Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This comment is based on the release: ------------------------ Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC Language: English Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only) Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Number of discs: 4 Rated: G (General Audience) Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment DVD Release Date: March 22, 2011 Run Time: 955 minutes ------------------------ and may or may not not be related to any possible future release / reissue. This was an entertaining program, although it only survived one season of syndication. It was syndicated because the concept of the show and perhaps a "pilot" wasn't picked up by or marketed to any of the networks, thus the (Canada) makers of this show went in on their own, with their own sources of funding. (Think: "Forever Knight" - first season.) I was working in a TV master control room the year this came out. It was broadcasted (in Madison, WI) every weekend during the first initial run. It captured your attention almost immediately (if this was your type of program). I don't recall any of the episodes as boring - just simple family-oriented entertainment, like Daniel Boone in the early days of TV. However, this DVD release is by Mill Creek (one of those budget type, operated out of someones basement distributors like MPI, Ovation, Platinum - or the worst of the bunch, GoodTimes Home Video). The source for the programs here were taken directly from the feed tapes, not any type of master tapes. Feed tapes are what we used to take the feed from the satellite transponders each week. When the program is sent over the satellite for a station to record it, it comes complete with built in commercial breaks from the program distributors and :12 second or :62 second (etc.) holes for the local station to insert their commercial breaks, then re-cue the program tapes while in commercial break, etc. (People with big 10 foot plus satellite dishes in the back-yard know exactly what I just typed - as the feeds are usually not scrambled and can be viewed / recorded by any of those equipment owners as long as they know where and when to find the feed.) During these feeds, most programs also have "bumpers" edited in - those little :03 second or :05 second video / audio segments that give the name of the program, then boom... it's over, and local commercials air. Feed tapes are used, reused, and used again until they contain a lot of bad spots / drop-outs, then tossed. The 1-inch, 3/4 inch or 1/2 inch tape used in broadcasting was usually ten times or more expensive than what you used to pay for blank beta or VHS tapes for home use, so you can only imagine the huge budget for tapes at a TV station - plus the cost of the equipment used to air a program in those days of analog broadcast standards. While watching the DVD's, I noticed the smear (or fuzzy look) of the picture, especially in the graphics (first clue). Also, when the show would fade out at the end of a segment, just before it would fade in for the next segment - a blip would come on the screen. It caught my attention enough to slo-mo the video, and alas! - a single frame or more of a "bumper" where it once was in the original satellite feed (second clue). There were many more clues (to a person like me who worked in the business) but I've offered enough for you to draw your own conclusion. To me, it looks like I took the feed tapes home and saved them until I could find a way to market the show, then hooked up a DVD recorder and transferred the program to DVD. Also in my opinion, like so many before, it could also mean that Mill Creek didn't get the proper licensing to distribute this show properly (or perhaps legally) in the USA, Canada or wherever. The show was sold cheap as a DVD set to begin with (around $15 retail), and has since dropped to half or less. I don't know if that's a sign of people who didn't see this show when it first aired due to limited broadcasts in cities around the country like the beginning of Forever Knight (that took another year to grow into a "cult" following) or what, but for those of us who love the show and the work of Lee Horsley, Lynda Carter and Rodney A. Grant, this Mill Creek release is a low-budget, low-quality joke. For that reason alone - if you must have it, please ONLY buy it from Amazon marketplace or somewhere (USED) to prevent the distributor from making money for the (lazy or lousy or money-making scheme) release of this program. Hopefully, our voices will be heard by Rhino or Anchor Bay, firms who started in a basement, but payed attention to the voices of those who demand (some) quality... and came through by reinvesting and reinventing the company and began to reissue movies and music with quality.