The Archive of Incomplete TV DVDs - Buyers Beware! (Updated 3/27/05) (1 Viewer)

[JasonLa]

That thread linked to has shown no proof of edits. Nobody has watched the episodes side by side with original broadcast and scribed the exact content edited. So far everyone that has posted in that thread has managed to agree on is that at the chapter breaks it appears the normal commercial fades were snipped.

Now if this is the case and all that is gone is a fade to black for smoother scene and act transitions where commercial breaks were then a boycott of the sets and contacting disney is only going to make fans out to look like whiners and nit pickers and isn't going to look good when we go up againts harsher edits like removing segments of footage and dialog.

So I'll ask if someone could please scribe an exact list of cuts made if they truely exist. As I recall it from reading what was said by disney was that they would be uncut but that was back when it was annouced they would be doing the DVDs. A list of confirmed, using original broadcast recordings, footage and/or dialog missing will hold a much stronger case than the sketchy comments of assumed missing parts based on the info provide in that thread.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

It seems like it would now be easier to keep an "Archive of Complete TV DVDs".

 

[TVGord]

I hate asking stupid questions, but I have tried to find a way to post a submission to Gord's alterations list, and I can't find any way to do so. I am a logged in member, and I've gone to the alterations page, to the page of the show I'm trying to submit (Buffalo Bill), but I cannot find any way to submit an alteration. Can someone help me, please?

 

[Wezzo]

Submission of alterations was disabled for a while back last year, and apparently it isn't back yet.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=3656

 

[TVGord]

Thanks, Wezzo. I thought I was just really, really stupid (jury's still out). ;-)

 

[MatthewA]

Now you can add "Mama's Family" to the list. A sitcomsonline.com reviewer got the disc and found that all 13 episodes are the edited syndication versions.

 

[Elena S]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't "Mama's Family" always been syndicated? I don't think it was ever on network TV. So maybe it isn't edited.

 

[MatthewA]

Elena,

The first two seasons were on NBC. There is no way a network sitcom in 1983 would have run less than 24 minutes sans commercials. NBC cancelled the show in 1984 (they showed reruns in prime time in the summer of 1985), but it was revived for first-run syndication in 1986.

Warner's excuse makes this release doubly insulting. Smore Entertainment, a small independent company, gave better treatment to "Lotsa Luck", a show that ran a year, was never syndicated, and is not remembered by too many people.

 

[kingfish]

There were some parts of Murder at Sea which were terrible looking.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

From a review of Darkwing Duck Volume 1 on ToonZone:

 

[Josh Steinberg]

This is kind of an odd one to list on here, but probably worth mentioning--not something that kept me from buying the set, but something that was slightly disappointing.

When they did the live episode of The West Wing during the last (seventh) season, they actually performed it twice - once for the east coast, once for the west coast. Unfortunately, the DVD doesn't appear to include both broadcasts. Now, they may have been almost exactly the same, but it would have been fun to watch both performances and look for any variations. The one that's on the DVD is not the one that I actually saw on TV, which was a real disappointment.

 

[Michael.J.Hayde]

This probably doesn't matter to many, but the Adventures of Superman - Seasons 5 & 6 set has one incomplete episode: "The Superman Silver Mine." It's missing a brief scene (about a minute). It wasn't unexpected, because the same scene was missing in the Columbia House VHS release.

Michael

 

[Jack Platt]

Two instances that I know of:

THE WHITE SHADOW (Season 1) "The Offer" is an edited syndicated print. This is noted by the decrease in DVD quality compared to the other episodes. All other episodes look pretty decent with some mild color fluctuation. But the rest of season 1's DVD as well as all of season 2 of TWS is uncut.

Reason for the edits on "The Offer": it is believed that when the MGM library was sold to Fox that master tapes got mixed up with a few syndicated prints of some shows. It would be cool if Fox included an uncut version of "The Offer" as a bonus on the S3 DVD! (Not sure of a release date for TWS Season 3 yet.)

THE ADDAMS FAMILY: (Vol 1) Two small cuts of Morticia singing to "Thing." "It's so Nice to Have a Thing Around The House" have been cut on "Halloween With the Addams Family" and at least one other episode with the same line cut. I think it's "Amnesia in the Addams Family" but I am not sure of the second episode where the cut is. Please verify. I do know the reason is because MGM could not get the rights to the original song, "It's so Nice to Have A Man Around the House."

