Why are syndicated episodes so bad? (1 Viewer)

I am curious besides the fact that syndicated episodes on dvd cut just seconds out of original episodes, what makes them so bad? If people are crazy about TV shows (like I am), why sacrifice ever seeing any version of your favorite shows and episodes for a mere few seconds. My fave show IS Married...With Children and I dont mind seeing syndicated episodes as long as not much more than several seconds are deleted considering that, if they had to pay for the music rights, there would be no releases. I will take a syndicated release over nothing. If I am wrong, please enlighten me. Thanks

Chad

It's not a few seconds it's a few minutes cut.

For older shows - yes, it can be a couple minutes cut ("a few minutes" is probably a bit much), but for recent shows it's not as much because they're run times were shorter to begin with. For example, the syndicated episodes on Married With Children S4 run about 40 seconds less than the unedited episodes.

The bad thing is that sometimes studios don't even tell the consumers that the episodes are cut. ex- ALF: Season 1

I buy DVD sets of my favorite television shows because I want to see them again, exactly as they were shown originally: uncut and complete.

I do NOT buy DVD sets of television shows to fondly remember all the parts that are cut out. If this was the case, studios could save a hell of a lot of money by just selling blank DVD's and suggesting that consumers "remember" everything that is missing!

-Robbie

I think the issue isn't so much that we'd rather have no show than an edited show, but rather that if we give in to studios releasing these shoddy sets, they're not going to think twice about releasing shows like that in the future. If the consumers don't care (or worse, don't KNOW) then the studios won't care, either.

I personally would MUCH rather a barebones release of my favorite show with uncut episodes than syndicated episodes FILLED with bonus materials.

With Roseanne, I didn't start watching the show until it was in its fourth season on TV. For years I've watched the syndicated reruns of the entire series but have never seen the complete early episodes. The whole reason I was excited to see the show on DVD was to see these uncut episodes finally. However now, I've got no plans to buy the DVD set because they're just the regular ol' episodes that I have all on tape already and have seen a billion times and can see a billion more on TV or video any time I want. Bonus material isn't enough to convince me to buy the set. The only bonus material I want are the "deleted" scenes.

Why aren't they bad? Why pay for something that you can record yourself for free off the air? Would you mind buying a movie and getting the edited for TV version? Or how about buying a book with a few pages ripped out? Hey, it's only a few pages. The whole point of buying TV shows (as opposed to seeing them on TV for free) is to get to see them in their complete form, something impossible to do on TV. I am also a Married with Children fan. That's why I recorded the shows when they aired on FOX. So, I have them complete and I will use my perfect quality, complete videotape masters instead of buying a flawed release. I don't include music edits under this category. I'm talking more about stuff like the Partridge Family episode with the closing tag scene missing. Stuff like that is mostly due to negligence and sometimes stupidity. I'm glad to see all of the people posting negative reviews of these butchered releases on amazon. What kills me are things like the second season My Favorite Martian release with 5 sped up episodes. How could Rhino not find the originals? C'mon. These people need to learn how to pick up a phone and make a couple of calls.

Robbie said it all for me. Thanks

I know that I would much rather have the uncut episodes but I think that I am more about the fact that if its all that WILL be available, its the only way to relive those memories. As for taping them on TV, I have most Married... With Children's episodes on tape but tapes ware out and the quality is never as good. Of course I was the uncut episodes and the studios SHOULD give us just that but I have to take what I can get and enjoy it.

Chad

I understand that a lot of consumers don't even know that syndicated versions are cut. But once they DO find out why aren't they at least annoyed at being asked to pay for incomplete episodes ? Are people so used to being ripped off that they are simply willing to roll over ?

Here's an example, which has been stated in other threads: 2 minutes edited out of each of 22 episodes of a series adds up to the equivalent of 2 entire episodes of material missing. Would you buy a book with chapters missing ? Watch a movie with no ending ? See a play that ended after the 2nd act ? Listen to a CD with songs taken out ?

I should also take this time to ask if anyone with mailing adressses or email addresses to the studios please post them (perhaps in a separate thread) so those of us who would like to complain will know where to send our letters of protest.

Maybe they want to see "Uncut" versions later.

I always think of this when when I hear cut episodes or music rights.

Would Apocalypse Now be the same if they had to replace the music of the opening scene because The End by The Doors had to be replaced? It sets up the whole movie and if anyone can't understand that? well what can I say?

They can replace "The End" with "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson...

In the case of older shows from the 50's-70's; a sitcom epsiode can miss as much as 4-5 minutes. Double that for hour long shows!

You have to keep in mind there are way more commercials on TV these days, even in prime time airings. More modern shows lose a bit less, but when I pay $40 for a set, I expect and deserve the uncut shows.

Don't the movie companies buy the rights to the music for distribution on television (cable and network), videotape, laserdisc and dvd when they originally negotiate for them when the movie is being readied for the theater? I realize Apocalypse now was a 70's film, but weren't they doing that even then?

Does anyone know if the Star Trek TOS or Star Trek TNG dvd collections are uncut, original episodes? I assume DS9 and Voyager would be the same since they are later shows, though DS9 has overlap with the last two seasons of TNG.

It's like everyone has already stated. It's not just seconds cut, it's minutes. Up to 4 minutes an episode. That adds up. In sitcoms, cut minutes can sometimes mean entire jokes are cut or the set up to the joke is missing. Unless there are music issues or the master tapes are lost, then in all honesty there is no reason why syndicated versions of episodes should be used for DVD releases.



ScFi channel ran a couple of years ago the original Trek and called it Star Trek Special Editions where the shows actually ran over an hour. Of course that included the opening introduction segments with Shatner and Nimoy, but the shows were shown complete and uncut as they originally aired. These were the same remastered versions that Paramount released on DVD (twice). So as far as I can tell the original Trek is complete and uncut. Star Trek fans are very vocal and if there were problems with the DVD sets, I'm sure we would have heard by now.

As for TNG, DS9, or Voyager, they also seem to be uncut versions. I really couldn't say for DS9 as I rarely watched it when it was on TV. Voyager, however, I did watch and tape so I was able to compare and in some instances, there were actually stuff added into the episodes on DVD. I've read the same thing about TNG, but since I only had seasons 5-7 on tape I really can't be 100% sure about the earlier seasons. Again, if there were any issues with the DVD sets, the Trek community would be up in arms about it.

Also, since 99% of the music in Trek series are original compositions produced strictly for the shows, there doesn't seem to be any issue with music licensing rights. That goes along way to preserving the entire show on DVD.

I have seen Simpsons episodes that have a set up to a joke and then the joke is gone in syndication... Why pay for Married With Children with the syndicated versions when I can record them on my computer and make my own DVDs and I would get original music too! FX shows them like 8 times a day.

-Ian

Here's one instance I remember, from when Homer joined the music festival.

"Hey, that guy's guitar is talking."

(Otto looks down at his feet)

[Cut from syndication]

"Hey, my shoes are talking!"

(His shoes say something, but I don't remember what it was.)

[Syndication cut ends]

Mr. Burns discusses with Smithers why he's glad he bought Ticketmaster.

Here is another one (paraphrased):

Homer [walks up to Hank Scorpio with a cup of coffee]: Have you seen the sugar around here?

Scorpio [rumaging through his pockets, pulling out loose sugar to hand to Homer]: Sorry it's not in packages.

[Syndication version cuts to commercial]

Scorpio: Would you like any cream?

Homer [slowly backing away]: Er, no.

Unless someone actually seen the first season of Roseanne in it's original run,is there any way to tell what is missing?