onairb said:
I've seen the show in the past in local station syndication (albeit on 16mm film), and the
opening credits were devoid of a sponsor.
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ME-TV Another Network That Edits The Hell Out Of Their Programs
- Thread starter Mark Giardina
- Start date
I've seen the show in the past in local station syndication (albeit on 16mm film), and the
opening credits were devoid of a sponsor.
Mark_Giardina said:We all know that networks edit most of their shows to allow for more commercials and promos: ME-TV has joined that growing club.
What that network is doing to their programs is god-awful; the editing I mean.
If you are going to butcher something at least get some professionals. Not someone with a pair of scissors and scotch tape.
With Me-TV, I've noticed more the reliance on digital time-compression over blatant cuts. I've particularly noticed time-compression on "Cheers", "The Twilight Zone", "Mission: Impossible" (that one is funny, because one of the favorite places to speed up is during the first few seconds of the closing credits, then they slow the music down to the proper tempo) and "Dobie Gillis".
Mid-sixties to mid-seventies hour-long prime-time dramas would tend to run around 50-52 minutes minus commercials, bumpers and previews. It would be helpful though to have some concrete numbers to throw around. Just going through what I've DVRed off Me-TV (and then edited out the commercials), I've got the following timings:
Lost In Space: 45:49
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: 45:51
Thriller: 45:49
(Hour long) Twilight Zone: 45:46
Naked City: 45:49
Route 66: between 45:54 and 45:58
The Untouchables: between 45:27 to 47:02 (an outlier, for sure) Around 45:55 is more common.
12 O'Clock High: Between 45:53 and 45:59
Kojak: 45:53
The Rockford Files: 45:51
Combat: 46:15
Cannon: 45:14
Hawaii Five-O: 45:12
Gunsmoke: 44:55
My guess is that most of these programs have been time-compressed from the 50-ish minute full-length versions. Some, though, may be using prints that had been edited down to 45 to 46 minutes for syndication in the eighties before digital time-compression became common.
In comparison, the version of "Star Trek Remastered" showed by Me-TV is, in fact, the same hacked to ribbons 43:40 edits prepared for syndication between 2006-2008, where uncut Trek runs just a smidgen over 50 minutes.
Also for comparison purposes, the 2010 revival of "Hawaii Five-O" over on CBS runs 42:27.
A couple of comments...
First, you can refer to the Paramount and Viacom library just as the CBS library -- following the Viacom split, all those TV programs are now owned by CBS. And CBS almost certainly is not supplying 35 mm film prints to ME-TV, but is supplying top quality recordings of their programs that have generally been retransferred from those 35 mm prints and digitally remastered in the last decade. CBS has, by and large, done an excellent job on their remasterings -- the problem is that some stations and networks have continued to use older copies of these programs rather than spending the money to acquire the cleanest remastered copies from CBS TV Distribution.
As for the running times -- I note that most of those running times are just under 46 minutes, which suggests that ME-TV is formatted for 14 minutes of commercials and promos per hour. In many instances, that comes pretty close to the length of the syndication edits that CBS TV Distribution makes available to stations, which means that no further speed-ups or editing would need to be done by ME-TV for those particular programs. What it also means is that four to five minutes per hour will typically be cut out of these shows versus their original running times on network television back in the sixties and seventies.
Finally, regarding "Star Trek": before they took down the website that had all that information, the CBS TV Distribution "Syndication Bible" gave a running time for the synidcated version of 43:48. In comparison, these same episodes run right at 50:30 on the Blu-ray season sets of the series.
First, you can refer to the Paramount and Viacom library just as the CBS library -- following the Viacom split, all those TV programs are now owned by CBS. And CBS almost certainly is not supplying 35 mm film prints to ME-TV, but is supplying top quality recordings of their programs that have generally been retransferred from those 35 mm prints and digitally remastered in the last decade. CBS has, by and large, done an excellent job on their remasterings -- the problem is that some stations and networks have continued to use older copies of these programs rather than spending the money to acquire the cleanest remastered copies from CBS TV Distribution.
As for the running times -- I note that most of those running times are just under 46 minutes, which suggests that ME-TV is formatted for 14 minutes of commercials and promos per hour. In many instances, that comes pretty close to the length of the syndication edits that CBS TV Distribution makes available to stations, which means that no further speed-ups or editing would need to be done by ME-TV for those particular programs. What it also means is that four to five minutes per hour will typically be cut out of these shows versus their original running times on network television back in the sixties and seventies.
Finally, regarding "Star Trek": before they took down the website that had all that information, the CBS TV Distribution "Syndication Bible" gave a running time for the synidcated version of 43:48. In comparison, these same episodes run right at 50:30 on the Blu-ray season sets of the series.
Check out The Fugitive on MeTV Sunday nights for a film-to-tape transfer
that's outstanding. The episodes just look great.
Compare that to Naked City on RTV (and overnight Sundays on MeTV).
Someone needs to get the original 35mm prints and re-transfer them.
And don't forget to raise the black level. Everything's (even daytime
outside shots) too dark!
that's outstanding. The episodes just look great.
Compare that to Naked City on RTV (and overnight Sundays on MeTV).
Someone needs to get the original 35mm prints and re-transfer them.
And don't forget to raise the black level. Everything's (even daytime
outside shots) too dark!
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