Have an advance copy of Moonlighting DVD Seasons 1&2 (1 Viewer)

[Edward Schatz]

Wow. If there are syndicated episodes on the set I will flip a shit. Not that that will change anything. I cannot believe that is the case. How disheartening. Sigh. On to the next I guess.....

 

[Edward Schatz]

Furthermore, according to DVD Talk and IMDB, the show was shown in mono. So while the package says stereo, it's really dual channel mono.

 

[Dave Farley]

I was never a fan of this show, but I was going to buy it for my mother, who loves it. But, a mixture of complete and syndicated episodes?

 

[Eric DiPiazza]

I'm going to hold off too until I find out if some episode truly are cut or not. However, if they are...NO SALE!

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

I hate to be the wet blanket against the cut-episodes protest, but I will buy it even if they are the cut episodes. I loved this show. I watched every episode during initial broadcast. I suffered when they couldn't get the episodes done in time. I bared through the descrease in quality as it went on. Dave and Maddie were like favorite friends of the family, and then they added Gapesto and Herbert for extra measure.

I watched every episode on, I think it was TVLand, so I could capture them with my vid cap card and record them to VCD. I suspect that's the cut/sydication episodes everyone is talking about.

Technically, I have all the episodes on VCD. My major motivation for replacing my VCD set was to get them with Closed Captions, and of course, fewer discs. Better quality doesn't hurt either, though my VCD set is (barely) watchable.

I hope Amazon.com is right and DVDEmpire is wrong about the set being Closed Captioned. And I hope for you guys who convulse over the issues, that few episodes are cut.

 

[Jeff Willis]

I guess you're right about some of us "convulsing" , but that's the one issue that I will always have a problem with in the TV/DVD market. I just think that, if we're paying $'s for a TV/DVD set, the consumer deserves the uncut eps with any release. At the minimum, there needs to be information on the outer package stating the status of the set (cut or un-cut). Sorry if I'm in the minority with this issue :b

 

[Gord Lacey]

If you're worried about the episodes being cut then I'd suggest holding off purchasing this for a few weeks. By then the fans will be all over it, and will report any cuts or alterations from the original airings. It's too bad there isn't a place that logs original lengths of episodes (minus commercials, but including credits).



I covered that in the review as well. They talk about losing a fight to have it broadcast in stereo on the pilot commentary track.

Gord

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

I'll go further: I think uncut episodes are the most important thing to have in a TV/DVD release, bar none. All the other bells and whistles and commentaries and featurettes are of secondary importance compared to getting the whole episode, without cuts, as it originally aired. Even music is of less importance; if Lion's Gate did indeed include syndication prints in this set, it staggers me that they thought it was worthwhile going to all that time and expense to license the original music, but not to locate uncut prints of every episode (and I really doubt they don't exist, even if they may be difficult to find).

 

[JeffWld]

It seems evident that there are very few companies that even think to clue in about the running times of shows from various eras. It's fairly basic research, but seldom performed. What's more interesting is the possible mix of complete and edited episodes coming from the supply source on this one. Although Lion's Gate has proven to be completely oblivious to edited vs complete elements, you would think that the source supplier would have provided either one or the other. If the supplier was sloppy about how they assembled the provided set, Lion's Gate sure as heck wouldn't investigate as to why some episodes clock in at 6-8 minutes shorter that the others.

 

[Pavan_P]

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/moonlig...dvdreview.html - the timings of the episodes are indeed fishy. According to one of our reviewers, there were supposed to be some deleted scenes, but they are not to be found. So, maybe they included them on the episodes themselves, making some of the episodes longer than the others? But still an episode around 41 minutes is VERY fishy. 50 minutes seems a little long, but some shows back then probably did go 50. I think 46-48 is reasonable, anything under that is fishy.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Pavan, the release information that came with the set sent to reviewers mentions deleted scenes, but it doesn't mention them anywhere on the packaging. It was probably meant to be included, but they had to be cut.

Gord

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

For me, the issue is this: The TV on DVD market is absolutely SATURATED at this point. Everytime I pass by the TV area in the store I have to ask myself "Who the hell is BUYING all this stuff?!?"

So, with the amount of available product being about 100 times what I would ever be able to purchase, it allows me to be a LOT more picky on what I buy or don't buy.

ALF, for example, was my absolute FAVORITE show as a kid, I taped every episode and watched them repeatedly. I would imagine if I saw them today I could still deliver each line in sync with the actors... but when I found out the DVD episodes were edited- I chose to spend my money elsewhere.


If comapnies chose to continue to dump product into the market that doesn't show any care or respect for the content-- then it simply allows me to spend my finite resources elsewhere. It reminds me of what happened to the Atari 2600 in its waning years: mountains of mediocre product dumped into the overcrowded market and customers just stopped buying games.

-V

 

[Joseph Bolus]

I seem to recall during the original run of Moonlighting that there were several episodes where the actors would do an "intro" for a few minutes; and they explained at the end of the intro that they were just wasting time due to that evening's show running "short". That could explain why some of the episodes are listed at around 40 minutes.

As far as including the original "intro's": As I recall they were mostly just complete throwaways, and would be of very little interest even if they're still available in some form somewhere.

In any event, I'll be purchasing these season sets. My wife and I really enjoyed the first few seasons of this show. (Can't wait to see the "Atomic Shakespeare" ep again!!)

 

[Nathan Phillips]

For the record, I have an original copy of the Christmas episode taped off ABC with commercials edited and it is indeed very, very short for an hour show... though I'm not sure if it's THAT short.

Right now GGC's involvement in the set is making me give it the benefit of the doubt, but I suppose time will tell.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Nathan, would you mind timing the episode for us so we can compare it to the DVD version?

Thanks,
Gord

 

[Brent_B]

Was it my imagination or did they change the music for "The Lady In The Iron Mask"? I have this episode recorded and the music is completely different than it is on the dvd. It seems strange because Alf Clausen did most of Moonlighting's score and so far, the other episodes I have watched dont seem to be different. Oh well, newbie rant observation off.

 

[Malcolm R]

LOVED the show, but will NOT purchase this set if it includes edited for syndication episodes.

 

[Chris Bergmann]

Same here.

I never preorder TV on DVD boxsets anymore - the chances of getting a boxset that hasn't been turned into crap by replaced music or cut episodes are getting smaller and smaller.

 

[Christian Preischl]

Is the William Tell Overture what's playing on your original recording?

Chris

 

[Brent_B]

It wasn't just one scene, when the episode first opens on the lady taking a shower, the music is completely different on the dvd, then it was on my original recording. Another instance is when the "lady" first goes to the Blue Moon Detective Agency, when she first tells how her face got disfigured, thats where the music is different too.
I just remember that the original music was so haunting for a Moonlighting episode, now on the dvd it just doesn't seem to fit the episode for me. I hadn't yet gotten to the part where the William Tell Overture should be playing, I hope they didn't change that as well.


Edit: I cant believe they removed the William Tell Overture from the ending! This confirms my suspicions that every piece of music in this episode has been changed. Why, oh why?