This list of cuts on TV DVDs would make a good permanent feature for TVShowsonDVD.com. It would give would-be buyers a dependable place to see what they are getting before buying.
The Fraggle Rock DVD apparently has Episodes 1 & 2 merged together, or ar least, missing the closing credits of Ep 1, and the opening credits of Ep 2...if that counts.
Dark Shadows, beginning about vol 7 or so, started cutting out flubs. This continued at least into the next volume, and I'm not sure if they've continued doing that (I did complain to MPI). There was a thread on HTF about it a year or so ago.
Rocky & Bullwinkle isn't the first season but all the segments from the first season (some of which were duplicated in other first season episodes) reassembled, with some Dudley Do-Rights from I think the second season inserted. The title sequence is from the second season.
Sopranos S3: Scenes involving the undercover FBI agent in the season finale were reshot after the original airing with a different actress. The DVD set has the new scenes, but not the originals.
Buffy S1: Welcome to the Hellmouth/Harvest originally aired as a feature-length pilot and then was broken up into two episodes for reruns and syndication. The DVD set has it broken up into two eps.
In the Absolutely Fabulous box set featuring seasons 1-3, the episode entitled "Death" is edited. A scene in which Edina quotes Madonna's "Like a Prayer" has been deleted, most likely because of licensing issues.
On the Monty Python A&E set, a line has been cut from the Funny Bus Conductor sketch. Originally, Graham sings "Tonight, tonight, I'm getting pissed tonight", but it is now missing due to copyright reasons. The line is intact on my old Paramount laserdisc. The Biggles line is also intact on the old laserdisc. I'm glad I held onto those!
The X-Files, Season Six The original broadcast of season six's first episode was preceded by a recap-montage that included scenes from X-Files: Fight the Future (the first X-Files movie) and the previous season while the first episode of the season six set does not.
I don't know. I mean, are you going to boycott an entire show because an episode or two is missing a few seconds? What's the alternative if you want the whole series? Do you really think there will be another set offered or something?
I bought LOST IN SPACE Season One. Ok, so two of the episodes are missing several seconds. The whole show runs 83 episodes; I'd rather have it this way than not buy it at all.
V: the Original Mini-Series The OAR 4:3 image has been cropped to "fake widescreen" (like Kung Fu) for the DVD, with Kenneth Johnson's blessing (Boo!)
V: The Final Battle The OAR 4:3 image has been cropped to "fake widescreen" for this DVD, too. Since Johnson didn't direct the sequel, no one can make the claim that the "director" intended a widescreen image. This was, apparently, a marketing decision.
E.R. (all seasons) the OAR 4:3 image has been cropped to widescreen. Some people claim that ER was shot "widescreen-safe" but this does not appear to be necessarily true of the earliest seasons. To accomodate the cropped image, apparently some of the on-screen credits (which appear after the main title sequence) had to be re-made for the new widescreen presentation as the original 4:3 version got "cut off" by the matte.
Only Fools and Horses As on the UK discs (and current TV repeats), the original theme song for seasons 1-2 has been replaced by the theme tune that appears on all subsequent episodes (written by the series creator). This is a change he insisted on years ago, apparently. Also, watch out for music edits/substitutions with this series, as they are quite notorious on the UK DVD and VHS releases (don't know if these other music alterations extend back to series 1-3 or not).
Black Adder's Christmas Carol I'm not sure about the American release of this, but on the R2 UK release, Baldrick's line about using a dog for Jesus in the Christmas play was edited. When he mentions about an Easter encore, the line where he says "they want to see us nail up the dog" is removed. This line was also removed on the British VHS of this title, though the American VHS was unedited.
Sapphire and Steel The ad breaks for Assignments 3-6 (such as "end of part one" or "Sapphire and Steel, part 2", which were superimposed over live-action of the episodes themselves) have been hacked out, sometimes losing important dialogue). Also, the original ATV Colour Production intro is cut out of all episodes, and the ATV slide that originally appeared at the end of every episode only appears on some of them (it is replaced by a modern Carlton one on some episodes, and by a black screen on others). All these edits also affect the R2 release. The R4 release is the only one that preserves the ad breaks.
The Complete (sic) Mr. Bean The scene of Mr. Bean using a bathroom scale to help him guess the weight of the turkey has been cut out from the "Merry Christmas" episode. This scene was[/i] in the original broadcast and is retained in the R4 release.
One scene often labeled as a "cut" is the scene where he competes with an elderly couple to buy a chair in the after-Christmas sale in a subsequent episode. It has since been established that this scene was not part of the original UK broadcasts on ITV but was in fact extra footage, apparently supplied to HBO to pad out the running time for the show's run on that channel.
Edited again. There is a small B/A scene missing from Lie To Me when they are in the bronze. The only time it was ever shown was during the original airing of the episode, I used to have it on download somewhere on my computer. I don't know why its never been shown since.
The season 6 finale, Two To Go/Grave also got split up into 2 parts when it originally aired as 2 hours with a "this year on Buffy the vampire slayer" intro.
Which is odd, as the season 6 premiere, Bargainign is presented as a 2-hour episode. Why they didn't do this for any of the other 2-hour specials is beyond me.
That's a good point, this list should also include the regions of the DVDs. Regarding Black Adder, I recenty checked out the R1 Black Adder set from the library. The Black Adder's Christmas Carol did include the lines you mentioned.