The Fugitive: Season Two, Vol. 2
by Abner Biberman, Alex March, Alexander Singer, Andrew McCullough, Christian Nyby
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Actor: Barry Morse, Bruce Dern, David Janssen, R.G. Armstrong, William ConradDirector: Abner Biberman, Alex March, Alexander Singer, Andrew McCullough, Christian Nyby
Brand: FUGITIVE
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 720 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-03-31
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of The Fugitive: Season Two, Vol. 2
DVD Review: Dear CBS
Summary: 1 Stars
-- UPDATE, 6 July 2009 --
Dear CBS,
I'm very disappointed with your release of Season 2 of THE FUGITIVE, and I'd like to tell you why.
The issue is the music. Yes, I know that you've heard this before, and you might believe that you've already addressed this issue and put it behind you.
But you'd be wrong. The music is still being screwed up.
I happen to think that THE FUGITIVE is one of the finest dramatic series ever produced for American television. Perhaps THE finest. So I was overjoyed when I first heard that CBS was going to release this series on DVD.
And Season One was great. Well, almost great. It would have been perfect if a few instances of background music on radios and jukeboxes hadn't been needlessly replaced in the episodes GARDEN HOUSE and WHERE THE ACTION IS.
But beginning with your release of Season 2 Volume 1, all of that changed. The music was horrible. Absolutely horrible.
CBS finally admitted that they had thrown out the entire musical score and commissioned a brand-new score composed of Crap Synthesizer Music. And all because of a handful of musical cues that had been originally licensed from the Capitol music library, the ownership of which was now in legal limbo.
This was a first-class example of 'throwing the baby out with the bath water'. -- "A few musical cues have got to go, so let's just throw out the entire musical score." This ranks as perhaps the most colossal blunder in the history of television.
Tens of thousands of Fugitive fans wrote letters, wrote emails, boycotted CBS products, and returned their DVDs for refunds. The outpouring of fan rage was unprecedented.
CBS recoiled in shock. Why were the fans so concerned about the music, when CBS had long ago concluded that "The Music Doesn't Matter"?
Fans were livid because The Music DOES Matter.
Let me say that again, CBS.
THE MUSIC *DOES* MATTER. Especially to a show like THE FUGITIVE.
Now, I can think of a great many series whose music is unmemorable. But THE FUGITIVE is different. It's a film-noir series. The protagonist is a tired, lonely, beaten-down guy who is being chased by the police for a crime he didn't commit.
The music underscores his lonely plight. It sets the mood, underscores his loneliness, gets the audience emotionally involved. The music is of primary importance to this series. Which is why any alteration to the music is jarring, changes the mood, changes the impact of the scene, and totally ruins the experience. THAT'S why the fans were outraged.
Thousands of fans returned their S2V1 DVD sets for a refund. This hit CBS where it mattered most, in the pocketbook. And CBS eventually responded by issuing Replacement Discs for S2V1, with the original music restored, and with only those few Capitol cues replaced.
(Personally, I believe that CBS' decision to issue Replacement Discs for S2V1 was primarily due to the embarrassment that CBS suffered when this issue was made public in an article entitled "CBS/Par Can't Escape Fugitive Burn" in the daily film-industry newspaper, VARIETY.)
(CBS has long turned a deaf ear to complaints from fans of other Classic TV shows that CBS has butchered. CBS probably would have ignored FUGITIVE fans too, if not for Jon Burlingame's VARIETY article. Thanks, Jon!)
Having issued the S2V1 Replacement Discs, you probably thought that you had resolved this music-replacement issue and put it behind you, didn't you, CBS?
But the S2V1 Replacement Discs didn't REALLY restore all of the original music (save for those few Capitol cues). A great many of the original cues were STILL needlessly replaced!
As an example, let's take a look at the Season 2 episode ESCAPE INTO BLACK. CBS has publicly stated that, in this episode, there is only one cue in question, a 39-second Capitol cue composed by Nick Carras.
(For proof, Google "The Fugitive Music Debacle: Why It Happened")
So, there is only one cue that had to be replaced in ESCAPE INTO BLACK. And if you pull out your old VHS copy and compare it to the S2V1 Replacement version, you'll find that the original score is intact, save for that one replaced cue, right?
Wrong. I made the comparison, and I found 25 instances where original cues have been needlessly replaced by Crap Synthesizer Cues. Here they are, listed by time index.
