TV Land's Editing of Leave it to Beaver

[howilu]

On several other show's message boards, there have been several posts regarding TV Land's editing. Do you think TV Land has done a hack job on editing Leave it to Beaver? Feel free to mention any scenes you reemember that may have been cut.

[GeeBee]

Originally posted by howilu
On several other show's message boards, there have been several posts regarding TV Land's editing. Do you think TV Land has done a hack job on editing Leave it to Beaver? Feel free to mention any scenes you reemember that may have been cut.

ALL television editing is a hack job.

[Mijada]

Yes, TVLand has edited scenes from some of the Beaver eps. I remember when I was a kid seeing more dialog in the Boy Scout ep as well as the ep where Beaver has to write a poem for third grade. Several other eps have also been chopped up, I just can't remember which ones.

[hawaii five-o]

During the first season episodes, they edit out the little intro at the beginning with Ward's voice over introducing the episode.

[Michael [hXc]]

Too bad. I enjoyed that. He introduces the opening credits, so it isn't all gone.

[Jack1000]

I posted on this topic before, but it is worth repeating:

1.) "The Bank Account" has several small edits. The funny line that I recall when Wally is telling Beaver how they should sneak out of the school to buy Ward's hunting jacket has been cut from TV Land:

Wally: "We'll sneak out the girl's back door, Mr. Johnson never watches that door."

(cut below)

Beaver: "How Come?"

Wally: "Well...cuz girls never do anything bad!" (cut)

************

"Beaver's Prize" has a huge cut. That's the one were Beaver sneaks out to the movies with Larry and wins a bike. A hilarious scene is Larry is on the poarch and his mother is yelling at him!

(All of this has been cut by TV Land)

Mrs. Mondello: "Now Larry, I don't want anymore stalling, I want to know where you got that bike!"

Larry: "Mom, I told you, a truck pulled up, and a rich kid got out and said his father was a millionaire and said I could have the bike! (Remember that he swore not to tell that Beaver had actually won the bike)

Mrs. Mondello: Oh Larry!!!! I suppose the millionare had the bicycle with him?

Larry: "Gee no Mom! The kid gave it to me, cuz his father's a millionare. Only instead of giving away million dollars, he gives away bicycles!

Mrs. Mondello: Larry!!!! You get in the house right now!!! Oh, when your father gets home he's gonna get to the bottom of this!!! (She starts chasing him and he starts running!)

Larry: "Don't hit me Mom, don't hit me!!!

(end cut)

TV Land picks up the scene with the Cleaver's eating dinner and the phone rings, Ward answers it and Mrs. Mondello says:

"Mr. Cleaver, my husband doesn't feel that Larry should be keeping Beaver's bicycle."

*************

Tell it to Ella seems to have a very strange tag. That's the one where Beaver is not allowed to go out on school nights but his friends Mike and Kevin can. He takes advice from Eddie to write to Ella, and Ella sides with Ward and June. Beaver tries to hide the paper, but Ward finds a copy and Beaver confesses that he wrote the article.

The strange part is the next scene there is the tag. Beaver and Ward come home from a football game. Beaver enters his bedroom. Beaver says, "Wally you still up?" "Wally answers, "Yea, I had a date, how was the football game?" "We won " Beaver answers. "I saw a letter in that Tell it to Ella column that says, that fathers and sons should spend more time together. I put it in Dad's den for him to see." Wally says, "Yea, that's what Dad told me you did." Beaver has a strange look on his face like there is one of surprise. It got the same reaction out of me! It seems like there should be something else there! The scene ends there and the credits roll.

I USED TO THINK that Wally's line was "Yea, that's what Dad told me to do." This would imply that Wally wanted Beaver to see the article. However, the line by all who reviewed this episode is "That's what Dad told me YOU DID." Beaver had it planed for Ward to read the column. But, why does Beaver look surprised at Wally's reaction? Watch this tag very closely. Beaver looks like.....What? this is strange? Why does he look like that at the end of the tag? It is Wally who should be surprised.

This drives me nuts, and if anybody on any message board finds out from a Leave it to Beaver authoritarian what they were going for in that scene I would love to know! We have a poster who said that her mother remembers something else in between the "Beaver confessing to writing to Ella" and the tag sequence. This sickens me about the editing because it shows why we need DVD's of a great show like this, or somebody who can review the show in its orginal format. I thought that the moral of the episode was not to take the advice from strangers, that your parents are usually the best at making judgments concerning what their kids should do.

There is NOTHING about Beaver and Ward attending a football game together in the presumably edited version. We must assume that this was a Friday or Saturday Night game. But now another problem? Why would Beaver want to read the column after getting the advice that he was hoping he wouldn't get? Ward and June are pretty strict with him at the dinner table. The next scene is way too over-positive of a course change:

"Hey Dad, let's go to a football game!" I want to find out what is missing there, because if there isn't anything missing there, the producers and Director David Butler really left us hanging! Do you agree?

Jack

[HaskellGirl]

I don't remember that scene, but from what I'm reading, I don't understand the confusion, but maybe I'm reading it wrong. But I would think Beaver looked suprised because he thought he was being sneaky, but it turned out Ward knew all along how the "Tell it to Ella" column ended up on his desk.

[Jack1000]

Originally posted by HaskellGirl
I don't remember that scene, but from what I'm reading, I don't understand the confusion, but maybe I'm reading it wrong. But I would think Beaver looked suprised because he thought he was being sneaky, but it turned out Ward knew all along how the "Tell it to Ella" column ended up on his desk.

That's a good way of looking at it! Seems to clear it up a little. We'll see what the other board members think about this.

Jack

[Jack1000]

I got another cut scene! (I think that this is the episode that it belongs to)

In "Eddie Quits School" he gets a job at a gas station with a boss that chews him out constantly. The line or scene that I believe that is from this episode is when Eddie is getting yelled at by his new boss: (cut from TV Land)

Eddie's Boss: Haskell!!! Let me ask you a question, did you ever finish high school?

Eddie: (sheepishly) "Ummmm no sir, I dropped out"

Eddie's Boss: " I guess you never learned you can't put 20 gallons of gas into an 18 gallon tank!"

It has to be this episode because I recall of no other episode where this line would make sense. Not sure where the scene fits in. My guess is it is after the high school principal (Mr. Farmer) stops to talk to Eddie about coming back to school and just after Eddie overflows his gas tank.

Jack