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Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy - Season 2 (1 Viewer)

Firebee

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I, too, think I can live with music replacements on ``Mork & Mindy'' since I don't really remember music being that central to the show other than when Mork visited Mindy's dad's music shop in Boulder. I canceled my pre-order of ``WKRP'' more out of a matter of principle than objection to music replacement and deletion because I wanted to send a message to Fox that I won't buy dreck.
 

Corey3rd

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they trashed the original hit songs on the first season 2 episode and ran the fake hits along with the Happy Days theme.
 

Jay_B!

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I just hope Happy Days doesn't hurt Laverne and Mork future seasons. Paramount seems to have a "they're the same show" mentality since they're from the same creator and have links to one another (remember that Laverne was on the Mork pilot), instead of acting like Sony and the Lear shows. If HD s2 has dismal sales but L&S and M&M s2 sell decent, don't abandon all three shows!
 

Carlos Garcia

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Thanks for the update, Jay! I was looking forward to owning the first 2 seasons (and in my opinion the best 2) of Happy Days, complete with original music intact. Now I guess I'll only have season 1 because I refuse to buy anything that has substituted music. Others may decide differently, but to me, altered music will alter my memories of the show, and I just won't accept it that way.
 

Carlos Garcia

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From my memory of the show, Happy Days season 2 episodes originally contained the songs "Wheel of Fortune" - Kay Starr, "Secret Love" - Doris Day, "Splish, Splash" - Bobby Darin, "I'm Walkin'", "Blueberry Hill" - Fats Domino, "Cry", Little White Cloud That Cried" - Johnnie Ray among many other hits...As far as contributing musical artists in the closing credits, I do remember Johnnie Ray, Fats Domino, and Kay Starr getting credit...I wonder just how many of these songs now exist (if any) on the DVD version of season 2, or if they've all been replaced.
 

Corey3rd

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I've made it through the first DVD and with a minor song or two (none of the hits), it's all been mock rocked. Having dealt with the weasels that control the publishing on hits of the '50s, it seems to be the only thing that could be done. Which is a major shame since pre-Beatles oldies stations are vaporizing off the dial as the kids who grew up listening to Rock Around the Clock are now spending less time at the record store and more time at the funeral home. You'd figure these weasels would want to introduce the songs to a new audience - or least the folks who remember Happy Days.

But if Paramount wants to skip the hassle of getting the music rights, at least they're passing the savings onto us.
 

MatthewA

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Cheap cheap cheap, that's all I can say.

CBS/Paramount is starting to infuriate me. In spite of the good work they have done on some shows, there is still much room for improvement. They can't be bothered to finish Cheers, one of their tentpole series, they cut corners on packaging, and unless Paul Brownstein or a relative of the creator is involved forget about extras. And this music thing.

I wish Viacom had kept ahold of the TV back catalog.
 

Corey3rd

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I haven't noticed any freakish edits - it's been 20 years since I've seen these episodes. The times float between 25:30 to 24:41. When did they shrink down the running times on 30 minute shows in the mid-70s?

As far as music goes, perhaps in the future when these shows are downloaded, there will be an option that will let you "mix" in the original music tracks if you bought them from iTunes (or already own them).
 

Jay_B!

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I received all three shows to review and I must say that Happy Days season 2 looks very poor in terms of video quality. Seriously it looks like Paramount just took them out of storage for over 30 years and mastered it to DVD without so much as even cleaning the prints. It seriously looks public domain. Laverne and Mork both look very nice and better than they ever have in reruns, but Happy Days frankly looks better on TV Land in syndicated form, at least there the original music shows up. Also, while Mork and Laverne have "Some music has been replaced", Happy Days just says "Music has been replaced" as if Paramount didn't even bother to try to salvage anything.

I just hope poor sales for HD season 2 don't hurt further sets of L&S and M&M. It's a real shame because the first two seasons are my favorite of Happy Days, I think the show started spiralling downhill when it went live. But yet season 2 was treated with almost no respect at all.
 

Chuck89

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Are these uncut episodes on the Mork & Mindy S2 DVD? I don't recall a lot of music in S2 and other seasons,but the episode where Raquel Welch guest starred,Mork sang a song with the lyrics "I'm only a bird in a gilded cage".
Hopefully they didn't cut that scene out.
 

Sam Favate

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Very disappointed to hear about the release of Happy Days and the poor job that seems to have been done with it. Makes me regret preordering it (I did so to show support because I want the show to do well on DVD). But this is not the way to do things. CBS is certainly not distinguishing itself as a DVD label.
 

Jeff Willis

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Jay,

Thanks for the info on the 3 sets. Dissapointing news about HD. I also was planning on getting the first 2 seasons of HD. Not now. Some music replacements might have been ok with me, but I always expect good xfrs to DVD.
 

Corey3rd

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it's hard to figure out why the picture quality is rather rough. It's hard to fault CBS/Paramount since I also got in Wild Wild West, Untouchables and The Odd Couple and they have top notch transfers.
 

Jay_B!

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much. I was impressed with season one for the most part except for the occasional grainy clips. Season 2 seriously is comparable to a public domain copy of Manos The Hands Of Fate.
 

kirkWmorgan

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Regarding Happy Days :S2 This is awful,I'm sorry I pre-ordered it as well,When it comes its going right back!!


I hope someone at CBS/Paramount is reading this,I'm sure I won't be the only one.
 

Jeff Willis

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Jay,

What's your guess on why HD S2 turned out the way (xfrs) it did compared to S1? Studio cost-prohibitive reasons? Original prints not available? Strange to me that S2 is so completely different in PQ than S1. I've often wondered why there's not more xfr-standardization with the TV/DVD sets. Some sets that I have, for example, Time Tunnel, are truly amazing in PQ considering the age of the show. Perry Mason S1 is awesome...from 1959! Is it because some studios go back to the original elements and some don't?
 

Bob Hug

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Jeff, this is really a shame and somewhat puzzling as Paramount has done mostly great work on its vintage/classic TV-on-DVD releases over the last year and a half or so. Sure, there have been a few misfires (the color episodes of "Gunsmoke") but Paramount has done great work on the aforementioned "Perry Mason," "Wild Wild West," "Mission: Impossible," "The Untouchables," "Hawaii Five-0," "Rawhide," etc., etc. They are, by a wide margin, my favorite of the major studios, for classic TV. The shows that I mentioned are actually released by CBS/Paramount and, if I recall correctly, "Happy Days" was on ABC. Is "Happy Days" being released by CBS/Paramount or just plain ole Paramount? That might explain the difference . . . perhaps CBS/Paramount releases are getting a bit more TLC than those released under the Paramount label . . . just some speculation on my part.
 

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