02:32 - flashback: Kimble sees one-armed man
02:41 - flashback: one-armed man in headlights
05:34 - amnesiac Kimble struggles to remember
06:01 - doctor interrogates Kimble
08:05 - Ruskin confronts Towne
08:24 - Ruskin argues with Towne
08:49 - Ruskin discusses Barlow case
09:02 - police want fingerprints
09:23 - Ruskin talks to Barlow
13:53 - Lascoe takes Kimble's fingerprints
14:01 - Kimble being fingerprinted
14:58 - Ruskin leaves hospital room
15:08 - Ruskin takes Kimble's file photo
35:49 - Kimble grabs Towne's lapels
44:40 - flashback: Kimble on train
44:48 - flashback: train wreck
46:10 - flashback: one-armed man runs from house
46:18 - Kimble talks to Ruskin
46:41 - flashback: Kimble runs to house
46:56 - Kimble apologizes to Ruskin
47:09 - Ruskin warns Kimble
47:14 - Gerard recognizes Kimble
47:20 - Gerard chases Kimble
47:45 - Kimble watches train recede
47:50 - (cue inserted where none existed)
The explanation is obvious. CBS did NOT start with the original score, and then replace that single Capitol cue. Instead, CBS started with the Crap Synthesizer Version from their first S2V1 release, and then sprinkled a few original cues back in, leaving a great many Crap Synthesizer Cues remaining.
CBS *could* have restored ALL of the original music, save for that single Capitol cue, but CBS chose to cut corners to save a buck, sacrificing quality in favor of cost-cutting expediency.
CBS probably thought that the fans wouldn't notice. But CBS has continually underestimated the intelligence of the fan base. First of all, the fans know every note of music, and will notice even the slightest change. Second, fans are able to communicate this information to each other by means of the Internet.
I have watched every episode of Season 2, and ESCAPE INTO BLACK is a pretty typical episode in terms of replaced music. I'd estimate that the S2V1 Replacement-Version episodes have an average of 60% original cues and 40% Crap Synthesizer Cues (in terms of number of cues, not necessarily running time).
It's worse for S2V2. I would estimate that the average S2V2 episode has 50% original cues and 50% Crap Synthesizer Cues.
This isn't remotely fair, CBS. We're already paying you double for these dvds, because you've split the season into two half-season sets. And what do we get for our double payment? We only get about half of the original musical cues! We're getting ripped off TWICE.
C'mon, CBS, charging us double for only half of the music is low-down and dirty. You really need to fix this.
Those CBS executives who thought that this music-replacement issue had already been resolved are sadly mistaken. This is still a huge issue to a huge number of FUGITIVE fans, and CBS is going to continue to lose sales until this issue is properly addressed.
This touches on the broader issue of Needless Music Replacement. CBS is guilty of editing and replacing the music of several tv series, among them GOMER PYLE, THE ODD COUPLE, and MY THREE SONS.
Why is CBS the only major dvd company that routinely replaces music? The answer seems to be that CBS is waging its own war against the Music Industry. Ken Ross, CBS' VP and General Manager, actually BOASTS about saving money by replacing music rather than paying music licensing fees.
With all due respect to Mr. Ross, I'd like to ask him to PLEASE STOP waging this war against what he perceives to be excessive music licensing fees. Fans of Classic TV would rather have the original music, even if it means that the dvds cost a little bit more.
Listen carefully, CBS. Waging war against the Music Industry by replacing music only serves to alienate your core dvd customers. IT'S NOT WORTH IT.
Put your customers first, Mr. Ross. Just PAY THE LICENSING FEES and give your customers the Classic TV that they're asking for. PUT YOUR CUSTOMERS FIRST, not your pocketbook or your ego.
If you're still not convinced that replacing music is a bad idea, CBS, let me illustrate with an example.
For my example, let's look into the bowels of CBS/Paramount, where an audio-video engineer is preparing an episode of GOMER PYLE for DVD release. Our engineer, Skippy, has just deleted a one-minute segment in which Gomer sings a song.
Skippy is proud of himself. "If I had kept Gomer's song intact, CBS would have had to pay $2000 to license that music. That would have driven up the unit price by 5 cents, and we would have overshot our Price Point. Besides, those stupid consumers will never know that I deleted Gomer's song."
Wrong, Skippy. It turns out that the Cost Model used by CBS fails to take two factors into account. First, consumers are not the stupid morons that CBS believes them to be. Second, in this age of global Internet communications, consumers can instantly communicate with each other.
So here is what actually happens. As soon as the DVDs are released, a sharp-eyed consumer realizes that Gomer's song has been deleted. That person communicates this information to other fans by means of an Amazon review and by postings to various websites.
Many consumers who were planning to buy the DVDs then cancel their purchases, based on these reviews. CBS loses the sale of perhaps 30,000 units.
Great job there, Skippy. Nice going. Give yourself a pat on the back. By deleting Gomer's song, CBS saved a penny but lost a fortune.
This is the critical flaw in CBS' thinking. Whenever CBS replaces music, they end up losing more in sales than they save in licensing fees.
It makes no economic sense to replace music. Anytime that you mutilate the music, consumers will find out and will cancel their purchase of your product. You're going to lose even more money than if you had just left the music alone.
