Yet Another Substandard Universal TV on DVD Release

[Eric Paddon]

Universal's wretched track record of substandard DVD releases of their TV catalog continues, this time in a release ostensibly devoted to how high-falutin, artsy they want to be.

The title is "Brilliant But Cancelled-Crime Dramas" a set of four episodes, one each from four different short lived shows over the years, "Johnny Stacatto" with John Cassavetes (which featured a jazzy score by Elmer Bernestein), "Delvecchio" a 76-77 cop show with Judd Hirsch and two others of less interest to me.

The episode of "Delvecchio" is not only a cut syndicated print, it's a fuzzy looking poor quality 16mm print and if that isn't bad enough the episode has NO MAIN TITLE AND CREDITS! Instead it starts cold with the episode title and guest cast, and no one would have a clue of the name of the show and the starring cast if they didn't know already.

That kind of shoddy quality is the sort of thing I expect from a public domain company and not from an outfit like Universal, to give me something that looks no different from someone's botched home taped version. In the past, the issue with them has been one of bad pressings on their DVD-18s and their abandoning of so many titles after just one release. But to see this kind of bad quality is IMO just inexcusable.

Thumbs down again, Universal.

[AndyDursin]

I wonder what the deal with the no-credits happens to be...was there licensed music or something along those lines in the opening? I haven't seen anything of that sort since Bravo aired the L.A. CONFIDENTIAL rejected pilot (with Kiefer Sutherland) and that was missing credits altogether, or at least end credits. Strange.

I just hold out more hope for AMAZING STORIES and THE HULK -- BUCK ROGERS came out well, I hope they hold up for those series too...though KATE & ALLIE turned out to be a misfire.

[Eric Paddon]

Not at all, "Delvecchio's" opening was quite conventional with a theme by Billy Goldenberg. Universal would have no problem with that whatsoever. It stands to reason that the person putting this together somehow took a low quality cut print likely used for the early 90s repeats on A+E and didn't even bother to look at it.

[AndyDursin]

Not at all, "Delvecchio's" opening was quite conventional with a theme by Billy Goldenberg. Universal would have no problem with that whatsoever. It stands to reason that the person putting this together somehow took a low quality cut print likely used for the early 90s repeats on A+E and didn't even bother to look at it.

Ugh. No excuses then. I'm glad I didn't bother requesting a copy (I write enough bad reviews as it is!).

[Carlson2005]

It's a shame about Johnny Stacatto - not only a good show with a great score, but also one that Universal reputedly wouldn't allow Image to sublicense for a full release.

[Eric Paddon]

Well if you do want the DVD just for "Johnny Stacatto" they did use a good quality print that is uncut. Elizabeth Montgomery guests in that particular episode.

Too bad they wouldn't let Image license it because more and more, it's becoming evident to me how much of a godsend Image has become for so much from the 60s that would have been neglected or given lackluster treatment by the big studios. Not just their two biggest titles, "Twilight Zone" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show" but hats off to them as well for getting Sony to license some 60 episodes of "Naked City" and also their putting out the full run of "I Spy" which I've just started to sample.

[Carlson2005]

I already have that episode, one of two I managed to tape when they were playing on late night TV here ten or so years ago (the other was one directed by Cassavettes). From the sound of it, it's not worth picking up the DVD just for that.

If you ever see the LP (simply titled Staccato), it's well worth picking up. It's just a shame that it was never issued on CD.

[DavidBanner]

I always try to be careful with DVD purchases of television series. I agree that Universal has been pretty egregious with music replacement, but they're not the only ones. And Universal has also done pretty good with some of its series if you pick and choose.

