This Week's Column: KL Studio Classics, LOVE BOAT & More

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AndyDursin
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This Week's Column: KL Studio Classics, LOVE BOAT & More

#1 Post by AndyDursin »

Kino Lorber's eclectic January offerings include the British-made LOOPHOLE, WHO? and THE INTERNECINE PROJECT -- all with American stars -- and I've got them reviewed along with Season 3 of THE LOVE BOAT, featuring my Gavin MacLeod story (I figured I'd re-run it, seeing as Season 1 of this show was released on DVD 9 YEARS AGO lol).

Check it out, plus the usual new releases:

http://andyfilm.com/2017/01/13/aisle-se ... er-cruise/

Eric Paddon
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Re: This Week's Column: KL Studio Classics, LOVE BOAT & More

#2 Post by Eric Paddon »

Fascinating story! I'm glad that Love Boat has finally been unstalled at last because it, Fantasy Island and Burke's Law are the only three TV series left on DVD that I want to see completed at long last. Finish them and my TV viewing habit is taken care of for the rest of my life! (Love Boat and Fantasy Island were the perfect Saturday night shows with their outsized escapism and big names and fluff plots. They NEVER would have worked during the grind of the normal work week)

Eric Paddon
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Re: This Week's Column: KL Studio Classics, LOVE BOAT & More

#3 Post by Eric Paddon »

I got Love Boat yesterday and a couple things. Even though CBS/Paramount remastered these episodes (according to their syndication bible) they have clearly released older unremastered transfers as the presence of an 80a Paramount tag at the end indicates as well as a softer picture quality (though the transfers are better looking than the more decrepit ones used for the releases of "Cannon" and "Barnaby Jones". In addition, they are back to their old tricks of music editing/replacement as the second episode of the season eliminates a Gopher-Isaac-Doc lip synch of "Purple People Eater" in one scene. It's not that the scene is a great loss but it means that once again, this is a label that will always take the cheap way out where they can.

A few years ago this would have annoyed me a lot more but the days of seeing vintage TV released on DVD has been reduced to a trickle, in part because most of the big stuff has been accounted for but also because the market for physical media is sadly drying up and at this stage I have to take what I can get to complete the remaining holes in my collection. I'm willing to accept more releases of "Love Boat" in this slightly compromised format only because life is increasingly too short to demand perfection as I would have a decade ago.

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AndyDursin
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Re: This Week's Column: KL Studio Classics, LOVE BOAT & More

#4 Post by AndyDursin »

When you go 9 years between releasing Season 2 and Season 3 on DVD, you're right Eric, we're going to have to live with it. 8)

It's unfortunate music licensing back in that era has sabotaged many a TV series (and film) over the years. It might be "cheap" but I cannot blame labels for not wanting to shell out six figures to some songwriter or artist just for a snippet of a pop song that might be playing in the background, often to negligible story effect.

That said, when the music does play a prominent role, it's difficult to watch the show without it. I just found out the UK DVDs of THE EQUALIZER have untouched music so I may have to pick that up...the VEI label said there was no way they could afford all the song royalties releasing it here (which is also why Universal stopped releasing the series themselves after Season 1).

And of course the larger problem is these shows don't sell enough most of the time for them to consider actually paying the fees.

Eric Paddon
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Re: This Week's Column: KL Studio Classics, LOVE BOAT & More

#5 Post by Eric Paddon »

The one show I'm still bitter about when it comes to the music replacement issue is "The Odd Couple". So many moments of essential *comedy* were slaughtered wholesale, none more so in the Pernell Roberts episode where the failure to clear "Cocktails For Two" resulted in the loss of the episode's punchline. CBS/Paramount even removed/replaced songs that were PUBLIC DOMAIN material!

The debacle surrounding "The Fugitive" and the music replacement they did on that (when over 75% of the music in question was music they OWNED free and clear!) was the one exception to the rule where an outcry resulted in a do-over done right. We're alas not going to see that with other shows (except I suppose the new "Quantum Leap" Blu Ray but if those are just from the PAL sourced DVD's that weren't impacted in the foreign release, I'm not bothering because I am equally annoyed listening to music in the wrong pitch as I am hearing it replaced).

Warner Archive is the only label that goes the extra mile to clear things before release. It means the release schedule is slow and spartan but at least with every title they do put out I know its n't compromised material.

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AndyDursin
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Re: This Week's Column: KL Studio Classics, LOVE BOAT & More

#6 Post by AndyDursin »

That is the good thing with Warner. However, we may all be gone before they get around to some of the things they are sitting on. And I confess their Archive Blu-Ray release choices -- not all of them, but a few -- have been baffling. I suppose someone who's a big fan of 40s and 50s B&W is high up on the chain, because what they are, in part, releasing seems to be based on the whim of someone working there and not what will actually sell copies in this format. It's altogether weird.

Eric Paddon
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Re: This Week's Column: KL Studio Classics, LOVE BOAT & More

#7 Post by Eric Paddon »

I'm kind of helped by the fact that the Warner TV titles most people want are ones I've never seen before (the detective shows like "77 Sunset Strip" etc.) so while I'd get them if they came out, I'm not climbing the walls over the fact they're not out yet due to the music clearance issues. Warner took care of the titles that were on my most wanted list ("The FBI", "Girl From UNCLE", "Tarzan", "Dr. Kildare")

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