BB DVD Alterations

[EricR]

Could it be that the dvds represent the episodes as originally aired, and that the alterations were made to reruns....including the addition of the closing squares and the additional dialogue in the Hawaii episode? I say this because it doesn't make sense that the squares are still on the syndication prints but not on the original prints (especially for the Greg Gets Grounded and Love and the Older Man episodes.) Maybe the Hawaii dialogue was added for the tv movie version of the episodes.

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by EricR

Could it be that the dvds represent the episodes as originally aired, and that the alterations were made to reruns....including the addition of the closing squares and the additional dialogue in the Hawaii episode? I say this because it doesn't make sense that the squares are still on the syndication prints but not on the original prints (especially for the Greg Gets Grounded and Love and the Older Man episodes.) Maybe the Hawaii dialogue was added for the tv movie version of the episodes.

That is an GREAT question Eric!

I talk about this in another thread about the DVD's. Of course the only way to know for sure would be to get a copy of the original ABC broadcasts of the episodes in question to varify exactly what you mention. I do have some theories however:

It is known that in the mid 80's Paramount sold the vacation episodes of The Brady Bunch to cable stations as special 90-minute packages with the squares removed because someone thought the episodes were better that way for continuity. In addition about 15 seconds of dialogue was also removed from the Hawaii episode, "Pass The Tabu."

I believe that whoever did the engineering on the DVD's also thought that the continuty was better with out the squares and left them out. Someone apparently forgot about the 15 second cut on Pass The Tabu and only restored the obvious of what had been missing from back up prints.

But on those other episodes, the mystery deepens. I learned that TV Land gets their shows from their distributers uncut and than does their own edits to fit into a 22 minute time slot. (This is why you see different edits than the syndicated prints.) So obviously Paramount HAS the original master tapes with the closing squares before the tags for "Love and The Older Man" and "Greg Gets Grounded." Because TV Land does not use syndicated prints for its showings. So why not insert them on the DVD? For Paramount not to do this makes them seem thoughtless, careless, or stupid! You can even hear the first few notes of the mood music before the fill in squares for Love and the Older Man than it goes to black followed by the end credits.

On Greg Gets Grounded, I have NO explanation for the strange editing with the blended fade out of the drive-in scene to the tag sequence with no fill in squares. THIS could have been taken from the original airing, was realized on the first syndication cycle and corrected. The strange thing is that on TV Land's print, Greg's final lines, "I don't think we'll be eating this tonight." "And he was in 34th place too" are edited BY the fill-in squares, followed by a commercial ,and the tag. Syndication includes his final lines and than the squares fill in. (But two small earlier scenes are cut to compensate.)

These would be questions for Paramount and/or the Schwartzs to answer.

On Greg Gets Grounded in particular, what do think happened with regard to the DVD version of that episode?

Jack

[Bachu]

I think the missing tags on the dvds were a mistake. Just a poor job by those concerned in bringing the dvds to us.

Anyone here watch Lost in Space? The second episode of the first season starts with the opening credits. We then get the opening act. After that ends and the screne fades to black the screen fades in to the second act that has the on screen titles for the writer/director. No other episode was presented this way. All the others had an an opening act followed by the opening credits. I think it was just one of those strange quirks like the Brady episode with no proper tag scene.

[EricR]

I'm calling and writing Paramount about this. They fixed some edits on the I Love Lucy sets. If enough people let them know about it, they won't think I'm just an obsessed fan (which I am.) Incidentally, I noticed a weird glitch during Getting Davy Jones after Marcia and Jan call the hotel. Jan's image "stutters." I checked an old syndication tape and there is minor print damage during this scene.

[EricR]

BTW, do you think the audio for "To Move or Not to Move" is too low? You can't hear the ghostly sound effects during the tag scene. Maybe I should mention this to them also.

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by EricR

I'm calling and writing Paramount about this. They fixed some edits on the I Love Lucy sets. If enough people let them know about it, they won't think I'm just an obsessed fan (which I am.) Incidentally, I noticed a weird glitch during Getting Davy Jones after Marcia and Jan call the hotel. Jan's image "stutters." I checked an old syndication tape and there is minor print damage during this scene.

Thanks Eric,

While I would most likely leave my DVD's as they are, right now I am looking more for an explanation as to WHY the DVD's were altered in the first place. No one has gotten a response. What kind of response(s) have you been getting? Keep us updated. BTW, I did send a letter snail-mail with the issues talked about to Paramount but received no response. This was a long time ago. The vacation episodes, Love and the Older Man, and Greg Gets Grounded should have their fill in squares restored to them as well as the 20-second cut missing in "Pass The Tabu."

On a somewhat minor note, 16mm back up prints were used in several scenes where TV Land/syndicate used the original negatives. I can understand the need for a 16mm print if the original footage has long ago been lost. (i.e Peter and Bobby going door to door selling tickets in "The Show Must Go On.") But some scenes still have good prints in syndication and on TV Land. What Paramount did was when they restored a whole scene that had been missing say 40 seconds due to syndicated cuts, they took a whole minute of 16mm back up prints in worse quality, rather than just restore the 40 seconds that had been missing. Look how bad "Snow White and The 7 Brady's" looks as well as "The Elopment" on DVD! It looks like 55% of those episodes each came from 16mm prints, when syndication/TV Land have that episode in better condition! In other words, the only stuff that SHOULD look crappy is what they HAD to restore to make the episode complete from the back up prints. Paramount didn't use better prints that obviously were avaliable.

Jack

PS.On your To Move or Not to Move? Question, do you mean the audio for the whole DVD or the audio just in the tag that you can't hear of creaking? Than Mike says, "Don't worry honey, that WAS the house settling."

[EricR]

The audio is low throughout, but yes, it is most apparent when Carol hears the creaking..the first time it is barely audible, the second time it is silent.

[Jack1000]

Two more small DVD glitches:

"The Drop Out" has a small speed up glitch at some point where Mike is yelling at Greg for waking up the family by lifting weights in the family room.

Another glitch and I can't remember the episode is their is like this 5 second "moaning" sound on this one episode from season 1. ( I think) This might be a post-production error.

Jack

[Jack1000]

Guys,

If any of you have contacted Paramount with regards to the DVD issues listed in this thread or that we know about talked about in other threads, I was wondering in what ways have you contacted them? (i.e e-mail, snail-mail, phone, FAX)? (ect.) and if you have received a reply, what was the response?

I had snail-mailed them, but never heard back.

Jack

[EricR]

Jack, try calling their customer service number....just call Paramount Home Video and ask to be transferred to customer service. Tell them, you would like someone to check out the alterations and contact you back.

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by EricR

Jack, try calling their customer service number....just call Paramount Home Video and ask to be transferred to customer service. Tell them, you would like someone to check out the alterations and contact you back.

I was waiting for someone else to do it as it is most likely that people would get the same or similar responses.

Jack