The Lost Episodes on TV

[The Great One]

Here in Chicago, every night during the week at 9:30 pm they show episodes of The Honeymooners from the Classic 39. It takes about two months before the process starts to repeat itself and then the station will show some of the Lost Episodes. When they do this it's in edited form so a lot of content is cut out because many of the episodes run past 20 minutes in length. I wanted to ask if anyone on this message board has The Honeymooners Lost Episodes broadcast on TV in the area where you live and if being shown in edited or unedited form?

[Bill S.]

I'm pretty sure any station that airs The Honeymooners uses Viacom's syndication package, which unfortunately contains edited versions of many of the Lost Episodes. I've also noticed that a number of Classic 39 episodes are sped up, which is very annoying to watch. PIX11/CW11/WB11/WPIX/whatever they're calling themselves these days shows The Honeymooners here in New York, but only at 1 o'clock in the morning on Mondays...when most people are sleeping.

[The Great One]

You bring up a very good point about Viacom's syndication package as I have not thought about it that way before. What do you mean about some of the Classic 39 being sped up? I have not noticed any changes.

[Bill S.]

Originally Posted by The Great One

What do you mean about some of the Classic 39 being sped up? I have not noticed any changes.

Certain networks are probably to blame, but I've noticed on more than one occasion watching episodes on TV that the footage was sped up a bit, probably to fit more commercials.

[The Great One]

Originally Posted by Bill S.

Certain networks are probably to blame, but I've noticed on more than one occasion watching episodes on TV that the footage was sped up a bit, probably to fit more commercials.

I never noticed anything like that before while watching the Honeymooners but I'll definitely pay more attention to see if I can spot the same problem here in Chicago. It's very interesting to hear that some TV stations are running footage a bit faster. I guess the bottom line is what they're more concerned with.

[Honeymooners_Myspace]

Originally Posted by Bill S.

Certain networks are probably to blame, but I've noticed on more than one occasion watching episodes on TV that the footage was sped up a bit, probably to fit more commercials.

Bill, when you say "sped up" what exactly do you mean?... are you saying that certain parts are skipped forward to allow more room for commercials in the allotted time, or the footage is actually running at a faster pace, thus giving a slight Charlie Chaplin effect??... Lol... if you mean the latter, I personally never seen that before either.

[Bill S.]

Originally Posted by Honeymooners_Myspace

Bill, when you say "sped up" what exactly do you mean?... are you saying that certain parts are skipped forward to allow more room for commercials in the allotted time, or the footage is actually running at a faster pace, thus giving a slight Charlie Chaplin effect??... Lol... if you mean the latter, I personally never seen that before either.

I mean running the footage at a faster pace, which, like you said, gives it a sort of Charlie Chaplin effect. As I mentioned, certain networks are probably to blame for this, and not necessarily the ones in your area. Some networks, like FX for example, show close to 15 minutes worth of commercials within a half an hour, and that's during original programming. Imagine how bad they would probably butcher a Honeymooners episode having to cram it into that time frame. Here's a thread I found on another board with people discussing shows being sped up:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=129036

[Honeymooners_Myspace]

Originally Posted by Bill S.

I mean running the footage at a faster pace, which, like you said, gives it a sort of Charlie Chaplin effect. As I mentioned, certain networks are probably to blame for this, and not necessarily the ones in your area. Some networks, like FX for example, show close to 15 minutes worth of commercials within a half an hour, and that's during original programming. Imagine how bad they would probably butcher a Honeymooners episode having to cram it into that time frame. Here's a thread I found on another board with people discussing shows being sped up:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=129036

Wow, that's incredibly SNEAKY, as Kramden would put it... Lol... if I turned on an episode of The Honeymooners on Television and noticed they were doing that, I'd probably turn it off in a heart-beat because it's just not right, especially for the main purpose of getting more $$$ for the 30 minute segment... how about this concept??... play it at normal speed, which leaves five minutes for commercials (basing it on the CL39 shows), and just charge the advertiser more per minute to make up the difference INSTEAD of trying to cram more commercials in the allotted time frame... Lol.

[Benno123]

Bill is right, there is a name for the process but I can't recall what it is. Sometimes they just speed up the show, other times every few frames form the film may be skipped, then synched back up with the audio. With missing frames but a soundtrack playing no one will notice.

Does WGN still rerun The Honeymooners? When they did, the last time I saw them on commercial TV, the theme song was so fast it lasted all of about 15 seconds - seriously

[The Great One]

Originally Posted by Benno123

Bill is right, there is a name for the process but I can't recall what it is. Sometimes they just speed up the show, other times every few frames form the film may be skipped, then synched back up with the audio. With missing frames but a soundtrack playing no one will notice.

Does WGN still rerun The Honeymooners? When they did, the last time I saw them on commercial TV, the theme song was so fast it lasted all of about 15 seconds - seriously

Me-TV in Chicago airs the Honeymooners Monday thru Friday at 9:30 pm CT.

[The Great One]

Originally Posted by Bill S.

I mean running the footage at a faster pace, which, like you said, gives it a sort of Charlie Chaplin effect. As I mentioned, certain networks are probably to blame for this, and not necessarily the ones in your area. Some networks, like FX for example, show close to 15 minutes worth of commercials within a half an hour, and that's during original programming. Imagine how bad they would probably butcher a Honeymooners episode having to cram it into that time frame. Here's a thread I found on another board with people discussing shows being sped up:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=129036

It's very sad that some networks have the guts to speed up a great classic show like the Honeymooners!

[Benno123]

Originally Posted by The Great One

Me-TV in Chicago airs the Honeymooners Monday thru Friday at 9:30 pm CT.

I don't have WGN on my cable here at my house, but at our family's place at Lake Erie we do, and it was sometime last summer that I saw The Honeymooners on WGN so it's been probably a year since I saw the Speedy version.

[snowpeck]

WGN was the station most guilty of this I think. Sometimes it made it difficult to watch.

[The Great One]

Originally Posted by Benno123

I don't have WGN on my cable here at my house, but at our family's place at Lake Erie we do, and it was sometime last summer that I saw The Honeymooners on WGN so it's been probably a year since I saw the Speedy version.

I never had the time to watch the Honeymooners when it was being broadcast on WGN and I'm surprised to find out that they were showing the speedy version. Free TV is not what it used to be!

[MrBand]

Originally Posted by The Great One

I never had the time to watch the Honeymooners when it was being broadcast on WGN and I'm surprised to find out that they were showing the speedy version. Free TV is not what it used to be!

The worst part about time compression is that it changes the timing of the comedy. Everything seems to be more frantic, both the dialogue and the pauses and reactions of the characters. For something like the classic 39, which I've seen many times over, this is very obvious. To the average viewer who isn't as intimately familiar with the shows as the posters here, there is virtually no difference and that is what the syndicator and station managers rely upon. Thanks to the DVDs, we don't have to settle, but there is a particular joy to find an episode "on air."