I went to a moving sale in Brunswick yesterday that included, among other things, a HUGE amount of VHS tapes! There were a few boxes full of them, along with several inside a cabinet. Here's what I found on that ones I ended up buying:
TAPE 1: Both parts of Anne of Green Gables (1985 PBS miniseries) taped from WVIZ in July 2000; both parts of Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (1987 PBS miniseries) taped from WVIZ in July 2000 with pledge breaks. Part of the second part of the former miniseries had been taped over with most of an episode of Gardener's Journal taped from HGTV in June 2001 with commercials, including the network's sign-on before the show started.
TAPE 2: Ice Age (2002) copied from rental tape; last several minutes of the fourth quarter of the Cleveland Browns vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers and part of the first quarter of Cincinnati Bengals vs. Los Angeles Raiders joined in progress (NFL on NBC coverage) taped from WKYC on 11/5/1989 with commercials; partially taped over episode of Falcon Crest taped from WJW in October 1989 with commercials and start of Newscenter 8 at 11:00 with Tim Taylor and Eleanor Hayes (the latter anchor filling in for Robin Swoboda)
TAPE 3: The Path to 9/11 (ABC miniseries) taped from WEWS on September 10 and 11, 2006, shown by ABC without commercials--crainbebo has the West Coast feed of this miniseries, but the East Coast feed included something different. During the second part, ABC halted the program on the East Coast to broadcast President Bush's speech on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. Unfortunately, very little of that coverage is on my tape, as these were taped from recordings on a Time Warner Cable DVR and the speech started in the last couple minutes of the scheduled DVR recording. For that reason, I'm missing part of the second part of the miniseries as well. After the miniseries on the tape is one partially taped-over episode and one full episode of NYPD Blue in its first season taped from WEWS sometime in early 1994 minus commercials.
TAPE 4: First six parts of Carrier (PBS miniseries) taped from WVIZ on April 27-29, 2008, short promo blocks are shown between parts, as PBS aired this miniseries two parts at a time, these were taped from DVR recordings
TAPE 5: Last four parts of Carrier taped from WVIZ on April 30-May 1, 2008 with promo blocks in between back-to-back parts (two parts at a time like the rest of the miniseries), also taped from DVR recordings; partially taped-over episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent taped from WKYC on 1/5/2003 with a few commercials; episode of CSI: Miami taped from WOIO on 1/6/2003 with commercials; partially taped-over episode of Third Watch taped from WKYC on 10/28/2002 with a few commercials; most of an episode of 24 (season two premiere) taped from WJW on 10/29/2002, shown by Fox without commercial interruptions
TAPE 6: The Green Mile (1999) and Girl, Interrupted (1999) copied from rental tapes--after the second movie ends, there are two partial episodes of Dragon Tales taped from WVIZ in summer 2000 separated by a 15-minute-long pledge break, this footage was shown through the second VCR used to copy the movies
TAPE 7: Nova episode "Decoding Nazi Secrets" copied from PBS Home Video retail tape, the episode originally aired on PBS on 11/9/1999; World War II Battle Force episode "U-Boat" copied from PBS Home Video retail tape, originally aired on PBS sometime in 1998--after the second tape ends, there are partial broadcasts of Gillette World Sport and Beyond the Glory taped from Fox Sports Net sometime in 2001 (apparently that was when these retail tapes were transferred to this tape) with a few commercials, again that footage was shown through the second VCR used to copy the retail tapes
TAPE 8: Return to Me (2000) and 12:01 (1993) copied from rental tapes--after the second movie ends, there is a late-night aircheck of WEWS in January 2001, which includes a partial Movie 5 presentation of Calendar Girl, Cop, Killer?: The Bambi Bembenek Story (1992 ABC movie), an infomercial for the Building Wealth Workshop, and a couple minutes of ABC World News Now, all with commercials, all shown through the second VCR used to copy the movies from rentals; at the end is a partial showing of Nuremberg (TNT miniseries) taped from TNT on 7/17/2000 with a few commercials
TAPE 9: Last few minutes of an episode of Touched by an Angel, Take Me Home: The John Denver Story (CBS made-for-TV movie), and most of Hometeam 19 News at 11 with Rick Jackson and Alicia Booth taped from WOIO on 4/30/2000 with commercials; episode of NYPD Blue and first few minutes of News Channel 5 at 11:00 (Robin Swoboda and Adam Shapiro, the latter filling in for Ted Henry) taped from WEWS on 5/3/2000 with commercials; episodes of The West Wing, Law & Order and first ten minutes of Channel 3 News at 11 with Romona Robinson and Tim White taped from WKYC on 5/4/2000 with commercials
Defective tapes:
TAPE 1: Neil Diamond: Hot August Night (1977 TV special) copied from retail tape; Neil Diamond: Hello Again taped from WJW on 5/25/1986 minus commercials; Neil Diamond singing the National Anthem at Super Bowl XXI taped from WJW on 1/25/1987; Neil Diamond: I'm Glad You're Here with Me Tonight (1977 TV special) copied from retail tape; Neil Diamond: Greatest Hits Live (1988) copied from retail tape. I was able to play this one back all the way through, but after I rewound it to the beginning and briefly tested it out again, my VCR started making awful squealing sounds when it played any tape. Thankfully, I was able to fix that by cleaning the heads with a new blank tape.
TAPE 2: The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2005 made-for-TV movie) taped from ABC Family. After briefly rewinding the tape while playing it back, I noticed the memory counter wasn't moving, so my guess is the tape must have been damaged somehow. Didn't affect the playback of other tapes on my VCR, but I'm still throwing it out. According to the tape label, it originally contained episodes of The Simpsons and Married with Children before the ABC Family movie taped over it.
TAPE 3: Unknown PBS documentary about Italy taped from WVIZ (tape label reads "Italy--WVIZ 3-4-02"). This one has the same problem as Tape 2, damaged tape and memory counter not moving while rewinding. Again, no problems with my VCR after briefly playing this one, but it's not worth keeping. When I played the tape, it was cued up to a pledge break shown during or after the documentary.
Extras (non-home-recorded VHS tapes):
TAPE 1: Your Heart: Choices You Can Live With (documentary made by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and hosted by former WKYC anchor and later CBS News anchor Dawn Stensland) recorded in 1995
TAPE 2: A T-5 tape made by WJW!--It contains a promo for the station's coverage of the 1992 American Legion Christmas Parade. The look of the videocassette itself was different as well, as it was BLUE and had "WJW TV8" marked on the tape guard. Wish I knew how the homeowner at this moving sale came across this tape!
Tapes left behind at the sale:
-WEWS 50th anniversary special shown in December 1997, already available to view on YouTube here with original commercials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoMWjSK1uJg
-Numerous tapes of St. Elsewhere episodes, I doubt that these were original broadcasts on NBC, but you never know--all recorded on Maxell brand tapes
-Nine tapes of NYPD Blue episodes, I have a feeling all these were probably original broadcasts on ABC since the ones I found on the tapes above were
-The Civil War miniseries (already have part of it)
-Several James Bond movies
-Several movies I already have copies of (e.g. Oklahoma, Dances with Wolves, etc.)
-Several tapes that appeared to include instructional videos copied from retail tapes