Our Miss Brooks on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Jay_Z_525]

I may just give in and try it. I’m not expecting realism. I’m hoping to laugh a few times at wisecracks and to generally watch with an amused grin on my face for 22 minutes or so. If the show can clear that bar I’ll be happy.

If that’s what you’re looking for, go for it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I’ve gotten a few good laughs from it so far and I just finished the first 19 episodes.

I do wish these were full season sets and not broken down into two, expensive for what they are, sets but such are CBS’ MOD releases. Next I’m hoping for December Bride to get a release but I’m not holding my breath.

 

[GMBurns]

I’ve heard exactly two episodes of the radio show and enjoyed it, but that also means I’m not familiar enough with it where I’d worry that it would prevent me from liking the TV version.

I may just give in and try it. I’m not expecting realism. I’m hoping to laugh a few times at wisecracks and to generally watch with an amused grin on my face for 22 minutes or so. If the show can clear that bar I’ll be happy.

Josh, I'd say give it a whirl. I never heard the radio show and have found the series quite enjoyable in appropriate doses.

The only comparable experience I've had is with Gunsmoke. I loved the tv series but had never heard the radio version. Being a big William Conrad fan I bought the radio series on mp3 a few years ago. I absolutely love it. Conrad's powerful voice works perfectly. And even though many of the episodes were ported directly into the tv series, the two actors are so different I can enjoy both versions for different reasons. From what I've heard they didn't invite Bill Conrad to do the tv series because they thought fans might be disappointed in his appearance after hearing that voice. The tall laconic Matt Dillon does work better on tv.

So I can appreciate how seeing Richard Crenna on the tv series might be a bit jarring after you had been envisioning him a certain way when you only heard his voice. But without those comparisons I don't find his character problematic at all. Anyway, half the fun of the series is watching Eve Arden's facial reactions. The show is not very realistic (I haven't yet seen Miss Brooks in a classroom!) but I think you will get your 22 minutes of bemusement.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Two things:

Actually, "Our Miss Brooks" wasn't a Desilu production. It was the first show after "I Love Lucy" to be filmed there using the Desilu crew, but it was actually a CBS production.

And, GMBurns said he hasn't yet seen Miss Brooks in a classroom. And he never will. I read years ago in an interview with Eve Arden that she said she only agreed to do the show when she said she didn't want any scenes requiring her to show Miss Brooks actually teaching. She said that's something she couldn't do in a million years.

She never graduated high school (Lucille Ball never even graduated grammar school, by the way), and I guess that made her insecure about portraying a teacher, who would have to have a college degree. Of course, this doesn't speak well of Eve Arden's abilities as an actress. But let's face it, she was rather one-note throughout her whole career.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

Two things:

Actually, "Our Miss Brooks" wasn't a Desilu production. It was the first show after "I Love Lucy" to be filmed there using the Desilu crew, but it was actually a CBS production.

You're right. I double checked the credits because I thought my eyes might be deceiving me, and it says, Filmed by Desilu Productions, and then the next "title card" says, This has been a CBS production. I knew Desilu was credited somehow.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

So I went ahead and ordered Volume 1, which came today. Unfortunately, inside the case were discs for Volume 2, and I’m having a tough time with Amazon - they won’t do an exchange because they’re saying all items would have this defect (they won’t, someone just pressed the wrong selection on the MOD machine) and then won’t refund me on the wrong set because the case says Volume 1 which is what my order said. I’m sure this will get solved eventually but I have a feeling it won’t be today!

 

[Jay_Z_525]

So I went ahead and ordered Volume 1, which came today. Unfortunately, inside the case were discs for Volume 2, and I’m having a tough time with Amazon - they won’t do an exchange because they’re saying all items would have this defect (they won’t, someone just pressed the wrong selection on the MOD machine) and then won’t refund me on the wrong set because the case says Volume 1 which is what my order said. I’m sure this will get solved eventually but I have a feeling it won’t be today!

Oh that sucks- sorry to hear that. I don’t think you’d be missing out on anything if you watched those while you waited for it to be squared away. In my experience, Amazon is usually pretty good with fixes so hopefully it’s a quick resolution.

 

[Arthur Powell]

So I went ahead and ordered Volume 1, which came today. Unfortunately, inside the case were discs for Volume 2, and I’m having a tough time with Amazon - they won’t do an exchange because they’re saying all items would have this defect (they won’t, someone just pressed the wrong selection on the MOD machine) and then won’t refund me on the wrong set because the case says Volume 1 which is what my order said. I’m sure this will get solved eventually but I have a feeling it won’t be today!

