Time/Life Press Release: The Carol Burnett Show: The Ultimate Collection (1 Viewer)

[timelife jb]

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Dean-Martin-Deans-Ultimate-Collection/17633
I noticed in the press release for a Dean Martin Variety Show Ultimate Collection that Time/Life is putting out at the end of thjs month there is no mention of complete or uncut episodes. Just says 48 episodes with many musical numbers. I guess they learned from the Carol Burnett release.

From the product guy in passing --"some of it is new and some previously released by us"
Vague I know. I will dig up more info.

 

[FanCollector]

I am also enjoying the set very much. As a matter of philosophy, I would have preferred T/L selecting 50 episodes that could be released uncut (about 10 are still missing the finales), but it's still a wonderful collection from a show that has been absent too long.

 

[Zukeeper416]

There were a couple of very short but not insignificant songs we could not clear despite aggressive offers to the copyright holders. Music clearances can be tricky as you may have multiple ownership rights to negotiate. For example, as odd as it seems, the owner of the "Into the wild blue yonder" simply would not allow the song (sung by Carol for just a second or two in the No Frills sketch where she asks Tim Conway if he'd like some music while handing out earphones) to be used.
There was a finale with Sammy Davis that errantly was dropped but we have gone back in, re-cleared and re-manufactured so your set will be as complete as possible given today's music clearances, based on ordering your set recently.
If you're a collector, those few 2-3 second songs may be meaningful. To me and me alone, who didn't have the CH set or any others prior, I think it's a great set and I am enjoying it with my daughter who is learning how much of a genius Tim Conway in particular is. I realize my position in saying this but I honestly feel this way. Hopefully the board can vouch for my transparency here.
The fix was a remanufactured and re-delivered disc at our cost sent if you wanted replacement. We didn't want to do anything like a discount to a future product. We thought there may not be any redemptions on that if we disappointed the market. We feel we made some errors of aggression in releasing quickly, but now the set is a really good set. Others here may feel differently, though I think the biggest issue was how we sold it.
You absolutely can cancel the order or return the merch, tho.

Wow, John. I'm really impressed by your lightning quick, and thoughtful response. T/L is lucky to have you in their employ.
I am a bit of an obsessive, and would much prefer a collection with truly uncut episodes, but I do understand the copyright issues. Yes, it would have been less of an issue had T/L not advertised the set as being uncut. That said, it's great to hear that the set I'm soon to receive will be improved and as complete as possible. In fact, it's a Christmas gift for my husband, so ultimately he'll be the one who'll decide. That said, I guess we'd better hope to be satisfied, given your 30 day policy! Fingers crossed!

 

[NY2LA]

Wow, John. I'm really impressed by your lightning quick, and thoughtful response. T/L is lucky to have you in their employ.
Yes, it would have been less of an issue had T/L not advertised the set as being uncut.

I completely agree with those two points.
There is not enough reason to completely absolve Time Life right now, nor to completely condemn them.
Way more damage was done than has been fixed. Putting back one musical finale does not make up for ten to eleven episodes being cut, (most of which were previously released complete) especially given the fact that Time Life continues to this day to emphatically claim all episodes are "Full, Complete, Uncut, Unedited, Just as they were aired, etc" with a series of "ALL THE..." statements, one even spoken by Carol herself. Those terms should NEVER have been used with this show, given the circumstances, which were known before it was released, and yet they STILL are.
The only factors in TL's favor right now are that they hold longterm exclusive rights to handle this show, and that they have John. (not necessarily in that order)

 

[DeWilson]

For example, as odd as it seems, the owner of the "Into the wild blue yonder" simply would not allow the song (sung by Carol for just a second or two in the No Frills sketch where she asks Tim Conway if he'd like some music while handing out earphones) to be used..

Come on, that's clearly a "Fair Use" if I ever heard of it! Unless the song was licensed / "cleared" when originally broadcast,anything like that could be kept in under "Fair Use". Again, the big companies are AFRAID of using anything under "fair use" in fear of a legal issue where they'd have to defend using it under "Fair Use".

