Have an advance copy of Moonlighting DVD Seasons 1&2 (1 Viewer)

[Craig Beam]

Absurd. I'd appreciate it, Chris, if you'd refrain from lumping me in with uneducated black-bar-haters. I own a widscreen television. I own a surround system. I own well over 350 DVDs. Oh, and I'm an intelligent adult.

I approach DVDs on a case-by-case basis. Of course I wouldn't buy a theatrical film if it were panned-and-scanned. Of course I wouldn't buy a modern film on DVD in mono sound (unless, of course, it was originally presented that way). Are syndication cuts ideal? Of course not. My point, since you clearly missed it, is that there's no other viable way to get Moonlighting on DVD.

And besides, so far I've seen nothing to indicate that there any cuts at all. The A/V quality is superb. The presentation is classy, with nifty animated menus and insightful (albeit fairly brief) documentaries. If I discover that there are some cuts here and there, my joy will be diminished... but only slightly. And yes, I will buy further sets, and I'm not going to feel guilty about it. This set was obviously assembled with great care, an effort which I'm happy to support with my dollars. Even if (a big IF, since so far I've seen no evidence) there are cuts, it's still a great product at a reasonable price.

 

[Chris Bergmann]

Your point was that a compromised, edited product is better than nothing at all.

And that attitude sends a clear message to the companies that they don't have to work hard or spend the money to provide an uncompromised product because we don't care and we'll buy anything they release.

And that is a very bad thing.

THEY need OUR money - so why thank them for "allowing" us to spend our money on something half-assed?

 

[TravisR]

Craig, it's nice to see someone take a 'glass is half full' approach.


Because they ain't gonna re-release it. If you want the set and you don't mind the edits (IF they happened), buy it. If the edits bother you, don't get it.

 

[Brent_B]

OK, just got through watching the episode, "Funeral For A Door Nail" on the dvd,(which was great). Towards the end, when David and Maddie chase after the bad guy, the theme music for Star Wars starts playing, then after that the Psycho theme. Now I'm really confused, they can afford to keep the rights to these two major movie themes, but not the William Tell Overture for "Lady In The Iron Mask"?
Its not a matter of it being a syndication or uncut episode issue, I really couldn't tell the difference between the recorded episode or the dvd. Its just that for this one episode, so far, the music is SO different, for it to be really noticeable. I agree, Lions Gate did a good job of cleaning up the picture, it looks great, but this is just confusing for me. Especially when the syndicated episode that aired on Bravo, had the right music in it. Why couldn't they use that?



Edit: FYI, the score that was replaced with the new music, in "The Lady In The Iron Mask", IS used in the episode "Witness For The Execution" on the dvd.

 

[Jim Pattison]

I have a complete set of Moonlighting episodes on tape, which I recorded off the air during the original run of the series. I was looking forward to getting these on DVD, but all the discussion of syndicated cuts has made me think twice.

Tonight, I dug into some boxes in my basement and found the tapes with some of the episodes, including two of the shortest according to Gord's review.

Here's what I found:

The Murder's In The Mail - on DVD 42:52
The running time of my VHS EP copy is identical, give or take a second or two. My copy has complete opening and closing credits, but no commercials, which probably means that I missed this when it was on, and borrowed a tape from a friend to make a dub.

Twas The Episode Before Christmas - on DVD 40:59
My copy runs about 42:23, but that includes 30 seconds of previews ("Tonight on Moonlighting") before the opening credits, which I assume are not on the DVD. It also includes title cards before and after each commercial break ("Moonlighting will be right back"). I assume that these aren't on the DVD, either. Subtracting all of this, and allowing for a few seconds of slippage here and there as I scanned back and forth through the tape, the running time is pretty close to what's on the DVD.

None of this proves anything. I must point out that I'm in Canada, and these were taped off of CTV, which may well have made a few cuts of their own to squeeze in an extra commercial or two. But it seems safe to say that these episodes were short to begin with. If anything is cut from the DVDs, it can't be much.

Does anyone have complete copies of these episodes that were taped from ABC?

