Too Close For Comfort: The Complete Series - April 3, 2024 from VEI (1 Viewer)

[Neil Brock]

I'm eager for the set to arrived. Mine was shipped. But I'm a little concerned because 44 hours divided by 129 episodes calculates at 20 minutes an episode. Whoa! That's as edited as it could be aside from releasing a DVD set of mini-sodes. Remember when Sony was including those on dvd sets? I never understood the point of those.

Please let us know when you get your set if they're complete or not. Remember, the last 3 seasons were for first run syndication so they would only have run 22 minutes. By my math, the set should be 50 hours and 45 minutes.

 

[Robert13]

Please let us know when you get your set if they're complete or not. Remember, the last 3 seasons were for first run syndication so they would only have run 22 minutes. By my math, the set should be 50 hours and 45 minutes.

That was my calculation too. But I also have the Gimme A Break and Kate & Allie sets that VEI produced. Both of those say “49 hours” on the back. I know GAB was nearly complete except for 1 tag scene. K&A was missing a few tag scenes. But both seem to be incorrect in their listed running times. I can’t figure out how Three’s Company was calculated, with or without the 2 bonus series. Or if they are part of the 9-hour bonus. Running times seem to be incorrect on all of VEI’s recent sets. I’ll post my findings when I get a chance to review the Too Close For Comfort set. I just hope they are not time-compressed. It makes for an unwatchable set in my opinion.

 

[Robert13]

UPDATE

So the set just arrived. Obviously, I haven’t had time to view full episodes or check each and every disc but, so far, I have found the following:

The first 3 seasons appear to be syndicated cuts. Yes, even the second season which was unedited on the individual Rhino set. So if you have that set (as do I), hang onto it! Episodes all seem to run about 22:30-something.

The last 3 seasons which aired in first-run syndication appear to be exactly 22 minutes. I don’t know if that means anything is cut or not. I’m hoping not if they actually equal the running time of a single episode from the first 3 seasons.

So, there you have it… the episodes do not appear to be time-compressed and I have a pretty keen eye for that. For what it’s worth, the episodes look wonderful! The video quality is very sharp. Though I am only going by the quick glimpse I got from checking episodes on 4 separate discs. Am I sorry I jumped at the purchase? Not a bit. I’ve waited so long to have these that I’m happy to own a “complete” set. Would have been nice to have the first and third season in complete form. Still hoping maybe a couple of episodes somehow remained in tact but also hoping all 3 final syndicated seasons are actually unedited as well. Also please make note that the episode I checked on Season 6 does use the “Too Close For Comfort” intro as oppose to “The Ted Knight Show” intro. I know there was hope they may use the original but, so far, it looks like they used the TCFC opening as used in syndication.

It looks like possibly the last chance to see this classic show on dvd. I know people will be upset about the edits. If you can get passed that and enjoy owning a nice set of clear episodes on dvd, get yourself a copy. These don’t even look this wonderful when they air on TV. Just my opinion. Hope all of that helps with questions people had about this set.

 

[B-ROLL]

UPDATE

So the set just arrived. Obviously, I haven’t had time to view full episodes or check each and every disc but, so far, I have found the following:

The first 3 seasons appear to be syndicated cuts. Yes, even the second season which was unedited on the individual Rhino set. So if you have that set (as do I), hang onto it! Episodes all seem to run about 22:30-something.

The last 3 seasons which aired in first-run syndication appear to be exactly 22 minutes. I don’t know if that means anything is cut or not. I’m hoping not if they actually equal the running time of a single episode from the first 3 seasons.

So, there you have it… the episodes do not appear to be time-compressed and I have a pretty keen eye for that. For what it’s worth, the episodes look wonderful! The video quality is very sharp. Though I am only going by the quick glimpse I got from checking episodes on 4 separate discs. Am I sorry I jumped at the purchase? Not a bit. I’ve waited so long to have these that I’m happy to own a “complete” set. Would have been nice to have the first and third season in complete form. Still hoping maybe a couple of episodes somehow remained in tact but also hoping all 3 final syndicated seasons are actually unedited as well. Also please make note that the episode I checked on Season 6 does use the “Too Close For Comfort” intro as oppose to “The Ted Knight Show” intro. I know there was hope they may use the original but, so far, it looks like they used the TCFC opening as used in syndication.

It looks like possibly the last chance to see this classic show on dvd. I know people will be upset about the edits. If you can get passed that and enjoy owning a nice set of clear episodes on dvd, get yourself a copy. These don’t even look this wonderful when they air on TV. Just my opinion. Hope all of that helps with questions people had about this set.

That sounds about right. A lot of these show were "Barter" the show would be basically free with the station required to run the included commercials. If memory serves the first break would be two minutes with the first "position" being one minute of included commercials and usually 55 seconds of TV Black then either a countdown or bumper (static image) for five seconds - this would allow the local station one minute for whatever they wanted to put in- commercials, promos, PSAs .... I believe the last two break would be the same with 30 seconds at the end for a total time of 28:30 for a "Half-hour" show and 58:30 for a "One-Hour show.

 

[Bryan^H]

UPDATE

So the set just arrived. Obviously, I haven’t had time to view full episodes or check each and every disc but, so far, I have found the following:

The first 3 seasons appear to be syndicated cuts. Yes, even the second season which was unedited on the individual Rhino set. So if you have that set (as do I), hang onto it! Episodes all seem to run about 22:30-something.

