Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season 6 (1 Viewer)

[BobO'Link]

I have (totally) disavowed any "Standard" DVD purchases myself. And it would take a lot to make me want to buy anything in this (now) antiquated medium.

It may be "antiquated" but if you "(totally) disavow" standard DVD purchases you're locking yourself out of hundreds of TV programs, both old and new. Distributors have all but abandoned BR releases of TV content. There are some, but they are few and tend to be mostly niche/cult/high profile titles. If it's something I want, I'll *never* eschew purchasing just because it's only on DVD. That goes for both TV and theatrical product.

 

[smithbrad]

For whatever reason, they skipped over one episode, To Catch a Butterfly. Not sure why as it ran on ME, although cut down to 46 minutes as all of their shows are.

Interesting to read about this episode. I've just started playing around with the UK release and came across this episode "To Catch a Butterfly" as a sampling regarding the PAL speed up. I own many PAL releases and generally the speed up hasn't been a concern for me. However, I've been watching Lou Grant lately and the voice change of Edward Asner became quite obvious to me. Thus, I've been playing around with how to correct it. I've tried keeping it in PAL (for the resolution gain) while slowing it down by 4%. This approach fixed the audio and playback speed, but unfortunately introduced a periodic judder from time to time (depending on the scene) due to I can only assume the duplication of frames in the process. Now I'm just trying a variety approach with respect to speed, pitch, resolution, and PAL vs NTSC to figure out what works best so i can convert all episodes in the series.

I'm really looking forward to finally seeing this episode since I've watched the first couple of minutes several times now and Asner's character really comes across creepy in those moments.

 

[Charles Ellis]

Any news about The Alfred Hitchcock Hour?

 

[Neil Brock]

It may be "antiquated" but if you "(totally) disavow" standard DVD purchases you're locking yourself out of hundreds of TV programs, both old and new. Distributors have all but abandoned BR releases of TV content. There are some, but they are few and tend to be mostly niche/cult/high profile titles. If it's something I want, I'll *never* eschew purchasing just because it's only on DVD. That goes for both TV and theatrical product.

If you are a legitimately true collector, you don't limit yourself to any one format. So, if you collect TV shows, that could mean DVD, VHS, Beta, 3/4, 16mm film, whatever. Same goes for NTSC, PAL or SECAM. If you collect music, same holds true.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

I'm sorry, I love my Blu and HD as much as the next snob, but to cut out standard DVD entirely?

I'm watching Moonlighting right now. Filmed show from the mid-80s. And you know what? It looks damn good (when the Cybil filter isn't being used). I'm actually surprised at how good it does look for a standard DVD. Could a Blu look better? Most likely. Will it ever happen? Most likely not. And the same goes for most all TV shows, new or old.

So why would one limit themselves to Blu only when 90% of all TV releases are on standard DVD? Hell, even major shows like Law and Order: Rape Rape are down to DVD-R MOD sets. You think it'll ever see a Blu release? It is to laugh.

 

[Craig Beam]

Hell, even major shows like Law and Order: Rape Rape are down to DVD-R MOD sets.

I'll be laughing hysterically at this for days, probably weeks.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

MeTV is currently up to Season Six airing this series, so (the unreleased on domestic DVD) Season Seven should be coming up shortly for those of us who want to record and watch (I don't feel the need to collect or save). The last episode of Season Six should be "Ambition." Then it's time to hit the DVR.

 

[Jack P]

I'll be laughing hysterically at this for days, probably weeks.

There have been more sexual crimes committed on that series than probably in all of New York City for a given period. The longer that show goes on, the more ridiculous it is. I stopped at Season and I only got that season because one episode crossed over with regular La And Order.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

There have been more sexual crimes committed on that series than probably in all of New York City for a given period. The longer that show goes on, the more ridiculous it is. I stopped at Season and I only got that season because one episode crossed over with regular La And Order.

Many of these modern procedural cop shows are well made (especially the Original Recipe Law & Order), but the constant onslaught of serial killings, graphic forensic detail and fetishization of violent behavior gets old after a while, and a feeling of sameness starts to set in. Something like Criminal Minds or the aforementioned Law and Order: SVU (hereafter forever known as Law and Order: Rape Rape - good one, Robert!) become grim, repetitive viewing after a while. This sort of sober, bleak, "wallow in misery" mindset has really exploded in British police procedurals over the past 10 - 15 years. Again, many of these series are very well made and acted, and I enjoy some of them very much (Endeavour, Bron: Broen (The Bridge), River, etc.) But a steady diet of this kind of programming makes for pretty glum viewing, IMO.

Each to their own and all that, but I definitely agree with others above that limiting oneself only to Blu-Ray releases and avoiding DVD is cutting your nose off to spite your face. I'm overjoyed when a favorite TV series gets a BD release, but easily 90% or more of my TV collection is on DVD, and the vast majority of it looks pretty damn good, even projected on a 100-inch screen. Let's face it, most of the shows those of us on this board collect are never going to see a Blu-Ray release, so we better enjoy our DVDs as long as they last.

 

[JoshuaB.]

For those that have the R2 AHP and AHH DVDs, how is the AV quality? I'm keen on picking these up once there's a good sale on Amazon UK. I've given up that Universal will licence all 10 seasons to a boutique label like Shout! on this side of the pond.

 

[Tom.W]

For those that have the R2 AHP and AHH DVDs, how is the AV quality? I'm keen on picking these up once there's a good sale on Amazon UK. I've given up that Universal will licence all 10 seasons to a boutique label like Shout! on this side of the pond.

