Decided on a new thread, as we have now aired 3 episodes upon 1/7/20 The Antenna TV airings of "It's A Living" are plagued with a disaster upon whoever did the digitizing conversion. I am stating every dissolve and camera cut strobes a frame or two into the next rendering the show useless for archiving.

I actually played back frame by frame, you see upon a camera cut the last frame studders into the next frame.

I am quite surprised that no one else is writing on this.....It is not my provider, as the commercials are fine, and every other show that i watch does not have this issue. Once Three's Company begins problem solved.

Remember this old syndicated package with the same edits from the one week it aired on TV Land 20 years ago had not been aired since. Logo airings though interrupted by countless mid sentence commercial breaks were also redone or almost remastered for the newly created credit crunch.

Now with the help from Stevea (a great poster here, I am going to quote him from another post he wrote, I don't think he will mind and hopefully comment)

"I read somewhere this becomes a problem when they try to transfer old videotaped shows to HD, and reconvert them to SD (old videotaped shows should never be converted to HD.)--I don't know if this is true."

Steve and others this is true, You see also oddly Logo & Antenna are one of the very few Not broadcasting in HD, making viewing on wonderful 36 inch 4:3 old TV's a viewing pleasure, FULL SCREEN as shot!

I guess when Logo redid the credits, they used a better lab, Btw the total run times from the Logo airings and Antenna airings remain virtually unchanged, the only difference is that yes Antenna takes their standard 3 commercial breaks and Logo has at least 4!

What a disappointment, at least all the countless hours I put into making my 80 episode best of logo set on 20 DVD's was well worth it as I planned on recording at least the Ann Jillian 3 seasons again in their entirety since Antenna does run "Bugless" but the flicker is so distracting at least to me I consider recording them is useless.

I'm looking at it now and this is awful. First of all it looks like it's been processed thru Filmlook (ugh!), and has possibly been converted to HD and downconverted to SD again, but this is only a guess. Virtually every camera switch is accompanied by a picture breakup, and one even had a momentary freeze. But shortly before the middle break I saw a perfectly clean dissolve.

Like I said in another thread an older videotaped show should never be converted to HD. The older videotape doesn't have enough resolution for it.

There was another perfect transition (dissolve). Then in the next scene someone is walking fast and the picture is smearing.

Some idiot has really hosed this show up. Let's hope the original videotapes are safely sitting somewhere. It's probably a little late to hope for a DVD release.

Yeah, it's pretty bad. I have reported this flicker issue to Antenna TV for what its worth.

I imagine they are using the same edits that Logo is using. In tonight's episode Fallen Idol, they shortened the scene where Sonny is singing I Got You (I Feel Good) by James Brown. TV Land had left the entire scene play with him singing.

I noticed Antenna has an extremely long first break for this show, filled with their usual garbage ads. You'd think they could get "normal" sponsors in primetime. But, anyway, I don't know their total program time in this case, but it almost has to be better than Logo, right?

You see also oddly Logo & Antenna are one of the very few Not broadcasting in HD, making viewing on wonderful 36 inch 4:3 old TV's a viewing pleasure, FULL SCREEN as shot!



Here, here!!!

May I ask what are garbage ads on Antenna TV?

Hefty trash bag commercials or Waste Management ones?

I don't have this network so I am curious. Sorry to hear that this series is being mushed.

May I ask what are garbage ads on Antenna TV?

Hefty trash bag commercials or Waste Management ones?

I don't have this network so I am curious. Sorry to hear that this series is being mushed.

Junk ads such as Shriners, etc.

Here is the response I got from Antenna TV on Facebook:

Antenna TV: "We took a look at this issue on the network. We can see it on one monitor but not on the one leaving the building. We have put our detective hats on and will look for a solution. Thanks for your patience."

Hopefully they will figure it out.

I amazes me how Antenna TV has the rights to uncut episodes of The Hogan Family but has really butchered episodes of It's a Living. There is no reason for these episodes to be close to the runtimes of the ones on Logo. Logo a terrible example of how to air classic TV. The runtimes should be at least 2 minutes and change longer than Logo's airings. I know the Alice and One Day at a Time airings were like night and day between Antenna TV and Logo.