The last 3 seasons which aired in first-run syndication appear to be exactly 22 minutes. I don’t know if that means anything is cut or not. I’m hoping not if they actually equal the running time of a single episode from the first 3 seasons.

So, there you have it… the episodes do not appear to be time-compressed and I have a pretty keen eye for that. For what it’s worth, the episodes look wonderful! The video quality is very sharp. Though I am only going by the quick glimpse I got from checking episodes on 4 separate discs. Am I sorry I jumped at the purchase? Not a bit. I’ve waited so long to have these that I’m happy to own a “complete” set. Would have been nice to have the first and third season in complete form. Still hoping maybe a couple of episodes somehow remained in tact but also hoping all 3 final syndicated seasons are actually unedited as well. Also please make note that the episode I checked on Season 6 does use the “Too Close For Comfort” intro as oppose to “The Ted Knight Show” intro. I know there was hope they may use the original but, so far, it looks like they used the TCFC opening as used in syndication.

It looks like possibly the last chance to see this classic show on dvd. I know people will be upset about the edits. If you can get passed that and enjoy owning a nice set of clear episodes on dvd, get yourself a copy. These don’t even look this wonderful when they air on TV. Just my opinion. Hope all of that helps with questions people had about this set.

Pretty much what I expected. My set arrives later today.
Good to know the last three season are uncut (cutting minutes from a first run syndicated show would be a first I think).

Also, how did VEI get the approximate hours so far off? Do they want to discourage people further than they already have?

I can see people holding out on this because of the edits.
I'm upset too, but positive we will get nothing better so...it is what it is.

 

[Robert13]

Pretty much what I expected. My set arrives later today.
Good to know the last three season are uncut (cutting minutes from a first run syndicated show would be a first I think).

Also, how did VEI get the approximate hours so far off? Do they want to discourage people further than they already have?

I can see people holding out on this because of the edits.
I'm upset too, but positive we will get nothing better so...it is what it is.

I started from Disc 1 and I gotta say that I am really enjoying re-visiting this series. Brings back a lot of memories and Ted Knight is hilarious!!! Already the first 3 episodes have made me laugh a lot.

Puzzling that Season 2 is syndicated here. Not sure how Rhino was able to get the complete original broadcast episodes when they released their Season 2 set. We know that those episodes exist. So why did they go back to “syndicated edits” for Seasons 1 through 3? I’m wondering if they did it to be uniform with the rest of the episodes on the set. I’m noticing that, so far, it looks like the tag scenes are missing which atones for the missing minute and a half or so possibly. I’m going to have to compare with the episodes used for the Season 1 set to see if they are exactly the same.

Hasn’t really hindered my enjoyment of the set though. One huge plus, as I mentioned earlier, is the fantastic video quality. These really look great!

 

[Bryan^H]

Yes, this set even with the obvious problem Is a pure joy.
Seeing Ted Knight in top comedic form again is wonderful. I was very young when I watched this first run. A lot of the jokes I'm sure went over my head at the time. But I did laugh and it held my attention back then.

As a 50 year old adult I think it has aged like a fine wine in the world of sitcoms.

I love the addition of closed caption. And I agree the video, and audio quality are great.

Very pleased with this purchase.

 

[Robert13]

Yes, this set even with the obvious problem Is a pure joy.
Seeing Ted Knight in top comedic form again is wonderful. I was very young when I watched this first run. A lot of the jokes I'm sure went over my head at the time. But I did laugh and it held my attention back then.

As a 50 year old adult I think it has aged like a fine wine in the world of sitcoms.

I love the addition of closed caption. And I agree the video, and audio quality are great.

Very pleased with this purchase.

Same here. Watched it in first run when I was very young. I always got a kick out of Ted Knight's comic chemistry with JM J Bullock.

Of further note on the edits, I discovered something more over the weekend. I have 3 out of the 5 VHS tapes that were released sometime in the 90s. I thought maybe those were uncut. The ones I have contain episodes from Seasons 3-6. There are title cards before the episode begins and the first few explicitly state "Edited Master - Syndication Version". The rest also have title cards that omit that phrase. However, all appear to be "edited". So I am wondering if they edited the master tapes. BUT... then how was Rhino able to get the uncut Season 2 episodes? So the uncut masters must be in the DLT vaults. If anyone recalls, Rhino had announced Season 3 for release on dvd sometime in 2006 and even included the cover art. But the release was cancelled. I'm wondering if inclusion of the uncut master episodes became a problem.

Strange how they have uncut episodes readily available for "Three's Company" and its spin-offs though. I wonder who made the decision about mastering only the edited versions for DVD. Rhino must have really pushed for them in Season 2. That is really the only season which we can have full-on complete episodes. But even those are missing from the VEI release. So like I said before, hang onto that set. I bet it will be worth a lot in the future. I can't see DLT going through the trouble of remastering complete episodes if they haven't done so for VHS or DVD.

Thankful for what we have though. Looking forward to seeing the syndicated seasons 4-6!

 

[bmasters9]

Thankful for what we have though. Looking forward to seeing the syndicated seasons 4-6!

Indeed-- better to have something than nothing at all.