THE REAL McCOYS - CC Season sets? (1 Viewer)

[Tom.W]

Four missing minutes is more than time compression generally accounts for. I think Combat running times were cut by 1.5 to 2 minutes, although that show had atypical running times ( about 47 or 48 minutes) before syndication and compression.

Real McCoys was syndicated and ran on the Nashville Network eight years ago. 22 minutes is about what they clocked in at. I think the previous releases were cut to a similar degree.

This is not good news. Hopefully, the whole season is not cut.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

OK, another one I scratch off my list!

 

[Chas_Michael]

but, at least the set is a full season...

wink, wink, grin.

The rotten bastids.

How much more are they going to kick the 50 & 60's TV lover in the ass & pocketbook?

split season at double the price of a single one.

and, we still keep bending over and spreading them.

 

[Chas_Michael]

too bad, I preordered mine. Looks like it'll rest next to my Ozzie & Harriet CUT Shout Box set crapola!

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I never preorder because this happens too frequently.

I wait until the knowledgable people on this forum report before I make my final decision.

And my final decision has been made on this set: cram it, Falcon Picture Group through Infinity Entertainment, which is the new retail division of Infinity Resources, the company that owns or is part of the Critic's Choice/DeepDiscount operation!!!!!!

 

[John Morgan]

This is bad news, indeed. My set is on its way from Deep Discount. What really irritates me is the running time was given and multiplied by the number of episodes times 26, was the proper uncut timing! The first (pilot) episode was also uncut in that "best of" DVD release some years back. So, I guess we are getting the Nashville masters. In these 22 minute editions, at least on TNA, there were scenes that were cut. Four minutes out of 26 is significant.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

You can't gain 4 minutes in a half hour show by timespeeding. The voices and movements would be really fast, beyond what is watchable. There have to be edits involved. By the way, the distributor of this series is SFM Entertainment, the same people responsible for the 21:30 set of Make Room for Daddy a few years ago. I thought they had learned their lesson from that debacle but apparently not. Infinity licensed the whole series and once the word gets out about cut episodes, they are going to be pretty sorry they did.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

If I may speak bluntly, they must be some kind of idiots.

 

[Doug^Ch]

I'm another who preordered the set and can't back out now, because it is on the way. I'm highly disapointed to say the least.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

It always gives me mild nausea -- seriously -- when I see an ad for something like this (as I just did) proclaiming "The Real McCoys -- The COMPLETE First Season."

It makes you wonder what aspect of the word "complete" they don't understand.

I'll say this, for sure ... this release ISN'T the real McCoy ... and the tragedy of it is, now we'll never get a REALLY complete First Season. They tend not to do these things over again.

 

[Bob Hug]

I'm in the exact same boat as you Doug; my copy was shipped last week and should arrive any day.

I wonder if Infinity actually knew what it had received from SFM Entertainment. Do full-length masters of this show even exist anymore? Seems odd that the first episode would be full length and the other episodes cut. I looked at the programming section over at SFM's web site and, interestingly, they're still showing the two Rhino releases but not the Infinity release.

SFM's web site: http://www.sfment.com/

 

[John Morgan]

I really don't understand the process of putting these filmed series on video.
I know REAL McCOYS was syndicated for years, but that was many years ago (before being resurrected on TNN) and I think that was on 16mm film. And when they put them on video, wouldn't they transfer the entire episode to a master video and then do any syndication edits on a subsequent transfer? Perhaps the TNN were mastered from cut 16mm prints, as the quality wasn't all that great to begin with, and whoever did this new set didn't want to go into the expense of retransferring them from the 35mm material, which I assume and hope still exists. I like the program so much I would probably rebuy the 1st season if they were uncut.

 

[MatthewA]

They apparently can find uncut versions of Laugh-In, Flip Wilson, Good Morning World, and Lotsa Luck. It's possible they just didn't feel like paying for new telecine transfers.

Do they own the show outright?

 

[Ivan G]

Looks like we're going to need a bigger boat...on the cloud-has-a-silver-lining side, I pre-ordered my McCoys set (along with the Suspense release) back in April, when VideoUniverse had it available for $16.44. I'm still steamed that the episodes are edited, but I paid about the same as I did for the similar Danny Thomas Show set...another casualty of SFM.

 

[Steve...O]

Those of you who pre-ordered can still back out if you return the package. You should be able to get the purchase price refunded.

Returning the purchase and following up with an e-mail to the distributor telling them why might get the message across.

 

[John Morgan]

Can anyone suggest who to contact about these cut releases? SFM or the actual distributor? Also, anyone have an email or snail mail address? I would just like to tell them that if they experience slow sales it is, in part, due to the fact that word got out about the syndicated cut episodes being offered, (with the exception of the first episode.) At four minutes cut on 38 episodes, that is 152 minutes of missing footage.

 

[Bob Hug]

John, Go to SFM's web site and go to the contact page (I couldn't copy and paste). They have all sorts of contact e-mail addresses and there is a snail mail address.

http://www.sfment.com/

SFM is the supplier of the prints so I'd start with them. As an independent releasing company, Infinity probably just took whatever SFM gave them. But perhaps they did ask SFM if full-length eps. were available. And, as Hank Dearborn mentioned in post #27, SFM also was behind the cut season 5 episodes of "Make Room for Daddy."

 

[John Morgan]

Thanks Bob...
I think I'll send a snail mail letter rather than an email. Emails are too easy to just delete.

 

[John Morgan]

Well, I sent a snail and e mail note to SFM this morning, and already heard back from them, which I quote below. Well, at least they answered my query. So, whether a form email or not, I appreciate hearing back from them.

**Thank you for your e-mail regarding "The Real McCoys".

We digitally re-mastered all 224 episodes, using the best materials
owned by the original copyright holders, which, in many instances, were
the 23-minute versions. Where the elements were available and the quality
was good, we did use the longer versions. I do know that the quality
of the series is superb and hope that you will enjoy all 224 episodes.

We prefer to release 'pristine', slightly edited, versions of these
shows, rather than 'poor' quality full versions. There is enough of that
with the so-called 'Public Domain' bootleggers. In every situation, we
do believe in preserving these great shows of the past and trust you
will be looking out for future SFM Entertainmnet product.

Thank you for your keen interest in what we do and how we do it. We
value your opinions. **

 

[Bob Hug]

It's discouraging to hear that the rights owners don't have full length versions in their possession. This appears to be similar to the situation with "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet." I have kept my set rather than sending it back and the visuals do look comparatively good for a series of its vintage.