I'm getting totally DISGUSTED with collecting TV series on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Carlos Garcia]

The first season Happy Days set includes several scenes not shown in syndication probably since the show's first run. It appears Paramount may not have found the original prints for these scenes, because what we see of those scenes on the DVDs look alot grainier than the rest of the episodes. Perhaps those scenes were taken from 16mm copies originally made for syndication. I wonder how many other shows no longer have all their original scenes available on 35mm prints and mastering them now has to be done with existing 16mm copies?

 

[Katherine_K]

Unfortunately the answer is that in most cases television masters weren't considered important until fairly recently with the TV-on-DVD market. The syndication cuts were after all what was being played on television stations and there was no use to save the cut material.

You have to remember that for a very long time television was not considered worth preserving. Much of what was cut for syndication for litterally hundreds of shows is likely gone forever.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Hi, Katherine, welcome to HTF

I sure hope that isn't the case with some of my "want" series for DVD release (cut scenes gone forever) although I see your point.

 

[Katherine_K]

Thank you Jeff, I came over from being a regular reader on tvshowsondvd.com and have lurked here enough I figure I might as well say stuff

I think the primary problem is with 50s/60s era shows where the standard commercial time was very different. That was unfortunately also the era where television was considered the least reputable, and film preservation itself was in it's infancy. One thing that the TV-on-DVD boom has certainly made clear to the studeos is that these properties are extremely valuable now. I doubt the "trash it" problem will be persistent in the future.

Of course the exception are those rare and bizarre situations like the rats that ate part of the Babylon 5 masters. I certainly prefer watching TV-on-DVD, and in some cases will actively not watch shows on broadcast. If you think some of the syndication cuts are bad, try compairing the 45 minute versions of MI-5 to the 59 minute British versions on the DVDs. It's a wonder that show is even watchable with a 1/4th of it cut.

 

[Jeff Willis]

You're welcome!

I've been a 'regular' at Tvshowsondvd for about a year. Great site. Gord and Dave are tops in TV/DVD sites and this one (HTF-TV) is awesome. There are a lot of very knowledgable members here. I'm in the "minors" compared to the major-leaguers here Maybe some of these members will make an appearance at the All-Star Game this Tue

As for the 60s & 70s series, I can only hope that, when some of the ones that I've been waiting for are released, that they will be able to contain the original-uncut eps. From what I have in my collection, there's a good percentage that contain the uncut versions.

 

[Cees Alons]

They could? That's a strange phenomenon! People having NTSC sets aren't watching those DVDs at 50 frames/sec (2:2), aren't they?


Cees

 

[MatthewA]

Cees,

This is not on DVD. The affected shows are on American cable TV, and Warner Bros. TV provided the channel with NTSC tapes that were converted from PAL telecine tapes. These were film-based shows, shot at 24 fps.

 

[Cees Alons]

I see! Thanks.


Cees