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Married with Children S3 Won't Have "Love & Marriage" Theme Song! (Rights Issues) (1 Viewer)

Malcolm R

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They could always just re-record the theme with a sound-alike, then they'd pay just the standard royalty rate to the song writers rather than a licensing fee to get the original.

Is that what they're doing?
 

James Landau

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Coming soon, I'm sure. I believe they're currently negotiating with a banjo playing chimpanzee for the rights to some replacement music. :D
 

Dorrie_W

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I think it is good that they are proceeding with releasing the season set. I personally wouldn't buy Married With Children because it comes on TV everyday and I dont watch it but I have a friend who loves that show and is anxiously awaiting the show.

I mean it doesn't really seem like the whole experience without the theme song, but hey, I guess fans cant get everything.
 

DougWright

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I loved Married With Children when it aired. I have not bought season 1 or 2, but I may buy 3 just to support the studio for not giving in to the greed and still releasing the season. I am 100 % tired of hearing about music rights issues on DVD releases.

I think if they had the right to air it on TV they should have the right to put it on DVD, but I am notoriously naive ;)

Sometimes music has to be changed on a DVD where the music was chosen specifically for a scene and there is no way to replace it easily. Could you imagine
Apocalypse Now with out "The End"?
 

Chris Bergmann

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I'm not going to buy it because of this.

It's one of the most iconic opening themes and I'd rather not have the show at all than have it with some generic opening music.

I hope that enough people think the same way to make Columbia Tristar understand that something like this is not acceptable.

If the sales don't drop considerably then Columbia Tristar and other studios probably won't even bother trying to get the original music for future boxsets - so by buying this you're actually hurting future releases of other shows.
 

Ryan Wishton

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I can understand both sides here.

Rights holders want their money. But, if they are demanding a ridiculous amount and the studio pays it, guess what happens? When Season 4 comes out they demand even more and so on. They end up holding the studio hostage with huge fees so to speak which drives up the prices severely and then hurts us.

The truth is, no matter which way they go, you end up hurting the customer in some way. It's just a fact. It's no theme song or a $60+ price tag which would hurt some sales.

What I dont understand is how can the songs of these shows play on tv and be on every other previous release, but when it comes to DVD, you are expected to pay for the rights all over again?

I just dont get it.

As for the set, it will be disappointing to not have the theme song just because it's the theme song and is iconic. I hope this doesnt become a studio trend like Chris says to just avoid paying anything. But, at the same time Season 3 is a favorite of mine and as long as the episodes themselves dont end up severely altered, I would be lying it I said I wouldnt buy it.

I love the season and I would be missing out on enjoying myself by not buying it. In other words punishing myself for something I didnt even do. So, you also have to understand many fans dont want to miss out on enjoyment. It's why we buy to begin with.

But, I can completely understand both sides and both make some good points.

Too bad they cant seem to agree on something and come to a reasonable resolution that would satisfy everyone or most everyone. Then, you could say that just about everything.
 

Christian Preischl

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Now that they're saving a bundle by not paying for the title song anymore, does that mean that season 3 will get cheaper?

No?

Didn't think so. ;)

Chris
 

Ryan Wishton

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Christian,

You make a good point. Though I never thought the series was overpriced. I mean look at Star Trek.

How about a little price reduction? This might help ease the pain to some just a bit as well.

Or at least use the money you were going to use for the song and give us some good transfers and spread it over an extra disc so the episodes dont have to be very compressed.
 

WillG

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This falls under the "Choose your Battles" concept for me. Is it somewhat of a detrement that S3 will not have the "Love and Marriage" theme song? Yes. But it's better than not having the set at all. As long as the episodes themselves are uncut, then the omission of the theme song will not will not reduce my enjoyment of the set one bit.

As much as Columbia pisses me off for other reasons. I think it is good that they are choosing not to let the publishers of the song hold the set hostage. As long as the disclosure is there on the package, the loss of the theme song is a minor issue.
 

Steve...O

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I'm not a big MWC fan so my comments are as an observer...

Columbia should be applauded for being willing to work around this hurdle to provide this series to its fans and they should be doubly applauded for providing a full discloure upfront to consumers.

I believe this is a case of a studio trying to do the right thing to satisy their fans and going out of its way to make it work. If they made the change and didn't tell anyone upfront, they would deserve criticism, but they've provided plenty of notice of the change.

