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JEFFERSONS season 3 /ALL IN THE FAMILY season 4 both April 12.[art for both] (1 Viewer)

David Von Pein

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Anybody else notice....................

.....The unbelievable foul language uttered by Archie in the Season-Four debut episode of "All In The Family".

At about the 7:45 mark on the DVD, Archie screams "God-dammit!" at the top of his lungs (while, as per usual, arguing with Meathead/Mike). Now there's NO WAY that got past the CBS censors, circa 1973 (when this was originally aired). "G.D." still, today, is one of the words that you can't say on TV, if I'm not mistaken. (At least it's very rarely heard at any rate; although, admittedly, I avoid "current" TV like the plague.)

No way that would be allowed in 1973. I'm guessing that line was cut out of syndicated prints; and probably was edited for its network airing. Can't imagine that blatant remark, plain as day on the DVD, slipping by the no-doubt critical censors that were watching every little possible off-color thing in this series.

Any thoughts?

I couldn't believe what I was hearing when Archie screamed "GD" on the DVD. But it's on there.
 

David Von Pein

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Oh no. It's plain as can be.

In fact, we KNOW it's "GD", because Archie and Edith in following scenes talk about the "GD" word Archie always says around the house. In those scenes, they use the letters only ("Gee Dee"), without actually uttering the word again.

In fact, Archie even "breaks down" the word into syllables for us in this same episode (per the Bible), claiming it's "right out of the Bible". :)
 

TravisR

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Was that before TV content was regulated by the FCC? Maybe the decision to 'let' Archie say that was in the hands of CBS and they decided that it was OK.

And you're right, you still can't say it on TV today.
 

David Von Pein

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I, myself, have no idea.
But I was certain that was one of the "Seven No-No Words" for TV usage. (Per George Carlin's comedy bit.) :)

I can recall in Season 1 of AITF (very first show), when Archie says "I ain't no Yit" -- remember how the studio audience literally gasped in disbelief at what they had just heard. (Apparently "Heeb", "Nigger", "Mick", and "Dago" were perfectly acceptable by that audience's standards -- but evidently that word "Yit" struck a negative chord of disbelief in the audience. But, of course, "Yit" was permitted on the final soundtrack.)

Re. the Season-Four "God-Dam***" remark --
Interestingly, via OTA airings of this ep., I can easily remember Mike's line just prior to this GD line of Archie's, when Mike tells Archie -- "Little by little, you eat my heart out!"

Archie follows with: "I don't care."

Then there's a "Watergate" debate resulting in the "GD" line. I'll bet the syndicated prints cut the scene off after Archie's "I don't care".

If someone has taped some TV-Land versions of the show, perhaps they can verify this theory.
 

DaveK

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Matthew...
Yes, for both tv shows, but the quality of All In The Family is horrible; The Jeffersons is much better.
 

Rob P S

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The syndicated prints always cut the whole GD exchange following Archie's "I dont care" but the TV Land prints leave it in. He also says it in "The Draft Dodger" but you can tell it is dubbed over.

Even the N-word is heard (used by George Jefferson) in a few episodes such as "Lionel's Engagement Party" and "Edith the Job Hunter".
 

David Von Pein

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Thanks Rob. Hard to imagine "GD" sneaking through to an actual aired version in '73. I'll bet some letters flowed in to CBS that week. (Assuming it WAS actually aired originally that way.)

And, yes, the "N" word is said quite often throughout the AITF seasons -- even Sammy Davis Jr. says it in his funny episode in S.2. .......

"If you were prejudiced, Archie, when I came into your house, you'd have called me a "coon" or a "nigger". But you didn't say that Archie. ... I heard you. Right straight out -- "Colored"."
 

DaveK

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I just sent my copy of All in the Family - Season 4 back to Amazon for a full refund.
:thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:
 

David Von Pein

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I guess the "GD" language of Archibald was just too much to bear, huh? :)

(Either that, or the miserable PQ, and constant, needless zooming-in of the image, resulting in cut-off craniums.)
 