Oh oh. After reading your post, I immediately went to my copies. Volume 1, which I have been going through slowly, has the correct discs. However, up until a few minutes ago, I hadn't bothered to take off the shrink wrap on Volume 2. So, what did I find? Disc 3 for volume 2 but discs one and two for volume one! This is just sloppy on Amazon's part. Since it has been more than thirty days though since I have made the purchase and accepted the delivery, I think that I'm screwed. As much as I hate to do it, I may just re-order volume 2 but I'll hold off a day or two. Keep us up to date, Josh. You'd think that just telling them that the set has the wrong discs would suffice.

The lessons to learn from my error:
1. At least take the shrink wrap off and inspect the discs upon delivery.
2. Don't trust the Amazon/CBS MOD workers. Given the higher prices we're paying for these sets, this is frankly inexcusable.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’d still check in with Amazon - they tend to have longer return windows during the holiday season. If push came to shove, I don’t think there’d be anything wrong with ordering a new copy, and then initiating a return on the new copy but sending back your older defective set.

I’m guessing that on whatever computer or machine they use to print out the discs, that the file names for each one must be so ridiculously similar as to make it confusing for anyone who isn’t actually familiar with the release but just trying to fulfill an offer off a list.

 

[Flashgear]

So I went ahead and ordered Volume 1, which came today. Unfortunately, inside the case were discs for Volume 2, and I’m having a tough time with Amazon - they won’t do an exchange because they’re saying all items would have this defect (they won’t, someone just pressed the wrong selection on the MOD machine) and then won’t refund me on the wrong set because the case says Volume 1 which is what my order said. I’m sure this will get solved eventually but I have a feeling it won’t be today!

Oh oh. After reading your post, I immediately went to my copies. Volume 1, which I have been going through slowly, has the correct discs. However, up until a few minutes ago, I hadn't bothered to take off the shrink wrap on Volume 2. So, what did I find? Disc 3 for volume 2 but discs one and two for volume one! This is just sloppy on Amazon's part. Since it has been more than thirty days though since I have made the purchase and accepted the delivery, I think that I'm screwed. As much as I hate to do it, I may just re-order volume 2 but I'll hold off a day or two. Keep us up to date, Josh. You'd think that just telling them that the set has the wrong discs would suffice.

The lessons to learn from my error:
1. At least take the shrink wrap off and inspect the discs upon delivery.
2. Don't trust the Amazon/CBS MOD workers. Given the higher prices we're paying for these sets, this is frankly inexcusable.

Sorry to hear of both of your troubling Amazon/CBS MOD screw-ups...it is inexcusable. And it's happened before to me as well, even years ago, with the order of the Amazon produced Warner Archive's The FBI season 2, which actually included a stray disc for THE FBI season 5 among the 7 discs in that two volume set. And I also had a strange problem with WAC's season 2 of Cheyenne...nothing wrong with the discs after all...that is, after I cleaned what appeared to be cookie residue from someone's lunch out of the case!

I haven't got the new Amazon produced CBS MOD of Our Miss Brooks as yet, but my recent purchase of Ben Casey has been problem free. My Warner Archive TV collection is about one third Amazon produced MOD sets, and the rest are pressed sets I purchased from other dealers who got stock from Warner's when they were still doing pressed runs of newly released series. The more recent Warner Archive vintage TV releases of Man Called Shenandoah, Mr. Novak and Bronk have all been released only as burned MOD, whether you got them from Warners directly or Amazon...I prefer to get pressed discs at these prices, but really have no preference of burned over pressed, as I have had playability issues with both...but Amazon needs to exercise some quality control and fire some asses out the door, obviously!

 

[Arthur Powell]

I’d still check in with Amazon - they tend to have longer return windows during the holiday season. If push came to shove, I don’t think there’d be anything wrong with ordering a new copy, and then initiating a return on the new copy but sending back your older defective set.

I’m guessing that on whatever computer or machine they use to print out the discs, that the file names for each one must be so ridiculously similar as to make it confusing for anyone who isn’t actually familiar with the release but just trying to fulfill an offer off a list.

Thanks. I almost wish that my Volume 2 would have had all Volume 1 discs so we could have just swapped the discs ourselves!
I know what I said in my previous post, but I went ahead and ordered Volume 2 again. Since OMB is a favorite of mine, I can justify it. As for the "defective" copy, I have a few elderly relatives that wouldn't mind having it so it will have a good home. I will say this - once my new copy arrives the shrink wrap will immediately come off. If I encounter the same issue, I will be well within the thirty day window and this time I will raise cain with Amazon!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’ve gotten in the habit of opening stuff right away even if I know I’m not watching it just so that I can try to avoid those problems before the return window ends.

