A Less Than Perfect Memory Ep. 2.5

[Hazel Anyday]

OKeeDokee, time to check in on the comparison charts between commercial release and actual broadcast.

This week the victim was Ep. 2- 5 From 2 Nov 61 "A Perfect Memory". Well, there were ENDLESS music replacements, all of them awful. The main reason is practically ALL of the original background music that's used are actually REAL recognizable popular songs. Heard in the background of the REAL TV version of the episode are such songs as "As Time Goes By", "Goodnight Sweetheart" and the Bing Crosby hit "Just One More Chance" all orchestrated originally for the show by Jeff Alexander. And these classic tunes are actually heard several times thru-out the show too. Well if you watch the commercial DVD every one of those classic songs is gone only to be replaced by the totally innocuous and unmemorable crap they want to pass off as music. What a shame and a slap in the face to what should have been a very memorable episode because of it's subject matter involving the early life of Steve. An historical episode if you're interested in the early background life of the characters.

Also, on a less "slowly I turn" issue, an interesting thing happened. I noticed in this episode 2.5 that Steve said something to Mike about seeing Jean next door. I immediately thought that was odd because as of the beginning of season 2 Jean is no longer on the show, in fact Mike's already found a new girl of the week to take her place. Then I found out the actual reason for this odd inconsistency to the timeline of the show is that this episode was actually filmed on 11/7/60, in fact it was filmed very early in the first season a year earlier but was never shown and kept on the shelf till the second season. Why? Who knows, if I can find Don Fedderson I'll ask him. A very well written episode all about Steve, and even very Yasujiro Ozu like, in that the very subject of the whole episode (Steve's old girlfriend) who the audience is dying to see (because all during the episode Steve goes all over town looking for her) is NEVER actually seen in the whole program. You never get to see this mysterious girlfriend who Steve keeps just missing in his search. You only hear about her from the rest of the family who the girlfriend visits the house (twice even, without showing her to the audience!) when Steve (& the camera) is never there. Like in many Ozu films the main topic of the film is never shown. Till next time

[biffbronson]

Very good catch regarding the M3S production order for this episode -- Season 1, versus the aired order amid the later episodes of Season 2. Something I'll keep in mind as I always prefer viewing by production order. Maybe the network preempted what was to be the original airing, so then the ep was free to be used whenever the producers wished.

[1960'sTVfan]

It's too bad that CBS DVD had to mess with the background music score in the season 1 and 2 episodes, but it is what it is. Regarding airdate order vs. production order, Leave It To Beaver is a show I prefer to watch in production order. One example, the 6th season episode "The Clothing Drive" is actually the season's 4th episode, but in airdate order it's the 38th episode, which is way out of sequence.

[stevea]

Back in the days when local TV syndication was "it", most stations aired programs in production number order. With Beaver the original production numbers are easily found; with My Three Sons, no such luck. The episode number in the total series used to be reliable; now with Sons (for example, on Wikipedia) the episode numbers are incorrectly shown in the network showing order. When production switched to a different studio with season 8, the production number is shown at the end of the closing credits; however, I don't know if those are shown anywhere online.

Some of the episodes can be shown VERY out of order by the network, on original airing. Here's an example of some I put in an email re some homemade DVDs I redid:

185 - The First Marriage 6-1 WHMB 24:40*
186 - Red Tape Romance 6-2 WHMB 25:12
187 - Brother Ernie 6-3 WHMB 25:06
188 - Robbie and the Chorus Girl 6-4 MeTV 23:05
189 - There’s a What in the Attic? 6-5 MeTV 23:11

DVD 2

190 - My Son, The Ballerina 6-10 KONG 25:02 **
190 - My Son, The Ballerina 6-10 MeTV 23:07
191 - Office Mother 6-6 WHMB 25:17 ****
192 - Monsters and Junk Like That 6-8 KONG 25:04
193 - Robbie’s Double Life 6-25 WHMB 25:19

DVD 3

194 - Mary-Lou 6-7 WHMB 25:24 ****
195 - Charley, the Pigeon 6-15 KONG 25:12
196 - The Ernie Report 6-11 KONG 25:02
197 - The Hong Kong Story 6-12 KONG 24:59
198 - Marriage and Stuff 6-13 KONG 25:04 ***

Notice how episode 193, which would have been episode 10 produced in the sixth season, was Ep. 25 on CBS, which placed its airing much later in the season. Wikipedia shows it as #209.

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by stevea

With Beaver the original production numbers are easily found; with My Three Sons, no such luck.

Regarding Leave It To Beaver, I have the book that came out in the 1980's titled "The World According To Beaver", which contains an episode guide with episodes listed in production order. This is a good book for fans of Leave It To Beaver, lots of interesting information and trivia.

[stevea]

In one sort-of famous production foul-up, involving I Love Lucy, the episode "Harpo Marx" (Carolyn Appleby is already visiting) was filmed before "Dancing Star" (Carolyn arrives). Showing it in production order (again, which local stations did) really made it confusing for a viewer.

My guess is they had to rearrange production dates due to availability of either Harpo or Van Johnson.

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by stevea

I one sort-of famous production foul-up, involving I Love Lucy, the episode "Harpo Marx" (Carolyn Appleby is already visiting) was filmed before "Dancing Star" (Carolyn arrives). Showing it in production order (again, which local stations did) really made it confusing for a viewer.

My guess is they had to rearrange production dates due to availability of either Harpo or Van Johnson.

So you are saying that "Dancing Star" should be viewed before "Harpo Marx".

[stevea]

Right.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

Regarding Leave It To Beaver, I have the book that came out in the 1980's titled "The World According To Beaver", which contains an episode guide with episodes listed in production order. This is a good book for fans of Leave It To Beaver, lots of interesting information and trivia.

The prod. numbers for LITB are also on Wikipedia, and I've seen them elsewhere, too. When you look at them you can see how out-of-order ABC showed the episodes.

If they're in The World..., that's probably the source for them on the Internet.