We've been nice and started calling them "alterations" and "mistakes," but the proper term for some of the recent TV titles should be "
sloppy"! I'm not talking about music substitutions or a missing few seconds, but the sets that are released with major problems; syndicated episodes, or other major flaws.
The Cosby Show, which many believed to one of the unreleased TV gems from the 80s, was released as a less-than-stellar DVD set because syndicated episodes were used. Read the
reviews at Amazon.com and you can see what fans think of the set. There are 123 customer reviews for the set, and most of them are negative.
Another recent release is
3rd Rock From the Sun, which also contains syndicated episodes.
Cosby Show is from UrbanWorks, and
3rd Rock is from Anchor Bay, yet they both share one thing in common; the material was licensed from Carsey/Werner. It seems Carsey/Werner supplied the companies with the syndicated episodes, but is that really the problem?
Sadly, the answer is no. While it's easy to blame the company that supplied the distributor with the masters, the studios have to understand what they're releasing. I just came back from a trip, and as I stood at the ticketing counter I was asked whether I knew the contents of my bags. The same concept applies: the studios have to ask themselves whether they know the contents of their DVD sets.
Do not assume the material you have licensed is uncut! The Internet is filled with knowledgeable fans, so why not find someone that runs a fan site and send them a couple of episodes to watch and verify? There are people that will do this for free, and the DVD sets will be improved.
Even Warner Bros, who have released great sets in the past, released a "sloppy" release with
Thundercats Volume 1. Fans noticed some problems on the first disc, the worst being an episode that lacked background music!
We tried to combat the issue of set alterations with the "Alterations List," which turned into a huge mess of incorrect alterations (people said
Lost shouldn't be widescreen!). We haven't abandoned that idea, but it's been suspended pending an overhaul by me. We were hesitant to post news for every alteration, especially music, or a missing teaser which wasn't part of the master tape, but there needs to be compromise.
From today on, we'll be posting news items for major sets featuring major flaws in order to draw attention to them. Studios will be contacted and given 2 working days for an explanation on a reported issue, and then the information will be posted to the site, with, or without, their explanation. I'll decide what gets posted, and I'll be the one writing them up. I'll also be the one to contact the studio and ask for a response.
We've taken some heat in the forums because it seems all we do is post about positive stuff, and while I'd like to defend myself, and the site, many of those posts are correct (though a little harsh at times). The "Alterations List" was a step in the right direction, but it seems more needs to be done, and it needs to be on the front page of the site. We've been called on this by users of our site, and now we're calling the studios on the sloppy releases that are coming out. We'd rather see releases of TV titles slowed down, and done right, than sloppy titles released with the promise that a fixed set is around the corner. Spend a bit more time and do it right!
