today I received advanced copies of the upcoming season 2 releases of Happy Days, Laverne And Shirley and Mork And Mindy sets... all of which are coming nearly three years after season 1 came out for them. While what I've seen of Laverne and Mork looks fine so far (although I hate the packaging, it's the same way Family Ties was packaged), Happy Days is singlehandedly the most disappointing DVD I've ever encountered. The theme song is replaced, the video quality looks like it was unearthed after 32 years in storage and there are missing scenes all around. The video quality isn't fit for a bootleg, especially considering Laverne and Mork are nicely remastered. I have loved Happy Days since I was barely getting out of diapers and seeing this really breaks my heart, especially since I love the earlier seasons the best.
However, if you love Laverne (I like L&S about the same as I do HD, so I'm happy there) and Mork, you'll love the DVD's, but I am very disappointed with how bad Happy Days season 2 looks, especially considering how good the first season looks on DVD.
Looks like this is a trend with the DVD's huh Anf? If they don't sell they cut back on all the frills, don't sweat music licensing and put out a hatchet job version of the orginal.
Sad thing is MOST people don't know that until they've bought it!
I was so excited for WKRP but I've heard 90% of the music was replaced and scenes were cut in situations where they couldn't lift just the music from the scene.
Too many comedic bits in KRP were directly dependant on the song choice, so now I'll be skipping and buying the bootleg series.
yes, I'm not even bothering with WKRP. You'd think the company would put 2 and 2 together that a show set in a radio station is going to have.... MUSIC on it.
I am surprised that people who work for these companies don't read message boards because you'd think they would know just how much the fans hate this BS and how many more fans will buy a copy of something if it's uncut.
I can't complain too much about the replaced theme on Happy Days because they replaced "Rock Around The Clock" with the "Happy Days" song, but that theme isn't supposed to come in until season 3, so seeing it with the season 2 opening credits is really a trip. I also didn't mind the replaced theme on Bosom Buddies as much because the song that replaced "My Life" is the song that was used on USA in the 90's when Bosom Buddies was shown a lot in syndication. Nevertheless, HD is one of the rare childhood faves that I can still watch all these years later (as opposed to how disappointed I was at Diff'rent Strokes when I got the DVD, I definately had too many rose-colored childhood memories there) and I wish it was treated with the respect it deserves. At least they did right by L&S.
Oh man, the replacement of the Billy Joel song REALLY bothers me. I just felt that song did so much to set the tone for the show.
Plus you get tortured once they get to the later episodes with the spoken intro, because at the very end the first few notes of "My Life" start to play.
I was seriously thinking about seeing if I could make copies of the DVD's with the original theme song replaced.
I'm so FRICKING sick of the whole RIAA / Music Rights BS I just want to see them all CRASH AND FRICKING BURN!
These dumba**es need to realize having that music on DVD's is ONLY going to remind people of the music and spur sales of the songs. But no, they want it all. They want to be overpaid at the front end and reap the benefits of free advertising.
Oh, and as far as reading the forums, I don't think these guys really care. Sure they say they do, but that's just good PR.
The reality is they want to get this crap into WalMart where impulse sales will earn em' some cash.
I think they should have to have a big fat sticker on the front that says "Warning: Most music on this series has been replaced and scenes have been removed"
Instead they get away with a tiny liitle line somewhere on the back legal jargon that says "Some music may differ from original broadcast version".
speaking of music right nightmares.... The Wonder Years is going to start reairing on ION tonight (formerly Pax) at 10 EST, get a VCR or DVR ready and save those since if it ever comes out on DVD, I bet 90% of the music will be missing.
Have you ever heard how they managed to get the Miami Vice series cleared? That song is CHOCK full of hits from the era and not a single song was replaced in the entire five year run.
That's why I find it hard to beleive BOSOM BUDDIES couldn't negotiate a price for ONE Billy Joel song!
I think Miami Vice was a rarity because Michael Mann was involved with the DVD's from the beginning of the production and insisted "all music or no release period" with the music on the show. Too bad others don't have such ardent views. Actually, Cagney And Lacey was recently postponed because the creator of that wasn't happy with Fox going and changing certain song usages that he made Fox rectify the release before releasing it, and they did so.
