Videotaped shows and final fades (1 Viewer)

[ScottR]

I have been watching The Facts of Life on dvd and noticed that two episodes do not completely fade out before the plastered Sony logo. Now I know that the first two seasons didn't originally air with a closing logo, but was it normal for episodes to cut away before the final fade out had completely gone to black?

 

[Michael Alden]

Well, the show was produced by TAT Communications and had nothing to do with Sony until they bought out the company. Maybe that has something to do with it.

 

[ScottR]

I'm just saying that the new logo cuts off the end of the actual show before it fades out all the way. I was just wondering if the tape master probably ended before the fade out was completely done. It's only like this on the two episodes I mentioned. BTW, there was no logo from TAT during the original broadcasts of the show. Just an in-credit mention.

 

[Jay_B!]

I noticed that as well with other Sony/Embassy series, Diff'rent Strokes doesn't have the logo either, shockingly enough, 227 actually still has the old blue Embassy logo that had the keyboard sound.

 

[Nick=Ma]

Who's the Boss? has the Embassy logo as well.

 

[ScottR]

The Facts of Life didn't have a logo during the first couple of years. It didn't become Embassy until later. I was just wondering if the error was with the dvds or the original tapes. The episodes seemed to have a brighter look to them, which may account for the fade not going out completely. It's just strange that it only happens on those two consecutive episodes.

 

[MatthewA]

Which episodes are we talking about?

BTW, Diff'rent Strokes was produced by Tandem Productions, the Lear/Yorkin company. T.A.T. was the Lear/Jerry Parenchio organization, but for all intents and purposes they were one company, as far as I can gather.

 

[MatthewA]

Diff'rent Strokes, it should be added, DID have the Embassy logo in its final season, while the copyright notice still said "Tandem Productions". Whether Sony will keep this logo on any future Facts seasons (starting a few episodes into season 4) is doubtful considering that, 227 and Who's the Boss aside, they are the worst in preserving TV logos on broadcast and cable TV reruns or even on DVD. The early episodes of Married with Children, for instance, do not retain the Embassy logo logo on the season sets, but one does on one of the "Most outrageous episodes" discs. Those, however, were made when Sony was still a consistently reliable DVD producer. Sony seems to have done well with the Facts of Life S1/S2 set; they look good and are uncut (except that the recaps of the two 2-part episodes are gone, which was also done before on other Sony DVDs). I am worried they don't blow it with the next 7 seasons; there's still things like hourlong episodes and the 2 movies to consider.

227, by the way, had an odd effect with its logo transition; it faded directly to the logo instead of cutting to it, yet the blue background faded in after the "E" started spinning. This was on later years of The Jeffersons as well (maybe Marla Gibbs liked the effect?). I was able to recreate it using color key effects on Final Cut Pro.

This link might help explain the often confusing corporate and branding structure of Norman Lear's TV production company:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_Television

 

[ScottR]

The episodes that don't fade out all the way are Episodes 2 and 3 from the First Season. I'm thinking that maybe this is how the master tapes ended, because the rest of the episodes don't do this.

 

[MatthewA]

The first 4 episodes don't have a T.A.T in-credit notice for some reason. Without recordings of NBC airings to compare them to, I can't say why. Maybe they just forgot it.

However, on a Jeffersons rerun on the WGN satellite feed in 1994, I did see a TAT logo. The music sounded like someone beating a cat (it was made on a synthesizer) and it had cheap computer graphics; it was different than the P*I*T*S Films logo, however. The episode was one part of the 3-part 1978 clip show, which is edited on the DVD; that one doesn't have a T.A.T. in-credit notice either (on the DVD that is; I don't recall the WGN version, and I never saw it again on any other pre-Embassy Jeffersons episodes anywhere). Supposedly when Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman aired on the CBS late movie in 1980 it had a closing logo of some kind, and I think this was it. I don't believe it was used on any prime time network shows and only occasionally in syndication. I have one NBC daytime rerun each of Diff'rent Strokes and Facts of Life (the respective first episodes) but they cut off right at the very tail end of the credits.

The initial syndication run of Facts of Life was in 1986, and would have had an Embassy Telecommunications logo affixed to all episodes. Diff'rent Strokes went into syndication in 1984 through Embassy and had the logo on the original syndication tapes sent to stations.

Keep in mind the only thing Norman Lear wasn't liberal with was money. That's why all the shows from his company are on tape. That's why Carroll O'Connor, Redd Foxx, and Gary Coleman (to name a few) had to fight to get salary increases.

 

[ScottR]

So, your tapes of the broadcasts don't include a T.A.T. in credit logo either? Do they fade all the way out, or cut off abruptly?

 

[MatthewA]

They cut off abruptly.

Right now I'm killing myself trying to find out the song Tootie and her friend dance to in the "Who am I?" episode.

 

[Jeff#]

That's something you rarely see anymore: Sitcoms shot on videotape!

 

[MatthewA]

Actually, some shows today are shot on HD videotape. Many people believe the FCC is mandating HDTV but they're not; they're mandating Digital TV, which includes SD signals. If they were, many videotaped series would be less likely to be rerun.

 

[Jeff#]

Yes, but the modern shows on videotape are comedy-variety (Saturday Night Live which has been shot on high-definition video and also in widescreen format beginning in the current Season 31 in 2005), musical-variety (such as American Idol). or reality (Survivor and countless others).

I'm typing about SITCOMS, which I stated above. American sitcoms all seem to have been shot on film for several years now. HD has more technical possibilities, yet if the networks wanted to save money they could go back to tape anytime.

 

[ScottR]

Maybe on those Facts episodes I asked about, NBC cut away as soon as the last credit rolled, because on Episode 3, the music stops as soon as the last credits rolls, but the picture continues for a few seconds. On the dvd, those two episodes don't appear to fade out because the Sony logo comes on so quickly. Maybe the original tapes just ended mid fade.

 

[MatthewA]

It's possible the music stopping at the end of episode 3 was intentional to create a stopping point for the end theme (same as the opening theme), but they abandoned it.

 

[Jay_B!]

yes, considering s1/2 seems to be selling well, hopefully we'll see more seasons, and sooner than later. But I am very curious how they'd handle "Facts Of Life Goes To Paris" when the season 4 DVD comes. However that is handled will likely be the same way "Facts Of Life Down Under" would be done in season 8.

Sony did a bad job with season 1 of Diff'rent Strokes, but two of the hour-long episodes on season 2 (the Hello Larry crossovers) were preserved in their one-hour form, I suspect and hope the same thing will happen with Facts.

 

[MatthewA]

The problem with the movies is that each one would require another disc of their own so as not to compromise the bitrate. In season 4, there are 24 episodes (including one that aired the day I was born, as I was being born!), and in season 8 there are 24 as well. There'd be a need for another disc unless you wanted to do 10 episodes on ond disc (not good) and 9 on the other two.

I was thinking they should be on a double-feature disc like the Mike Hammer pilot films, but one of the season 4 episodes has characters from "Paris" in it, as sort of a sequel. Decisions, decisions...

And would they be remastered? I don't think "Down Under" would be as the post-production was done on tape (though shot on film), but I'm not sure about "Paris".

At least Disney has a number to call when they screw up a DVD.