i live in the bay area and i get the channel. i think it's a basic channel, too.

Woot! Found it! The series starts over tomorrow...great way to get my girlfriend to watch it as she has never seen an episode before.

I have a feeling that it will go the way of the WKRP series...

Bad News if it does

did they have to run this at 10pm EST? I can record 2 shows at a time with Tivo but 10pm is prime-time and 3 days per week I already am recording 2 shows.

If the music artist's contibution is so minimal, then the music's abscence is equaly minimal.

I havent heard anything new about a DVD release. Has anyone heard anything? I love this show, been a favourite for a long time.

"ION" is just the broadcast network formerly known as "i" which was the network formerly known as "PAX".

Most (if not all) cable companies should carry this network, and if not you can probably pick it up with an antenna, depending on where you live.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAX_Network

They're definitely the syndicated cuts (about 21 minutes); this is syndication, right? I don't usually notice the difference, but there were a few episodes that I have on VHS that I've watched enough times over the years that I missed a few of my favorite lines. There are a few tell-tale moments where scenes cut in to an already-laughing audience, too.

I don't think they run the watermark constantly, but there's definitely an array of crap that shows up in the bottom right corner after commercials.

Been really enjoying these on the ION channel (thank God for the DVR!). Good that they're in order too, since it's a continuing storyline. The video looks a bit weird, or is it just me? The constant bottom ads during the show suck but what are you gonna do.

WHEN ARE THE SEASON SETS GONNA BE RELEASED, DAMMIT?

Remember reading about what they've done to WKRP in Cincinnati to bring it to DVD? I can't even imagine what they would do to The Wonder Years.

Call me dense but I just don't get the big deal about music licensing. It was already licensed in the first place for when the show was first broadcast, right? So why should any fees be paid again? It's the same show. I don't get it.

G-R-E-E-D.

That, and it costs more to negotiate the songs for home video release than just for broadcast. Why they ever set the laws up that way is beyond me though.

Well, greed works on both ends. Studios don't want to give us these discs for free, they want to get the most out of us they can. If they have a choice of paying some more to get the music rights, they won't be the nice guy, absorb that cost and set the msrp at a level equal to a set without music licensing issues. When they feel that the costs being passed along to the consumer will make the cost rise above what a normal market will bear, they ready the old 'some music has been replaced from the original airings' statment.
Frankly, given the boldness of some companies, I'm surprised no one (that I know of) has taken my idea. As I understand it, the rights to (most) music and properties for television shows were secured in the original contract, and from seeing re-runs of most shows, the music stays intact, unless syndication edits cut it out. So if the rights to those songs have been secured for all broadcasts and can't be rescinded, why don't studios set up some deal with cable/ satellite/ broadband distributors whereby they buy bandwidth and set up a channel? They then charge a subscription fee and pipe in the show at high quality resolution. That way the consumer gets what they want (and may or may not record the airing) and the studio gets the subscription cost (which could even include whatever overhead they have to pay the bandwidth provider). Technically, this is still a broadcast and not a home video release. I realize it's pretty much a pipe dream for most releases, but for something like WKRP (and the forever entagled Batman series) with a large following, I'd have to imagine companies could make a nice profit. Surely there's some kinks to be worked out (how many households would need to pay for a channel before it became profitable, how can they promote all the series that would be offered and determine which ones viewers want, how can they ensure that the maximum number of households have this broadcast service at their disposal, etc.), but given the desire for some of these shows/ movies, I see this as method that could give consumers what they want.

i've been watching too... great stuff.

i need these on DVD.

Memories.

-NiCK

But does the video look strange to you or am I imagining it? Looks like it's a bit fast.

The video looks compressed, low quality. I don't like the transfer that's being shown on ION.

It looks odd to me to as if shot on video not film, the frame rate definitly is not 24p feels more like 30.

ION often uses sped up masters. The Growing Pains episodes they were showing were VERY sped up.

Stations do this so they can fit more commercials in, it's usually not as noticible as it is on ION.

I found this great example of how horrible replacement music will be if they decide to bring it to DVD.

This first clip is "the first kiss" as we all know and love it, with "When a Man Loves a Woman":

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UV8dW_TU1d4"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UV8dW_TU1d4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

And this second one is the first part of a Wonder Years documentary (watch the entire thing sometime if you've never seen it). At the 8 minute mark in this video they show the same "first kiss" scene, but with replacement music:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gGqaE7laI7M"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gGqaE7laI7M" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

That is awful.

Yes, terrible. The second one sounds like porno music.

man i was just wondering the other day why this hadn't been released yet on dvd and if they replace the music i won't even wanna buy it.

I've been waiting so long for this DVD set. Tales from the crypt was the other and that has been released, But The Wonder Years is the one that got away so far. It is still listed on play.com but no updates have been made for ages

http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/86573...s/Product.html

It wasn't all that bad. To hear you guys describe it I had myself braced for the Michael Bolton version.

I'm DVRing the current run on ION Television. This is such a great series. I've now got about 40 episodes recorded, and usually go through about 3-4 every few days. But I would still love season sets.