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Any TV on DVD Available with Commercials? (1 Viewer)

Jeff Willis

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I'd probably balk some at a DVD set that includes commercials but I agree with most here that say there's some "time-machine" cool-ness about viewing the old commercials. I don't have any DVD sets with original commercials but I do have (VHS) the Bionic Woman Season 1 set all with original commercials as it was broadcast in '76 (that's 1976 for non-Baby-Boomers :D )

I'd have to guess that, for most, one of the main reasons for buying TV/DVD's is for the ability to view a series is a "movie" type atmosphere, without the commercials. I know for me, it adds a lot of enjoyment to vew a series this way. However, the thread's an interesting question.
 

AnthonyC

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It would be a cool bonus feature, but I definitely don't want the episodes interrupted.

Actually, it might be a neat way for the company to get some extra $$ on the set, have advertisers pay to include old ads and effectively "sponsor" some sets that otherwise might not have brought in enough profit.
 

Josh_HI

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If you mean the promos/trailers for the show, I would LOVE for shows to include those in the dvd sets. 3rd rock from the sun is one of the only shows I have that has a trailer/promo for every episode on each disc... I would LOVE it for shows like THE OC, Desperate Housewives, LOST, Alias to put promos on there dvds. OC has some of the best trailers.
 

JeremyErwin

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The radio adaptation that comes on Criterion's 39 Steps was sponsored by "Lux Flakes." I'm not really sure how one might excise the sponsorship messages from old radio shows, even if it were desirable.
 

Jeff Jacobson

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I once saw a G.I. Joe DVD (I think it was the movie) that had an old G.I. Joe commercial on it. (The commercial pre-dated the Joe cartoon by many years. If I had to guess, I'd say it was from the 60's.)
 

Venice-H

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I'm sure that's not what James meant, but I'd like to see them for a show like 90210. Those things were great fun back in the day.
 

Gord Lacey

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I was at a DVD producers house when I was in LA, and he showed me all the paperwork he had to do to get a commercial featuring a character from the show included on a DVD set. I forget how long he said he spent on it, but it took longer to clear that than anything else he was using for bonus material. I think that's why we don't see very many commercials on DVD releases; it's either costly, or so time consuming that only a passionate DVD producer would pursue it.

Gord
 

Mark Y

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There is a really horrendous 2-DVD set from the infamous Madacy company, called "Classic Commercials" or something like that. I got it for around 5 or 6 bucks. Loads of commercials from the 50s through the 70s and a lot of good ones, too, but the DVDs are duped rather carelessly from multi-generation tape sources and it shows. In Chicago, we have a local station, "Me-TV," which airs classic commercials, kind of like how TV Land would do their "retromercials." From what I have seen, virtually all of Me-TV's commercials seem to be sourced from the Madacy set, and Me-TV puts their logo over the whole commercial. (Thank goodness they otherwise don't...well, I'm not even gonna say it, I don't want to jinx it.)
 

Mark Y

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I have those Howdy Doody DVDs. I wasn't even alive in 1960, but that was extremely cool to see. (I believe the final show is the only one that survives on videotape; any other extant shows are kinescopes, even if they are from the last couple years when they shot on color videotape in advance. I read some vague story years ago that someone had a complete set of the master tapes in an archive somewhere but they were all lost in a fire. I also have heard that for many years, one party had the tape of the first half of the last Howdy Doody show, and someone else had the second half, and for years they wouldn't or couldn't get together. I have a dupe of a B/W kinescope of the second half only, which a friend copied for me years ago. There is some kind of a glitch near the very beginning, and I note that on the DVD, the second half starts with a brief freeze frame. This is the segment where a bunch of puppets (including Howdy Doody's grandfather) welcome us to the second half of the final show. I also notice that there is a cereal commercial in that show, where they are offering Howdy Doody flicker rings, and one of the characters is Princess Summerfall Winterspring. I don't remember all the chronology, but the actress (Judy Tyler) had been gone from the show for some time and already had died by then, but I believe they had a puppet named Princess Summerfall Winterspring, both before and after Judy Tyler played the role as a human character.

If you are interested in vintage TV, this is a must-have DVD.

So where might one find this "70s Dimension" DVD?

