Anticipated problems with Night Gallery Season 1?

[manigrasso]

I was just made aware that the first season of Night Gallery is coming out in August, and it includes the original TV Movie pilot.

Looking at it on CDNow/Amazon, it has a ton of one-star "reviews" from people complaining that Universal has again "dropped the ball." Apparently, they're releasing this one bare-bones, and without sprucing up the original A/V.

Now, why they're not opting for extras, I don't know, but I had been watching repeats of the show on cable's "Mystery" Channel, and the video looks pretty good to me, especially considering the fact that the show is so old and was always treated shoddy by Universal, from first-run through syndication and beyond. Audio is what it is, mono split to two channels.

I'm guessing there's a possibility that, since the show is so old and not well-respected by Hollywood, that there's not a lot of vintage info on it, though I'm sure some stuff could be dug up. I'm also guessing that maybe they're gauging how well Season One sells, then many add some extras to Season 2.

So my question to everyone complaining is: What's the big deal Bitch? What were you expecting from a show this old? 16x9? DTS? Are they actually using worse transfers for the show on DVD than they're using on Mystery Channel? The one person who really could've told us a lot about this show is Rod Serling, and he's dead, and when he was alive, the suits treated his show like such a red-headed stepchild, he was disgusted by what the show had become by the end. Maybe something by Marc Scott Zicree? Isn't it enough just to have the shows, uncut?

[EPKJ]

I don't understand the complaints either. There are some people who just enjoy bashing Universal.

[downhuman]

Originally Posted by EPKJ

There are some people who just enjoy bashing Universal.

The problem with Universal is that they used to be pretty good. Good A/V presentations, packed special editions. They were guilty of double-dipping a little too much, but the newer editions were almost always a significant improvement over the previous ones.

The Universal of today is quite a different story. Their quality control dept has taken a major nosedive--so so A/V transfers, framing issues, non-anamorphic new releases. No excuses for these things. Their A/V transfers were easily some of the best among the major studios--now they're the worst. They're also releasing bare-bones editions of highly anticipated movies--case in point, The High School Reunion collection. Those movies were originally announced as packed special editions and what did we get on the street date? Bare-bones with only trailers. Which reminds me--unskippable trailers, WTF? Anyone remember the E.T. debacle? If Speilberg hadn't stepped in, we probably would've never seen the original version of E.T. on home video ever again. And the list goes on and on. Too many to count, really.

My point is, this isn't just a case of people hating a studio because they feel like it. It's a case of a studio repeatedly dropping the ball when it comes to their catalogue. Maybe Night Gallery is a bad example of this but I have to say that I'm not the least bit surprised by this.

[EPKJ]

What bothers me is that Universal has tried to deliver the goods in 2004. Their Franchise and Legacy collections are truly innovative marketing and have brought many catalog titles to DVD at affordable prices. It is one thing to point out errors. It is another to ignore successes.

[downhuman]

Originally Posted by EPKJ

What bothers me is that Universal has tried to deliver the goods in 2004. Their Franchise and Legacy collections are truly innovative marketing and have brought many catalog titles to DVD at affordable prices. It is one thing to point out errors. It is another to ignore successes.

You're right, those sets were well done but that's just about the only thing lately. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come with them but that's really just a few things done right among a multitude of mistakes--at least among major releases. That's in stark contrast to studios like New Line who hit it out of the park nearly everytime, even with their second-tier releases--and they were doing this even before the LOTR windfall. Hell even MGM and Paramount have managed to clean up their acts somewhat. Lets be real here, somebody would've gotten fired if those collections had been fucked up. The Legacy collections are Universal's crown jewels. Anything less than excellence would've been a disaster. People would have held off for the eventual double-dip and Universal would have lost a bundle. People know what belonged on those collections and Universal had no excuse to not provide it. People have a lot less tolerance for double-dips with movies that old and Universal knew it.

The Legacy Franchise collections are a step back in the right direction, but they still have a long way to go IMO.

[EPKJ]

Originally Posted by downhuman

You're right, those sets were well done but that's just about the only thing lately. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come with them but that's really just a few things done right among a multitude of mistakes--at least among major releases. That's in stark contrast to studios like New Line who hit it out of the park nearly everytime, even with their second-tier releases--and they were doing this even before the LOTR windfall. Hell even MGM and Paramount have managed to clean up their acts somewhat. Lets be real here, somebody would've gotten fired if those collections had been fucked up. The Legacy collections are Universal's crown jewels. Anything less than excellence would've been a disaster. People would have held off for the eventual double-dip and Universal would have lost a bundle. People know what belonged on those collections and Universal had no excuse to not provide it. People have a lot less tolerance for double-dips with movies that old and Universal knew it.

The Legacy Franchise collections are a step back in the right direction, but they still have a long way to go IMO.

Actually, this involves a great number of films. So far, I own the following from the Franchise Collection:

01: The Best Of Bud Abbott And Lou Costello Volume 1 (8 films)
02: The Best Of Bud Abbott And Lou Costello Volume 2 (8 films)
03: The Adventures Of Ma And Pa Kettle Volume 1 (4 films)
04: The Adventures Of Ma And Pa Kettle Volume 2 (4 films)
05: Airport Terminal Pack (4 films)
06: The Flintstones Yabba Dabba 2-Pack (2 films)
07: Dragonheart: 2 Legendary Tales (2 films)
08: American Graffiti Drive-In Double Feature (2 films)
09: Conan The Complete Quest (2 films)
10: Smokey And The Bandit Pursuit Pack (3 films)
11: On The Road With Bob Hope And Bing Crosby (4 films)
12: The Adventures Of Francis The Talking Mule Volume 1 (4 films)

In addition, I have the three Legacy Collections which contain 14 films. That is a total of 61 films in 15 sets for very little money. That is a great deal, and Universal deserves credit for this.

[Chewbacca]

The most recent news over at www.tvshowsondvd.com doesn't sound too bad:Night Gallery Set