What Episodes on the DVD's Have The Best and Worst Restorations? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Jack1000 · 03-10-2006, 03:04 PM

Guys,

As most of you know, the quality of the Brady Bunch DVD's varies from scene to scene because Paramout appeared to do their syndication cuts from the original negatives and had to resort to 16mm/35mm back up prints, so that the DVD's would be uncut. I don't have Season 5 yet, but I wanted us to make a list of the best/worst episode DVD transfers for each season.

So far, despite 20 seconds missing from Hawaii's episode, "Pass The Tabu." the clarity of the Hawaii episodes from Season 4 is the best. While there is one scene from a 16mm back up when Bobby sits on the Ukillele, the exterior shots of Hawaii never looked better. An absolutely beautiful digital transfer!

My vote for the worst restorations is obviously due to the source material either cut or lost and replaced with back up prints. Season 1's "Father of The Year" with the extended footage of Jan and Cindy looking for Marcia, looks like it was shot with a old Super-8 home movie camera. Almost as bad in the transfer is Season 4's, "The Show Must Go On", with Bobby and Peter selling Family Frolic Night Tickets door to door. It is believed that this scene has not been viewed by anyone since the original prime time run. A mixed bag also when Peter is talking to Marcia's friend in Season 3 about "The Invasion of the Potato People Movie." in The Personality Kid. Very evident that some scenes in there original formats had to be replaced with back up prints.

The overall quality is still much better than TV Land or Syndicated prints. It is also very cool to have the grainy restorations to get the episodes uncut, as opposed to Paramount not including them at all!

What other epsides come to mind?

Jack

gregrob · 07-14-2007, 10:44 AM

Some of the scenes in some of the episodes start off with a nice, clear, excellent color picture then the next frame turns to not so clear with faded, washed-out color before going back to excellent again. "Do-Reigh-Mi" and "Bobby's Hero" are just two episodes I can think of that are like that.

Jack1000 · 07-16-2007, 12:53 AM

I am proud to have all five seasons on DVD,

I can now add more to this topic.

Overall, the video quality varies because of the need to get the material from several different sources as I posted above to get uncut episodes. The Cincinnati Kids looks excellent. But my problem is that when doing some of these episodes for DVD, it appears that entire back-up prints were used, when I have seen syndicated and TV Land edited prints that do not use back ups when original prints are still around.

In contrast to Season 5's "Cincinnati Kids" episode, look at the poor quality overall of "The Elopement" or "Snow White and the Seven Brady's." Both of those scenes have MANY back up prints inserted into them on DVD. But the problem is that instead of going back to an original print or a non-back up print in a scene that still exists on TV Land or syndicated versions, the ENTIRE SCENE uses a back up print shot. I wonder if with the final season, was Paramount so rushed to finish the series that they didn't bother to go back and know that better transfers were still available for some scenes?

Jack

Lee G · 07-17-2007, 12:20 PM

On my DVD, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN BRADYS and THE ELOPEMENT both look fine. They look clean and crisp all the way through, with consistent picture quality. I have seen episodes on the season one DVD's where the picture quality varies and you can easily tell where they spliced in the scenes that were deleted for syndication.

Watching these season five episodes, Jan looked really hot that season. She even looked better than Marcia, who was the resident cutie/hottie during seasons 1 thru 4. Take a look at Jan in the season four episodes with the braces and glasses, and compare to how hot she looks in season five. It is a drastic improvement, she underwent quite a makeover from season 4 to season 5.

I think The Brady Bunch could have easily gone on another 2 or 3 seasons. They were still going strong in season five, it's a shame they chose to call it quits after that season. As it is, we have 117 episodes but I think there should have been 120. They were averaging 24 episodes per season up thru season three, but they made only 23 eps for season four and only 22 for season five. That's too bad, I've always felt there should have been one more season four episode and two more for season five.

