Re: WTF?

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Irishwiseguy wrote:So its just edited down to sound like "friggin" or did David Chase and co record different versions with "friggin" instead of fuck.

I'm from Europe, too. So I'm not really sure. But I think they made two versions, because some months ago I viewed a scene of an A+E Sopranos episode and you could hear clearly that it was not just edited. You could see it because of the movements of the lips.
But maybe I'm an idiot who has no idea what he is talking about.

But one thing is for sure the cleaned A+E versions suck although I only saw a short version. Plus these stupid commercial breaks...it is a rape of a work of art.
I can imagine how.....

I wonder how people think about it who have never seen the show before.
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Re: WTF?

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DaViE, I can assure you that you are not an idiot who has no idea what he is talking about. :icon_biggrin:

A&E did in fact bring in the original actors to record the revised dialogue. So while the edits are still quite obvious and distracting, they could have been even worse ...

I agree though, A&E has really butchered this series. Not just because of the lack of profanity, nudity and sex, though. As Badabellisima was talking about earlier, they have also edited the show down some, shaving off precious moments here and there. This, I feel, is the biggest crime of all.

Re: WTF?

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Universal Polymath wrote:As Badabellisima was talking about earlier, they have also edited the show down some, shaving off precious moments here and there. This, I feel, is the biggest crime of all.
I am in complete agreement UP. I the lack of sex and profanity really take the edge off the show. This is understandable for a cable network, such as A&E, to do. However, while channel surfing, I caught the end of Test Dream. Where Tony calls Carm and tells her about his Coach Molinara dream. The edited episode ends with him making the joke about slipping the neighbor dog, Esterhause, some strychnine...*credits*.

If you hadn't seen the real episode, I am sure it still seems like an abrupt ending. However, you really miss out on a great character moment between Tony & Carm, where they lay in bed and talk for a couple more minutes, and an awesome moment where Tony asks (for the second time), "is it light there yet?". Just a breathtaking ending to such a beautiful episode. Completely cut....it is heartbreaking.

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Garth wrote:I am in complete agreement UP. I the lack of sex and profanity really take the edge off the show. This is understandable for a cable network, such as A&E, to do. However, while channel surfing, I caught the end of Test Dream. Where Tony calls Carm and tells her about his Coach Molinara dream. The edited episode ends with him making the joke about slipping the neighbor dog, Esterhause, some strychnine...*credits*.

If you hadn't seen the real episode, I am sure it still seems like an abrupt ending. However, you really miss out on a great character moment between Tony & Carm, where they lay in bed and talk for a couple more minutes, and an awesome moment where Tony asks (for the second time), "is it light there yet?". Just a breathtaking ending to such a beautiful episode. Completely cut....it is heartbreaking.

Why does HBO accept such bullshit. Does David Chase know about it?
Is it only because of the money HBO is receiving from A+E? That's why they destroy this show?? It is a massacre. I'm really pissed, sorry. Thank god I'm not able to watch A+E.
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Why is America a country such full of prudery and hypocrisy? I mean on one hand you have the biggest porn industry, the biggest rate of criminality...you have Jack Bauer who can torture people to death on national TV...but on the other hand it is forbidden to say "fuck that prick" (A+E version "This friggin cucumber salad") and it is forbidden to show naked dancers and sexual interaction at 22:00 PM or some other late time and it is even forbidden for Tony to ask Carmela "Is it light there yet?". No wonder (sometimes) we here in Europe laugh our ass of about some strange practices of our biggest friends.
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Garth wrote: Completely cut....it is heartbreaking.
Ads, ads, ads. Money, money, money...nothing else counts. That's one thing our both continents have in common.

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Does David Chase own the rights to the show? Or did HBO completely buy him out? I'm sure Chase wouldn't let the show be butchered if he had the choice, or maybe he's just out for the money as well. Basically I'm just going to pretend the A&E versions don't exist. I have my 6 seasons of pure film gold on DVD.

Re: WTF?

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Irishwiseguy wrote:So its just edited down to sound like "friggin" or did David Chase and co record different versions with "friggin" instead of fuck.
Actually, there are a few instances of Tony using the word "friggin'" in the show, and that's what they use for A&E. The scene I'm thinking about at the moment is from "Bust Out" when Tony and AJ are out by the pool and Tony makes fun of him about the "spider". "It's a friggin' leaf, you idiot!"

When it comes to the episodes having different music in the UK, it doesn't exactly surprise me. Regardless of the rights issues Chase and HBO work out, certain things just don't translate to other countries. Music rights are notoriously difficult to sort out, just look at all the TV series that are put on DVD and completely castrated.

"WKRP in Cincinnati" is probably the most famous example. The whole show takes place at a radio station, so originally there were songs from the artists of the late 70s/early 80s playing constantly. In fact, some storylines were centered around certain songs or artists. However, they only had the rights to those songs for the first broadcast and maybe reruns. When they tried to get the rights to all this music for the DVD of the first season, it cost WAY too much, so they cut entire scenes, rerecorded dialogue, replaced actual songs with generic stock music, etc. That's why they only released the first season, either people didn't buy it because they knew the music issues, or they bought it and then returned it and complained. The same thing happened to the complete series of "The State".

Or another example, more current, would be "Deadliest Catch". For some reason, Discovery Channel only bought the rights to "Wanted: Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi for the initial broadcast of each episode. Reruns, DVDs, Netflix streaming...it's all replaced by some generic music with no lyrics that bears maybe a passing resemblance to the actual song.

I don't think Chase or HBO have anything to do with this, it's the networks that are buying the show in other countries. They decide whether or not they want to add the expense of buying the rights to hundreds of songs to the already-high purchase price of the series itself.

Now that I think about it, there's only two music-heavy shows that were released unedited on DVD. "The Sopranos" and "Freaks and Geeks". And it took the latter almost ten years to get it all sorted out.
What violin?!
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