Jim

 

[Kevin_Lodge]

Found this on tvtome.com :

17. Twas the Episode Before Christmas
gs: James Avery (Reuben King) Leslie Wing (Mary) Richard Belzer (Leonard) Daniel Chodos (Unknown) John Hostetter (Unknown) Ralph Meyering Jr. (Unknown) Brian Libby (Unknown)

Ms. Dipesto finds a baby left in her apartment by a woman named Mary fleeing from the hitmen who killed her husband, and Dave and Maddie quarrel over using the agency phones as a "Santa hot line."


b: 17-Dec-1985 pc: 85310 w: Glenn Gordon Caron d: Peter Werner

NOTE: The story wraps up about ten minutes early, and the rest of the time is filled by cast and crew and many children singing "The First Noel" on the set as fake snow falls around them.
Music: "The First Noel"; "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" by the Crystals; Agnes sings "Jingle Bells," "Silent Night" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair"; Maddie sings "Hush Little Baby"; "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"
At the 1986 Golden Globes, Cybill Shepherd shared the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series, Comedy/Musical. The show was nominated for Best TV Series, Comedy/Musical; and Bruce Willis for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series, Comedy/Musical.

 

[Craig Beam]

So you've watched the DVDs then? You've found specific examples of missing scenes, which would suggest truncated syndication prints were used? Do share with us your proof that this set was done in a "half-assed" fashion.

You do have specific examples... right? You wouldn't be basing your point of view solely on unsubstantiated internet rumors.... right?

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

I doubt it -- Canadian stations generally squeeze in fewer, not more commercials.

Thanks for checking, Jim. If those two episodes are uncut, then this bodes well for the others.

And no, I don't apologize for bashing Lion's Gate, even if it turns out (as is now seeming likely) that they didn't use syndication prints, because given their past work, there was little reason to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one. But since the episodes seem to be uncut, I'll probably go into the "yes" column on the set.

 

[Dane Marvin]

Wow, so it looks like things are leaning more and more towards these not being the syndication cuts.

Surely Lions Gate wouldn't have tried to slip one past DVD buyers again without noting something on the box, would they?

Still waiting for some definitive evidence of syndication cuts.

 

[Nathan Phillips]

I'll try to find my tape of the Christmas show and time it, but I watched it earlier and I didn't notice anything missing, though I admit I was just operating on memory. I'm almost positive that if there were any cuts, the caroling at the end would be a good deal shorter. Hopefully I'll be able to say something more conclusive later.

The story with "Iron Mask" may be similar to something that's happened a few times to The Simpsons, where the network's actual "canonical" broadcast copy includes compromises or cuts for a second or third airing. I'm not sure why they would change the soundtrack -- it obviously isn't a rights issue -- but the fact that (at the moment) it seems to be the one anomaly on the set suggests to me that Lions Gate isn't to blame. The "two soundtracks" theory is the best explanation I've seen so far.

I am very, very impressed with the set and I recommend it. I am really hoping that the releases of the third, fourth (and, less importantly, fifth) seasons continue to be uncut and with music intact. I can't believe how much music was in this show. I don't think I'd noticed before...

 

[pitchman]

I buy and watch a LOT of TV on DVD. That said, I picked this set up yesterday for $30 (as mentioned in the Coupons and Bargains thread) and watched disc 1 last night. So far, at least, I have to say that I am very impressed with this set! The transfers look and sound terrific, and this is obviously a package that was assembled with great care. The extras (that I've seen up to this point) are both entertaining and informative.

Although I was a great fan of the program during its network run, I must admit that I never watched Moonlighting in syndication, so I cannot speak about episodes being edited with any authority. If we find out that some episodes have been cut, I will be as disappointed as the next person. But, by the same token, I have to commend Lion's Gate for putting together one of the finest TV on DVD sets that I have seen. As always, YMMV, but for me, this is one set I can easily recommend.

 

[JeffWld]

This was not the case at the time of Moonlighting's original run.

