Press Release Paramount Press Release: Bonanza: The Complete Series (DVD) (1 Viewer)

[Kevin Antonio (Kev)]

I hope bonanza ends up on bluray. And if it does I will simply sell my complete set, but a part of me thinks it will just end up on streaming instead. I hope they put the whole thing up unlike gunsmoke who's season 1-6 aren't included ( which makes no sense).

 

[Wiseguy]

Has anyone watched season 14 from the new sets yet? It always has bugged me that in syndication, they started with the theme song, followed by the cold open (opening scene) when I’m guessing it was in reverse as originally aired (like all the other seasons).

Why would they change it for reruns? Series change formats all the time. (The Wild Wild West pilot also had the theme first.) Was season 14 ever in syndication? Syndication Is programming sold to local stations not necessarily reruns. I thought season 14 was part of the "lost" episodes. These "cold opens" have been called teasers since the dawn of TV time. I first heard cold open in the mid-2000s referring to variety and talk shows not fiction. But the trend today is to rewrite history like spelling Hawaii Five-0 with the letter O or saying Quincy has eight seasons.

 

[LeoA]

That happened to Leave it to Beaver that Shout Factory put out. The transfers given to them from the network had the teaser misplaced, playing after the introduction.

I believe that the Universal set that used older tape transfers had the teasers correctly placed, if I recall old forum posts correctly (I only have the Shout Factory release).

So it does happen, although I don't know how it could get mixed up. Same reason I guess why introductions get so messed up on classic shows.

For instance in those late seasons of Petticoat Junction with June Lockhart in syndication, you'll occasionally get an introduction that still has Bea Benaderet. Then the next episode will have the correct opening with June Lockhart. But then the following episode will again have an incorrect introduction with the "It is run by Joe, come and be his guest" version of the intro from after Bea Benaderet passed but before June Lockhart joined the cast.

No rhyme or reason explains it, it's just mixed up from a lack of care and attention by Worldvision when they did the syndication transfers. Same reason I'm sure how the teasers got misplaced on Bonanza as well as Leave it to Beaver.

 

[ScottRE]

Series opening/closing credits being changed for "reasons" is annoyingly common.

In the 80's Star Trek's first season was standardized so all but one episode has the same Fred Steiner arrangement, replacing the Alexander Courage electric violin theme (now there's debate as to how many episodes actually had that original theme). Even when the DVDs put the original version on 10 episodes (which was too many) they didn't fix the end credits.

Hawaii Five-0 has the wrong credit shot for James MacArthur for a few seasons.

Emergency! has the wrong opening theme audio for the last few seasons.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea incorrectly has the Jerry Goldsmith theme at the end of the second episode of the second season on DVD and one episode in the 4th season has the wrong theme over the correct credits.

Land of the Giants has the first season theme over the second season graphics in the first 5 episodes of the second season on DVD.

I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched famously have the wrong opening credits in most seasons.

And so on and so forth. For those same "reasons" Bonanza could have had the credits repositioned.

 

[Scott511]

However, on June 1st DeepDiscount will be having a 20% off sale on everything. The only catch is that by that time the prices might have changed. They could be higher, but then they might be lower. Shipping is free over $25 bucks AND if you sign up to receive texts via your mobile phone you can get an additional 10% off.

Sadly Deep Discount is not offering a 20% today (June 1st) they are offering a 10% if that helps anyone.

 

[disctrip]

Never cared for the show. It was always too "set-bound" My father used to watch it because it was only 1 of the 6 shows in Color at the time.

 

[sjbradford]

The distributor of Bewitched and Jeannie in the 1980s moved the theme song and episode credits before the cold open. That was clearly a deliberate choice, and they moved it back to how it was originally aired in the 1990s.

With Bonanza, I’m not old enough to remember that season when it originally aired. But it’s structured as if it’s supposed to have a cold open. There are no writer/ producer credits in that first scene (they run over the second scene). So it seems to me that it should be opening scene -> theme song/credits -> second scene with writer/producer/director credits. Just like the other seasons. If they had really changed format for the last season, then I’d think those writer/producer/director credits would appear over the first scene.

