Married with Children S3 Won't Have "Love & Marriage" Theme Song! (Rights Issues) (1 Viewer)

TVShowsonDVD just posted an article about it. Negotiations between Columbia and the rights holders for the rights to this song have been the hold-up in releasing this season, and they ultimately couldn't reach an agreement for it. But Columbia obviously decided they'd prefer to release this inferior version and make SOME money off of it (but not as much as they made with the S1 and S2 releases, I'm sure).
Well, that makes up for it. :rolleyes
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2400

As a casual fan of this show, I have to say I credit Columbia's decision to keep the price down, even if it means replacing the theme song. I mean, it's not like its a Star Trek orchestral(or even a Pokemon theme), and syndication cuts most of the theme anyway.

Wow that sucks. I'll still get it of course. Just put Mute on during the music, or just skip it entirely. But it does suck ass, because I love that song. The show isn't gonna be the same without it. Who are theese rights-owning bastards and why can't they see fit to license the stupid song? They already have the two seasons with it out there, so what's up??

Actually, I would commend Columbia, even though that studio is very far from my favorite for DVDs, for mentioning the music change on the box. An awful lot of releases have these sort of changes, don't put it on the package, and don't let people know until after the release.

I'm inclined to put the blame on the greedy rights-holder, if the sum was truly as high as Gord Lacey hinted at.

Talk about disappointing. That show and that theme song always went hand-in-hand, and now we're going to have one without the other. Mind you, I've been a die hard fan of the show for many, many years so I'll still buy it regardless. One can only wonder what they'll use to replace it. Frankly, I'm hoping for an instrumental rendering of the song. I find a lot of video games do this when they can't aquire copyrighted material. They re-create the song as an instrumental consisting of different beats, rhythms, etc..........but they also make it subtle enough for people to know what the song is SUPPOSED to be.

On that note, I'm still looking forward to season 3 as much as ever. As long as the episodes themselves are intact, I'll still be a happy camper.

Unbelievable that these companies still continue to offer undying support for their copyrights. They should be campaigning to get rid of them because it is quite obvious that copyrights are hurting them far more than they're aiding them. Columbia TriStar's decision to release this in such a seriously mutilated form just shows that they're living in fantasy land. Consumers aren't the lemmings they think they are. It also affirms my decision to stop buying DVDs altogether. It seems that everyone's motto as of late is "If you can't do it wrong, don't do it at all." It was good while it lasted, but the TV on DVD industry is now officially dead. Looks like all releases from this point on will be nothing but garbage.

BTW, I now fully expect Universal to pull the same stunt when they finally get around to releasing Alfred Hitchcock Presents. They'll strip the oh-so-familiar theme music and replace it with something else claiming they couldn't get the rights—even though it was written in 1872 and is clearly in the public domain.

I think it's time for studios to just take this stuff without paying for it. I mean it.

Yes, it's too bad, but I'll be happy to get these episodes anyway. We've already got the theme several times on DVD. Maybe once that decision is made, they'll the series along quicker.

Saying things like that makes it seem acceptable to alter the product. It is not.

Gord even says:

"The cost to license the theme song was enough to make me choke on a candy when I heard how much they wanted, and I know it would add significant cost to the DVD set."

Sounds like the rights holders tried to gouge Columbia. Screw 'em, I say.

But then the licensors end up with NOTHING, consumers get a flawed product, and Columbia gets blamed.

Personally, I usually fast-forward the opening theme/credits of TV on DVD anyway. If you watch more than one episode, it quickly becomes irritating to hear the same theme song three times in an hour. So it's not that big a deal to me personally.

Music rights holders deserve to get screwed as much as possible. They so over-inflate the importance of their own product that they deserve to end up with nothing. If they'd join the real world, everyone would make a reasonable profit and consumers could be happy.

But as a by-product of their being screwed, we get screwed, too.

Of course this kind of thing would happen to Al Bundy.

This bothers me less than cutting episodes because...
1. I usually skip the theme anyway.
2. It will be advertised on the packaging.
3. I don't think that Columbia should automatically be required to pay whatever these rights holders want, just so a few fans won't complain about the absense of the song.

Its not like Columbia didn't even try and get the rights to the song. The price was simply too high to merit paying. They're not out to screw over the consumer on this one, if they were then why make note of the change on the packaging itself?

Saying that other studios will follow this model even if the music is in the public domain is rediculous and down right laughable.

