When Things Were Rotten - Nov. 16th, 2010! (1 Viewer)

[Escapay]

TheSecondDisc.com gives this listing for the disc content, which has only one episode of "When Things Were Rotten":
DVD 1
The Hitler Rap (1983)
Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again (2010)
The Tracey Ullman Show: “Due Diligence” (1990)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Mel and His Movies (Part 1)
DVD 2
Peeping Times (1978)
Inside Danny Baker (1963)
In the Beginning: The Caesar Years
60 Minutes (April 15, 2001)
American Comedy Awards (1991)
Mel And His Movies (Part 2)
DVD 3
The Critic (1963)
I Thought I Was Taller: A Short History of Mel Brooks (1981)
The Dick Cavett Show (April 6, 1970 and January 21, 1972)
Commercials
Excavating The 2000 Year Old Man (2012)
Bonus 2000 Year Old Man Routines
Mel And His Movies (Part 3)
DVD 4
Mel’s Television Debut
An Audience With … Mel Brooks
Wogan talk show appearance
Mad About You: “The Penis”
The Electric Company appearance
Mel And His Movies (Part 4)
DVD 5
My Son, The Hero Trailer (1963)
The David Susskind Show: How to Be a Jewish Son
Get Smart Pilot “Mr. Big”
Hollywood Walk of Fame Induction
When Things Were Rotten: “The French Dis-connection”
New Faces Sketch: “Of Fathers & Sons”
Free to Be … You and Me Sketch “Boy Meets Girl”
Mel And His Movies (Part 5)
CD
Melvin Kaminsky at The New School (1:33) – February 24, 1947
The Inquisition (4:06) – from The History Of The World: Part I (1981), performed by Mel Brooks and cast
The New Les Crane Show (21:50) – August, 3, 5 & 6, 1964
Springtime for Hitler (3:25) – from The Producers (1968)
Open End Starring David Susskind – March 22, 1964
Theme From Blazing Saddles (2:05) from Blazing Saddles (1976), performed by Frankie Laine
I’m Tired (4:39) from Blazing Saddles (1976), performed by Madeline Kahn
Circus Nuts (6:11) – Circus Peanuts commercials performed by Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett
Le Grand Frisson (aka High Anxiety) (2:30) – from the French version of High Anxiety (1979), performed by Mel Brooks
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (2:58) – April 21, 1964
Men in Tights (1:19) from Robin Hood: Men In Tights (1997)
It’s Good to Be the King (4:10) from The History Of The World: Part I (1981), performed by Mel Brooks
The Celebrity Game (6:06) – July 15 and August 12, 1965
Hope For The Best, Expect The Worst (2:44) from the film The Twelve Chairs (1972)

 

[BobO'Link]

^Thanks for that listing. With only one episode on the set I now know I can safely ignore this release.

 

[DeWilson]

You know, it's really time for Mel and Carl to do one more 2000 year old man CD.
I'd love to hear The Man's take on 21st Century communication ...
"Do I tweet? What am I, a Bird?"

 

[Ethan Riley]

You know, it's really time for Mel and Carl to do one more 2000 year old man CD.
I'd love to hear The Man's take on 21st Century communication ...
"Do I tweet? What am I, a Bird?"

Speaking of which, why on earth are they not including the 2000 Year Old Man animated special from '75??
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388667/

 

[Tory]

I would pay 9.99 for this

 

[Ethan Riley]

http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Things-Rotten-The-DVD-Edition/18266

Off by 2 and 1/2 years, but it's finally real!

 

[BobO'Link]

http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Things-Rotten-The-DVD-Edition/18266

Off by 2 and 1/2 years, but it's finally real!

And it's a MOD which, for me, makes it a very tough decision. I do not like that trend and normally avoid such releases due to the inflated prices and lack of longevity/reliability proof.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

TSoD is up early this morning...

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Things-Rotten-The-DVD-Edition/18564

Next Friday! YAY!

But, it is still MoD...

If only Amazon did a run of pressed discs like WB Archives, people would probably be less hesitant about ordering.

However, the one Amazon MoD set I've ordered so far (Cleveland Show S3) worked perfectly fine. No issues, the show looked fine, the discs worked fine.

 

[JoeDoakes]

And it's a MOD which, for me, makes it a very tough decision. I do not like that trend and normally avoid such releases due to the inflated prices and lack of longevity/reliability proof.

Will anyone else sell it besides Amazon?

 

[Albert71292]

And it's a MOD which, for me, makes it a very tough decision. I do not like that trend and normally avoid such releases due to the inflated prices and lack of longevity/reliability proof.

I'm wary of DVD-R releases also, being I've had several CD-r and DVD-r data discs I've made that failed to read after 6 or so years. Told myself I'd NEVER buy MOD discs for that reason.

However, the want of this series for me was too much, so I ordered it. It was $22.99 when I ordered it, but I got an email from Amazon after it shipped saying they had lowered the price to $18.71, and I'd be billed the lower price instead.

I have VHS copies of the series I recorded back in the late 80's when A&E aired it, but their copies were a bit faded color wise, and the film itself was a bit marked up.

Should be here by the end of the week. Ordered "standard shipping".