I hope Antenna can fix the issues with these episodes or go back to the source material if it is still available. The edits are not nearly as big of a deal as the quality of the show. I watched only a few minutes of episode 4 and the slight pauses and picture break ups are not desirable at all.

I think the reason for Antenna's short runtimes for It's a Living is because they cut Sonny's performances at the piano because of music rights. That would make the episodes shorter.

I noticed last night that a scene was cut, supposedly where Jan was putting down Cassie's life style. Later in the show in a scene between Jan and Cassie, Cassie made reference to Jan's comments that she did not like.

We never got to see or hear what the dialogue was that prompted the follow up scene/conversation, but instead we were left scratching our heads.

It's a Living is now with a new distributor, maybe they will improve the quality of these episodes in the future.

It's still great to see this again, It's been decades for me.

In some episodes songs are cut and others not. In Fallen Idol, they cut Sonny singing James Brown's I Got You (I Feel Good) but then last night in The Lois Affair, they kept him singing Johnny Mathis' Chances Are and The Twelfth of Never.

Back in the day, at the end of each episode, the Lorimar tag would play. But now on these episodes on Antenna TV, that's gone and it says Distributed by Paul Brownstein Productions.

Is Paul Brownstein Productions a 3rd party distributor like The Program Exchange or are they the main distributor? The Dick Van Dyke Show used to be part of CBS Paramount Distribution but they too show a Paul Brownstein Productions logo on Me-TV. Also, Dick Van Dyke is no longer in the CBS Syndication Bible. I guess I'm wondering, who would have the master prints for It's a Living??

Here is the response I got from Antenna TV on Facebook:

Antenna TV: "We took a look at this issue on the network. We can see it on one monitor but not on the one leaving the building. We have put our detective hats on and will look for a solution. Thanks for your patience."

Hopefully they will figure it out.

Here Here! Great work, and Im surprised they got back to you! Thanks from all of us!

Here is the response I got from Antenna TV on Facebook:

Antenna TV: "We took a look at this issue on the network. We can see it on one monitor but not on the one leaving the building. We have put our detective hats on and will look for a solution. Thanks for your patience."

Hopefully they will figure it out.

UPDATE: The "Our Man Barry" still season 1 episode aired last night 1/15/20, though the problem still existed, it was to a much lesser degree, though compared to Logo airings, still not worth archiving.

I also had hope that the episode would run longer because after the opening, the first of the three breaks did not last a full 5 minutes, it was near 3 minutes, without comparing to my Logo copy, I cannot say if anything of importance was left in, but my guess is no as the second break was now instead a near 5 minutes! So we shall see, but the novelty has worn off for me, I just wanted to report that so far one episode starting on 1/15/20 had far less digital bleeding issues, but with a fine eye they still appeared but not at every scene change or camera cut.

UPDATE TWO: The 1/15/20 information above seemed like a fluke as last night 1/16/20 quality returned to unwatchable........think i will stop updates......I think Antenna really screwed this up, I love the winter 2020 schedule and times and coupling Archie, Alice, & It's A Living in a 90 minute block as restaurant themed shows. I also like the one episode showings like the old broadcast syndicated days instead of one hour blocks, but believe the 90 minute block should have started at 6PM eastern (known as dinner time)

UPDATE: The "Our Man Barry" still season 1 episode aired last night 1/15/20, though the problem still existed, it was to a much lesser degree, though compared to Logo airings, still not worth archiving.

I also had hope that the episode would run longer because after the opening, the first of the three breaks did not last a full 5 minutes, it was near 3 minutes, without comparing to my Logo copy, I cannot say if anything of importance was left in, but my guess is no as the second break was now instead a near 5 minutes! So we shall see, but the novelty has worn off for me, I just wanted to report that so far one episode starting on 1/15/20 had far less digital bleeding issues, but with a fine eye they still appeared but not at every scene change or camera cut.

UPDATE TWO: The 1/15/20 information above seemed like a fluke as last night 1/16/20 quality returned to unwatchable........think i will stop updates......I think Antenna really screwed this up, I love the winter 2020 schedule and times and coupling Archie, Alice, & It's A Living in a 90 minute block as restaurant themed shows. I also like the one episode showings like the old broadcast syndicated days instead of one hour blocks, but believe the 90 minute block should have started at 6PM eastern (known as dinner time)

I noticed this too with the Our Man Barry episode. I noticed there were less issues in last nights episode, Kids. Interestingly, it seems the first 10 episodes produced (the 10 that aired on TV Land back in 2001) seem to be rather rough! It will be interesting to see if these issues continue in the upcoming season episodes.

