Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy - Season 2 (1 Viewer)

[Gary OS]

I'm disappointed for the same reasons Bob is. CBS/Paramount is easily the best studio going right now for vintage TV on DVD releases. The music issue really bothers me terribly, and to hear that the transfers are sub par makes this doubly bad.

Gary "for some reason I'm thinking 'Monster Mash' was played during the Halloween episode - wondering if it was replaced too?" O.

 

[Robert13]

Did they do this on the first season releases at all?

I'm looking forward to Season 2 of L&S on dvd. I hope we, at least, get to Season 5 but I'm hoping the whole series will make it to dvd eventually.

 

[Jeff*H]

I think a key reason why the quality dropped for the S2 release is simply that Happy Days S1 did not sell well, but I believe that occurred during the Viacom regime at Paramount, and they had no intention to do Happy Days S2. I think CBS took over and decided that it was worth another shot, but since in all likelihood S2 would sell fewer units than S1, they needed to keep costs down to a bare minimum. Therefore, they used the cheapest prints they could find, with cheaper packaging and music substitution, all to maximize their ROI as much as possible.

 

[Jay_B!]

that is all true and makes sense, but at the same time, why is the video quality for Laverne and Mork decent while Happy Days looks like public domain? I know those two shows came later, but I highly doubt there is a vast difference between Happy Days' second season in 1974 and Laverne And Shirley's second season in 1976. Yet L&S boasts a very clean and remastered looking print, I don't think the sales for that and Mork were that much higher than Happy Days if it took three years for another go-round for all three of the said shows.

 

[Corey3rd]

I was talking with a movie distributor today and he explained to me that in their recent documentary, one of the subject's cellphone goes off. The ringtone is Missy Elliot's Get Your Freak On. When they tried to clear it, they were given a price of $50,000. That's $50,000 for a few seconds of a ringtone. They changed the audio for that moment.

 

[Chuck L]

I must say that this release (Laverne and Shirley) is one that I have waited anxiously for. Last night I was lucky enough to find a copy of the set and have to tell to tell you that I am not the least bit disappointed.

I have already gone through six episodes of the show and the shows are intact and coming in at the proper amount of time. Also, the image is very good. There are moments to where it does't match the beauty of the first set, but the episodes look better than what they ever have in syndication.

I am glad that Paramount got off the butts with this release and I do hope that fans of the series rush out this week to pick the set up. Here is just to hoping it isn't another two and half years before we get season three and beyond!

 

[Matt.Koz]

I've watched 5 episodes of Happy Days and found the quality to be quite good on all but one. The music substitutions can be a bit jarring at times as it is quite obviously that it is poor 50's soundalike music...and it's a bit loud and intrusive in the episode, "Haunted."

I did notice one musical number was cut from the "Oh Hear The Angels Voices" episode of Laverne and Shirley but the episode certainly looks better than it ever has!

 

[Pavan_P]

Reviews:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/happyda...dvdreview.html
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/laverne...dvdreview.html
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/morkand...dvdreview.html

The Happy Days set is terrible.

 

[Pavan_P]

Reviews:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/happyda...dvdreview.html
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/laverne...dvdreview.html
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/morkand...dvdreview.html

The Happy Days set is terrible.

 

[Pavan_P]

Reviews:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/happyda...dvdreview.html
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/laverne...dvdreview.html
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/morkand...dvdreview.html

The Happy Days set is terrible.

 

[Mark B]

I wanted the second season of L&S for one specific episode....Oh Hear the Angel Voices. As a kid I taped the episode off the air onto my cassette tape recorder on it's first airing, so I can identify every cut. "Goofus" was performed by Edna (Betty Garrett) and in the syndicated version I taped on VHS a few years ago her number was cut in half. So, all this waiting for the DVD and they cut the number completely. GRRRRRRRRR!

Does anyone know if it can be found in full on the Columbia House tapes?

 

[Robert13]

I hadn't seen this episode on the dvd yet and I must say I am not happy about the cut.

Mark B, unfortunately, this episode was not part of the Columbia House collection. :frowning:

 

[Paul Miller]

The case for Mork & Mindy Season 2 is really slim compared to the old package. It is like the size of an average movie DVD case now.


Paul

 

[Jeff Willis]

Not good to hear about scene cuts from these sets. I had assumed that these sets were (video) un-cut versions.

 

[Firebee]

It sure is! I had been making room on my shelf for the expected size of the first set, but you know what, I'm just thrilled to death to have ``Mork & Mindy'' S2 in my hand!

 

[John Carr]

The success of Happy Days was for me, in the early years, as dependent on the music as the actors... I'll skip season 2, and pass on the Fonzie Days, too.

It's freakin' sad the way the studios are carving up these releases now.

John

 

[Jay_B!]

is #101 on Amazon considered a success or failure considering we're talking a 33 year old sitcom that Paramount cut all corners on in hopes it'll break even?

I only ask because I know that some shows that peak at like #800 on Amazon have no shot in hell for another release, but #101 isn't TOO bad considering all the edits, the fact that Paramount waited 3 years, no promotion, etc.... It's currently #6 on the TV comedy chart on Amazon, behind more contemporary hits like The Office, Seinfeld and Will And Grace that are pretty much expected to be much bigger sellers than a sitcom from 1974. Is this good enough that Paramount might actually contemplate a season 3?

 

[Jeff*H]

#101 during release week isn't very good, but it's not horrible. This alone would certainly not rule out another season.

By comparison, CBS-Paramount's release of Hawaii Five-0 Season 1 in March cracked the top 20 (I think it peaked around #16) during release week, and 7 weeks later we had a Season 2 announcement for July.

 

[Bryan^H]

Happy Days and Laverne, and Shirley are currently #117, and #123 in the Amazon sales ranking. However Mork & Mindy is at #237, which probably isn't so good. Although Amazon isn't the only place to buy these sets,(I got all 3 at Best Buy) I do feel it's a good indicator overall of which series eventually will sell better.

I really hope more seasons of all 3 are released.

 

[Jay_B!]

true, considering the slap-dash effort Paramount put into the DVD's, charting in the hundreds isn't TOO bad for HD and Laverne. Paramount probably thought HD would top out in the 900's or so.