Entries Tagged 'CBS' ↓

When I was first working on my review for The Fugitive Season 1 Part 1 back in August of last year, I noticed on the back of the package, in tiny fine print, something along the lines of “Some music has been changed for this home entertainment version.” Not having been alive when the show first aired, it would have been pretty hard for me to notice if anything had been changed.

Well apparently, folks are starting to notice. TVShowsonDVD.com reports that television fans are starting to get pretty upset when they find that their shows have been edited on DVD. The specific issue comes with the latest release of The Fugitive Season 2 Part 1. Apparently, the excellent underscore from the first season has been completely replaced with a newly-recorded bizarro version. Making matters worse, the packaging gives no mention of the new music.

It may seem a little frivolous, after all I’m just happy they’re releasing this stuff on DVD, but it’s just another underhanded bait-and-switch move by TV studios to save some cash. More often than not, as TV on DVD points out, the music in an old show is substituted because of royalty issues; either the studio doesn’t want to pay a ton of money to renew the writes to a specific pop song, or, if it’s really old, they can’t figure out who actually owns the rights. It’s complicated, to say the least; but to me it’s an issue of honesty. If CBS/Paramount is going to release an entire series on DVD, but they have to substitute some music, it might be better to avoid a generic statement like “Some episodes may be edited from their original versions” and actually issue a technical press release so the consumer knows what to expect.

It always stands out to me when I hear a TV show play some weird off-key pseudo version of a pop song instead of buying the rights to the real deal. The same goes for these TV-on-DVD releases. Companies are releasing these because there is a demand for them–a nostalgia factor that everyone is buying in to (myself included)–but if people are buying DVDs that are different from what they expect, then the entire genre may lose sales.

Just saw the first Million Dollar Password. They had a few “illegal clues” in the first round. Regis Philbin seems to think everyone knows hyphenated words can’t be clues, but it’s been years since Password was on TV. That’s almost like assuming everyone knows Aristophanes wrote The Birds (a pop culture reference that may be only slightly more familiar than the Password rules). Couldn’t the producers have taken the time to make everyone familiar with the rules?

The television upfronts continue; this time it’s CBS’ turn at the podium for a look at their fall lineup, designed specifically to attract more female viewers. Okay… A number of casualties, most notably the fan favorite Moonlight, make room for new one-hour series The Ex-List (a tarot card reading lets a woman know she needs to marry by year’s end to a man already in her life), The Mentalist, Jerry Bruckheimer’s Eleventh Hour, and sitcoms Worst Week and Jay Mohr’s Project Gary. The big news is that the network has held onto Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ New Adventures of Old Christine, which moves from Monday to Wednesday to front a one-hour comedy block preceding Criminal Minds and CSI: New York. Seriously?! Nothing like a comedy appetizer leading into two hours of crime drama. Meanwhile, they are also holding onto Rules of Engagement as a mid-season replacement show, should either of the new comedies fall flat, or should low ratings dictate a schedule shuffle.

For full details visit ( Variety )

TVShowsonDVD.com is reporting a big scoop they first mentioned back in December: Paramount will be releasing the first season of the classic mid-Nineties television show Early Edition this summer on DVD!

This used to be one of my favorite shows when I was younger. Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) plays Gary Hobson, a Chicago native who mysteriously starts receiving tomorrow’s newspaper today. He’s faced with the ethical decision of changing the future for the better, or using the paper to benefit personally. It was an awesome concept and, from what I remember, a great show! Let’s hope seeing it again won’t ruin the fond memories I had for the show.

For whatever reason, Early Edition has been tied up in DVD hell for some time; thankfully it appears the show will finally be getting its release. Look for Early Edition somewhere around June 24, 2008.

It’s amazing the things they DON’T tell you or show you on reality TV. Case in point, the Big Brother House currently running in season nine on CBS. Think they’re all really innocent? Think again.

Crazy James - It was unveiled by gossip mavens like Perez Hilton he had a gay porn past, and any number of YouTube clips show him talking about sleeping with guys and with his love interest on the show, Chelsia. Now why can’t they show those clips?

Sheila - In December of 1981 our 45-year-old single mom was Miss December for Penthouse. Not only that, but Sheila took a stab at professional acting. She’s done soaps, television, and movies like European Vacation.

Even more shocking?
Evicted house guest Allison has volunteered over 1,000 hours at Mother Teresa’s orphanages. And we thought she was just a gambling addict who somehow frittered away $5 million in winnings (a number she gave in her audition tape).

The most shocking?
Adam the big lug with his finger up his nose constantly? He has a master’s degree in fashion design and marketing. Yep, he needs to hit Project Runway next! Who knew?

The least shocking?
Natalie was a Hawaiian Tropic model. Yawn! Just another job in a bikini.

And so it is, the final episode of Jericho aired last night. The showrunners shot two endings in anticipation of cancellation, which came to fruition, so presumably the episode we saw last night was the terminal version.

So how was it?

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With Lost lost for the time being, I’ve just realized that’s the last episode of a habit show until sometime in April. I’ll be watching a little TV–the NCAA tourney, Weather Channel forecasts, and way too many reruns of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Samantha Brown’s Passport To …, but should my local teams (Pitt and West Virginia) drop out, there’s nothing I’m looking forward to on the tube for a while. This is healthy, isn’t it?

Suffering from lagging ratings, CBS’s apocalyptic drama currently resides on “the bubble,” but the outlook is grim.

I’m a big fan of the show, having gotten into its first season during the summer rerun rundown. The idea is compelling–a small Kansas town forced to deal with the literal and metaphorical fallout of a large-scale nuclear attack on the U.S.–and the action was fast and compelling (once you got past the first half of the first season, which was more Smoky Mountain Christmas than 24).

Unfortunately, this follow-up season has been a mixed bag, blending a few great moments with enough cringe-worthy bits to likely prevent the citizens of Jericho from seeing the airwaves for a third go-round. The penultimate episode, aired this Tuesday (which I just got to on the DVR last night), sucked pretty hard. Spoilers to follow.

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The cast of BSG delivers the Top Ten List on Letterman.

Two more weeks, people…

In the latest of a long and sensible list of smart career decisions made by unglued pop icon Britney Spears, the AP reports that the permanent paparazzi fodder will guest star in an upcoming episode of How I Met Your Mother on CBS. Details below:

Spears will guest star in a March 24 episode of the cult series, CBS spokeswoman Kelli Raftery told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The pop star will portray a receptionist in a dermatologist’s office named Abby who becomes “smitten” with Ted (Josh Radnor), Raftery said.

Craig Thomas, the show’s creator, told Usmagazine.com that Spears attended a table reading with the cast on Monday, and that her scenes will probably be filmed later this week. He said representatives for Spears approached the CBS about “Mother” because “she was looking for a small part on a funny show.”

With both Spears and Mother currently ranked #53 in the ratings (common sense and viewing audiences, respectively) this will no doubt boost the popularity of both for a grand total of 22 minutes, excluding commercials. Assuming she has hair. Otherwise, the numbers get more difficult to tabulate.

(via AP)