What's the last TV DVD/Blu-ray you bought? (5 Viewers)

[Sky King]

Just purchased season 1 of my Holy Grail...Ben Casey.

 

[LouA]

Gunsmoke Seasons 16, and 17
Our Miss Brooks ,
Ben Casey ,
Deadline ,
Curb Your Enthusiasm seasons 8 and 9.

 

[GMBurns]

Dave, if you get the time, once you finish going through the set, can you please let us know approximately how many of the Barnaby Jones S2 episodes are uncut? I'm contemplating getting this season, and would probably buy it if roughly half or more of the episodes are uncut. Thanks in advance!

Jeff, it's almost half: 11 out of the 24 season 2 episodes are uncut, running at about 50 minutes.

Barnaby Jones and Cannon are two of my all-time favorites so I was thrilled when I saw that VEI was completing those stalled series back in 2015. I was very disappointed to find out that most of the BJ episodes were of the edited variety. But I love the show, so I have made my peace with it.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Jeff, it's almost half: 11 out of the 24 season 2 episodes are uncut, running at about 50 minutes.

Barnaby Jones and Cannon are two of my all-time favorites so I was thrilled when I saw that VEI was completing those stalled series back in 2015. I was very disappointed to find out that most of the BJ episodes were of the edited variety. But I love the show, so I have made my peace with it.

Thanks for that info, Glenn (thanks also to Dave)! 11 out of 24 isn't too bad...may still get this set. I'm almost out of S1 episodes.

 

[TJPC]

What kind of things do they edit out of these shows? Is it just music, or did they make episodes shorter to pack in more commercials?

 

[GMBurns]

What kind of things do they edit out of these shows? Is it just music, or did they make episodes shorter to pack in more commercials?

I wouldn't be able to tell if any music is missing. The most noticeable thing you miss are those infamous "Act I, Act II" tags that are such a staple of Quinn Martin shows. Some of the epilogs are noticeably truncated, so some of Barnaby's folksy banter with Lt. Biddle gets cut.

 

[bmasters9]

I wouldn't be able to tell if any music is missing. The most noticeable thing you miss are those infamous "Act I, Act II" tags that are such a staple of Quinn Martin shows. Some of the epilogs are noticeably truncated, so some of Barnaby's folksy banter with Lt. Biddle gets cut.

It's sad that Barnaby Jones is presented in such a slipshod fashion for a QM series (missing act headers, otherwise edited), whereas other QMs are far more complete (The Streets of San Francisco, The Fugitive)!

 

[BobO'Link]

If they're going to cut anything I'd much prefer it be Act Headers than dialog. At least with those no "content" is missing.

You'd think they'd make an effort to edit non-essential stuff for any series to be shortened for syndication - cut the length of extended "beauty" shots (pans of streets/houses/etc.), if there's a chase cut some of it (most are there to burn off time anyway), basically anything that doesn't include dialog or *needed* visual information is good for shortening. But... that takes more time and money than hacking off the end/beginning of a long dialog sequence, an opening/closing joke, and more. I know lots of people like them but I can absolutely do without "Tonight on xxxx" open sequences as many are spoiler filled. Frequently those sequences are long enough to get the "needed" commercial time in a syndication slot.

 

[GMBurns]

I got over the initial disappointment and can enjoy Barnaby in his syndicated beauty. Some of the transitions feel more abrupt than others, but overall the major content of the stories seems to be intact. I've never had a moment where I thought "Wait - what? How did that happen?".

 

[bmasters9]

I got over the initial disappointment and can enjoy Barnaby in his syndicated beauty. Some of the transitions feel more abrupt than others, but overall the major content of the stories seems to be intact. I've never had a moment where I thought "Wait - what? How did that happen?".

So, in other words, the editing is not as bad as you thought it would be?

 

[Lecagr]

With season 2 of Barnaby Jones, if the uncut shows are 50 minutes then I'm assuming the edited ones run in the 46 minute territory with about 4 minutes of scenes being cut off. Of the 24 episodes in the season, since 13 are edited, that is WAY too many edited episodes for me so it's a no sale. If only one or two episodes were edited, then I'd probably buy it.

How about seasons 3 thru 8? Are there any uncut episodes in those sets or is every episode edited?

 

[Jeff Flugel]

With season 2 of Barnaby Jones, if the uncut shows are 50 minutes then I'm assuming the edited ones run in the 46 minute territory with about 4 minutes of scenes being cut off. Of the 24 episodes in the season, since 13 are edited, that is WAY too many edited episodes for me so it's a no sale. If only one or two episodes were edited, then I'd probably buy it.

