Did Syndication Prints really look this bad?

You'd think everything would be getting converted for streaming services. You never know when some old show will take off thanks to a meme or whatever and demand will suddenly appear for it...

 

For those of you who watched The Brady Bunch in its original run from 1969-74, how many of you remember the "The Brady Bunch will return in a moment" bumper that was seen before the final commercial break (between the final act and the epilogue)?

Seasons 1-2 had this using the same picture of the "squares" shot used in the opening and closing credits, while for seasons 3-5 it was a shot of the family on the stairway (seasons 3-4 had them on the stairs themselves, but season 5 relocated them to the landing before the stairs). Season 1 had a generic announcer, while seasons 2-5 used one of the show's nine cast members which varied from episode to episode.

I wonder if any videos of these "return in a moment" bumpers exist? They were also seen on the first-generation syndicated prints used from 1975 to about 1985, but were removed from them after the videotaped remasters came out in 1985.
Seasons 3-5 also had the IN COLOR bumpers before the opening credits, but were not preserved on DVD as had those for seasons 1-2, and as with the final commercial break bumpers, were removed from syndicated reruns after 1985.

~Ben

 

Actually, the season 1 premiere episode, "All the Way," used the original 1954 recording. Then starting with episode 2, "The Lemon," was when the re-recording was used. This re-recording took place in early January 1974 at Glen Glenn Sound and was only used for this series.

~Ben

 

Taxi was not in syndication until 1983, after NBC had already canceled the series. I am certain Paramount had made both formats available during this time.

~Ben

 

Syndication was not the point. The point is that Paramount was shooting on 35mm film throughout the 1980s but quickly switched to cutting on tape as soon as it was practical. I know for a fact that Star Trek: The Next Generation was shot on film and cut on tape, but Taxi was already off the air by 1983, which was before the video revolution really started affecting episodic TV. Paramount went through a transition from syndicating on 16mm to syndicating on videotape, and then syndicating via satellite by the end of the 1980s.

I think for a lot of this minutia, the studio execs don't care about interstitial bumpers or end logos or anything like that. They only want to use the current corporate logo at the end to satisfy the people running the studio. Historical accuracy is not high on their list.

 

The problem is the surviving film elements for those shot on film and edited on videotape. The other problem is whether or not it would be cost prohibitive with their budget/sales.

 

I've seen a bunch of those 1980s 1" masters and the ones I saw did not have those bumpers on them.


Dan

 

Yes, that was the one. It was the last episode produced, but not the last aired.

~Ben

 

In the early 80's, I was working in the Telecine Dept. for KNBC in LA. On weekends we ran the Bob Newhart Show midday and they were 16 mm prints which needed a lot of help to look presentable. It drove me crazy trying to get the correct flesh tones.

 

Very possible. As I said, the 1980s was a transition for Paramount, and in a lot of ways, the whole TV business. A TV special could very well be edited on tape. I think Lorimar was the first "studio" that started shooting on film and editing on tape, and once everybody saw how much faster it was, they did the same thing. 1984-1988 was that period of change. But there were shows like Murder She Wrote that cut on film all the way to 1996, because the producers didn't want to rock the boat. Everybody else had changed, though, mainly because of budget and speed.

Oh, those ancient film chains in Burbank were awful -- TK-27's? TK-28's? The NBC network guys I knew there told me "we run a 35mm print with a 16mm print backup in case it breaks live on the air," which explained why sometimes shows looked "underwater" during some segments. Eventually, it all went to tape distribution -- I did quite a few Saturday morning shows that delivered to NBC on 1" tape, including Smurfs and Chipmunks, and they were huge successes. All initially done from 35mm low-con print on Ranks, eventually negative.

 

Speaking of "syndication prints" from long ago . . .

I bought a VHS tape via eBay on VCI Entertainment which was issued in 2001 of the 1953 Western KANSAS PACIFIC. I'd seen the movie aired before on Turner Classic Movies so I thought to buy myself a copy. The insert artwork in the mid-sized clamshell case looks to have reproduced the poster and says 'In Thrilling Color!' .

I also found a 1985 Video Treasures release of "Kansas Pacific" in 'SP mode' in a large clamshell case around the same time and I bought that, too, because it was cheap. I like having spares of some movies if they don't cost me much.

Where the "syndicated print" question comes in: The VCI tape is the proper color version of the movie and it's pretty clear and looks like a transfer from a decent print -- I'm guessing a 35mm print?

But I decided to play the Video Treasures tape as well and this version was in 'black-and-white' (much to my surprise -- the video box says 'Color' just like the VCI box did) and looks like it was taken from a 16mm/b&w print that had been circulated among television stations of the distant past and which was likely very cheap to obtain for broadcast.

→ Would a release like this seem to be like something that was transferred a long time ago from color/35mm to 16mm/B&W to syndicate cheaply to TV stations in the distant past? It looks like it, but I can't be certain. I reckon someone else on here would know better than I, to be sure. Also, the Video Treasures videocassette itself looks like new despite its age. I couldn't help but notice how un-used that tape looks after all this time when I bought it several months ago but the print on it is muddy and murky.

(I think Video Treasures started as a 'Public Domain' label, but I don't know if they stayed that way. What I do recall is it didn't take Video Treasures too long to start releasing 'EP' mode swill that is best avoided!).

 

That's odd about Murder, She Wrote being both shot and edited on film for all that time. It's thus one of the few series to have the filmed version of Universal Television's 1991 logo.


And speaking of Paramount Television, there were a handful of filmed syndicated prints they did into the 1990s, including this version of their CGI Mountain from this 1977 special, Having Babies II.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXcorSnvUjQ

~Ben

 

And if there's anything that was shot on videotape but edited on film for early syndication, it's the handful of episodes from season 2 of the original version of The Twilight Zone.

As far as I know, no other series alternated between filmed and taped episodes (within a single season) before the 1980s. Of those shows released since, The Powers of Matthew Star (1982-83) had three episodes shot on film and then edited on tape.

~Ben