Today I watched Sons ep. 1.4, "Countdown" from ME TV's recent broadcast. Some interesting things about this show I noticed. First, we talk about background music here, well, on this episode there was NO background music till the last 5 seconds of the show. An opening theme and a teeny bit at the very end of the show just before credits roll was IT! I think that's a one time thing for this show, don't remember that on any other episode. There was however plenty of really annoying sound effect noises, all kinds of beeps and rings and electronic tones were heard thruout the entire episode, that was really annoying and bothersome. I kept thinking my coffee maker was turning off or the phone was ringing or my alarm clock was going off, all these electronic beeps and blares all thru the background of the whole episode. Maddening.

OK, here's a good thing, one big difference I recognized as soon as I saw it was for the first time hearing Rob at the very end of the show go into an off-camera extensive narration of the school report he was writing at the time at the very end of the show. This was so glaring a difference from the versions I've remembered before that I pulled out my original TV Land recording and checked it against the ME TV version I'd just seen.

In previous versions I've seen on TV Land that whole off camera minutes of Rob narration that end the program is cut off entirely on TV Land. On the old TV Land show you see him pick up his report to start writing and he starts out only by saying something like I'm writing about today's experience, that's it, then it cuts straight to the end credits, no Rob saying what it is he's writing at all.

It also skips the only teeny bit of background music too that's heard just before credits roll, it's gone, but something of music is on ME TV. And, by the way, more info. that one tiny bit of closing background music heard after Rob speaks off-camera on ME TV sounds very much like the new fake music used on the commercial DVDs, it sounded very foreign to my ears and not like the genuine kind of background music used originally. I can't confirm this bit because the TV Land version cuts out the ending teeny bit of music entirely, so no original or fake music is heard at all on TV Land.

By the way, the picture quality of the ME TV version was a great improvement over TV Land broadcast of the same episode. Picture on TV Land was bereft of any variations of gray from black to white, it was strictly stark black or white, no contrasts.

And another, by the way, this episode is probably my LEAST favorite episode of the series, it annoys me every time I watch it:mad:. It is so tedious and filled mostly with the annoying TV announcer (voiced by the excellent Orson Welles imitator, Paul Frees) and his fake descriptions of the glorious space mission that is supposed to be going on. Even the family seems to act like they're on another planet, in a fog and walking around like morons. I just find it unfunny and annoying. Maybe that's just me.:(

Just took a couple of minutes and compared the music at the end of Countdown--the MeTV version vs. the TV Land Canada unedited version. Different music, definitely. The "real" music on the TV Land Canada version sounds final, like it should at the end. The music on the MeTV version (which I assume matches the DVD, but I didn't check) sounds lame in comparison.

CBS SHOULD have made new broadcast episodes (where the Capitol library music would probably be OK to use) when they remastered these episodes for DVD. They probably didn't, since they supposedly have no dubbing inventory for syndication for seasons 1-5 and 11-12.

I also did a little comparing in ep. 1-5, Brotherly Love. There's some music that sounds the same in both, as Steve is pulling the blankets up on Chip and Rob. Then there's a tom-tom sound effect that's on both versions. Then they switch scenes, and show the house. On the "real" version, they have one of those ditties you hear all the time on many shows; on MeTV, it's some other lame music.

Thanks for checking that music bit out on your unedited versions, this is one time I'd like to have lived in Canada just to record their TV Land uncut versions. I feel good though knowing I can trust my Spidey Senses when it comes to recognizing the lousy fake music that was used in the commercial DVDs and on ME TV's broadcasts. I just knew that music sounded foreign to my ears, just not the kind My 3 Sons would ever use.

The only good thing about the commercial DVDs is the picture itself which is a great improvement over what was once broadcast before but with the great original music intact.