Married With Children - season 2 DVD is out.

[Deja Q]

$33.

My rating? 1 star.


Columbia/Sony's TV season releases are sub-par, especially in video quality.

I'm not here to praise the show. In its earlier years (the "Steve Rhoades" era) the show was funniest. Or maybe the Ted McGinley era was better. I dunno. Most seasons had their share of great episodes. But I taped a lot of MWC. Why should I buy the DVD, for $30? What should I be getting?

While it's nice to see company's logos look crisp and clear, it becomes a disappointment to see fuzzy TV show afterward. (there is a big difference between the quality of the master tapes/film and the transfer quality. The latter pertains to how the DVD image looks on your screen. Master tape quality is the condition of the tape (a degrading studio tape looks far different than a poor DVD transfer). Many tools and tricks are used to restore picture and sound quality, but all of that time and money spent to clean the episodes by the company is wasted if the DVD transfer is poor.)

Season 1 wasn't all that great. For Columbia, it's pretty much standard. Bog standard.

I refuse to buy another Columbia/Sony TV series on DVD until they clean up their act OR make their prices reasonable. Not for the amount of money customers spend... (and just wait until you see these on HDTV...) Should Good Times season 2 be $30? Try $15. MWC season 2 being $34? Try $15 instead. Three's Company season 1 being $13? Try $6. OR give consumers and fans of these shows some RESPECT and push out high quality releases. We work for a living and if we don't put out good material, we get fired and blacklisted. Why should you expect any different treatment?

Why is it that FOX will release a season's worth of TV shows, with extras, and make them look clean and crisp - whereas Columbia's look like near-VHS quality? (Okay, it's better than VHS in some shots, but all in all it's not better enough to be enthused about.)

These shows more than made up their money via the original sponsors airtimes and syndication reruns. MWC made MILLIONS. Surely you'd think that the owner would take a little care for the sake of their fans? How much extra does a disc cost? Or a dual-layer disc?! Squeezing 9 episodes onto one disc instantly tells me "crud quality"; especially when I've seen Columbia release series (Good Times, The Critic, etc) with 8 eps per disc and they look mediocre~fair.) Sheesh, even "Family Guy", with 8 eps per disc, still look stunning (dual layer discs).

Hey, Paramount improved their act. FOX was great to start with. It's Columbia's turn to show they've got guts.

I refuse to be taken to the cleaners any longer. I'm not that desperate to replace VHS with... well... VHS.

I will asy this in this set's favor: 13 easter eggs, each revealing an interview. It's a nice thought, especially if the interviews were worth it, but I much prefer to see the eps in good condition.