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Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour/Me-TV

O

oldiesfan6479

So what's the deal with the end credits on these two one hour shows airing
on Friday evenings 8/7?

I haven't seen any credits for the supporting cast. Was this more of the
"edited for television" and was it done by the syndicator (CBS/Paramount)
or by Me-TV?
 
I've never seen a print that has supporting-cast credits. Possibly these actors were billed during the original telecasts in 1957-60. In the years that followed, generic titles removing the Westinghouse plugs etc. and adding caricatures of Lucy and Ricky were filmed for the network reruns, which were generally seen as weekly summer replacement shows (these episodes were originally seen on a sporadic basis as part of the DESILU PLAYHOUSE anthology, and weren't meant to be shown weekly) The network repeats persisted well into the 1960s. The hour-longs were first syndicated in the 1970s with the reshot titles.
 
oldiesfan6479 said:
So what's the deal with the end credits on these two one hour shows airing
on Friday evenings 8/7?

I haven't seen any credits for the supporting cast. Was this more of the
"edited for television" and was it done by the syndicator (CBS/Paramount)
or by Me-TV?
Click to expand...

ME-TV is notorious when it comes to (bad) editing TV shows on their network.

I quite understand that networks today jam in more commercials than during the 1960s or even 70s. But that still doesn't justifiy hacking a show to the point that a viewer follow an episode can not even follow the plot line.
 
Are you sure it's MeTV and not the original syndicated cuts? I can't imagine MeTV working harder to make cuts -- and if there's no end credits, it was probably put out that way in the first cut. They didn't pull a TV Land and whiz the credits by in the final 30 seconds in small type.
 
There are end credits, just no listing for guest actors(the main guest starts were always announced in the opening, anyway). The 'Comedy Hour' shows were first syndicated in half-hour format as 'We Love Lucy'; I'm not sure whether the closing credits seen on ME-TV originated with that syndicated package, or with Nick at Nite, which aired the shows in the '90s/early 2000s(and re-created the original animated openings/closings for 'I Love Lucy')
 
The local cable access channel in my town recently ran an episode of the "Guns of Will Sonnett". The same episode ran two weeks later on MeTV.

The program that ran on cable access contained scenes that were deleted from MeTV.

So I can't buy the claim that MeTV does not edit the shows they air because here was proof it happened.
 
I'm not as adept at some of you at figuring this out so could someone please tell me: How can you tell that ME-TV is speeding up the shows? What are the tell-tale signs to look for? Looks like they wouldn't have to do that because they don't really have that much advertising yet...although that's starting to change...I'm seeing more and more bigger companies on there and less and less class-action lawsuits.
 
I don't think MeTV is responsible for the rather rough editing on "The Guns Of Will Sonnett" or "Branded". King World, who distributed those two shows did a rather lousy edit job on both shows. Both shows were outstanding dramas. Unfortunately, King World made lousy prints and the color on both shows are rather poorly done. The black and white/color episodes of "Branded" were so poorly cut that the storylines were somewhat screwed up at times. For the most part, MeTV has very good videotape prints of their shows. I do agree that some of the openings and closings seem to be a little fast. But for the most part, MeTV is doing a fine job in bringing back some great shows from the past.
 
The several times I've checked out Branded (Saturdays on Me-TV), it's been
horrible 16mm prints from its original syndication. I've seen Sonnett once,
and it also looked like 16mm.

Don't the 35mm films still exist? I can't believe mainline syndicators are still offering
product from 16mm reduction prints!

As for sped-up stuff on Me-TV, they've played tricks with the credits on some episodes
of The Untouchables.
 
Hal Erickson said:
I've never seen a print that has supporting-cast credits. Possibly these actors were billed during the original telecasts in 1957-60. In the years that followed, generic titles removing the Westinghouse plugs etc. and adding caricatures of Lucy and Ricky were filmed for the network reruns, which were generally seen as weekly summer replacement shows (these episodes were originally seen on a sporadic basis as part of the DESILU PLAYHOUSE anthology, and weren't meant to be shown weekly) The network repeats persisted well into the 1960s. The hour-longs were first syndicated in the 1970s with the reshot titles.
Click to expand...

Wasn't The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour originally a part of the I Love Lucy canon when I Love Lucy first entered syndication on local channels in 1967?

And then again when The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour was first syndicated, it wasn't widely syndicated. Never seen it in listings from Texas. I have a Chicago TV Guide from 1975 that lists the show being on WGN. The only real exposure that this show has had was on Nick at Nite and then the cut up and butchered "We Love Lucy" basically cutting down the shows into 2 part 30 minute shows.
 
oldiesfan6479 said:
So what's the deal with the end credits on these two one hour shows airing
on Friday evenings 8/7?

I haven't seen any credits for the supporting cast. Was this more of the
"edited for television" and was it done by the syndicator (CBS/Paramount)
or by Me-TV?
Click to expand...

I recently viewed the DVDs for the Lucy-Desi Hour, and the original credits, both front and end are edited, as the original credits incorporated the sponsor, plus the pilot episode was 1 hour and 45 minutes. Desi was able to convince US Steel to give up 15 minutes of their episode, for a plug by Desi for the US Steel Hour. The DVDs have deleted scenes as extras, as well as the original credits and openings. The final shows are sad to watch as Desi and Lucy were on the verge of divorce as they filmed the episodes.
 
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