I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever seen a Leave it to Beaver episode with a cold open.

 

[LeoA]

I'm too lazy to go pop in some discs to double check, but I believe the cold open/teaser was only a season 1 thing for Leave it to Beaver.

Edit: Here we go with an example thanks to the Roku Channel.

Roku

Roku provides the simplest way to stream entertainment to your TV. On your terms. With thousands of available channels to choose from.

therokuchannel.roku.com

It's of course misplaced, but those first 30 seconds or so with the father narrating after the introduction are supposed to be played before the introduction. But when Universal remastered it after the fire, it for some reason was relocated. The entire first season had teasers.

The skip introduction option that Roku has (as well as many other streaming services) makes me wonder if streaming influenced the rearrangement of season 1. While it was still early days for streaming when Leave it to Beaver's HD transfers were made, services like Hulu were available when the remastering of this series was undertaken.

I imagine though that it was just carelessness and lack of attention to detail rather than a deliberate choice to rearrange it.

 

[bmasters9]

I'm too lazy to go pop in some discs to double check, but I believe the cold open/teaser was only a season 1 thing for Leave it to Beaver.

Speaking of which, do you have it in Shout!'s all-in-one, or in the original Universal seasonals (doubles)?

 

[LeoA]

Speaking of which, do you have it in Shout!'s all-in-one, or in the original Universal seasonals (doubles)?

I have the Shout Factory complete series set.

Alas though, I didn't buy it right away and when I did I discovered that it was a cost reduced version without the 7th case that had all of the bonus content (Which I've since realized is typical Shout Factory practice with their reissued complete series sets that I've acquired new since picking up Leave it to Beaver).

It's still a great set that I treasure, but there was some legitimately interesting sounding bonus material in the original iteration of SF's complete series set.

 

[bmasters9]

Alas though, I didn't buy it right away and when I did I discovered that it was a cost reduced version without the 7th case that had all of the bonus content.

Same with me and Hill Street Blues-- the version of Shout!'s all-in-one of that NBC police procedural serial that I got from Walmart a time back is the budget version that didn't have all the rest of the bonuses that the original had (only the first- and second-season selected commentaries are on this one).

 

[ponset]

 

[MarkA]

View attachment 186730

View attachment 186731

The top ad makes it look like it reads Don Blocker and not Dan!

 

[bmasters9]

Thought you might like this-- a 1982 ad for Bonanza restaurants, from the Friday, December 31, 1982 Denver Post, page 23 of the Weekend section...

 

[Neil Brock]

Here Come the Brides DVD has the two seasons opening credits juxtaposed. Vocal theme was originally on season one, instrumental on two.

 

[RBailey]

Deleted .

 

[ponset]

The Cartrocks meet The Flintstones during the 5th season.

 

[timk1041]

The Cartrocks meet The Flintstones during the 5th season.

View attachment 187558

Hey! It's The Cartrocks!

 

[Wiseguy]

The top ad makes it look like it reads Don Blocker and not Dan!

When Dan Blocker appeared on a Three Stooges short (Outer Space Jitters) he was credited as Don Blocker.

 

[Wiseguy]

The distributor of Bewitched and Jeannie in the 1980s moved the theme song and episode credits before the cold open. That was clearly a deliberate choice, and they moved it back to how it was originally aired in the 1990s.

With Bonanza, I’m not old enough to remember that season when it originally aired. But it’s structured as if it’s supposed to have a cold open. There are no writer/ producer credits in that first scene (they run over the second scene). So it seems to me that it should be opening scene -> theme song/credits -> second scene with writer/producer/director credits. Just like the other seasons. If they had really changed format for the last season, then I’d think those writer/producer/director credits would appear over the first scene.

I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever seen a Leave it to Beaver episode with a cold open.

Teasers don't usually have credits regardless of when it appears. In the first six seasons Ironside began with the theme music, then a credit-less teaser and then act 1 with the title and credits. I see no reason to suspect that the Bonanza openings were changed.