It's Not Easy Being Re-released
Why can’t companies simply re-release old television shows in their complete, original format? Do these media companies think us consumers won’t notice the changes? Do they think we don’t care?
Today I was very excited to finally get my copy of The Muppet Show – Season 1 on DVD! I was super-excited because I got my hands on the version with the fuzzy green cover. After watching the first DVD in this box set, I began scratching my head. A couple things seemed odd. I quickly broke out my old Time Life Muppet DVDs, looking for a first season episode I could use as a comparison.
I used the classic Vincent Price episode as the basis for my comparison. The Brian Henson introductions were gone – nowhere to be found on the new DVD set. Not a huge deal, but a nice extra I would have liked to have. Another interesting difference was the closing credits. At the very end, a generic shot of Zoot playing the Sax has been inserted, replacing the original footage which varied from episode to episode – the gags with the Sax have been lost in favor of an updated copyright message. I was also surprised to see the original season 1 opening, which was not present on the Time Life set. Why the differences? Time to do some homework online…
I stumbled upon a great review with many more observations about this DVD set at Muppet Central, and I must say I agree with everything said about this DVD set. It’s a great Muppet set, but has some typical Di$ney muck-ups like cutting some songs and removing the DVD chapters so you can’t skip through parts of an episode (which the Time Life versions did have). The one thing this set has going for it is picture quality – clear, crisp, and vibrant.
Ok, that’s my rant. Now back to watching more classic Season 1 Muppet episodes. 