As some of you may know, the complete series box set of Mama's Family was recently released on DVD. Unfortunately, the original, unedited versions of the season 1 episodes "Cellmates" and "Mama's Boyfriend" weren't included in the set (Time Life said we have the episodes on our sets that they were given by the original producer's son and were told were the original broadcast masters, but are clearly the edited, syndicated cuts).

Is there anyone out there who has copies of the original NBC broadcasts of those two episodes? They would have the Harvey Korman introductions and original NBC opening (with a different house than was used in the seasons 3-6 openings). If we can find someone with copies - regardless of the quality - maybe we can send them to Time Life and they can work out a way for people who bought the set to own the original, uncut versions of those episodes, no matter what shape they're in.

That's a great idea but I doubt that would work. If all it took to get things released on DVD was sending in copies of old recordings then every show would have a release. There are too many legal issues involved and getting the rights is another big obstacle.

It all depends on the willingness of the rights holder and publisher. I was loosely involved with the release of Sledge Hammer (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090525/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) as Alan Spencer the creator/producer was trying to get the DVD's released without the laughter track. He only had masters for some or all of the episodes with the laughter track so enlisted a few of us who had TV recordings from the UK to send him our copies. The audio was cleaned up and used on the official releases.

Fans have also been heavily involved in the locating, restoration, and eventual release of old Dr. Who (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056751/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2) episodes.