 

[FanCollector]

I think that the "fair use" defense is generally restricted to non-profit enterprises, like using an excerpt of something in a classroom setting, or to critical analyses of works of art, like quoting a line for a review. It would be hard to apply it to a commercially available DVD. (I wish that it did apply, as I find disputes like this "Wild Blue Yonder" thing petty and awful.)

 

[NY2LA]

Someone maybe could have done a little research into other songs they could use cheaply, or free, public domain, etc. even if she hums something unintelligible, and had Carol overdub the line. Do you see her lips move in that shot?

 

[Bobster]

I have a feeling I've been duped by an Ebay seller with 100% rating.
I had bought what listed as The Collector's Edition from Columbia House which came in 3 sets totalling 31 discs. The set was sealed.
I started to go thru a couple and found that on Volume 15 - Steve Martin and Betty White - there was no "bump up the lights" talk before the credits. Is that true of people who have this?
I'm pretty sure they're not correct because I also just found one disc that had the Guthy-Renker credit in the beginning. Those are later, right?
:f

 

[MarkA]

Has anybody received their replacement disc with the missing Sammy Davis Jr. medley added back?

 

[FanCollector]

Has anybody received their replacement disc with the missing Sammy Davis Jr. medley added back?
 

I just called yesterday and was told the disc is still on back order, but is expected in another 1-3 weeks.

 

[MarkA]

Thanks for the info

 

[Seanhtf]

Found another edited episode, one I haven't seen mentioned. It's in the Lily Tomlin/Steve Lawrence episode, during the "Caged Dames" sketch. The edit occurs after 'Spike' (Carol), who is behind bars, shouts out, "I want to live!" She goes on to quote lyrics from an old song titled "I Want to Live Till I Die": 'I want to laugh, I want to cry, I want to live! live! live till I die!' Her ditzy cellmate (Vicki) shouts out, "One more time!" Spike turns on her and bellows, "Will you shut up!" Most of the bit, after Spike's initial "I want to live" through "Will you shut up" is missing from the Time-Life DVD. I checked the Time-Life version of the sketch against the "Carol Burnett and Friends" syndicated version and spotted this minor, albeit still annoying, cut.
I have to say that I think Time-Life really bungled this, big-time. Had they been honest and upfront about some episodes being "musically edited," I would have been disappointed, but would at least have felt that I was making my decision to purchase this set (and I went for the 50-episode box) based on knowledge of what I would actually be getting. After all, "musically edited" has become an annoying fact of life for those of us who purchase DVDs. As it is, I can't help but feel like I was simply lied to, since advertising for the set made a point of telling us that the episodes were COMPLETE! UNCUT! UNEDITED! Well, a quarter of them aren't. And some of the cuts, such as the one described above, might be very minor ones. I probably wouldn't have spotted it except that I remembered the gag from seeing the sketch in syndication. But it IS a cut. The show isn't complete. We should never have been told it was.
It will be a cold day in hell before Time-Life sees any more of my money. Either they screwed up in a major way, or they just out-and-out lied. Either way, they lose in the long run. I don't do business with liars, and I don't do business with incompetents.

 

[NY2LA]