I've got R2 AHP and the R4 AHH and they are both excellent. Not quite as good as CBS/Paramount (e.g., Gunsmoke, Perry Mason) but on a par with most R1 releases. There are mid-show bumpers on at least some of the Hours.

 

[Gary16]

I've got R2 AHP and the R4 AHH and they are both excellent. Not quite as good as CBS/Paramount (e.g., Gunsmoke, Perry Mason) but on a par with most R1 releases. There are mid-show bumpers on at least some of the Hours.

I agree and there’s a nice booklet with the AHP set.

 

[Blimpoy06]

For those that have the R2 AHP and AHH DVDs, how is the AV quality? I'm keen on picking these up once there's a good sale on Amazon UK. I've given up that Universal will licence all 10 seasons to a boutique label like Shout! on this side of the pond.

Screen shots from The Alfred Hitchcock Hour DVD.

"I'll Be Judge—I'll Be Jury" with Peter Graves

"I Saw the Whole Thing" with John Forsythe (Directed by Hitchcock)

 

[smithbrad]

For those that have the R2 AHP and AHH DVDs, how is the AV quality? I'm keen on picking these up once there's a good sale on Amazon UK. I've given up that Universal will licence all 10 seasons to a boutique label like Shout! on this side of the pond.

I agree with the others, AHH looks great. I even converted mine to NTSC 720p (so it could be played on all my systems and to maintain the PAL bump in resolution), slowed it down by 4% to compensate for the speedup (this was one PAL set I could tell the pitch difference because of the well known actors), and authored them to 25G blu-ray blanks to save space (only took 10 disks for the series and fits in one wide blu-ray case). Even used the R2 menus and cover design for the case. Couldn't be any happier with the final result.

 

[Neil Brock]

I recorded AHH from the run on Encore a few years ago, which was complete and uncut. All but To Catch a Butterfly, which I managed to pick up from a 16mm film chain copy.

 

[smithbrad]

I recorded AHH from the run on Encore a few years ago, which was complete and uncut. All but To Catch a Butterfly, which I managed to pick up from a 16mm film chain copy.

I recorded them from Encore, as well. I can happily say the R2 release has better video quality then my recorded prints, which have since been deleted to recoup HD space.

 

[Tom.W]

I recorded them from Encore, as well. I can happily say the R2 release has better video quality then my recorded prints, which have since been deleted to recoup HD space.

I recorded most off Encore too, but on VHS. They're now gone, to reduce clutter in my 1 BR apt. I still have some AHP tapes recorded off a PBS station and those are uncut.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Season 7 is finally airing every night on MeTV from 1-2 a.m. EST and I must say the picture quality is pretty damn good. Something's off with the sound, though, because background noises play much louder than they should, which often distracts from the dialogue.

So, early on, there's one episode with Billy Mumy that is even more horrifying than his appearance as the little monster Anthony in the classic The Twilight Zone episode, "It's a Good Life."

This episode, "Bang! You're Dead," he's just about the same age, but he's running around the neighborhood playing cowboy randomly pointing a gun at everyone he encounters without knowing that the gun is real and the more bullets he loads in it, the closer this ghastly game of Russian Roulette is going to go very badly.

It's the perfect Hitchcock suspense premise, and we know this because.... Hitchcock himself directs this episode. It's just nerve-wracking. It's the bomb you know is there and just waiting for it to go off.

Now I was one of those kids running around with a toy gun in the neighborhood at six shooting at everything in sight, as well, and anyone who grew up in that era knew that the more realistic-looking the gun, the better. I played with guns my entire childhood. My college son plays shooter game videos every night. But neither of us ever went on to own a real gun.

I remember watching him run around at six going bang bang at a block party and feeling nervous in front of the neighbors and going on to explain we would never have a real gun in the house that he could find, but I started out by saying, "When I was a kid I used to have every type of gun there was." But before I could get to the part about saying, "but I never owned a real gun," two of my neighbors chimed in about all the wonderful real guns they owned.

Talk about a comment blowing up in my face. But it was helpful because I made a mental note... my son will never be playing alone with their kid over at their house. Hell, any kid worth his salt could find their father's gun in the house. I found my dad's WWII pistol under the socks in one of his bedroom drawers. I never touched it, and it turned out it was never functional anymore, but I found it.

I only mention this story because the end of this episode is Alfred Hitchcock re-appearing to do a gun safety announcement at the end of the episode. Whoah. I don't remember any other episode where he turns it into a Public Service Announcement. But he sure found the perfect horror story episode to do it.

Anthony could wish someone into the cornfield, or put their head on a jack-in-the-box toy.

Jackie at six with a real live gun was way scarier.

 

[TravisR]

Season 7 is finally airing every night on MeTV from 1-2 a.m. EST and I must say the picture quality is pretty damn good. Something's off with the sound, though, because background noises play much louder than they should, which often distracts from the dialogue.

So, early on, there's one episode with Billy Mumy that is even more horrifying than his appearance as the little monster Anthony in the classic The Twilight Zone episode, "It's a Good Life."

This episode, "Bang! You're Dead," he's just about the same age, but he's running around the neighborhood playing cowboy randomly pointing a gun at everyone he encounters without knowing that the gun is real and the more bullets he loads in it, the closer this ghastly game of Russian Roulette is going to go very badly.

It's the perfect Hitchcock suspense premise, and we know this because.... Hitchcock himself directs this episode. It's just nerve-wracking. It's the bomb you know is there and just waiting for it to go off.

I remember seeing that episode for the first time on Nick At Night when I was a kid and finding it about as suspenseful as it gets. It's probably one of the best episodes of the entire series so it still plays great on repeat viewings but I think most viewers are on the edge of their seat when they first see it.

 

[rjd0309]