03-10-2006, 03:04 PM	#1
Jack1000 Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 05, 2001 Posts: 2,055	What Episodes on the DVD's Have The Best and Worst Restorations? Guys, As most of you know, the quality of the Brady Bunch DVD's varies from scene to scene because Paramout appeared to do their syndication cuts from the original negatives and had to resort to 16mm/35mm back up prints, so that the DVD's would be uncut. I don't have Season 5 yet, but I wanted us to make a list of the best/worst episode DVD transfers for each season. So far, despite 20 seconds missing from Hawaii's episode, "Pass The Tabu." the clarity of the Hawaii episodes from Season 4 is the best. While there is one scene from a 16mm back up when Bobby sits on the Ukillele, the exterior shots of Hawaii never looked better. An absolutely beautiful digital transfer! My vote for the worst restorations is obviously due to the source material either cut or lost and replaced with back up prints. Season 1's "Father of The Year" with the extended footage of Jan and Cindy looking for Marcia, looks like it was shot with a old Super-8 home movie camera. Almost as bad in the transfer is Season 4's, "The Show Must Go On", with Bobby and Peter selling Family Frolic Night Tickets door to door. It is believed that this scene has not been viewed by anyone since the original prime time run. A mixed bag also when Peter is talking to Marcia's friend in Season 3 about "The Invasion of the Potato People Movie." in The Personality Kid. Very evident that some scenes in there original formats had to be replaced with back up prints. The overall quality is still much better than TV Land or Syndicated prints. It is also very cool to have the grainy restorations to get the episodes uncut, as opposed to Paramount not including them at all! What other epsides come to mind? Jack
	Last edited by Jack1000; 03-10-2006 at 05:36 PM.

07-14-2007, 10:44 AM	#2
gregrob Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Aug 13, 2002 Posts: 130	Some of the scenes in some of the episodes start off with a nice, clear, excellent color picture then the next frame turns to not so clear with faded, washed-out color before going back to excellent again. "Do-Reigh-Mi" and "Bobby's Hero" are just two episodes I can think of that are like that.

07-16-2007, 12:53 AM	#3
Jack1000 Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 05, 2001 Posts: 2,055	I am proud to have all five seasons on DVD, I can now add more to this topic. Overall, the video quality varies because of the need to get the material from several different sources as I posted above to get uncut episodes. The Cincinnati Kids looks excellent. But my problem is that when doing some of these episodes for DVD, it appears that entire back-up prints were used, when I have seen syndicated and TV Land edited prints that do not use back ups when original prints are still around. In contrast to Season 5's "Cincinnati Kids" episode, look at the poor quality overall of "The Elopement" or "Snow White and the Seven Brady's." Both of those scenes have MANY back up prints inserted into them on DVD. But the problem is that instead of going back to an original print or a non-back up print in a scene that still exists on TV Land or syndicated versions, the ENTIRE SCENE uses a back up print shot. I wonder if with the final season, was Paramount so rushed to finish the series that they didn't bother to go back and know that better transfers were still available for some scenes? Jack

07-17-2007, 12:20 PM	#4
Lee G Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jun 24, 2004 Posts: 850	On my DVD, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN BRADYS and THE ELOPEMENT both look fine. They look clean and crisp all the way through, with consistent picture quality. I have seen episodes on the season one DVD's where the picture quality varies and you can easily tell where they spliced in the scenes that were deleted for syndication. Watching these season five episodes, Jan looked really hot that season. She even looked better than Marcia, who was the resident cutie/hottie during seasons 1 thru 4. Take a look at Jan in the season four episodes with the braces and glasses, and compare to how hot she looks in season five. It is a drastic improvement, she underwent quite a makeover from season 4 to season 5. I think The Brady Bunch could have easily gone on another 2 or 3 seasons. They were still going strong in season five, it's a shame they chose to call it quits after that season. As it is, we have 117 episodes but I think there should have been 120. They were averaging 24 episodes per season up thru season three, but they made only 23 eps for season four and only 22 for season five. That's too bad, I've always felt there should have been one more season four episode and two more for season five.