Notably, Universal has taken the time to get the original music and songs for "Miami Vice", which would simply not work without them. (On the other hand, I've noticed some missing footage in various episodes that I can't explain - either syndication cuts or something else, but it's usually only a few beats here or there)

Also, in releasing "Magnum PI", Universal provided two versions of an interesting episode from the 3rd season: "Ki'is Don't Lie". This was originally presented as the first hour of a two hour crossover special with "Simon and Simon" that started with an episode of Magnum at 8PM and continued in the episode of Simon at 9PM, with the lead actors of both shows crossing over into each others' series. (It helped that Don Bellisario and Philip DeGuere, the shows' respective producers, were good friends and worked with each other to make this happen.) So CBS got an interesting ratings booster, including Morgan Fairchild guest-starring in both hours. (Flamingo Road had just died at that point) You may now ask, so what? The trick here is that the two hour special requires you to see BOTH episodes, from two different series. For syndication, the Magnum crew shot a second ending for their hour which wrapped up the situation right there. So Universal included the 2 hour special as a bonus feature on its 1st Season DVD set of Magnum, which meant that a "Simon & Simon" episode wound up on a Magnum set. When they got around to the 3rd Season, they included the syndication cut - thus allowing fans to see both versions.

On the other hand, there have been a lot of other problems with TV shows on DVD - "Quantum Leap" having its music changed, "Buck Rogers" missing the additional scenes for the pilot movie, "Wiseguy" having ITS music changed (yes, I know it wasn't Universal...), etc., etc.

I can only what will happen when they eventually put "St. Elsewhere" out on DVD. There are a bunch of episodes there that depend on specific songs that probably weren't licensed...

[The Queen of the Geeks]

Is there any chance that "Lookwell", a brilliant TV pilot with Adam West (as an out-of-work actor who decides to try being a real private eye) will get released on DVD? I saw this on TRIO a few months ago. It was one of the funniest darned things I've ever seen on television...how this didn't make it as a series is a mystery as baffling as those Easter Island heads.

[Eric Paddon]

And Universal has also done pretty good with some of its series if you pick and choose....

The only problem though is that what I've picked and choosed has been *12* different series on DVD for which Universal has only done one season and then nothing since. I think that's a frankly abysmal record on their part, especially since I think the reason why sales were off for some of those titles had everything to do with their shoddy quality of product in DVD-18s with frequent freeze-ups and defective pressings.

I will probably never get the full run of "Dragnet" and "Adam-12" on legitimate DVD releases thanks to Universal's atrocious handling of their TV archive, which necessitated my shelling out money to get a set of off-air recordings for the subsequent seasons on DVD. I didn't like getting put in that position when I was willing to pay more money for a quality legitimate release, but if Universal wants to play that stupid game, I'm darned if I'm going to go the rest of my life without being able to see more than one year's worth of some of my favorite shows.

[AndyDursin]

Unless it's STAR TREK or CHEERS or NYPD BLUE, viewers are in trouble generally when expecting a show's entire output being released on DVD. It's not just exclusive to Universal, either -- Sony has released a few Season One sets (as has Paramount -- see HAPPY DAYS, MORK & MINDY, LAVERNE & SHIRLEY, etc) and then lost all interest in releasing any more.

It's usually all about sales. If the first season sets sell, they'll keep going -- if not, you can forget it. I know Universal's track record is spotty but they're not the only label that's failed to finish something that they started...though I understand Eric's complaints. When you see what Paramount has done with some of their releases lately (WILD WILD WEST in particular), there's little doubt Universal's sets have been hugely disappointing by comparison.

Hopefully AMAZING STORIES -- with its deleted scenes -- will turn the tide!

[Eric Paddon]

Notwithstanding Happy Days, Laverne And Shirley and Mork, Paramount does have a much better track record than Universal when it comes to giving more than one season of a vintage show. They're already on Season 3 of "Have Gun With Travel" which is a show that I have a hard time believing has a bigger following than "Dragnet" or "Adam-12".

The only ray of hope I can hold out for with Universal is that releasing Season 1 of "Incredible Hulk" does in one sense mark a return to a title that one can say was "abandoned" three years ago after they released the 18 episode "Best Of" set. Still, one has to remember that the earlier Hulk set was one of only three TV shows released by the old Universal management, the others being Season 1 of "Baretta" (done to exploit Robert Blake's murder trial) and "Battlestar Galactica" (which has hands-down the best treatment Universal ever gave any TV show on DVD, for which I shall always be grateful).