How about seasons 3 thru 8? Are there any uncut episodes in those sets or is every episode edited?

From what I recall reading in the old Barnaby Jones thread, Lee, nearly every episode is cut in the remaining seasons post-S2.

 

[Lecagr]

From what I recall reading in the old Barnaby Jones thread, Lee, nearly every episode is cut in the remaining seasons post-S2.

Thanks Jeff, well at least we got all of Cannon uncut and not time compressed so that's a positive thing. I just wonder what happened with Barnaby Jones, how VEI ended up with edited versions of the episodes for their transfers.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Just ordered:

The Best of the Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (24 episode set)
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. S2
Deadline (pre-order)

And on Blu:

Doctor Who: Peter Davison Complete Season One

 

[GMBurns]

I picked up a used copy of Craig Kennedy, Criminologist. It's a 2-disc set VCI put out back in 2007. Sounded like a fun old b&w 1950's show that will give me a few hours of fun watching.

Does anyone know what network the show aired on? It looks like it was aired in the 1952-53 tv season, but I couldn't find anything about what network it was on.

 

[GMBurns]

I picked up a used copy of Craig Kennedy, Criminologist. It's a 2-disc set VCI put out back in 2007. Sounded like a fun old b&w 1950's show that will give me a few hours of fun watching.

Does anyone know what network the show aired on? It looks like it was aired in the 1952-53 tv season, but I couldn't find anything about what network it was on.

Ooops, never mind. It says right on the back cover that it was syndicated. Be nice if I paid attention once in a while.

Either way, a perfect old show for mindless late night viewing. At this point I'm sure VCI will not be releasing the other thirteen episodes, but I am glad I stumbled across this.

 

[bmasters9]

Ooops, never mind. It says right on the back cover that it was syndicated. Be nice if I paid attention once in a while.

Don't worry about it-- you're human, as are we all!

 

[Jeff Flugel]

I picked up a used copy of Craig Kennedy, Criminologist. It's a 2-disc set VCI put out back in 2007. Sounded like a fun old b&w 1950's show that will give me a few hours of fun watching.

Does anyone know what network the show aired on? It looks like it was aired in the 1952-53 tv season, but I couldn't find anything about what network it was on.

Hope you got a good price for the used set of this, Glenn...it's going for $88 on Amazon...yikes! Judging from the few clips of the show on YouTube, it looks like a fun low-budget detective series. Enjoy!

 

[GMBurns]

Hope you got a good price for the used set of this, Glenn...it's going for $88 on Amazon...yikes! Judging from the few clips of the show on YouTube, it looks like a fun low-budget detective series. Enjoy!

Yeah, got it for a little under $30 with shipping, tax, license and registration. I'm sure that's more than VCI originally sold it for. But I am a sucker for b&w 1950's tv. The low budgets and hokey scripts especially make it fun!

 

[Bert Greene]

Ooops, never mind. It says right on the back cover that it was syndicated. Be nice if I paid attention once in a while.

Either way, a perfect old show for mindless late night viewing. At this point I'm sure VCI will not be releasing the other thirteen episodes, but I am glad I stumbled across this.

Yeah, the "Craig Kennedy" series was a threadbare affair indeed sold right into syndication. It was a Weiss Brothers product. Those guys went way back in Hollywood, producing things like silent-era B-westerns and two-reel comedies (VCI also put out a two-disc collection of these latter items, under the title of 'Weiss-a-Rama" or something like that... beautiful print quality, but weak examples of silent comedy). They had the rights to the famed Craig Kennedy character, and had already produced "The Clutching Hand" serial back in 1936, one of the more famous of 'independent' serials, often maligned for its creakiness. For a small outfit, the Weiss guys sure had longevity in the business. Still recall seeing the Weiss-Global name on syndicated fare up to the early-1980s. But back to the "Craig Kennedy" tv-series, it's really a pretty bad series, compared to most other early-filmed tv product. But what the heck. I bought the set when it came it out, and then I watched it again last year, and had a fun time doing so, despite of (or maybe due to!) the series' cheesiness. I always liked Donald Woods, and he at least seems to be giving his all. But no, it's not a series I'd particularly recommend to folks wanting to see an example of early-tv detective fare. Not at all. "Boston Blackie," for example, is infinitely superior.