Pre-Order Cheers: The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[LeoA]

No, none of what people hoped for was done for the Blu-Ray set.

No music restorations, no restored scenes, and no replacement or massaging of the upscaled tape scenes where they originally couldn't find the 35 mm film elements for back 20 years ago when these Cheers transfers were done (While some of these film assets may or may not have been located since then, I'd of been fine with them trying just to correct the colors of these videotape assets to better match up, since their oddly faded appearance stands out much more than their lower resolution does).

While hoping for a pleasant surprise, that was all sadly expected. What wasn't anticipated however is that some of the music that was intact for the DVD releases is actually now replaced here. About the only thing that they got right was using individual season cases here instead of the awful packaging that they've used for many other complete series releases and reissues in recent years.

And even that positive is weakened a bit by the extremely flimsy box that they went with to house the individual season cases. I suspect many customers will end up disposing of that part.

 

[bmasters9]

No, none of what people hoped for was done for the Blu-Ray set.

No music restorations, no restored scenes, and no replacement or massaging of the upscaled tape scenes where they originally couldn't find the 35 mm film elements for back 20 years ago when these Cheers transfers were done (While some of these film assets may or may not have been located since then, I'd of been fine with them trying just to correct the colors of these videotape assets to better match up, since their oddly faded appearance stands out much more than their lower resolution does).

While hoping for a pleasant surprise, that was all sadly expected. What wasn't anticipated however is that some of the music that was intact for the DVD releases is actually now replaced here. About the only thing that they got right was using individual season cases here instead of the awful packaging that they've used for many other complete series releases and reissues in recent years.

And even that positive is weakened a bit by the extremely flimsy box that they went with to house the individual season cases. I suspect many customers will end up disposing of that part.

Are you saying then that the Blus are worse than the DVDs?

 

[LeoA]

Other than the enhanced picture quality, yes.

That said, so far I've only experienced (and also seen reported elsewhere) that the song in the season finale of season 5 is changed, which was intact on DVD but changed for streaming. So we're not talking about numerous regressions so far.

But it's going to take a while for folks to work their way through this and so far I've largely just been checking the list of cuts that were compiled by WhitneyG a few years ago. So while we know what hasn't been restored, we don't yet fully know what else may have been altered (like the numerous instances of Righteous Brothers music).

It's a tough call right now in my book on rather this is a worthwhile purchase. The DVD's are more intact and are already in most fan's collections that care about this show and owning discs. But we're so far only talking about one scene being altered on the Blu-Ray's compared to the older DVD releases. So unless that list grows substantially, this might be a worthwhile upgrade still for the HD presentation.

And the streaming and digital download versions returned several songs that were cut on DVD (and which remain cut on Blu-Ray), while offering a similar HD presentation to that of the Blu-Ray release. Yet they lack the ownership that many members here hold important with their media purchases. They also have the same cut to the season 5 finale that the Blu-Ray release has (which DVD doesn't).

All I can say is that it's unfortunate that this huge and iconic show hasn't been given the treatment it deserves by CBS/Paramount. Not just for the unfortunately rather niche Blu-Ray release, but for future syndication and streaming as well. Some of it may be out of their hands since not every rights holder is going to play ball, but most of this surely was clearable if they had tried.

 

[albert_m2]

Subscription streaming rights are considered equivalent to broadcast, which means that if the show originally licensed the rights for those songs for broadcast only, that is now considered to cover streaming - no additional licensing required.

However, if those songs were licensed for broadcast only and not all media - and frankly, there’s no reason anyone would have thought to in an era when physical media meant VHS tapes and people didn’t buy entire seasons of shows - then those songs may not be cleared for home video platforms like DVD and Blu-ray.

So why have some music heavy (or moderate like Moonlighting) not been available for streaming?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Because their rights holders haven’t made a deal for streaming. It’s no different than some shows being rerun a lot on TV while others aren’t.

 

[albert_m2]

Moonlighting was an ABC production, so Disney now... a logical choice for Hulu, but that hasn't happened.

 

[bmasters9]

Moonlighting was an ABC production, so Disney now... a logical choice for Hulu, but that hasn't happened.

Actually, Picturemaker (Glenn Gordon Caron's label) IAW ABC Circle Films, but even so, all we've had is DVD-- no Blus or streaming.