Oh, also......there is a Soupy Sales DVD set, which consists of re-edited versions of his 70s syndicated show, plus a few clips of his vintage shows. These 70s shows are interrupted by vintage 60s commercials. (Obviously, they are not the ones which aired with these particular shows, but cool to have nonetheless.)
 

Jesse Skeen

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If they released complete shows as they originally aired, it would be very easy to include the choice of playing the show with or without commercials. On my Philips DVD recorder, there's even an option to have it skip over specified chapters when played back, though it's a little awkward.

Forgot to mention that some of the public-domain Ozzie and Harriet discs include commercials. These are from a film source though, still not the same "live" effect as from a videotape source.

There's a copy of the 1969 Superbowl floating around with commercials, probably from a network archive tape. I have a very bad VHS EP copy of it but looks like the original is in pristine shape, wish they would do a legitimate release of it. I'm not even a sports fan but it's still fun to watch!
 

John*P

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This thread reminds me of a scene I once saw on Gilmore Girls. Lorelai had boxes of old VHS tapes that she had filled with TV shows from the 1980s and maybe 1990s. She wanted to keep them, and Luke told her she should just throw them away and buy the shows on DVD. (one series mentioned was 21 Jump Street) She says no, because part of the fun of watching old TV shows is seeing the original commercials that aired during the show.
 

David Von Pein

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"Video Resources"/(Ira Gallen), in 1994, also produced a bunch of one-hour VHS tapes filled with old TV commercials. I have about 40 of those tapes (picked up for $19.99 per tape through Movies Unlimited; Yikes Almighty! :)). And they're still selling them for that price even today (with the DVD versions going for $26.99, for 1 hour of material! Egads is right!).....

http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musit...3V8SKSQGEL9R2B

http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musit...3V8SKSQGEL9R2B

But, even with the subpar PQ and washed-out color (not to mention that insane price tag that I bowed down to), the old 50s-70s ads on those tapes are fun to see again. (Gotta love that great music for those Marlboro ads; who wrote that excellent theme? Anybody know?)


Some of the ads you'll find on those "old-time commercials" tapes and DVDs include these favorites of mine:

>> Ronald Reagan pitching "lighting solutions" for your home.

>> Jim Davis ("Jock Ewing" of "Dallas" TV fame) in an energetic ad promoting the new 1964 Buick "Wildcat" convertible.

>> Vincent Price (as a bank teller) in a spot for the game "Hangman". .... "I can't play with these interruptions!"

>> Marilyn Monroe selling gasoline. .... "Put Royal Triton in Cynthia's tummy!"

>> Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (and the rest of the "I Love Lucy" cast) can be seen alongside popular spokesperson of the day, Betty Furness, in a time-consuming filmed endorsement for "Westinghouse Value Days". Fred & Ethel haul their old refrigerator down to the store for a trade-in deal! .... "You can be sure -- if it's Westinghouse!"

>> "Mama-mia! That's-a spicy meatball-a!"

>> Cigarette commercials dominated the TV airwaves in the 1950s and 1960s, with the intense competition between these tobacco companies very obvious when viewing such adverts. See vintage TV spots for lots of different cigarette brands, including: Kool, Pall Mall, Kent, Newport, Lark, Old Gold ("Get a treat, instead of a treatment"), Winston ("Winston tastes good like a cigarette should"), Tareyton ("I'd rather fight than switch"), and Virginia Slims ("You've come a long way, baby").

>> "Let Hertz put YOU in the driver's seat -- to-dayyyyy!"

>> Hear the Nabisco cookie jingle till you want to throw up. (They "theme" a lot of these ads, jamming all of one kind together -- not always such a good idea, IMO.) :)

>> See those sharp new 1959 Chevys, with Pat Boone and Dinah Shore!

>> Remember the game "Mystery Date"? It's the very first ad on Tape #1 in the "VR" collection. .... "Will your date be a dream -- or a dud?!"

>> Fly Eastern Airlines and their smoky DC-8s, and (per one of their advertising slogans at the time) "discover how good an airline can be".

>> Or you can take off with Delta Airlines -- "We love to fly, and it shows".

>> See some behind-the-scenes clips from the TV series "Bewitched" during the filming of an on-location ABC-TV promo spot shot in Salem, Massachusetts.

>> Find out why "The Whopper" is "The two-fisted burger at Burger King".