 

[John Carr]

My wife bought me "Moonlighting," my personal favorite TV series of all time, as an early Father's Day present! I'm really enjoying the great verbal interplay between the leads -- it's very reminiscent of the wonderful screwball comedies of Preston Sturges and Howard Hawks.

The first season is the most 'plot driven' of the series. By season two, the great dialogue, romance and office nonsense had become predominant, which in the case of Moonlighting, was all to the better!

Truly, this wonderful show was only nominally a 'detective' story and used the detective plots for sight gags and madcap moments. Also, I had forgotten how good a singer Bruce Willis was; not in a professional way, but in off-the-wall singing!

I had taped these off the original ABC airings and so far have not noticed any cuts. I haven't cued them up because my tapes of the first 3 seasons were destroyed in a house fire... Thus, getting these replacement DVDs of the first 2 seasons was a godsend.

I highly recommend this show to anyone who loves great dialogue and verbal banter. The chemistry between the leads belies Cybill's comments that they never 'slept together.' There's a lot of 'tension' between the two leads which gives the romantic tension believability and, of course, the off-stage tension between the two was tabloid fodder for years.

Buying this series is like buying 24 movies and, thus, one hell-of-a bargain! TVonDVD just doesn't get much better!

 

[Sean R.]

John, I couldn't agree with you more! Perfect review! I only hope that this set flies off the shelf so we can see seasons 3-5 soon soon soon!!
(A few days ago I checked Amazon.com and as far as dvd sales go on that site, it was #8!! Yea!!)

 

[Paul McElligott]

Season 3 and "Atomic Shakesphere".... It will be mine.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

It'll be interesting to see what they do with further DVD releases of the show, because the following three seasons were very short -- never more than 15 episodes per. (I believe they even started one season by apologizing for the short seasons and promising that this year they'd finally deliver 22 episodes, which of course they did not.) I guess they'll do three sets of three to four discs each.

BTW, while I like Moonlighting and it's certainly been heavily influential (something like Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a direct descendant in the way it mixes generes and subordinates genre conventions to character conflicts), the main difficulty I have with the show is Cybill Shepherd. She deserves credit for recognizing the "Hawksian" style of the show, but she just can't act, and this presents a problem at times. Also, seeing her photographed through 97 layers of gauze can get on my nerves.

I also think Glenn Caron always comes off as too smug about his incredible rule-breaking brilliance. For Pete's sake, Moonlighting was different from Remington Steele (which he "reluctantly" wrote for), but not that much different, and I might go so far as to say Remington Steele was better (I think it had better lead actors, anyway).

 

[Nathan Phillips]

I just watched the episode "In God We Strongly Suspect" for the first time ever, and I simply wanted to comment on how incredibly good it was. I don't think this series is flawless by any means -- there are some extremely generic episodes, like "Knowing Her" -- but when it shines, it can be pretty extraordinary.

It also seemed pretty daring in the way it addressed Maddie's atheism. Not to veer off topic, and if somebody wants me to move this I understand, but does anyone have any insight on how common this was on mainstream TV in the '80s? Or now, even? I know they allude to it a few times on "Freaks & Geeks" but the direct nature of it in the "Moonlighting" episode kind of stunned me.

Anyway, sorry, back on topic -- the extras are pretty good, not great. The commentary track with Allyce Beasley (sp?) was quite entertaining. Jaime: I did notice a little bit of pompous behavior from Caron in interviews I read with him recently. However, he seemed relatively subdued to me on the DVD commentaries, but then, I grew up listening to Chris Carter blather on, so my standards have probably been massively eroded.

 

[Linda Thompson]

The character of Michael Stivic on "All In The Family" was atheist. While it was (and still is) fairly uncommon for a lead or regular character to be a declared atheist, the subject has very often been broached with minor or guest characters on many shows.

Latter day... Isn't Becker an atheist? And House?

That's about all I can think of right off the top of my head...

 

[Dustin James]

.

 

[Sam Favate]

Wow, I forgot how short the seasons were too. I'd be in favor of slimmer disc packages - anything to save some shelf space but have all of the show.