The Deputy - Complete (1 Viewer)

[DeWilson]

Originally Posted by Neil Brock

I understand that DVD, from its inception and the general execution of product, has spoiled many of us in terms of what is and isn't presentable quality, but this feeling of entitlement, the notion that we all deserve to maintain our own private little archives of pristine materials baffles me. My history of HTF posts will show that I am one of the last people to ever defend any corporate entity, but I also have to live in the real world and sometimes there isn't any gray, it's as simple as black and white:

 

TMG isn't blameless, but they also aren't in business to lose money, especially in an ultimately futile effort to placate those ardent fans of something that for most people is either an unknown or long forgotten artifact of television history. Perhaps they could have done more to insure that releases like M SQUAD were developed with better standards, but to what end? So a relative handful of consumers could afford the escalated price of the set TMG would be forced to charge in order to justify the extra effort and expense? I'm sorry, but this frustration and disappointment over a mixed set seems to me to be a bit misguided. Either don't buy the set in the first place and wait for something better or buy the set and don't watch those instances of offensive material that are so unceremoniously inserted to please the completest.
 

Life is a series of compromises and as much as we all want to indulge our penchant for idealism, even in or maybe I should say especially in our hobbies and pastimes, there comes a reality which dictates you should probably scale back your expectations and entitlements. I'm not telling anyone not to choose the battles that they believe are most significant to them, and I certainly have been at the front lines for things like THE FUGITIVE and ROUTE 66, but at some point I think you have to make a decision to move on. A complete archival quality set of TALES OF WELLS FARGO just ain't going to happen.

 

Standards are important - A set of what is available of 16mm transfers is acceptable - a good wet-gate transfer is as close to pre-digitial NTSC broadcast quality standards as possible - so why muck up a box with lesser quality 'dubs' or worse, off-air tv recordings. If they can't source all from available prints,and going back to studio masters isn't cost effective - I would rather have some in uniform quality, than all mixed - Why should I paid for a box set of shows and have a number of them sub-part jusy to call it complete. WHY even put them there? That's the point. Would it had made a difference it the M-SQUAD box was missing a handful of episodes? I don't think so. Add to the fact they could do better post-production work on the "dubs" they use.

 

TIMELESS is in business to make money - but putting out mixed quality content only hurts them - the average person doesn't care if a series is complete when it comes to this older stuff.,all they will remember is the product was mixed.

 

As a consumer, we vote with our dollars, and accepting sub-part product just allows companies to continue to offer such that. It's not a matter of expectations of entitlements, it's a matter of quality goods for money spent.

 

[smithb]

 

Originally Posted by DeWilson

TIMELESS is in business to make money - but putting out mixed quality content only hurts them - the average person doesn't care if a series is complete when it comes to this older stuff.,all they will remember is the product was mixed.

 

As a consumer, we vote with our dollars, and accepting sub-part product just allows companies to continue to offer such that. It's not a matter of expectations of entitlements, it's a matter of quality goods for money spent.

We know that you prefer to have subpar prints left out, but I don't believe we have established that the average person agrees (or even the majority of those in this forum). If anything, since being on this forum I would say more people are completest then the other way around. And really what does it hurt to have a few subpar prints within a set if the completest can be satisfied and others can ignore. Take the "Checkmate" as an example. The first release probably had the best quality episodes. The complete set has subpar to ensure it is complete. It is quite possible people asked for more and this was the only way to achieve that. While some have complained of the quality, other have been satisfied. A person has two different options depending on theirs preferences. As for "M Squad", I'm happy to have the set, a few subpar doesn't bother me at all.

 

As a consumer, I am voting with my dollars, and I have several of their releases. And I am perfectly satisfied with how they are approaching things. If not for TMG I might never have experienced some of these shows at all. So for me, I prefer to have options to experience more types of shows then just one's that have higher quality prints available. And there are always reviews available soon enough to support "on the fence" decisions. No reason to make completely blind-buy purchases.

 

[DeWilson]

Originally Posted by smithb

And really what does it hurt to have a few subpar prints within a set if the completest can be satisfied and others can ignore.

 

It adds to the cost of the product - these additional sub-par "dub" episodes to make them 'complete' take up more discs/disc space, and adds to the production cost,and thus the final cost of the item.

 

 

[Professor Echo]

 

Originally Posted by smithb

As a consumer, I am voting with my dollars, and I have several of their releases. And I am perfectly satisfied with how they are approaching things. If not for TMG I might never have experienced some of these shows at all. So for me, I prefer to have options to experience more types of shows then just one's that have higher quality prints available. And there are always reviews available soon enough to support "on the fence" decisions. No reason to make completely blind-buy purchases.

I totally agree with this, Brad, and will continue to do the same thing. I just don't think the market will bear Timeless going the extra mile. Given the reality, I don't expect them to do so and instead of bemoaning what they are not doing, I have chosen to enjoy what they are doing.

 

Denny, I give up. My advice to you is to write Timeless with your concerns and if and until they produce a set you can be unequivocally happy with, you should not buy their product. Problem solved.

 

[DeWilson]

Originally Posted by Point-Blank


 


I totally agree with this, Brad, and will continue to do the same thing. I just don't think the market will bear Timeless going the extra mile. Given the reality, I don't expect them to do so and instead of bemoaning what they are not doing, I have chosen to enjoy what they are doing.

 

Denny, I give up. My advice to you is to write Timeless with your concerns and if and until they produce a set you can be unequivocally happy with, you should not buy their product. Problem solved.

I'm not looking for the extra mile, we agree that Timeless isn't able to go the extra mile due to budget,demand,etc - I'm looking for the first mile - only release acceptible quality product without padding it out with 'dub' material to give the illusion of 'complete'.