Joe Karlosi

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Wait -- what's this about the zooming in??? I've bought the first three seasons and look forward to the new one. I've definitely noticed the video quality starting to wane, but what's this about zooming? Are you saying this is something that's been done by Columbia and was not present when the episodes actually aired???
 

Paul Miller

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I'm going to pick up Jeffersons Season 3 sooner or later. I really liked All in the Family the first couple of times I saw it, but because a lot of it was issue based, it is hard for me to watch more than a couple of episodes back to back without it losing its effect.

Paul
 

David Von Pein

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That's something I've yet to determine 100%.
But there are definitely a lot of "chopped-off heads" during many of the AITF eps. on the Columbia DVDs. Esp. in S.3.

Check the end credits too during many S.3 eps., just after the final scene ends. (Not the "scrolling" variety; I mean the static ones before the final scroll.) Note how "high up" the first name is. It's not "centered" on screen as it should be. This leads me to think there's a framing (zooming) issue with the DVDs that was not there originally.

Haven't you noticed the cut-off heads on the DVDs, Joe? As I said, it's particularly noticeable during season 3; but I think other years are somewhat affected as well.

If this IS the way the director (John Rich) intended these shots to look, with only half-heads presented -- then he must have been drinking a fifth of Jim Beam before directing each ep. -- because IMO it looks lousy.

And this is the same Emmy-winning John Rich who expertly directed many eps. of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" too. Never noticed any instances of chopped-off heads on those shows at all. All shots seem nicely-framed during that series.
 

Joe Karlosi

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I finally got Season 4 of ALL IN THE FAMILY. I've watched about 10 episodes already and I'm sorry, but it looks very nice to me. Certainly better than Season 3 looked. I just don't see what's so bad about the transfers, as they look better than they have on syndication, or as good - not any worse.

I remember being shocked by the atrocious and dupey look of some of the episodes on Season 3 (one of those had been a favorite episode called "Everybody Tells the Truth," where there are different stories as to what transpired the night the refrigerator broke). THAT one was horrid-looking.

But Season 4? Very sharp to me -- sharp enough for AITF's use of videotape, at any rate. Tape is never going to look as sterling as 35mm film.

I looked for the "tight framing," and I suppose if I was trying to come away with that idea, I could see it. But once I forgot about trying to analyze it, I didn't even notice - and if you really study the top of the picture you'll see that the camera moves all around, alternately having tops of heads in and out of frame at any given point, full heads at times and tops out of range at others. I would think this is how the shows were shot.

It's scary to read that at least one person here brought this season back for a refund! Have we really become THAT nitpicky? You'd rather not have the show at all? Other than not having a lot of extras, I think SEASON 4 is as good as you can get for AITF on DVD. I still enjoyed the episodes completely, occasionally saw footage that is unaired in syndication, and am looking forward to Season 5 !
 

DaveK

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It was a tough decision to make on whether I should send it back beause I really like this season, but I couldn't watch an episode in its entirety because the picture was so bad. Maybe you have a better copy, but I don't think it could be that much better considering the reviews of this DVD on websites like Amazon.
 

Joe Karlosi

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Believe me, I'm usually very fussy when it comes to my picture quality. But I was very pleasantly surprised (relieved) to see S4 looking so good. However, if it's any consolation to you, I was quite put off by many eps from S3. What can I say?

If you say you couldn't watch an episode in its entirety, something's got to be wrong there, IMO.

Regarding the negative reviews on other websites, when you take into account that something like only 1% of all total buyers of this product across the country probably bother posting, it doesn't mean that much. On the Amazon main page, it says the average rating for this title is 4 out of 5 stars...
 

DaveK

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Does anyone know if the overall picture quality is similar for the first three seasons?

I was thinking about purchasing them all after I purchased Season 4. Once I returned my DVD, I decided not to purchase any of the AITF DVDs.
 

Joe Karlosi

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If you're a fan of the show, all seasons are a must IMO. They're unedited and so forth. This is how the show has always looked, and it was always a gritty type of appearance even when it premiered in the '70s. I just don't know what people are looking for these days.
 

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