What's really disappointing is that I was hoping that Antenna TV would have better broadcasts of the show so there could be an upgraded set of the show in the trading sphere. That does not look like it will be the case unfortunately.

I never bothered recording the show from Logo because of the edits alone but if I only knew Antenna TV would be broadcasting similar edits along with this visual nightmare quality I may have recorded those Logo versions earlier on.

Such a shame that this show has not been broadcasted in over a decade and when it finally returns, it is not done much justice. Like I mentioned earlier, the recordings from early/late 90s broadcasts were better. If you have those recordings please hang onto them as those are probably the best versions of the show out there (aside from original broadcasts).

I have seen some recent airings from both channels, and it's obvious that Antenna's airings are time-sped. I noticed it as soon as the theme started. Logo's run at the normal speed. It's not as bad as when TNN ran ALICE and it was unwatchable because everyone was moving around like Mexican jumping beans, but it's still very distracting.

I'm sure Logo edited out more than Antenna though when it comes to comparison. Regardless, I've been enjoying It's a Living on Antenna and would never have watched it on Logo.

Just checked out episode 6 and it ran roughly 19 minutes in total. It had the shorter opening credits so that was a factor. If it was aired with the full length credits, it would have just made it to 20 minutes. My mind is still blown by how short this series is running on Antenna TV, the home of classic TV and airing them as they were meant to be.

Last night Antenna TV aired an episode from season 2 when the show was retooled as "Making a Living". I was curious to see how they would do the opening credits as I've never really seen this show in syndication, especially season 2 episodes.

As expected the opening credits have the title "It's a Living" and the lyrics were changed to acomadate the change. As a result, the credits run a lot shorter than they originally aired. If you have ever seen the original opening credits for season 2, you can tell where the obvious edits are.

I'll check out the rest of the episode later but I'll assume these will run no longer than roughly 20 minutes as well.

Here are the opening credits for season 2 as it originally aired. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-1R-NZiq1M . It starts at 0:59

In regards to the edits, why are some of these music numbers not being cleared for broadcast? I mean, when this show aired previously over a decade ago all of the music still intact. Is this the doing of the new distribution company for the series?

Sonny performs a few music numbers in almost every episode, if not every episode. Some of the music stayed intact while others did not make the cut resulting in loss of whole scenes.

I was watching an old recording of a season 1 episode called "Kids" and the opening scene has Sonny singing at the piano. That scene was cut on the Antenna TV broadcast. The scene opens with Lois asking everyone about 20 dollars she loaned to one of them. It totally skips over Sonny's music number and his flirting usual flirting with the ladies in the beginning of the episode.

In regards to the edits, why are some of these music numbers not being cleared for broadcast? I mean, when this show aired previously over a decade ago all of the music still intact. Is this the doing of the new distribution company for the series?

Sonny performs a few music numbers in almost every episode, if not every episode. Some of the music stayed intact while others did not make the cut resulting in loss of whole scenes.

I was watching an old recording of a season 1 episode called "Kids" and the opening scene has Sonny singing at the piano. That scene was cut on the Antenna TV broadcast. The scene opens with Lois asking everyone about 20 dollars she loaned to one of them. It totally skips over Sonny's music number and his flirting usual flirting with the ladies in the beginning of the episode.

The music rights are all cleared for television, but since each episode needs 5 minutes cut the music is the easiest thing to cut as it has no bearing on the episode content, sonny goofing up some song for laughs is a time waster.

As for the comparison to Antenna & Logo airings, Logo is FAR Superior in quality, thought i would and could never write this, but Logos' are clearer and brighter, it is just the way they interrupt so abruptly for the 4 commercial breaks instead of antenna's 3 breaks.

But as talked extensively the antenna airings are unwatchable due to the constant flicker, some viewers may/are just getting used to it, but if you have both Logo and Antenna check the quality difference.

As for the timing and editing, there is no difference, each episode runs approx 20 minutes in total on both channels.

