[Benjamin.D]

I can wait for AITF season 3, just as long as they release it and do not abandon the series.

Ben

 

[Mike Williams]

I have both of the first seasons of "All in the Family" and I, for one, was extremely disappointed. True, it had absolutely no bonus features at all, but with M*A*S*H, "Sanford and Son" and "The Jeffersons," I had grown accustomed to expecting that. What disappointed me was the picture quality. Even on my standard 27" Sony TV is was horrible, to say nothing of how the picture looked on my 55" widescreen Mitsubishi screen.

I seriously doubt they're taking time to remaster them, but that in itself is misleading, since "remastered" means very little without a little word like "restored" to go along with it. And I'm quite sure they're not spending their time or their money to do that.

With DVD pretty much a permanent medium, you would think that people would want to create something that will last a lifetime and make it look as good as it possibly can. *sigh*

 

[Chris:L]

I agree. Those dumbf***s

 

[Benjamin.D]

AITF was videotaped, not filmed like M*A*S*H. I don't believe that there are many things you can do to improve the quality of aged videotape.

Ben

 

[Chris:L]

They have ways of doing everything now.

 

[David Von Pein]

Maybe Chris is correct here.
The reason I say this is because of "The Twilight Zone". "TZ" did a few shows on "Tape" instead of the usual "Film" format during its 1959-1965 series' run. And those "taped" shows look very good and clear on DVD. (And TZ is several years OLDER than AITF even.)

So...Either the TZ taped episodes were stored under better conditions (preserving the good condition of those master tapes); or: Chris is right, and there IS indeed a way of "revitalizing" old, beat-up videotape.

 

[Chris:L]

I don't know if this has anything to do with the quality of it. But, Norman Lear wanted to shoot the show in B&W and CBS said no. So he decided to make the set sepia-toned. Have that drab off-color, neutral way of presenting the show.

 

[MatthewA]

www.vidipax.com

Claims to do "magnetic media restoration," and lists Sony Pictures (owner of the Lear library of shows) as a client.