The Andy Griffith Show: Missing Scenes, Laugh Tracks, And Other Issues (1 Viewer)

[Gary16]

BBC America does that to seasons 3-7 of Star Trek TNG, which are unremastered and still the old videotapes from the 90s.

It looks horrible.

Do they also do credit and teaser crunches and all the other horrible things done to classic TV to get another 5 second commercial for enemas in?

MeTV runs full credits with no squeezes or voiceovers.

 

[bmasters9]

Yep, the original MSRP was $129, $75 on release from Amazon.

That was restored, remastered, reedited Star Trek TNG prices.

Same for I Love Lucy, which is why it died, too.

I'd wager the majority of people finally bought when the prices were at $30ish. But when at the same time, you had a restored Little House On The Prairie being released to Blu for $20 a season, people had to think CBS was crazy.

I thought Paramount was crazy to set prices of $100-$130 (I recall reading on some reviews that the MSRP was around $130) for the releases of Star Trek: Voyager. I mean, we're not talking the whole series here-- just one season's worth of it!

 

[LeoA]

I'll admit that the tlc that CBS invested into their Blu-Ray's was tremendous, but when you could buy on release day something like a season of The Dick Van Dyke Show with the same level of care and visual/audio quality for less than half of what CBS was asking for their releases, it was doomed to failure before the first set ever hit the shelves.

I wish they had tried something more sane like $80, which likely would translate to people paying around $40 at release. $40 is really the top price I'd say for a high end tv season release for non-Star Trek fans. Above that and it becomes a specialty item in what sadly is already a niche business.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Only Me-TV and sister station H&I reformat their image to a "mock" widescreen, which lops off a good portion of the top and bottom of the original image. The shows in their library which have been HD restored may look passable in this "fake" widescreen, but many of the shows which are still sourced from decades-old videotape transfers look absolutely abysmal, zooming in on an already blurry source doesn't do it any favors...

This zooming in on already not great looking videotape transfers has to be one of the worst trends going! I totally get that the stations are trying to cater to the crowd that just has to have their 16x9 screens filled, but SHEESH!!

I say if they MUST do this, at least confine it to decent looking transfers that will actually hold up to the zooming in/image cropping!

This of course, is one reason why it isn't always good to rely on non physical media alternatives, in seeing our favorite shows the way they were meant to be seen! I'd absolutely HATE viewing THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW in widescreen!

CHEERS!

 

[Gary16]

This zooming in on already not great looking videotape transfers has to be one of the worst trends going! I totally get that the stations are trying to cater to the crowd that just has to have their 16x9 screens filled, but SHEESH!!

I say if they MUST do this, at least confine it to decent looking transfers that will actually hold up to the zooming in/image cropping!

This of course, is one reason why it isn't always good to rely on non physical media alternatives, in seeing our favorite shows the way they were meant to be seen! I'd absolutely HATE viewing THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW in widescreen!

CHEERS!

While I'm not a fan of zooming or cropping, most of the MeTV zooms look ok -- even Andy and Barney.

 

[Tony Bensley]

While I'm not a fan of zooming or cropping, most of the MeTV zooms look ok -- even Andy and Barney.

At least TAGS has the benefit of decent transfers. I still believe that any decision to zoom in should be left up to the viewers at home, however! Just my opinion.

It must really suck for those who view these on the old CRT screens.

CHEERS!

 

[LeoA]

I usually watch MeTV on a nice 4:3 Sony Trinitron CRT and their letterboxing doesn't hurt the visual quality any like this practice does on widescreen displays. You lose the top and bottom of the frame, but in essence nothing is zoomed in under these circumstances like it is on a 16:9 display.

Since so much of what MeTV airs is either in my DVD collection or will be one of these days, I'm more bothered by Academy Ratio content on TCM. It's all 16:9 these days on that channel now that Spectrum is my cable provider.

That means that on my SD DVD/VHS recorder when I transfer something to DVD, it's all window framed with a border all around the screen instead of full-screen 4:3, despite my all 4:3 SD setup at that television.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

I think a lot of the stuff that airs "widescreen" on MeTV is actually formatted for a 14:9 ration rather than 16:9, so it's a sort of half-way compromise between 4:3 and 16:9. There are still black pillarboxes on the sides, but they're much skinnier.

Also, I'm not sure about TAGS, but I think on some of their other shows (like Wonder Woman), that they're using new masters sourced from HD and that they're not simply lopping off the top/bottom...I think they're opening up the frame (where possible) and in some cases, may be adjusting the cropping on a scene-by-scene basis, as the cropping doesn't generally look all that bad.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Yep, the original MSRP was $129, $75 on release from Amazon.
...I'd wager the majority of people finally bought when the prices were at $30ish.

I bit when it hit $18.03. Beautiful release, especially with option to watch with the in-show sponsor materials re-inserted. A pity there won't be any more!

Yes, I know we couldn't have expected future releases to be that cheap, but surely, $129rrp/$75 actual was overkill.

 

[Blimpoy06]

Beautiful release, especially with option to watch with the in-show sponsor materials re-inserted. A pity there won't be any more!

I was really looking forward to seeing the 2nd and 3rd years on blu. I prefer the sponsor spots as part of the episodes as they often tied in with the main story some way. Happened more in year three I believe.

 

[Tony Bensley]

I was really looking forward to seeing the 2nd and 3rd years on blu. I prefer the sponsor spots as part of the episodes as they often tied in with the main story some way. Happened more in year three I believe.