 

[jdee28]

Disappointing news about Cheers The wait for a definitive edition continues

 

[Jeffrey D]

A change from the DVD to the BluRay in the episode The Proposal (first episode in season 5). On the DVD, the scene where Diane expects Sam to be on the boat, and wakes up the monsignor- the scene abruptly ends, then switches back to the bar. On the BluRay, you hear Diane and the monsignor scream, then there is a title card, with Carla saying we’ll be back in a minute, then back to the bar.

 

[sjbradford]

Interesting. My guess is that in the rush to edit out the bumper they mistakenly took out the screams too. I remember that episode when it aired and thinking how unusual it was to have a bumper and then a ”tag” scene at the end. The Paramount shows produced for ABC (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Brady Bunch, et) all had the bumper/tag scene format for the end of each episode. But that wasn’t the norm for NBC, which generally had mid-episode bumpers, but rarely tag scenes.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Interesting. My guess is that in the rush to edit out the bumper they mistakenly took out the screams too. I remember that episode when it aired and thinking how unusual it was to have a bumper and then a ”tag” scene at the end. The Paramount shows produced for ABC (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Brady Bunch, et) all had the bumper/tag scene format for the end of each episode. But that wasn’t the norm for NBC, which generally had mid-episode bumpers, but rarely tag scenes.

The screams are on both the DVD and BluRay. I assume the bumper in the original broadcast was to break for commercial at an unusual time (I don’t think any other Cheers episodes had a commercial break that late in the show).

One thing they carried over from the DVD to BluRay, which I like- they have a chapter marker which allows the viewer to skip the opening theme.

Another bumper on the BluRay which was not on the DVD- in the episode Never Love A Goalie Part 1. I guess we’ll be seeing the bumpers throughout the series.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Wow- aside from the improved picture on the BluRay from DVD, the studio dropped the ball on this release. The season 2 episode I’ll Be Seeing You Part 1- the sped up audio & video was not corrected on the BluRay. Who knows- maybe this shot was an issue in the original broadcast- the video is color drained, over bright, and runs in fast forward.

Another change from the DVD to BluRay is in the season 3 episode Fairy Tales Can Come True- the songs Cliff and Tinkerbell dance to on the jukebox I’m fairly certain are different. I don’t know if what’s on the BluRay are from broadcast, or not.

 

[Jeffrey D]

In the season 3 episode I Call Your Name- on the BluRay, they cut a scene short, compared to the DVD, likely due to song rights. On the DVD, after Frasier leaves the bar, Sam sings Unforgettable while looking at a mirror. This scene is cut from the BluRay.

 

[Malcolm R]

A shame. I was never a huge fan of Cheers, but was thinking about getting this set anyway. Sorry to hear it's so bungled up for the fans that wanted it.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Season 7 episode One Happy Chappy In A Snappy Serape- the same flawed shots from the DVD (too dark, and soft). Seems that there was no effort to clean up bad video, or acquire the best video for the transfer- they just fed the DVD video into a machine, and the BluRays popped out.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Season 7 episode One Happy Chappy In A Snappy Serape- the same flawed shots from the DVD (too dark, and soft). Seems that there was no effort to clean up bad video, or acquire the best video for the transfer- they just fed the DVD video into a machine, and the BluRays popped out.

Cheers had to be reassembled from the original negatives way back when. Later seasons were edited on videotape. Odds are, those soft shots are uprezzed videotape and the best they could do. I don't fault them for those. If the original negatives were lost, there was nothing else they could do.

 

[bmasters9]

Cheers had to be reassembled from the original negatives way back when. Later seasons were edited on videotape.

I think that's the reason why the first 4 seasons had the "Film Editor" credit...

...while the latter seasons had it as "Edited by."

 

[Jeffrey D]

Cheers had to be reassembled from the original negatives way back when. Later seasons were edited on videotape. Odds are, those soft shots are uprezzed videotape and the best they could do. I don't fault them for those. If the original negatives were lost, there was nothing else they could do.

I hope you’re correct that this is the best they could do with what they had, but it’s still disappointing.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Watching the episode with the most egregious music replacement- Grease
(season 9, disc 1). Norm goes on a crusade to save the Hungry Heifer. I can confirm that the BluRay did not restore the song from the original broadcast.

 

[bmasters9]

Inside the Cheers all-in-one Blu: