It Takes a Thief (1 Viewer)

[DeWilson]

Originally Posted by Neil Brock

It would be great if Madman would put out some of the Universal shows that are unlikely to see a U.S. release. Things like Name of the Game, Bold Ones, Run For Your Life, Owen Marshall, Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre, etc.

Well, I guess that would depend on if those shows ever aired down under and if there's another interest to release them.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by Neil Brock

Well, I guess that would depend on if those shows ever aired down under and if there's another interest to release them.

I know Cliff Hangers!, at least aired there in 1980 or 1981. My "off-air" recording of the final episode (which wasn't shown on NBC) comes from the 1980-81 airing on Australian TV.

 

[smithb]

To anyone that has been watching this on RTN over the years, I just decided to start DVR'ing it this past weekend based on fond memories of it from my youth. It turns out (without knowing it) I ended up beginning at season 1, episode 2 "It Takes One to Know One". From posts it looks like it has been playing on RTN for a few years now. Hopefully, it will continue for at least one more complete run.


My question is, does RTN show the (pilot) season 1 episode 1 "A Thief is a Thief"? I know sometimes networks are reluctant to show the starting episode when they are going to continue cycling through a series. Just curious so I'll know if I will catch it the next time around or should seek an alternate source.


Also, is the TV movie version "Magnificent Thief" significantly better with the additional 24 minutes added?

 

[Tory]

I think I saw it when RTN first came to my then location. Unfortunately, that RTN has pretty much scrapped away all of the classic programming and mostly show Judge shows now. You can't always trust the ads on that station, they say a classic is coming on and a Judge show comes on or maybe a more recently made series. Not all RTNs are the same. Perhaps ratings were bad but what did they expect? Rather than tell anyone it was there with ads on its parent station or bill boards or newspaper ads, they just quietly became it for two to five weeks then switched back to pretty much the same format they had before they became it but keeping the name RTN. Most of their ads were for NBC programing, the local affiliate's parent station, it should have been that local NBC and their press pushing it like they do with their all news stations or all weather station. This saddens me, so much potential here and local markets are not even trying to garner interest.

 

[Neil Brock]

Originally Posted by smithb

To anyone that has been watching this on RTN over the years, I just decided to start DVR'ing it this past weekend based on fond memories of it from my youth. It turns out (without knowing it) I ended up beginning at season 1, episode 2 "It Takes One to Know One". From posts it looks like it has been playing on RTN for a few years now. Hopefully, it will continue for at least one more complete run.


My question is, does RTN show the (pilot) season 1 episode 1 "A Thief is a Thief"? I know sometimes networks are reluctant to show the starting episode when they are going to continue cycling through a series. Just curious so I'll know if I will catch it the next time around or should seek an alternate source.


Also, is the TV movie version "Magnificent Thief" significantly better with the additional 24 minutes added?

If you are expecting RTN to run a series complete and in chronological order, good luck. Their program schedule seems to be whatever tape gets pulled off the shelf gets aired, meaning the amount of duplication is enormous. I've had a friend recording some shows for me off RTN for almost 2 years and I have some episodes of shows that I've gotten 10 copies of. They have no rhyme or reason to what they air.

 

[smithb]

Originally Posted by Neil Brock
If you are expecting RTN to run a series complete and in chronological order, good luck. Their program schedule seems to be whatever tape gets pulled off the shelf gets aired, meaning the amount of duplication is enormous. I've had a friend recording some shows for me off RTN for almost 2 years and I have some episodes of shows that I've gotten 10 copies of. They have no rhyme or reason to what they air.

I guess it is more likely a coincidence that I started on episodes 2 and 3 more then anything else. That may also explain why they have no synopsis of the episode to be played on any given day, just a generic paragraph about the show. With no help from the network (no synopsis or logical ordering), at least "It Takes a Thief" has the episode title within the show itself.

 

[cajunhillbilly]

any more news on the Madman release?

 

[Albert_M]

RTN plays the episodes in somewhat order, but messy, and they tend to skip episodes. It took me a long time (multiple run throughs) to get almost all of the episodes - some were skipped for several cycles. Now, it appears that they don't air it on weeknights and instead show the A-Team, though the weekend afternoon broadcasts I think are intact.


They have never aired the pilot and I noticed that when the series was on Hulu, it never had the pilot either. I don't know what happened to it, but I did find parts of it online to watch, but annoyed that I couldn't catch it on RTN.

 

[mark-edk]

It took me, I think, three full runs on RTN before I had all the episodes. There were a few they kept skipping but eventually they turned up. Quality is only so-so of course. They never did play the pilot, but the movie version ('Magnificent Thief') can be found on VHS.

 

[Guy Foulard]

More information and a review of the German DVD set here.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

German review here with several screenshots. http://www.dvd-forum.at/34687/dvd_review_detail.htm

 

[Nelson Au]

Hopefully the DVD set will do well enough in Germany to convince Universal to release a set in the US.

 

[Steve...O]

Those screenshots look miles and miles better than anything I've seen on RTN. Unfortunately I don't Universal releasing on their own. Did their prints go up in the fire?

 

[Bob Gu]

I bought German release. They looked nice, a lot better than the few episodes I have on tape, and were fun to watch.

 

What I wanted to write about was the pilot episode. There are two different cuts of the pilot on this set.
 

The first version is German only, and uses the second season opening in German and has end credits from the Bill Bixby episode. (All the regular episodes have the proper first season opening and proper end credits.) It's about 62 minutes long.

 

The second version is in English with German subtitles. It uses the opening credits from the Magnificent Thief feature version of the pilot and end credits that match the other S-1 end credits with the right cast members. This version is about 65 minutes.
 

Different scenes from the 98 minute feature version are cut or left in on these two versions. The German only version actually tells the story better. In the English version the whole section where Mundy and Senta Berger find out where they have to go, to find what they looking for, is cut out. So how did they get there? Also, at some point the bad guys start following Senta Berger, only the scenes where they definitely find out she's an agent are not in this version, so why are they following her?

 

What's cut from both of these shorter versions is a long sequence of Mundy and Senta Berger searching "Sports Expo '68". Actually, Robert Wagner and Senta Berger walking around the actual Expo '67 in Montreal, intercut with studio interiors and stock sports shots.
 

So the question for any TV Guide collectors reading this is what version of the pilot appeared on ABC-TV as Al Mundy's debut? The 62,65, or 98 minute version? Or was there another version? And was it called, "It Takes A Thief" or "The Magnificent Thief"?

 

[Neil Brock]

Originally Posted by Bob Gu


So the question for any TV Guide collectors reading this is what version of the pilot appeared on ABC-TV as Al Mundy's debut? The 62,65, or 98 minute version? Or was there another version? And was it called, "It Takes A Thief" or "The Magnificent Thief"?

It's a long time ago, but my memory tells me that the premiere ran in a 90 minute time slot as It Takes a Thief and so that would make the aired running time around 75 minutes or so.

 

[Mr. Pacino]

Season 2.1 will be released in Germany on November 26th !!!

 

[Bob Gu]

Wow! That's fast, Season 2.1 already! I am seeing, on Amazon.de and other German sites, Oct 29th as the release date for Staffel 2.1. Could Nov 26th be the release date for Staffel 2.2? It's great that "It Takes a Thief" is being fast-tracked.

 

Thanks, to Neil/Danny for his answer about the original broadcast pilot, I should have remembered. The two odd length versions of the pilot on the S1.1 release have me puzzled.

 

(Maybe the 75 minute pilot will show up on the Season 3 releases, since there are 24 S3 episodes vs 26 for Season 2.)

 

[Neil Brock]

When it comes to pilot versions of shows, there could be multiple running times. For instance, I have 5 versions of the Man From UNCLE pilot. The aired, black and white version. A color version, which aired in syndication in the 80's, using 2nd season opening credits and making the closing credits sepia toned. The movie version, To Trap a Spy. The original Solo pilot in black and white. And the color version of the Solo pilot, which is on the box set.

 

[Mr. Pacino]

Originally Posted by Bob Gu

Wow! That's fast, Season 2.1 already! I am seeing, on Amazon.de and other German sites, Oct 29th as the release date for Staffel 2.1. Could Nov 26th be the release date for Staffel 2.2? It's great that "It Takes a Thief" is being fast-tracked.

 

Thanks, to Neil/Danny for his answer about the original broadcast pilot, I should have remembered. The two odd length versions of the pilot on the S1.1 release have me puzzled.

 

(Maybe the 75 minute pilot will show up on the Season 3 releases, since there are 24 S3 episodes vs 26 for Season 2.)

The October announcement from Amazon is wrong. Someone in a German forum said it´ll be released on November 26th. He is a reliable source because he knows the people from Polyland and they told him the November date!
 

 

[cajunhillbilly]

I am still waiting for word of the set from Madman in Australia.