Guys.

Searching this question on the Internet shows that for years, HBO will often get "Airplane" copies of movies that have been edited for content, and try to pass them off as uncut. I don't think that HBO personally edits their films, but with the eras of Internet streaming, and often five different versions of the same film being circulated, you would think that they would at least have better quality control to show "uncut content." Their distributors or the studios are pushing out edited/ poor quality prints, I believe, sometimes, intentionally.

Back in the 1980's HBO's promise and premise was "Commercial-Free, Uncut Movies." But I recently saw "Mr. Mom" on HBO, and the scene where the TV repair woman comes to the door, and the dialogue about Jack feeding his baby chili was missing completely.

Last year or so, I saw the 1986 classic film "The Hitcher" on HBO Max. A very poor standard definition print that was dark, washed out, and would be an embarrassment for any station to show today due to its horrible quality. I even contacted HBO about the terrible quality of the print, and they even admitted this, saying that "It's the only one we have."

We got cable in 1985, and I saw "The Hitcher" around 1988 on HBO, and even though it was in SD, it was an excellent print. I can't believe that good prints from a mid 1980's film are gone forever! If TCM can create and maintain beautiful film restorations of films from the 30's-60's and some early 70's films, why can't HBO do it for modern movies?

We are paying premium prices for edited content! How did this all start, and what can be done to solve the problem?

Jack

It is against MPAA rules to have more than one version of films in theaters at the same time. That does not apply to TV. Cable companies sometimes show more than one version of films to make them family friendly. For instance, Saturday Night Fever was rated R but because it was so popular, it was re-edited into a PG version. Either one may be shown on cable. As far as the quality, that depends on who owns the films. If HBO doesn't own a movie, they have to buy or rent it from whomever does. If you don't like HBO, drop it. One thing you find out about cable is that it costs ten times as much to add a network as you get back if you drop it. I barely watch those stations anymore but my cable company would only give me a monthly reduction of $3 if I dropped all the movie networks so I keep them.

What you are referring to in Mr. Mom is when the TV repairman says, "You crazy? You fed a baby chili?" about 35-36 minutes into the movie. I checked my non-widescreen DVD of the movie I got free at Pizza Hut circa 2003- and the widescreen version of the movie that ran last year on the Sundance channel, and that scene was in both of those versions.

Often the quality of movies and TV shows isn't as good as it should be. I notice they still sell (and show on TV) non-widescreen versions of movies on DVD that were shot in widescreen, and they even sell black and white copies of movies and TV shows that were originally in color. I guess either they can't find a better copy, or getting a better copy would co$t more $$$$$. In somewhat of a similar way, I'll bet a lot of movies and filmed TV shows from the 20th century on high-definition TV channels really aren't in high-definition.