DVD Review HTF Review: Family Ties Season 1 (1 Viewer)

[JustinCleveland]

I cannot speak to the question if these are syndicated cuts or not. I will check lengths for you in the next day or two.

 

[LorenzoL]

I hope that the Family Ties DVD doesn't suffer the same fate as the Murphy Brown one. Unfortunately for one reason or another, it has never played well on syndication.

This release was my most requested TV on DVD set, so is safe to say that this is one of my most anticipated release of the year.

So, do we know if the episodes on the set are uncut or if they are syndicated cuts? Music changes wouldn't affect my decision with the exception of the Billy Vera song in the later seasons.

 

[MatthewA]

At this price with NO extras it's hard to be optimistic.

Other songs I can recall being used:

If I Were a Rich Man
Light My Fire
Mr. Sandman
New York, New York (in the final episode)

 

[MatthewA]

Murphy Brown, by the way, is a music rights nightmare.

 

[Jay_B!]

yea, I agree. I watched Family Ties as a kid, I probably wouldn't notice a missing song if I hadn't seen the episode since I was eight. Of course, I do think there'd be a major uproar if Paramount doesn't pay for the rights to use "At This Moment" in season four and five (if I recall it was used twice, but the second time was when the song exploded and went to #1), that is a total case of a tv show helping a song, and vice versa. Outside of the recent example of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" on Grey's Anatomy (sending the song from virtual obscurity into top 5 on the pop charts), I can't think of another example of a tv show launching a song like that after being used.

 

[MatthewA]

If the owners of "At this Moment" try to gouge Paramount on the music rights, they are ungrateful SOBs. There, I said it.

Let's just hope they get so far that they have to worry about it anyway.

 

[Pavan_P]

We at SitcomsOnline.com have this set. Our reviewer is going through the episodes in detail right now...looking for edits and music replacements. Most of the episodes run over 24 minutes though. Some of the music has been altered, as the back of the box says. Review coming later tonight.

 

[MatthewA]

They charge nearly $40, put in no extras, and still replace some of the music?

I don't see this flying off the shelves.

 

[Aryn Leroux]

I don't see where anyone said music was replaced ?

 

[Demis G]

Then you havent been reading..
a couple of post of yours, by Pavan_P
Music altered as it states on the back of the box...

 

[Aryn Leroux]

Ahh yes, somehow i overlooked that comment by Paven. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Scott_J]

According to Sitcoms Online's review, not only was music replaced, but two 30-second scenes were cut because of music-rights issues.


The review details the music replacements in more detail, too. The review also mentions that, other than those 2 cuts, the episodes appear to be uncut (running 24+ minutes).

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/familyt...dvdreview.html

 

[Jay_B!]

oh great, there goes another set I was really anticipating :frowning: I mean, I'm not a certain other poster here when it comes to edits, I'll likely get the set, but I will be disappointed. How expensive can those two songs be? I mean, Charmed (also Paramount) has cleared pop and alternative songs that are far more well-known than the songs on FT without a hunch, or is it cheapness rearing it's ugly head?

 

[MatthewA]

If that first episode scene was on the Columbia House tapes, and an Elvis song was replaced by a modern-sounding one it's definitely cheapness. Good lord, how much do you think "Eddie My Love" goes for these days? I've never heard it on oldies radio.

No sale, Paramount, unless it's used and at a low price.

 

[LCD22]

I just canceled my November 3rd pre-order. I'm very disappointed in Paramount. This really doesn't bode well for "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch".

 

[MatthewA]

It should be against the law to call it complete when it is demonstrably incomplete.

Considering "Cheers" had several music replacements as well, this shouldn't come as a surprise. And the revelation that an episode had music that could be cleared on a previous video release, but they didn't bother to even try it here, is insulting.

I can think of a number of shows that have had not one single music replacement on DVD, not one. None of them are from Paramount, however.

 

[Josh LM]

I'm guessing most of you people on here who are so disappointed about the music replacements wouldn't even notice that music had been replaced if you weren't told outright. If this is the case, who cares? It's a song. Unless it's integral to the plot line, I could care less.

 

[Jay_B!]

it's not so much the music replacement, but the fact that two small clips are removed over it. I'll still get the set

 

[LCD22]

Actually, from reading some of the music/scenes that were replaced, I would've noticed, if I bought without checking first if there was any music replacements. I had a feeling Paramount was going to replace music in this first season release.

The first season of "Numb3rs" had music substitution. It's the only TV-on-DVD release I have from CBS/Paramount that has music replacement. I usually check at DVD Empire for a disclaimer on the back before buying (and it looks like from the review they still haven't enlarge their damn disclaimers on their back covers) to see if there's any music replacement or I ask on here. What happen with "Numb3rs" was I bought it, and the disclaimer was so small that I missed it on DVD Empire. I was able to find out from a fellow "Numb3rs" fan that the main theme, "Once In A Lifetime", had been replaced on episodes 2-13, but kept intact on the pilot episode. They used the theme composed for the series in S2 for episodes 2-13. CBS/Paramount was unable to clear the theme for the remaining episodes. The rest of the music was intact (and thankfully the subsequent season had no music substitution). I evidently open and kept S1.

It looks like Paramount (not CBS) really went the cheap route with this release, even the packaging. I'm not happy to hear that Paramount replaced the old Paramount mountain logo with the CBS/Paramount logo at the end. Is this something Paramount's going to start doing to their TV-on-DVD releases?

 

[MatthewA]

They've been replacing logos for the past few years. The Nick-at-Nite versions of the Paramount 70s and 80s shows had the Blue Mountain logo replaced with the late 80s CGI one. Original syndication prints left the logos intact.