Other than that, the shows are complete and uncut. BEAUTIFUL transfer and lots of special features! This will be released as a three disk volume set in contrast to a two-season set to help keep the costs down.

Most edits on DVD I hate (who doesn't?) If it's music rights on one or two episodes I can live with that. If original prints AND back up negatives could no longer be found on an episode or two I can live with that provided that the transfer is otherwise good to great.

BUT if it's a case of a studio deliberately deceiving the public by falsely putting out press releases of original master uncut prints and than EVERY EPISODE is a syndicated cut, (The Cosby Show, Season 1) that is reprehensible. Especially when they are too friggin lazy to go back and get the master prints to restore them. The potential Cosby Show fans who would have otherwise purchased the S1 DVD had it been released uncut is now gone,(including me.) This will remain so until an uncut S1 of TCS is released. I will also refuse to purchase any subsequent seasons of TCS, because I resent a company profiting from such a STUPID marketing mistake! (unless they wise up and rerelease Season 1 of TCS uncut.)

Jack

 

[Jack Platt]

THE BRADY BUNCH

1.) All of the vacation episodes both the “Grand Canyon” Episodes from Season 3 and the “Hawaii” episodes from Season 4 are missing the fill in squares on the DVD. However, these squares are included on TV Land’s and syndicated prints of the show.

2.) The Hawaii episode “Pass the Taboo” is missing about 15-20 seconds.

3.) The fill in squares are also missing from the Season 4 episode of “Love and the Older Man”, but are included on TV Land and Syndicated prints.

4.) “Greg Gets Grounded” from Season 4 on the DVD combines the final scene before the tag sequence and blends it in rather than going to a “fade to black” before the tag scene. Furthermore, this episode comes in at about 24:50. There are also no fill in squares on this episode, which could explain the slightly shorter running time.

Jack

 

[DeWilson]

You know, This is just an example of the studio not standing up for "Fair Use" - for goodness sake,it's like 2-3 lines in two scenes - it's a PARODY of the actual song! Parody is 'fair use'. The scenes were on the laserdisc release.

Unless there's some paperwork somewhere that back in the 1960's Filmways original licenced the use of the song,then perhaps I see an issue.

 

[kingfish]

T.J Hooker only had the first two seasons released. There were five. The disks even featured pictures of James Darren as officer James Corrigan when in fact he was in seasons 3 to 5.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Has any more seasons (other than S1) of "Rat Patrol" been released?
Thanks.

 

[kingfish]

Rat Patrol, The The Complete 2nd Season

http://tvshowsondvd.com/releaseinfo.cfm?ReleaseID=6564

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Thanks, KING!
Looks like this just came out on the 12TH. I did a search B4 asking, no reviews other than S1.

 

[RowMan]

The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete Series (released 5/29/07)

The pilot episode included as a bonus feature only in the new all-season boxed set is a syndicated version which is edited by about 2 and a half minutes. This is the same version already available on the Make Room For Daddy - The Complete Fifth Season DVD set. I know the full length pilot exists because it had been released on VHS, but has been out-of-print for a number of years now.

Season 3 omissions:

"The Darlings Are Coming" - Almost 3 minutes have been edited out including bits of dialogue, the epilogue, and the Darling family's musical performance of "Salty Dog."

"Barney Mends A Broken Heart" - Missing the epilogue where Nurse Peggy is tending to Andy's blackened eye while Barney let's it slip that he and Andy had gone out with other women.

Season 4 ommisions / fixes:

The episodes on discs 1 and 2 of Season 4 that were previously released missing the laugh tracks have been corrected, but this was done way before this new box set was ever announced.

The episodes affected were:

"Opie The Birdman"
"A Black Day For Mayberry"
"Opie's Ill-Gotten Gain"
"Up In Barney's Room"

I know of at least one person who recently bought Season 4 and she reported that the laugh tracks were fixed. If you have these discs without the laugh tracks, I believe Paramount is still replacing them with the corrected ones.

Feel free to PM me for more info on getting Season 4 replacement discs from Paramount if you need them.