If one really needs to hear the song to enjoy the show, just buy one of the 100 or so Frankie CDs that contain it and you can hear the entire version as often as you'd like. Just make sure to get the Capitol version; he re-recorded it for Reprise using a different arrangement.

Steve
 

Randy_Cre

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Feb 7, 2004
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A question and a comment...

Does this mean that Columbia had to secure the rights individually for each season release? Or that Columbia released seasons 1 and 2 without having the rights to use the song?

I don't fault Columbia if the music rights holder was asking for some outrageous price. ... But personally, I now have no interest in buying season 3. At some point, I think for everyone there comes a threshold when they draw a personal line what is "better than nothing at all" and "this isn't worth it". For me, I think I'd rather try and find a copies from someone who recorded the original showings than pay for less than I want in this instance.
 

John McM

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I am not a MWC fan, so I won't buy it regardless.

But if it's a show I love, I'd be disapointed, but I'd still buy it. I bought Roswell and Popular knowing some of the music was replaced. I would've rather liked to have had the original music, but as a fan of the show, it's the content of the program, the fact it's uncut and that I like it, that sells it to me, not that the theme song isn't the one I want.

If you love MWC, you're getting the uncut episodes in the best quality you can, yes the theme song is very popular, but it's the content of the episodes that should sell you the show or not.
 

Andrew Radke

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John hit the nail right on the head with his last comment. As I said earlier, sure it's a disappointment that the theme song won't be included in the season 3 set, but I'm buying it for the episodes themselves. As long as they themselves are unedited, then that's good enough for me. I always end up fast forwarding the intros when I watch seasons 1 & 2 anyway, so this really isn't a huge deal to me.

Also, despite Columbia/Tri-Star's track record, I have to commend them as well for bringing this news forward well in advance. They've made it clear that they tried to acquire the music rights, and failed. However, they're still determined to get this set out to the fans. And for that, I'm grateful. I generally don't purchase sets of shows that are altered, (i.e. "Alf"), but I'm going to make MWC an exception to the rule.
 

Randy A Salas

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The rub is that if this release sells well--or, at least, no differently than the previous seasons--CTHE will have little incentive to continue paying music rights for other releases.
 

Charlie O.

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If this set does well could it set a trend. Companies may be like "hey, we don't need the music, it still sells".
 

Casey Trowbridg

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I'm sure this is something we would have to guard against, but again I'm sure that Columbia would've rather had the theme song included because this will cost them at least a few purchases. Whether it will start a trend if it still does the same business...well, we'll just have to see what happens. I'm personally prepared to buy season 3 this way and would not be surprised if all future seasons are like this, but if this starts to become more of a problem for other older TV shows, and I think that Columbia is just avoiding the rights payments altogether well that's a different can of worms entirely.
 

PaulP

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It's strange reading that so many people just skip through the opennings. I always watch the main and end titles to all the episodes of all my TV shows, no matter how many times. I'm anal like that...
 

Joseph S

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I'm not buying the set and I'm not buying the excuse.

CTS' record speaks for itself and I don't trust any press release put out through CTS, Warner, or Lions Gate. I have found the source mentioned has broken its spine bending over backwards to kiss up to the above mentioned studios. Hopefully, David Lambert will form his own site in the future. Until then I'm buying based on actual reviews and information. Not securing the rights for your theme song is inexcusable.
 

Scott_J

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I don't find the "the music change will be noted on the packaging" argument as acceptable for not using the theme. What about people who buy their DVDs at Amazon? They won't know because Amazon (and other e-tailers) don't have pictures of the back of the box, and I assume it won't be on the front of the box. So that isn't as great of a thing as some of you are making it out to be. Columbia should make sure e-tailers list that information in their listing for the set. Until Columbia does that, I don't believe they're looking out for the consumer. Besides, most of the time when the changed music mention is made on the back of the box, it's in fine print near the bottom where the average consumer doesn't look. They're only doing that to make themselves look good, but I don't buy it.

And Joseph, I agree with your post. I've noticed that as well lately. News is news, and editorials belong in a separate section apart from the "news," but in their defense the site in question isn't the only one that does that - many DVD sites are guilty of that. But some are worse than others. ;)
 

David Lambert

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My biggest criticism of Columbia in this situation, beyond the understandable disappointment in the music change, is that Columbia will probably dress it up with wording like "Contains Exciting New Theme Music!", which will confuse the average purchaser and hide the actual fact to them that they are the ones ultimately getting screwed in this deal.
 

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