And consumers would be happy to pay a slightly higher price if it meant that the episodes would be uncut and unedited -- in "Night of Original Broadcast" quality.
If CBS continues to replace music, here is what I think is going to happen to THE FUGITIVE. -- CBS will release Seasons 3 and 4, which will sell in modest numbers. Overall, the entire series will be a break-even product for CBS, or even a modest financial success.
Then, a few years later, a different DVD company will go back and release the series again, this time paying more attention to restoring the original music. And they will end up selling TEN TIMES as many units as CBS did.
And the executives at CBS will scratch their heads and say, "Gee, we only sold one-tenth as many units. Where did all of that demand come from? Where were all of those customers when WE released our DVDs?"
I'll tell you, CBS. Those customers are right here, right now. Waiting for you to release their favorite show in pristine, un-edited, un-mutilated, night-of-original-broadcast form. And if you give it to them, they'll buy every last DVD set that you can produce. But if you tamper with the music, they'll stay away in droves.
The ball is in your court, CBS. You have an opportunity here to change your attitude and rectify your mistakes. You can make a ton of money by giving the fans their show in pristine condition, or you can lose it all by continuing your self-destructive practice of replacing music. The decision is yours.
In the eventuality that you make the intelligent choice, please permit me to give you my Wish List, in order of priority:
(1) Please re-release Season 2 in its entirety, this time starting with the original score, and replacing ONLY those cues as absolutely necessary. And restore the Janis Paige scene in BALLAD FOR A GHOST.
(And remove that insulting end-credit screen that gives musical credit to the composers of the Crap Synthesizer Music!)
If you're unsure about the legal ownership of some of the cues, go hire Ken Wilhoit as a temporary employee. Ken was the original Music Supervisor during the series' original four-year run, and can identify the heritage of every single cue. He's retired now. If you can't get Ken, there are many other music experts in the Los Angeles area who could do the same job.
(2) Please restore the background music that was needlessly replaced in the Season One episodes GARDEN HOUSE and WHERE THE ACTION IS, and issue replacement discs.
(3) Please release Seasons 3 and 4 with all original music intact. If you come across any musical cues of uncertain legal ownership, make sure that you exhaust all other options before you take the drastic action of replacing them.
And don't play games with the music of seasons 3 and 4! It would be very easy for CBS to decide to INTENTIONALLY replace some of the musical cues in S3 and S4 with Crap Synthesizer Cues, for the following reason:
"If we release seasons 3 and 4 with all of the original music intact, then the fans will DEMAND that we go back and get rid of the Crap Synthesizer Music that we allowed to remain in Season Two. This would bring Season Two's music up to par with Seasons 1, 3 and 4."
"But we'd have to go back and restore all of the original music to Season Two, and we'd rather not spend the money to do that. So let's intentionally replace about half of the musical cues in S3 and S4 with Crap Synthesizer Cues. By watering down the music in S3 and S4, those seasons will be on par with Season 2."
(4) If any of your executives still have the attitude that "The Music Doesn't Matter", fire them or ask them to take early retirement. This attitude has been the root cause of CBS' problems.
(5) How about including episode introductions by Barry Morse, who played Lieutenant Gerard? Though he passed away in 2008, Barry recorded episode introductions averaging 3 or 4 minutes in length for the VHS release of Fugitive episodes by Nu Ventures in the early 1990s. Nu Ventures released 40 episodes on 20 VHS tapes, and though I'm uncertain if Barry recorded introductions for all 40 episodes, I know that he recorded at least 37 of them, because I've got them.
(6) How about some extras? I'm sure there must be interviews and documentaries out there. It would be great if some of them were included on these discs.
(7) CBS, maybe it's time that you threw in the towel on THE FUGITIVE, given the fact that you've continually screwed up the music.
How about turning this project over to a more competent DVD company? Consider Shout Factory and Image Entertainment, for example. They do great work, and they treat the music with the respect that it deserves.
Look at the excellent job that Image Entertainment did with their DEFINITIVE TWILIGHT ZONE release. That is how you should be treating THE FUGITIVE -- with restored video, original music, and lots of extras.
THE FUGITIVE has been called "The Greatest Dramatic Series of the 1960s". This should be a Showcase Product for you, CBS. You should give it the kind of gold-plated treatment that Image Entertainment gave to its DEFINITIVE TWILIGHT ZONE release.
Don't be in such a hurry to "Get these DVDs out the door, music be damned." Take your time and do a proper job. Give us THE FUGITIVE with restored video, original music, and lots of extras.
If that is too difficult for you, CBS, then maybe you should outsource this project to Image Entertainment.
Description of The Fugitive: Season Two, Vol. 2
Genre: Television: Series
Rating: NR
Release Date: 31-MAR-2009
Media Type: DVD
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