It sounds to me like this was a contest to see who would blink first, the rights holders wanting a bigger percentage of the pie figuring that the show is relatively successful on DVD, and figuring that the song is so identifiable with the series that Columbia couldn't release the show without it.

Looks like they guessed wrong. We won't ever know what impact this has on the sales figures in general, so we won't know if the missing theme will hurt it all that badly, at least badly enough to make Columbia want to go back and pay the high asking price for the song.

I say good for Columbia as long as:
1. The episodes themselves aren't messed with.
2. They follow up on their promise to make note of the change on the packaging.

Screw the rights holders, instead of getting something for the song, they're getting nothing and the show is still being released. Its not that I don't think that they don't deserve anything for the use of the song, but even they probably know their asking price is way too high, and instead of being able to negotiate a fair price they get a big fat 0.

I'm buying the set.

This is a changes that even Wallmart shoppers will notice. Even the slightest fans of the show know the theme song. Its like changing the Simpsons the green.

Damn :frowning:

I wonder if Columbia will try again for season 4.

In my opinion, if season 3 still does alright on DVD then the music rights holders might want to come back to the table and negotiate, but Columbia will have all the leverage. The reason is that because if it is still somewhat successful, Columbia can press on knowing that if they can secure the rights for the song for season 4 then they might see a sales bump again, but if not they'll still probably sell as many copies as they did of season 3.

If season 3 flops, they have 2 choices as I see it.
1. Don't release season 4 at all.
2. Pay the outrageous cost for the song, bump up the cost of the set and take it in the teeth if season 4 sees a further drop in sales.

I just can't get on board with the idea that the studio is the one out to screw the fans on this one.
I'm sure Columbia would've prefered to get the rights to the song. They probably know that the replacement theme will cost them a few sales. I can't accept that they would purposely not try and obtain the rights to the song which ultimately might cost them sales, which ultimately means they screwed themselves over.
The other reason I don't feel like I'm getting screwed is that I know the change is coming. If they hold up on their promise to advertise the change on the packaging, anyone that buys the set and can also read will know about the change as well. Its not like we're all going to walk in to Wal-Mart on release day pick this set up and take it home to find a very large surprise.

I agree with Gord, its ashame because nobody wins this way ultimately. However, I see this as being a case where Columbia is damned if they do, damned if they don't, and damned if they stand still.

Scenario 1: Columbia gives in and pays the rights fee. This results in a raise in the price of the set to the consumer.
The Complaint: Why is Columbia raising the price on this series when season 1 and 2 were so cheap. You can't just explain the music problem being the cause for the raised price because the casual buyer that won't know any better will come back with "but the music was there in season 1 and 2 so why is it all of a sudden different?" They won't pay more to get the same thing they got previously for less, TV on DVD is not as essential as a gallon of gasoline.

Scenario 2: Columbia decides not to release season 3 at all because they can't get the rights to the music.
The Complaint: Yet another release that Columbia screwed up. Where is season 3? Where is season 3? Where is season 3? Where is season 3? Where is season 3? Where is season 3? Where is season 3? Where is season 3? Where is season 3?
The very same people that are complaining about the absent theme now would be complaining if season 3 never saw the light of day, and they'd be joined by a lot more people as well.
Where is season 3? Where is season 3? Season 3, where is it? This might also have the side effect of causing Gord's head to explode and I don't know about you guys but I don't want that to happen.
Even if they explain that its the music keeping season 3 off the shelves, they'll have people saying either:
Then why not just pay the extra fee and raise the price? I know I'd pay more for season 3 if they did it this way. (I call this the WKRP effect)
or
Then why not just replace the theme and release season 3 that way? not a popular one, but I'm sure it would've come up.

Scenario 3: Columbia does exactly what its doing.
The Complaint: exactly what is being complained about.

Looking at where Columbia stands and compairing it to a hand in poker. Columbia's hand would lose out to a pair of 2s.

I agree 100%.

I know the song by heart anyways so I could just sing it to myself. In the end, I'd rather have Season 3 without the music then no Season 3 at all.

not a big married with children fan but i am getting tired of hearing about music rights isues.the holders of the music should be paied. its their music.but they should not milk the system.now columbia needs to start putting out season 2 of swat and barney miller.

Even though I despise Columbia, they did the right thing in not giving in to extortion. Now, if they could give us at least broadcast-quality picture and a quick follow up with the rest of the seasons I'd be a happy customer.