 

I'm not picky - I can live with edited episodes and music substitutions,with off-the-shelf 20-30 year old masters,unrestored clean transfers,and the afformentioned 16mm prints. But "dubs","off-airs" that arn't even worked on with color correction/filter,audio ajustment/noise reduction is where I draw the line.
 

 

[Gary OS]

FWIW, I'm in complete agreement with Walker and Brad on this one. Timeless is A-OK in my book.

 

Gary "done with this thread unless it's a discussion about the actual set that's being released next month" O.

 

[silverking]

My understanding is 'The Deputy' prints were retrieved from a warehouse so quality should be acceptable.Hoping, of course, they are not edited down syndicated versions though I have no reason to think they are.

 

As for the argument about inclusion of inferior quality items in previous Timeless releases, I would agree that the 'Laramie' sets were sub par but I was still glad to get them, likewise M Squad. I waited until I saw a few reviews so knew what I was getting.Realistically , this sort of material is never going to come out any other way.

 

The season 1 'Wagon Train' set had a few episodes which had been copied from video tape taken from the UK run some years back. Without the inclusion of these segments the series would have been a couple of episodes short. I am sure most purchasers were happy they were included though.

 

[genomovie]

Silverking,
I hope the new "The Deputy" series, looks better than the four episodes, that were on my "TV Western Classics"
6-Disc set I ordered from Timeless. They were terrible.

 

[smithb]

Well...I just saw an episode of Deputy that came with one of my Western TV collections. The video quality was low as expected in one of these sets. I wouldn't be surprised if the release is much better based on them having access to studio prints.

 

The episode wasn't bad and Allen Case did a fairly good job in the role. Not sure about the eye patch seargent character. All in all, I probably would have considered getting this set based on this sample, except for one thing. The idea of Henry Fonda just kind of walking in from time to time disrupts the whole thing for me. I know he was the selling point and he took the job to be closer to home with a new baby, but he has too much star power for this and for me it detracts from the show. Anytime he shows up I expect so much more but I'm afraid his roll will never deliver.

 

I'm happy to get anything released from this time period. It beats hunting down 100th generation online VHS copies, or the "100 Greatest TV Westerns/Mysteries/Comedies" video compilations. TMG and Shout should be commended, not disparaged, for putting out Season Sets or even "The Best Of" sets. It is the only way most of us will EVER see some great TV programming that the rest of the world has forgotten about, or will never know. Kudos to them and to networks such as RTV and Encore Westerns which do the same. Nick at Night and TVLand also used to supply us, but sadly they allowed themselves to be skewed to the younger generation and now put on nothing but the same tired reruns of Andy Griffith, All in the Family, Etc, (or even worse, reality shows) that most of us have seen for the umpteenth time.

 

[mark78]

Has anyone spotted this at Sams Club yet? I haven't been for a couple weeks but they didn't have it then. If you've seen it what was the price? Thanks!

 

[smithb]

That and Wagon Train season 2 will be coming out. Neither are officially released yet, but Sam's sometimes is able to release early.

 

[Executive]

I only had the opportunity to see The Deputy on TV LAND about 10 years ago. The quality of the film prints for those episodes were excellent.


Unfortunately those 10 episodes only lasted two weeks, as TV LAND rerun the same ones on weekday afternoons several times for 2 months!!


Timeless Media Group is notoriously cheap for not acquiring high quality film masters or the various series they release. But keep in mind that with The Virginian, that show as always looked great. They were even remastered back in the 1980s when I first saw that series on USA Network.


Also their release of Season 20 (the last year) of The Red Skelton Show are in their original videotaped form, and those look sharp too. (In fact James Drury appeared as himself in a Clem Kadiddlehopper sketch with Red). Only the Christmas 1970 episode with Leslie Nielsen was omitted from that set, but that's because TMG release it as part of the X-Mas disc collection of Skelton holiday shows from over the years.


Back to The Deputy, It was Henry Fonda who made the show worth watching -- even in the episodes in which Marshal Fry wasn't in town, as Fonda still provided narration. There was something about the jazz music on the soundtrack that made an otherwise routine 1/2 hour black & white western more special than it really was! I supposed it could be said that from a musical standpoint, this series was the "Peter Gunn" of westerns.


By the way, I think the LAREDO episodes look pretty good overall. Not digitally remastered, but better than a lot of shows that TMG puts out. Just one question: Why is the opening theme with their guns ablazing and Capt. Parmalee edited out of some of the DVD episodes?

 

[borisfw]

I picked up The Deputy complete yesterday at Sam's . The price is $39.88 .

 

[Dave Scarpa]

So tell us how it is...

 

[borisfw]

Haven't watched any yet . Still working on Ellery Queen set .


But it's 12 discs in six slim cases . There is a total of 76 ep . There seems to be 6 ep per disc . The only special features that i can see ar Henry Fonda movie trailers on one disc .


I will pop one in tonight when i get home to see the quality .

 

[Roy Wall]

Wow....that's a bargain to get it at that price and twelve days early !!!!!

 

[mark78]

Thanks for the update! Hopefully I can find it this weekend.

 

[Doug^Ch]

Once again I am disgusted with this Sam's Club exclusivity. We don't even have one Sam's in my state. I just can't understand TMG's sales model on these exclusive deals. The set is already available on Ebay from people who buy them up at Sam's and sell at very inflated prices. I'm going to wait this one out until Amazon offers it up at a reasonable price. I would like reports however on the video and audio quality of the set.

 

[mark78]

Just looked at the eBay listings out of curiosity and noticed someone actually paid $169.99 for one of these sets.


Anyway, Buy.com has this for $50.99 + shipping which isn't too bad if you don't have access to a Sam's Club.