Mary Hartman DVD vol. 1

[Lee G]

I was going to buy Mary Hartman vol. 1 until I found out there are edited episodes on the DVD's. They must have used syndicated prints because the episodes run about 22 minutes each, which means about 3 minutes is missing from each episode.

Although Mary Hartman was originally aired on independent stations, it was no different than any other half hour show of the period and the episodes in their original form ran about 25 minutes long. After the original run, the episodes were put in syndication and the reruns were chopped down to 22 minutes. I don't know if the uncut episodes still exist, I assume that they do, apparently Sony took the cheap route and put cut versions of the episodes on the DVD's.

I used to watch Mary Hartman in the 70's when it was originally on. I liked the show, thought it was unique. I would like to have the DVD's, but I won't be buying this release from Sony because it's an incomplete product. I think they could put uncut episodes on the DVD if they were willing to put a little more effort and money into it. It's clear what type of product they chose to put out, and that's unfortunate.

[BuddyHinton]

It's either this or nothing.

[bencasey]

Not that important a show for me so for me it'll be nothing. I wouldn't buy a book with pages missing, I'm not buying a show with time edited out.

[Dizzy Arnizzy]

Originally Posted by Lee G

I was going to buy Mary Hartman vol. 1 until I found out there are edited episodes on the DVD's. They must have used syndicated prints because the episodes run about 22 minutes each, which means about 3 minutes is missing from each episode.

Although Mary Hartman was originally aired on independent stations, it was no different than any other half hour show of the period and the episodes in their original form ran about 25 minutes long.

Yes, but you have to remember that "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" was syndicated from its original run -- it was never on one of the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC). It originally had a running time that was shorter than the shows of the major networks (22 vs. 25). This has been confirmed by one reveiwer on Amazon.com that has compared his tapes of the original airings to the versions on the DVD set, and only TWO episodes on this set (Episodes #22 and #24) are edited about three minutes each, totalling around six minutes of cut material. The cut footage was replaced by scenes from other episodes.

Yes, I hate the idea of buying edited versions too, but I'd rather have edited cuts than no more DVD sets at all, which has a great possibility of happening if this set sells poorly...Sony is famous for abandoning series after their first DVD release. And who knows?? If this set DOES sell well, Sony might actually find uncut versions and fix their editing mistakes with future sets.

[Lee G]

Originally Posted by Dizzy Arnizzy

Yes, but you have to remember that "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" was syndicated from its original run -- it was never on one of the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC). It originally had a running time that was shorter than the shows of the major networks (22 vs. 25). This has been confirmed by one reveiwer on Amazon.com that has compared his tapes of the original airings to the versions on the DVD set, and only TWO episodes on this set (Episodes #22 and #24) are edited about three minutes each, totalling around six minutes of cut material. The cut footage was replaced by scenes from other episodes.

Don't believe everything you read on Amazon.

Mary Hartman was originally aired on INDEPENDENT stations. The original episodes are about 25 minutes each.

After the original run, the show then went into SYNDICATION and that is where the episodes got chopped down to about 22 minutes each. These are the episodes that were put on the DVD's. The episodes on the DVD's are ALL missing about 3 minutes of footage.