Yes, they are airing essentially the same prints they aired in syndication from 1989-mid-90's and on TV Land in 2000-2001. The only change with the content is they have taken out some additional music numbers here and there.

Time compression is another issue that either the distributor or Antenna TV has imposed. While the the episodes run about 20 minutes on Antenna TV with opening and closing credits playing; these edited prints would normally run about 21 minutes. I believe the Logo versions run around 20 and a half minutes. With the closing credits getting played over the final 30 seconds. If the closing played on it's own, they would clock around 21 minutes.

It just floors me that Antenna TV, isn't just playing the 21 minutes uncompressed episodes. Other shows on the station run 22-23 minutes.

That opening scene with Sonny in the episode "Kids" was missing in my tape of a 1989 rerun of the episode, so it was cut a long time ago.

That opening scene with Sonny in the episode "Kids" was missing in my tape of a 1989 rerun of the episode, so it was cut a long time ago.

Yes, Lorimar cut that scene. The syndication package from Golden West from 1983-1985 had that scene included and then when Lorimar took over and re-edited the package, they cut it.

It seems that the new distributor, Paul Brownstein Productions essentially just took the Lorimar edits and made a few more cuts..

I'll never understand why they had to go back in an edit more. Each distributor went in an took out more content and it wasn't really necessary. The show already ran between 21 and 22 minutes long in the original syndication package, which is more than acceptable for today's standards. That gives networks plenty or room for commercials and ads. Logo and cable networks operate a little differently since they believe in more commercials than show time. However, Antenna and the over the air networks don't really operate like that so I'm unsure why Antenna got butchered up and time compressed episodes.

I doubt this was Antenna TV's doing though. I think it was given to them that way by the distributor.

Then again, The Hogan Family and a few of the other shows on Antenna TV are reportedly time sped so maybe Antenna TV is imposing this method on their shows.

The Hogan Family runs between 23 and 24 minutes when slowed down to it's original speed.

It's true that Antenna TV speeds up their shows. When Antenna first started running the Joey Bishop episodes, they were 23 minutes with 7 minutes of commercials, but now the episodes are 22 minutes with 8 minutes of commercials. No additional edits were made to the episodes but they've been speeded up to allow for an extra minute of commercial time. :rolleyes:

The original made for first run syndication episodes (Third season) ran 23+ minutes, as I still have my original VHS from episode one the night it premiered. Sadly that is the only one i taped.

Sometimes channels have been known to restore previously cut scenes. I remember when CBN was running Hazel in 1986, in the last season episode "The Crush," they cut about 2/3 of the scene where Steve takes Millie to Observation Hill; it picked up where Steve says, "...to get back to that poem..." (I'm sure you remember the girl that played Millie; BTW today's her birthday.) A year or two later, after CBN apparently switched from running the episode on film to running it on tape, I think the scene was shown intact.

I was hoping Logo or Antenna would likewise restore some scenes that might have been cut from late 80's reruns of IAL, but instead, they cut it even more.

Sometimes channels have been known to restore previously cut scenes. I remember when CBN was running Hazel in 1986, in the last season episode "The Crush," they cut about 2/3 of the scene where Steve takes Millie to Observation Hill; it picked up where Steve says, "...to get back to that poem..." (I'm sure you remember the girl that played Millie; BTW today's her birthday.) A year or two later, after CBN apparently switched from running the episode on film to running it on tape, I think the scene was shown intact.

I was hoping Logo or Antenna would likewise restore some scenes that might have been cut from late 80's reruns of IAL, but instead, they cut it even more.

Great post, I certainly do know who played millie! LOL.....just as she played a child in a hour version of the twilight zone about parents raising their child without speech to intense her non-verbal senses.

Movies! diginet ran "The Ann Jillian Story" saturday night at midnight, i recorded it, never saw it, very nice film, but was disappointed it totally overlooked her sitcom work, would have been nice to hear that she was in it's a living/jennifer slept here. Mainly only concentrated on her singing career and of course brave breast cancer battle. I love her!

If you look carefully you can sometimes see restorations. Old Viacom syndication prints, for example, cut a few seconds before breaks and transitions between scenes. You can sometimes see restorations of these small sections on shows like Gomer Pyle and Paul Lynde, for example.

Slightly off topic, but something to notice, sometimes.