I've lost a lot of respect for Cannell over this.

[enovak]

It's obvious the man cares little for his work or he would have made sure the songs were left in the way they were. Many directors make sure their films get released on DVD as the best version ever. And for him to just replace songs with crappy alternates to save a few bucks just makes me think he has no artistic integrity.

I just got done watching the 1st three episodes from season 2. "...Fastball.." was unaffected. "Don't Mess Around.." has the very ending song, the one the show was titled from, changed. But it's only like 7 secs at the very end, so it doesn't really affect the show much at all.

But "..Spoilsport..", IMO, is completey ruined. The song they use in place is just horrible, and is such a slower pace then "Eve..", it just throws off EVERY scene that used it. And I hadn't realized that "Eve.." was used SO much in this episode. It was still a good episode, and I guess if you never saw the original version, it wouldn't be so bad. But at the same time, if this is the first time you ever saw these episodes, you would wonder how they picked these lame songs to use.
And the ending thank you song, "It's a beautiful morning, ...." was perfectly fittting and makes sense. The replacement song is just some happy sounding toon that have lyrics that mean nothing in context of the episode.

I have enjoyed watching these though, even with the changes. The story, acting and dialogue and fantastic picture quality help get past the song bullcrap.

[Maxwell - F.B.I.]

Hey, enovak... I couldn't agree more. Such a shame to see the show cleaned up so well, only to see these cheap-ass changes made just to save a little cash. That's why I went with the Japanese DVDs - thank god they exist.

For me, I'm really at the point where I wonder if Cannell himself is even aware these changes being made or, at the very least, how POORLY the changes made were. I know people change with age, but good lord...

[enovak]

I don't know how it works, but I would assume Cannell would have to approve the final product. or maybe not.
It would be interesting if he didnt know...

[jimk]

I am finding the replacements of Destruction and Brass in Pocket (the reediting in that episode is just as bad, IMO) really hard to defend, but business IS business. The simple fact is lawyers asserted that whatever contracts that were used for video releases in the 80s didn't apply to dvd (different medium, ya know?) and it ALL has to be renegotiated. TV shows, which had no real life on video in the 80s, probably ONLY had clearances for broadcast. No one knew there would be a shelf-life like this.

TV Shows are different from films. One film on a dvd, you might have to clear a few songs -- but a DVD release of a TV show like MIAMI VICE is 22 hours (!) worth of clearances, meaning, who knows, 60 songs or something! They did it cuz everyone knows VICE's music is essential, but A) it did cost them and took them a LONG time to get it all cleared, and B) Universal is a multi-billion dollar corporate entity. Cannell is not.

I think the music companies are trying to charge really ridiculous rates in some cases, and are the villains primarily, although again this generally relates to original recordings. Covers are CHEAPER.

Still, many of us in our personal lives make choices based on the bottom line, why wouldn't millionaire businessman.?
Cannell and his people may have felt that the cost of all the clearances wouldn't guarantee profit on the release, I don't know....that being said, when it wrecks the product, such as those 2 episodes, you would think artistic tempermant and personal pride might make you fight for it. I mean, plenty of low-budget releases have a few songs to clear, and they do. As bad as the replacements are on the pilot, or on MY HEROES...they don't alter the actual structure or plot development of the episodes....in fact, if they had just tried HARDER with the replacements we might all be able to live with it (I find them sloppy, poorly integrated, poorly performed). If they'd (I don't want to say Cannell, I doubt he was in on every minute decision) had carefully replace ROCKET MAN with another Geyser/Scarbury tune that somehow fit, a lot of us would say "it sucks. but well, OK...." -- it's that they did it so POORLY, with tunes I'm convinced were recorded by somebody's son who wants to break into the business.

But still, most episodes aren't WHOLLY altered. But SPOILSPORT is just f***** up now, the whole episode is off. CLASSICAL GAS is all about building up to a number that is now gone, replaced with even MORE of the grainy, laughable stock footage (which I kinda enjoyed as a goof in the original version, but is too much now) and a repeat of the dumb shot of the back of Grant's head. These episodes, IMO, are the only two that are utterly screwed, and THAT I can't accept. I doubt a COVER of "EOD" would break the bank -- it might be pricey, who knows, but I think they made a ludicrous judgement call. The rest of the rescorings can be logically defended, no doubt, whether I like it or not.

[enovak]

I agree its a business and they have to think of the bottom line.

I mean, the show is not completed destroyed by not having the cover tunes. Annoying, yes, but as I said before, the stories, acting, dialog, are still all there.

The real trouble fans like us are really bothered by it because we know the show so well. New or casual viewers wouldn't know the difference.

I had said in another post in answer to someone who wondered if they will ever release a more expensive set with the music intact, that they would never do it.

If the cost wasn't a lot, they would have already payed to use the songs on these DVD's. The sad truth is that there aren't enough hardcore GAH fans that would justify the cost of Anchor releasing ANOTHER series of sets, even charging more money, with paying all that money for the cover tunes usage.

Its like Star Wars. I am a huge fan of Star Wars , 1977, not the SE, not the SE with more changes on DVD. But I bought the DVD set since that is the ONLY version we will ever see on DVD.

At least GAH has the option of buying the Japanese disks at a high cost. Now I love the show a lot, but I really can't afford those.

[scenario]

enovak said:

I don't know how it works, but I would assume Cannell would have to approve the final product. or maybe not.
It would be interesting if he didnt know...

The man may actually not know about any of this. I got to meet Stephen J. Cannell last year, and I showed him the Ralph statue that came out the year before. He genuenly was surprised upon seeing it, he thought it was so cool and he didn't even know that his company licensed those with Electic Tiki (sp?) as official products. (Well if he did, he did a damn good acting job of pretending to be surprised) I showed him the bottom of the base where it read "Stephen J. Cannell Productions" and he was like 'oh wow'

So there could be a very good chance that guy probably didn't even know that Feb 15th and April 5th were GAH DVD days, and he probably has no idea what goes on with the DVDs, other then showing up for a couple of interviews. I'm not sure which is worse though, because him not knowing is kinda bad too. Is he really that busy that he can't take a few moments out of his schedule to go through the DVD with someone?


-scenario-

[Maxwell - F.B.I.]

Like I said, write to the guy. If enough people write directly to his studio and NONE of us receive a response, then we can be pretty sure he IS aware and just doesn't care. Or maybe we can get something done - who knows?

[ZiggyChaos]

Just because you write to Cannell doesn't necessarily mean he ever sees the letters. I'm sure he has staff to go through his mail and sort the fanmail from the "important" business stuff. Let's face it... the man is trying to make a living and doesn't have the time to read every piece of fanmail that comes to the office. After all these years, he may not care. Only he knows.

[GarbonzoBeans]

I agree with you guys about this. A lot easier for a major show like "Miami Vice" to shell out for cover songs. The replacement of 'Rocket Man' and the rest annoyed me but the 'Eve of Destruction' is what pushed me over the edge. Anyway, have a great day and happy flying!