When it was on Viva it was cropped to 14:9. I wonder if they will be doing the same or if they will be letting it go out in 4:3? Or has it recently been remastered in 16:9 HD?
AFAIK it was shot on video, and no mention of a remaster has ever surfaced. Netflix have had it for quite some time, but only this month did they make it accessible to the UK, which I think is the best quality you can get it nowadays.
But when it got into Viacom's hands, they decided to mangle with the aspect ratio and broadcast it in 16:9 with a 14:9 crop, which not only meant the quality was terrible but the top and bottom of the credits got cut off. Given Comedy Central is under the same ownership, I won't be remotely surprised if they use the same copies.
Then again, 5* nabbed the never-before-seen-in-this-country widescreen copies of My Wife and Kids, so there might be a chance of them asking for some better quality tapes.
When it was on Viva it was cropped to 14:9. I wonder if they will be doing the same or if they will be letting it go out in 4:3? Or has it recently been remastered in 16:9 HD?
Probably the same - considering that Comedy Central is owned by Viacom.
In the past, BBC TWO and Virgin1 broadcast The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 4:3.
As for the programme coming back to Netflix and now to Comedy Central, I'm happy to see it again. One of my favourite shows by far.
Yes it was, so no chance of a HD remaster. The most you can hope for is some cleaning up of the picture and a better NTSC>PAL transfer.
Interesting actually that videotaped sitcoms died out in the US during the 90s when they were common (maybe even the majority) in the 70s and 80s. But it's still pretty much the standard here, even though they could stick a film look on them. Though I might be wrong, but I don't think we've ever had a studio audience sitcom shot entirely on film anyway (though there's been some shot without an audience and shown to one later, like Last Of The Summer Wine and The Detectives).
Last edited by james-2001 on 24 January 2017 7:01pm
Home Improvement (1991-1999) was pretty much videotape for its entire run, admittedly 95% of it was in a studio but when they did go on location that was still filmed on videotape.
Wasn't Roseanne initially videotape and then suddenly changed to film towards the end of its run? Or am I just confusing that with when it was good and later went crap?
As to studio audience sitcoms entirely on film - occasionally full episodes of an audience sitcom were (are?) shot on film, Dad's Army is an example of this when they're out on location with everything else on tape, but isn't it cheaper in a studio to use tape and film on location?
I smell a tangent emerging, but when did it become standard to use tape on location? Keeping Up Appearances is the earliest example I can think of where the location shots looked and "felt" exactly the same as the studio footage.
(though there's been some shot without an audience and shown to one later, like Last Of The Summer Wine and The Detectives).
Last of the Summer Wine
did have studio-bound video scenes at one point in its very long life
Quote:
occasionally full episodes of an audience sitcom were (are?) shot on film
Were. It's
all
video these days I'm not sure any full episode of
Dad's Army
was entirely film, though.
Only Fools and Horses
did it for one or two of their specials.
As I recall, series 1 and 2 of
Miranda
were shot and broadcast as entirely on/as video (including location work) but then in series 3 they dropped it to 25fps for the location scenes. Very odd. Clearly done in homage (good word, homage) to sitcoms of days gone by but it didn't work very well.