Found another edited episode, one I haven't seen mentioned. It's in the Lily Tomlin/Steve Lawrence episode, during the "Caged Dames" sketch. The edit occurs after 'Spike' (Carol), who is behind bars, shouts out, "I want to live!" She goes on to quote lyrics from an old song titled "I Want to Live Till I Die": 'I want to laugh, I want to cry, I want to live! live! live till I die!' Her ditzy cellmate (Vicki) shouts out, "One more time!" Spike turns on her and bellows, "Will you shut up!" Most of the bit, after Spike's initial "I want to live" through "Will you shut up" is missing from the Time-Life DVD. I checked the Time-Life version of the sketch against the "Carol Burnett and Friends" syndicated version and spotted this minor, albeit still annoying, cut.
I have to say that I think Time-Life really bungled this, big-time. Had they been honest and upfront about some episodes being "musically edited," I would have been disappointed, but would at least have felt that I was making my decision to purchase this set (and I went for the 50-episode box) based on knowledge of what I would actually be getting. After all, "musically edited" has become an annoying fact of life for those of us who purchase DVDs. As it is, I can't help but feel like I was simply lied to, since advertising for the set made a point of telling us that the episodes were COMPLETE! UNCUT! UNEDITED! Well, a quarter of them aren't. And some of the cuts, such as the one described above, might be very minor ones. I probably wouldn't have spotted it except that I remembered the gag from seeing the sketch in syndication. But it IS a cut. The show isn't complete. We should never have been told it was.
It will be a cold day in hell before Time-Life sees any more of my money. Either they screwed up in a major way, or they just out-and-out lied. Either way, they lose in the long run. I don't do business with liars, and I don't do business with incompetents.

Overall I completely agree with you, but for the record, John from TL mentioned the problem securing the rights to this song a little while back. Doesn't excuse the company's executive decisions, but just wanted to point out he mentioned it.
When I heard of this cut, I asked the others here how many episodes this made that were cut and didn't get an actual count. I think It's been established that each of the three sets in the big box, including the ones they sell at retail, are indeed cut somewhere, yet Time Life continues to run those commercials using phrases like "All of..." and other words that mean or imply completeness.

 

[Keith_inBR]

I just called yesterday and was told the disc is still on back order, but is expected in another 1-3 weeks.

I just received my replacement disc in the mail. I'm watching the finale as i type. The episode now runs 51 minutes.

 

[ajabrams]

I also got my replacement disc yesterday and want to say thanks to the folks I dealt with at Time-Life (especially John!) Everyone was very helpful and kept me "in the loop" on its delivery.

 

[nobajoba]

I received a set for Christmas from my mother. It's not the whole complete collection but it has 2 discs of Carol's Favorites with bonus features and the special disc of Bonus Features. I think I'll be getting 2 or 3 more dvds in the next couple of months. It was a nice surprise!

 

[Ancsa Csermak]

about the copyrights of the songs. I saw a clip with Jim Nabors that was released on VHS a long time ago, it was Shipwrecked in Tahiti but I do not see on this DVD list.

 

[MONSTOYS]

Hope somone may be of help.
I purchased the mega 22 disc set from TIME/LIFE and I have the 31 Discs from COLUMBIA...
But, I heard that TIME/LIFe has eleased episodes NOT in the complete dvd collection?
I think with Anthony Newley/Bernadette Peters?
Is there a complete EPISODE list and on which dvd set to find them from TIME/LIFE?
There are COSTCO sets and Walmart sets and.....
I have spent hours tryin to piece together info and so confusing...
Any help would be amazing!

 

[JohnMor]

Hope somone may be of help.
I purchased the mega 22 disc set from TIME/LIFE and I have the 31 Discs from COLUMBIA...
But, I heard that TIME/LIFe has eleased episodes NOT in the complete dvd collection?
I think with Anthony Newley/Bernadette Peters?
Is there a complete EPISODE list and on which dvd set to find them from TIME/LIFE?
There are COSTCO sets and Walmart sets and.....
I have spent hours tryin to piece together info and so confusing...
Any help would be amazing!

Yes, here is a list I compiled at the time. It shows all released eps, which volume/set # you can find them on, and which episodes are edited on the TL set (denoted by **). You can click on the image to enlarge it.

 

[mrz7]

Does anyone know when "The Carol Burnett Show" Christmas DVD (by TimeLife/StarVista) is going to be released (Date). Tvshowsondvd.com announce there was going to be a release this year (with detail information on what was on the DVD, including the show with Alan Alda doing a "Family" Christmas sketch). Just wondering if anyone knew WHEN it was coming out? There hasn't been any more news on this one since this post on tvshowondvd.com:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Carol-Burnett-Christmas-with-Carol/18519