The Untouchables - Season 2, Volume 2 (1 Viewer)

[jdee28]

Great to hear this will be coming out August 26th:

The Untouchables DVD news: Announcement for The Untouchables - Season 2, Volume 2 | TVShowsOnDVD.com

The Untouchables will be half way done; hopefully CBS/Paramount will release the other half.

This is an excellent show, definitely on par with the Warner Brothers crime films of the 1930s. I love how it fully embraces the conventions of the genre, taking them to the nth degree. Done with such convinction, it works.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

Indeed it is good news. 4 sets down, 4 to go. I'm not overly worried about The Untouchables, The Fugitive and The Invaders coming out in their entirety. I'm more concerned with series that may not be as popular - Streets of San Francisco, Mod Squad, Love American Style. I'd love to see them all fully released but I'm not convinced that will happen.

 

[jdee28]

A quibble with their Season 2, Volume 1 release - their elimation of the bumper at the end of each act. I wonder why they bothered to do this. All it does is make for some awkward dropped music cues. They should have just left well enough alone, like they did in their Season 1, Vol. 1 & 2 releases. It's probably a case of the people doing the transfers not knowing better.

 

[Hank Dearborn]

I didn't understand that either and it felt kind of jarring to me to have them missing. Kind of like listening to a song you know and having a few bars of the song missing at the end. Made no sense and really surprising in light of how well Paramount usually does. I had heard years ago that they had done something similar on the VHS releases for this show.

 

[Mark666]

If they only left off the bumper I could live with it. In the reviews of this series no one mentions the atrocious transfer quality. The first series was very clean but this was caked with dirt and distracted from my enjoyment of this great series. Looks like a VHS to DVD straight transfer, which accounts for lack of bumper. Maybe the series insn't selling well enough to justifie the cost of cleaning the film. It's great to have it out but a pity it's such a poor quality transfer.

 

[jdee28]

I agree, the transfers don't look as stellar as Season 1, Volume 1; there's more grain; more contrast. But I don't think video masters were involved; if they were, it would look even worse.

 

[Mark666]

The R2 S1 pt1 is out in the UK in August, so long wait to catch up with R1 releases. I wonder if the R2 S2 will be better remasters. I beleive I read in Desi's autobiography that The Untouchables was filmed and not NTSC video taped so Paramount would probably use the same tape source. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[jdee28]

Yes, The Untouchables were filmed originally.

Back in the video tape era, CBS released some episodes of the Untouchables on VHS through Columbia House. I don't think they used any of these video masters for their Untouchables DVD releases.

They did use video masters for the Have Gun Will Travel DVD releases as well as their original release of The Twilight Zone; hence the subpar quality of those. I think they've learned a lot since then.

 

[todd s]

I really hope Paramount decides to release the 1990's version of the show. It was very well done. With great acting.

 

[jdee28]

I just got the Season 2, Volume 2 release. I think the Untouchables Season 2 releases have had the worst picture quality of any of the black and white shows released by CBS/Paramount in the last few years. The prints are grainy, high contrast, little detail in the blacks. Did they not have access to original elements, or are those elements in a worse shape than other shows? The grainy transfers have really distracted me from enjoying the overall shows.

 

[michael_ks]

Thanks for clarifying this, John. I've read the reviews on Amazon and was still left unclear as to how much less clean these prints look relative to S1. You've cleared it all up for me. Between that and the bumpers being hacked off, I decided to pass on S2 altogether. (This is getting a bit easier to do, having gained experience with nixing "The Fugitive" S2 and "Route 66" in light of gaffes associated with those releases).

 

[Gary OS]

Yet one more reason to avoid pre-ordering or buying on the day of release.

Gary "classic TV on DVD is becoming more and more of a crap shoot - what a shame" O.

 

[jdee28]

I think there was some remastering, but the "finishing touches" that were done to Perry Mason and Rawhide were just not done here. Maybe they were not working with the best original elements. It's disappointing. I've had to watch episodes with the sharpness way, way down on my screen, just to dull the grain.

The bumpers are again cut off for some unknown reason.

With how nice Season 1 was done, especially Season 1, Volume 1 -- bumpers, nice transfers -- the season 2 releases are a bit of a let down.

 

[Mark666]

Looks like I'll give S2 pt2 a miss. However, there will probably not be a reissue of these episodes in the future so looks like it's get these or do without. There might be a Blue Ray release but would an old tv series benefit from higher def, particually if it's not cleaned up. If enough people complain and don't but S2 will S3 be better or will they cancel it! What a stupid company to waste a series by penny pinching.

 

[TravisR]

Assuming that there isn't any bizarre problems, anything shot on film will look better on Blu-ray than it does on DVD. Unfortunately, you are many years away from The Untouchables coming to Blu-ray.

 

[Gary OS]

Just looked back over the release schedule for the first 2 seasons of this show. March/April has been the month we've seen a release previously, and we've got no news yet. The March schedule is surely filled by now and April releases are filling up the news items at TVShowsonDVD.com quickly. I'm thinking this series may be in danger of being stalled.

Gary "has anyone heard anything to make them feel differently?" O.

 

[Bob Hug]

I'd have to agree with you, Gary, based at least on the fact that only the first two seasons have been transferred to HD. From the CBS/Paramount Syndication Bible . . . .

"This series has been partially transferred into HD and has the following masters:

Network 4x3 HD (episodes 1 to 60, Seasons 1 & 2)"

Note that "The Untouchables" page was last updated 4/10/08.

 

[Corey3rd]

The Untouchables and Love American Style are the two DVDs I wish Paramount/CBS would get back on the schedule.

 

[Gary OS]

I use the Syndication Bible a lot too, Bob. You've hit on another factor that has led me to believe the show might be in trouble.

Gary "thanks to Steve O. for initially pointing me to the CBS Syndication Bible" O.

 

[Steve...O]

Gary, you're too kind!

Incidentally said CBS/P website was updated today. Nothing new on Untouchables, Fugitive or LAS.

Good news for Five-O fans. Work is now progressing on S7. S6 hasn't even been announced yet.