Tomorrow (August 16th) sees the street date for
I Love Lucy - The Complete 5th Season, a four-disc set that contains all 26 episodes from the next-to-last season of the show. But how "complete" is it? There is a disclaimer written on the box to let consumers know that one of the episodes is edited from the original broadcast version. But Gregg Oppenheimer, whose father produced the series and who has been serving as a consultant for all of the
I Love Lucy DVDs, wants consumers to know that this "edit" does NOT affect the main episode itself.
In an effort to spread the word about this situation, Mr. Oppenheimer has written up a statement which he kindly provided to us, to pass along to our readers:
There seems to be some confusion because of the disclaimer on the packaging for "I Love Lucy: The Complete Fifth Season." The disclaimer says "'Lucy and the Dummy' (Episiode #130) is edited from its original network version." This does NOT mean that the DVD contains a shortened syndication version of this episode. Back in 1955, when the folks at Desilu edited the episode for its original network broadcast, they discovered that the show ran three minutes short. To solve the problem, they added some good old-fashioned "product placement" -- a three-minute clip from the new motion picture, GUYS AND DOLLS, featuring Frank Sinatra singing the song "Adelaide." Unfortunately, CBS was unable to obtain the clearances from MGM necessary to include this three-minute clip on the DVD. That is the only reason for the disclaimer on the packaging. Rest assured that every bit of "I Love Lucy" footage (as opposed to "Guys and Dolls" footage) that was in the original network broadcast of "Lucy and the Dummy" is included on the DVD.
There you have it! We HUGELY appreciate Mr. Oppenheimer for taking the time to clear that up for us. And we don't mind spreading the word on his behalf, either. We know he takes great pride in this project, and deservedly so. On the other hand, kudos to the studio for remembering to mark the box with that disclaimer even for what many people would consider a rather insignificant cut. In my judgement, the disclaimer was called for, but perhaps they just could have worded it a bit different to let people know that the cut was to "material unrelated to the main episode", and then explain further inside the box or on the disc. Oh, well...hindsight is always 20/20!
Speaking of edits due to licensing issues, there are a number of
Lucy fans (myself included) who had been wondering about something in the 6th (and final) Season of the program: would Warner/DC Comics have a problem with CBS/Paramount including the episode featuring George Reeves in costume as Superman? Well, for those of you worried about whether there would be any rights issues with the Superman logo shown all over that episode, relax: I have been assured that the episode will be included in its entirety when
The Complete 6th Season heads to stores in Spring 2006. Good to know! Stay tuned and we will keep you informed about developments on that set.
