I don't understand, where is seasons 2-5? I bought season 1 in 2004!! I hate when these companies release 1 season and don't finish! and other shows that are stupid and most I have never heard of are released!

Music rights, specifically the S3 episode "The Big Deal" with guest star Sherman Hemsley. The episode had the musical number to The Pointer Sisters' "Jump (For My Love)".

S4 episode "The Class of '89" had musical guests Run-DMC performing "Mary Mary".

Music rights, specifically the S3 episode "The Big Deal" with guest stars Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford playing their characters from The Jeffersons.

Isabel Sanford wasn't in the episode and Sherman Hemsley wasn't playing his George Jefferson character.

I recorded all the episodes from seasons 2-5 when they were first aired on encore black.

I'm not sure exactly what the hold-up is with releasing the rest of the series but I'm guessing it's got to be the music. This show used a LOT of music.

I would like an official release of seasons 2-5 but I'm in no hurry now that I have the episodes recorded on DVD in great quality.

Isabel Sanford wasn't in the episode and Sherman Hemsley wasn't playing his George Jefferson character.

Fixed. Thanks for the catch. I must've mixed up this episode with the "Fresh Prince" episode where Sanford and Hemsley did make cameos as their Jefferson characters!

I recorded all the episodes from seasons 2-5 when they were first aired on encore black.

I'm not sure exactly what the hold-up is with releasing the rest of the series but I'm guessing it's got to be the music. This show used a LOT of music.

I would like an official release of seasons 2-5 but I'm in no hurry now that I have the episodes recorded on DVD in great quality.

Does Encore Black show the uncut episodes (uncut length for a mid/late 80s show should be 24-25 minutes) or 22-minute syndicated cuts?

I'd sure hope a premium, non-commercial cable channel would make the efforts to show the uncut versions of all programming whether old primetime network sitcoms or rated-R movies. Glancing at the Encore website, I notice another Encore channel shows Magnum, PI in 50- or 55-minute (not 60-minute) timeslots, which gives the hint they probably show the full length (not syndicated) episodes. Encore Black shows What's Happening in 30-minute timeslots though.

The Encore channels seem to have picked up shows that aren't completely available on DVD yet, whether 227 or Amen on the Black channel, or Murphy Brown (another show where music rights hold up later season DVD release) on Classic.

Fixed. Thanks for the catch. I must've mixed up this episode with the "Fresh Prince" episode where Sanford and Hemsley did make cameos as their Jefferson characters!
No problem.

The versions on encore black seem to be the original airings however I'm no expert...there may be an edited episode in the mix.

I also learned about a S5 episode "Video Activity" that had Bobby Brown as a guest star. He and other cast members danced to "I'll Be Good To You" in the last scene. "My Prerogative" was played coming out of a commercial break. Another reason why music rights costs (in addition to low sales) make releasing later 227 seasons on DVD too costly.

I seen many shows keep performances in fact while editing out other music used in scenes. When What's Happening Now was released on DVD, the music at the party scene was edited for royalty free music that was an 80's instrumental. The Game did this as well and they used music heavily. I will admit the DVD scoring did a good job of keeping the feeling of the scene in tact.

Bottom line, 227's sales sucked big time hence the lack of releases. There were many commentators who talked about this with the 'why only one season of my favorite show was released'. Supply and demand, simple economics. A Different World was more politics between the distributor as the first season sold extremely well and fans were asking for it. In the case of Mama's Family, there was a legal issue between the owner of the original copies of the episodes verses the syndicator who was willing to sell syndication edits to the DVD folks. Fans wanted the original opening from the NBC years restored and scenes put back in. They were not willing to buy those edits.