>> Fasten your seat belt tightly when viewing the extremely-lengthy dealer plug for "Johnny Lightning Rocket 500" miniature race-car sets that were being marketed with vigor in 1970. That evidently was a huge advertising campaign, costing millions of (1970) dollars.

>> Coca-Cola ads from 1963. .... "Things go better with Coke".

>> "Brylcreem, a little dab'll do ya! Brylcreem, you'll look so debonair! Brylcreem, the gals will pursue ya! Simply rub a little in your hair!!"

>> Ronald Reagan is back in another old-time commercial -- this time peddling "Boraxo Hand Soap".

>> Watch Bing Crosby in a lengthy Christmas-time TV piece aimed at dealers instead of individual consumers -- all about "gas" (the type used to heat your home). :)

>> Soupy Sales pops up in some spots for "Gino's" Hamburger Restaurants.

>> Hear the unintentionally-hilarious and over-the-top melodramatic ditty written for Dodge cars. (At least I don't THINK the song was meant to be humorous.) ....

"Gonna take me a press;
gonna take me some steel;
gonna take my two hands;
and build an auto-mo-bile!" :)

>> See what made the Ford "Edsel" so special in 1958.

>> Watch Andy, Barney, Opie, and Aunt Bee sell "Sanka" instant coffee and breakfast cereal from the set of "The Andy Griffith Show".

>> Lucy & Desi smoke up a storm in ads for "Philip Morris" cigarettes.

>> See "The Marlboro Man", and once again hear that fabulous music that was associated with that top-notch 1960s-era cigarette advertising campaign.

>> Plus several very good local Washington, D.C., "Live" advertisements (with Milt Grant) -- for: Pepsi-Cola, Briggs Ice Cream, Motorola portable radios, "Tops Drive-Inns" (and their delicious "Sirloiner" steak sandwiches), and "The Music Box" (a local Washington record shop).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/cus...4&y=18&s=video

 

Bob Hug

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Catcom, a public domain releasing company, used to include vintage commercials on its double feature discs and also released a few discs of vintage commercials only. Catcom DVDs are a bit hard to find these days, but the quality of the commercials was decent as public domain releases go.

Link to their classic TV page: http://www.krbmusic.com/TV-Classics.html
 

DeathStar1

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Agreed. I don't want them on the TV DVD's themselves. Forced adds and promo's and FBI warnings should be outlawed. But classic adds, or soon to be classic, like the Capitol One Pilaging adds, or Aflack, or Geico, etc, would be fun to have on disc. Even a DVD of SuperBowl commericals past and present.
 

Charles Ellis

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Some actually do. Here's a funny story: Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. searched a bit for extras to include in the Here's Lucy set, and they actually had to buy old CBS promos for their mom's show off eBay! They're in the set. Also, check out the MPI release of The Beverly Hillbillies which has authorized by the heirs of creator Paul Henning- you'll find a lot of the original commercials the cast did for Kellogg's cereals and Winston cigarettes, which according to 'Granny', "tastes good like a cigarette had oughta!".
 

Michael Alden

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Because seeing a 40-year old show with the commercials intact is like going back in time to when it originally aired. My cutoff point for commercials is about 1975 or so when I got out of high school. Anything beyond that holds no nostalgic value nor interest for me. But to have shows from the 50s, 60s and early 70s with the commercials has far more value than without. You obviously are not a film collector because if you were you would know that a network print (with commercials in layman's terms) is worth way more money than a non-network print (complete but no commercials). A good part of the appeal of watching old shows is to take you back to the era and what better way to do this than to see it as it aired decades ago?
 

Bryan Krantz

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Commercials would make great bonus features for a lot of DVD sets. The GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, He-Man animated shows (which were basically glorified toy commercials anyway because the shows were made to showcase the manufacturer's product) would be well advised to include tv spots for their classic toys. I was amazed by the post that said how difficult it is to secure these for a DVD release. Doesn't seem like it should be that complex, but I guess everyone thinks their material is worth too much. Maybe the next round of Star Wars re-releases (and you know there will be more) could include the merchandising angle.
 

ScottLloyd

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As mentioned, the Andy Griffith Show and Dick Van Dyke Show commercials are fun to watch.

Andy's are really good since they tie the current episode into the sales pitch.
 

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