 

[Brian Himes]

Well, I've finished watching this series. The picture quality was better than I expected for a series this old and one that has probably never been repeated much. Has this series ever been repeated since it's original run? Anyway, the picture quality was pretty crisp and clear. There was only one instance were the picture looked a bit muddy to me and that was in the two part episode, The Spy. Speaking of the two part episode. Now, I used the Play All feature and the episode played as one episode without any recap or ending/opening credits between the two parts. I don't know if you can just watch part one and then later watch part two. The episode isn't split up on the menu. It's listed as The Spy (part 1 and 2), so I doubt that the episodes are split.

The sound was clean and clear as far as I could tell. I didn't detect any noticeable drop outs or muffled sound. Other than the opening song, what little bit of music was used in the show seemed to be all there. I didn't notice any sudden edits to remove any songs or music. All the episodes seemed to have a run time of between 23-25 minutes. I didn't time each and every episode to be sure but again, I didn't notice any sudden or awkward edits.

Now as for the show itself, I have only a vague memory of it. I knew it was on, but I probably only caught a couple of episodes during the original run. Since my Mother doesn't like parodies, Mel Brooks and just about anything done in an absurd style, I would only have caught this when she would have been busy with something else and wasn't watching the TV or if I was at a friend's house and they would watch it. I've heard good things about it over the years, so I was more than willing to get the DVD set and give it a chance. Since I do like Get Smart and Mel Brooks was involved in that series, I thought this show would be just as good. Maybe better. Well, I was a bit disappointed. I found Get Smart to be laugh out loud funny, but When Things Were Rotten just seemed to fall flat for me. I had the same issue with Quark. For all of the good things I've heard about both Quark and When Things Were Rotten, I just didn't find them all that funny. I love a good parody, and I certainly got all of the jokes in the show. It just didn't seem to be all that clever. Most Mel Brooks stuff is nothing if not clever. There were a few clever gags. The W.C. Fields comes to mind. Overall, however, I felt really let down.

While it was great to finally see the entire series , and I'm glad that I have it in my collection, I don't think I'll be rewatching it much.

 

[FrancisP]

I have to disagree very much. I thought it was much better than Robin Hood: Men In Tights. The best jokes were mixing the modern with the old. When the king discloses his plan to return to English soil as he is required to, the spy writes the note, puts it on the pigeon then puts the stamps on, puts it in the mail box and puts the flag up. Then later, the king is declared safe by a umpire who gets into a beef with the Sheriff and the Sheriff says kill the umpire. In another episode, a castle is for sale and a agent is talking to 2 potential buyers about the den. When they come out messed up then it turns out they were talking about a lion's den.

 

[borisfw]

I enjoyed the show . Not great but not bad . I thought the DVD looked pretty good . And Misty Rowe looked great .

 

[Mike Frezon]

Ahhhhh. Misty Rowe.

There's a name I haven't thought of in years.

She was a very vivid presence in my adolescence!

 

[Albert71292]

Well, I've finished watching this series. The picture quality was better than I expected for a series this old and one that has probably never been repeated much. Has this series ever been repeated since it's original run?

A & E aired it a couple of times in the late 1980's. I recorded it on VHS tape at the time. The prints A & E aired were a bit faded and worn. I agree the DVD looks great! I just wished it had been released as a pressed set instead of recordable DVD. I bought it, even with my mistrust about the media used.

 

[shoeshineboy]

Thanks for the reviews - but am I correct in what Mr. Homes said that the show's theme song is not included? That - and the DVD-r element - keeps me on the sidelines regarding this 70s guilty pleasure.

 

[Mike Frezon]

The sound was clean and clear as far as I could tell. I didn't detect any noticeable drop outs or muffled sound. Other than the opening song, what little bit of music was used in the show seemed to be all there. I didn't notice any sudden edits to remove any songs or music. All the episodes seemed to have a run time of between 23-25 minutes. I didn't time each and every episode to be sure but again, I didn't notice any sudden or awkward edits.

Thanks for the reviews - but am I correct in what Mr. Homes said that the show's theme song is not included?

I'm not Brian. I hope he reports in himself for clarification.

And, I don't have this set yet. But I got hung up on that sentence in his report, too. But ultimately decided that he was NOT saying the opening theme was missing. One, that would be a deal-breaker for many people. And, two, I think there would have been a huge uproar throughout the TV on DVD community.

I believe Brian was simply saying that it appeared as if all the music was intact...but that it didn't seem like there were a LOT of music cues that could have been tampered with...outside of the opening theme.

 

[Albert71292]

Thanks for the reviews - but am I correct in what Mr. Homes said that the show's theme song is not included? That - and the DVD-r element - keeps me on the sidelines regarding this 70s guilty pleasure.

The original theme is there.

 

[Albert71292]

Just got around to disc 2. Disc sputters a few seconds only during the "commercial pauses" for a few seconds. Takes the audio 3 seconds or so to get back into sync also... this in two different Sony Blu-ray players. Seems my mistrust of DVD-R discs I mentioned above WASN'T unfounded. Others who purchased the title in Amazon reviews are reporting problems as well.

NOT buying ANY MORE "manufacture on demand" discs as a result. If it's not pressed, I'll live without it!