At one point, after I had found out about the release of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW Season 1 Blu-ray set, I had considered holding off purchasing any series sets, as we had just bought our first Blu-ray player, and I would have loved to get at least the Black & White seasons in that format. Well, at least I was able to get all of the Black & Whites in one DVD set.

Looking at it from the glass half full perspective, the 2nd and 3rd Season DVDs have sponsor spots for at least some of the episodes, albeit as separate Bonus Features, rather than attached to the actual episodes, themselves. That "The Darlings Are Coming" will most probably never see a high quality release in its complete form is indeed a shame, but it is great to see nearly all of the other episodes in complete form, any missing main story tie in sponsor spots, notwithstanding. At least TAGS fared far better than its GOMER PYLE, U.S.M.C. spinoff series, in terms of the overall episode completeness ratio on Home Video!

On the other hand, there is the unanswered discrepancy regarding the different sounding closings, at least on the Season 1 DVDs!

CHEERS!

 

[Blimpoy06]

On the other hand, there is the unanswered discrepancy regarding the different sounding closings, at least on the Season 1 DVDs!

I'm lost on what you mean by different sounding closings. Are you referring to the difference in the original and syndicated? Or a difference in in general? On a side note, have you ever seen the first syndicated titles when it was called Andy of Mayberry to differentiate from the network airings? I caught a few in the 80's that used that open.

 

[Tony Bensley]

I'm lost on what you mean by different sounding closings. Are you referring to the difference in the original and syndicated? Or a difference in in general? On a side note, have you ever seen the first syndicated titles when it was called Andy of Mayberry to differentiate from the network airings? I caught a few in the 80's that used that open.

I'm referring to the difference in the closings, sound wise. While some of the Season 1 episode closings as presented on the DVDs, have the same breezy sound as the Season 1 openings, some of the closings sound like the matches for the later Black & White Seasons.

Regarding the ANDY OF MAYBERRY opening, I just saw these for the first time on YouTube last night. I had heard of that title being used in syndication, but had never seen it before.

Regarding the closings, visually speaking, are the grey (Black & White Seasons) and blue (Color Seasons) backgrounds strictly the syndicated versions, or were these also used in the first run viewings interchangeably with the filmed closings of Andy & Opie leaving the 'Ol Fishin' Hole?

Come to think of it, this is pretty confusing. Perhaps in adding to that confusion, I do recall viewing the Color Season endings of Andy & Opie leaving the 'Ol Fishin' Hole, and these were from the syndicated reruns that I saw back in the '70s.

CHEERS!

 

[LeoA]

I think a lot of the stuff that airs "widescreen" on MeTV is actually formatted for a 14:9 ration rather than 16:9, so it's a sort of half-way compromise between 4:3 and 16:9. There are still black pillarboxes on the sides, but they're much skinnier.

Unless overscan has it hidden, I've never seen any pillarboxing on my Trinitron (And there's definitely none when I watch it in HD on a 16:9 display).

 

[Gary16]

Unless overscan has it hidden, I've never seen any pillarboxing on my Trinitron (And there's definitely none when I watch it in HD on a 16:9 display).

Quite a few shows have the pillar boxes on the 16:9 display. Perhaps your local station is stretching it further but they're definitely there (some shows do fill the whole 16:9).

 

[Richard Gallagher]

I bit when it hit $18.03. Beautiful release, especially with option to watch with the in-show sponsor materials re-inserted. A pity there won't be any more!

Yes, I know we couldn't have expected future releases to be that cheap, but surely, $129rrp/$75 actual was overkill.

It's now $24.91 at Amazon, which is a reasonable price.

 

[LouA]

It's now $24.91 at Amazon, which is a reasonable price.

Yes , very reasonable. It seems to me that CBS could put these out on Blu-ray for $50- $60 list price per season and still make money . And that goes for I Love Lucy too. Both shows have built-in audiences .

 

[TheLogoGuy94]

Only Me-TV and sister station H&I reformat their image to a "mock" widescreen, which lops off a good portion of the top and bottom of the original image. The shows in their library which have been HD restored may look passable in this "fake" widescreen, but many of the shows which are still sourced from decades-old videotape transfers look absolutely abysmal, zooming in on an already blurry source doesn't do it any favors...

Hate that fake widescreen MeTV and H&I has. That's what kinda drove me away from MeTV. I used to record MeTV all the time, but then they started doing hat, along with their schedule changes, I didn't watch for almost 5 months. Now I watch for "My Three Sons", but that's about it.

 

[Tony Bensley]

If I recall correctly, the widescreen aspect for some older TV shows was justified with the explanation that they were originally shot at 1.66:1, or some other similar aspect ratio. I, for one, am of the mindset that they should be presented in the AR in which they were originally telecast.

That said, perhaps this is MeTV's way of addressing OTA piracy? Just a thought.

CHEERS!

 

[Ron1973]

If I recall correctly, the widescreen aspect for some older TV shows was justified with the explanation that they were originally shot at 1.66:1, or some other similar aspect ratio. I, for one, am of the mindset that they should be presented in the AR in which they were originally telecast.

That said, perhaps this is MeTV's way of addressing OTA piracy? Just a thought.

CHEERS!

I don't mind the extra IF it doesn't detract from the show. If it's showing cameras or other equipment, forget it.