My second crack at customer service went better, they’re sending out a new copy and asking me to return the old one within 30 days, which is doable. Seems like a waste of effort for MOD discs that probably cost twenty five cents each to make, but it’s not my business

This isn’t helped by Amazon not having a customer service department just for their MOD items. I feel like if I could have gotten this in front of someone who knew how these products work, that they could be more efficient and just burn a new set of discs to mail out, but whatever. Hopefully it’s the right batch of episodes this time!

 

[Flashgear]

I should add this...obviously, it can take a lot longer to actually watch a multi-disc set than Amazon's return window would accommodate, so you have to play and view, at least a spot check, your Amazon produced MOD discs, and not go by what the printed label on the discs indicates...my season 2 FBI disc that caused my problem with the resulting return was labeled properly for that set, but contained digital episode files from a season 5 disc of FBI...I did receive a good replacement set. That issue was astounding for me, but I was far less perturbed by this than the act of finding someone's unidentifiable food item smeared inside the case of my Cheyenne season 2 purchase...I probably should have just turned around and returned it, but as I am in Canada and returns to Amazon in the States are more problematic, I proceeded to clean the case and discs, which I was pleased to find were completely playable and in good order. I hope you guys have satisfactory conclusions...my own experience with Amazon Canada customer care has been excellent.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I actually did have that thought that maybe it was just the wrong label, so I put each disc into my computer to double check - they all show Vol. 2 menus and the disc names as read by the computer all indicate V2 as well - but that was my first thought as well, that maybe it was just a printing error. I wouldn’t have bothered returning over that.

 

[Jay_Z_525]

Glad to see this is all getting worked out.

I haven’t watched disc two and three of the second set yet, and I’m too lazy to do it tonight, but tomorrow I’ll double check that they are what they’re supposed to be.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

New set is supposed to arrive on Friday - now taking bets for what will actually be in it!

 

[Arthur Powell]

I actually did have that thought that maybe it was just the wrong label, so I put each disc into my computer to double check - they all show Vol. 2 menus and the disc names as read by the computer all indicate V2 as well - but that was my first thought as well, that maybe it was just a printing error. I wouldn’t have bothered returning over that.

There is one review on Amazon where someone mentioned the discs being mislabeled. Since the reviewer didn't go into any more detail, that gave me a glimmer of hope that I had the right discs. Unfortunately, my check of the discs revealed that not to be the case. That reviewer may be in for a rude awakening sooner or later.

Ironically, this is the second time this has happened to me. The first time was with the WAC DVD-r of the Al Jolson film "The Singing Fool." The artwork on the case and disc was correct, but the movie was "The Hard Way" from 1943! Since the cast of the latter film looked pretty good (Ida Lupino, Jack Carson, Joan Leslie, and Dennis Morgan), I went ahead and kept it and ordered another copy of the Jolson film (which was correct the second time around).

 

[Arthur Powell]

New set is supposed to arrive on Friday - now taking bets for what will actually be in it!

I have already been charged so I imagine my new Volume 2 will be in my hands either later this week or early next. Actually, since I already have one disc of Vol 2, I wouldn't complain if I only got the other two I need with this one! LOL

 

[Josh Steinberg]

If worse comes to worst, you and I can probably put our various orders together and cobble together a complete set to trade back and forth

 

[Kasey]

There is one review on Amazon where someone mentioned the discs being mislabeled. Since the reviewer didn't go into any more detail, that gave me a glimmer of hope that I had the right discs. Unfortunately, my check of the discs revealed that not to be the case. That reviewer may be in for a rude awakening sooner or later.

I'm the one who got the mislabeled discs. I've watched both sets and luckily, there were no issues with the content itself.

 

[Arthur Powell]

The Amazon delivery man just came by with my new copy of Volume 2. The results are...... drum roll please .......... ALL VOLUME 1 DISCS! Sloppiness rules the day. At this point, I haven't yet confirmed the actual content of the discs and won't be able to do that until tonight. Honestly, I'm not holding out much hope that they're just merely mislabeled. I will say that I think Amazon just needs to discard whatever stock it has on hand since you have to assume that so much of it - perhaps even the bulk of it - is compromised.

Does Arthur have the right episodes?
Will he need to initiate a return with Amazon?
Tune in tomorrow! Same Bat-time! Same Bat-channel.