Customer Reviews

The Cosby Show - Season 1

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

Over the years, television commercial breaks have lengthened, and older series in syndication have suffered for it. When you watch a rerun of your favorite TV show, it can have anywhere from two to four minutes edited out to make room for more commercials, depending on the show's age.

"The Cosby Show" is no exception to this rule. During the 1984-1985 season (when the show debuted), the average length of a half-hour show was twenty-four minutes with about six minutes allotted for commercials. In 2005, the average length of a half hour show is twenty-one minutes. So the versions we see umpteen times a day on TBS, WGN, Nick At Nite and various local stations have more than two minutes cut out of them.

But that's okay, because the upcoming release of "The Cosby Show's" inaugural season will include all the footage from the NBC airings we haven't seen in over twenty years, right?

Wrong.

In their infinite wisdom, Carsey Werner and UrbanWorks have decided to allow consumers to plop down a good portion of their hard-earned cash for the syndication edits of one of the most beloved sitcoms of the 1980s, without any warning on the packaging that these are, in fact, not the full-length episodes (even lying to us by stating in the original press release for the set that they were using "all original NBC network versions, including the pilot episode, which are approximately two minutes longer than the syndicated versions").

Part of the appeal of TV shows on DVD is the fact that we get to see our favorite shows uncut for the first time in years. That's why I've gladly shelled out money to add shows such as "Cheers," "M*A*S*H," "Seinfeld," "The Simpsons" and "Taxi" to my DVD collection. I was looking forward to adding "The Cosby Show" to that list, until I found out the versions included on this four-disc set are, in fact, versions I can watch for free multiple times a day on cable.

Would you pay money for a book with pages missing? A movie with scenes cut? An album with verses missing from songs?

Why, then, would you buy this? There are two minutes missing from every episode! That's 48 minutes from the whole season - enough missing time for two episodes of "The Cosby Show."

Please don't buy this. Send the message to Carsey Werner (the show's owner) and UrbanWorks (the distributor of this botched effort) that "The Cosby Show" deserves better treatment on DVD.

Well I was getting ready to sell off my Columbia House copys of The Cosby Show to buy the new season 1 set,but then I read the reviews and nearly passed out when I read the news about the episodes on the upcoming box set being the cut versions.The episodes on the upcoming set are about 22:00 minutes in link.After I read this I popped in one of my Columbia House copys watched "Goodbye, Mr.Fish" on the Columbia House version the episode was 24:07 minutes in link.If you bought the Columbia House DVD's keep them as the are the orginal network versions.I cant believe they are going to release The Cosby Show this way,this show is an American Classic and it should not be release this way!Thumbs down to this release! Thumbs up to Columbia House for doing Cosby right!Columbia House are best of set,but atleast the episodes are uncut.
Update-Well I read the news about the rest of the series being released uncut,Urbanworks heard the complaints and season 1 has not sold very well,so season 2 and on will get the uncut treatment,I'll beleive it when I see it?remember they promised everybody that season 1 was going to be uncut and it turn out to be a big lie! If 2 is going to be uncut I think they should rerelease seaon 1 also!

All the episodes are EDITED! These are not the versions run by NBC. Save your money; you can see these truncated versions in syndication.

This is especially horrible as the company put out press releases a few months ago stating these were to be uncut, and now they release edited versions? I think they should be reported to the FTC and product should be recalled so it can be properly labeled with a disclaimer stating that the shows are CUT.

Yes, these are the edited versions of "The Cosby Show Season 1". I am a loyal fan of the show and have all the ORIGINAL episodes on VHS. I didn't even make it past the 1st show when I realized I was ripped off. And it's not just a few seconds, it is entire scenes that are cut out. One scene that I was looking forward to seeing betewwn Cliff and Claire in the 1st episode was completely gone.The DVD will be returned tomorrow and I recommend that no one buy this junk! I thought I would share with you the 1 response I got from these people "We truly appreciate your enthusiasm regarding the Season One DVD release of THE COSBY SHOW, one of Carsey-Werner's most cherished projects. We sympathize with your concerns relating to the syndicated episode versions.

To provide some background for you, THE COSBY SHOW SEASON ONE DVD would not be a reality had the network versions of the show been used. The licensing fees for the music cues often add up to exorbitant dollar amounts thereby prohibiting the release. You will find that other studios and distribution companies exercise the same practice of using syndicated versions of a show, which include revised music cues.

Please be assured that the edits made to the show were done with the utmost of care and concern by the original producers. These changes were limited to transitions and in most cases did not include dialogue and/or important moments. Every precaution was made to ensure that the integrity of the show was not in any way compromised.

It should be noted that due to the passionate response we have received from collectors, we are seriously pursuing the possibility of using the network versions on ALL future releases.
Thank you for your concern and feedback.
Carsey-Werner Distribution
c/o The DuVernay Agency

Well that's sweet, but it doesn't change the fact that they falsely advertised their product and fool us into buying it. At least the producers of "Roswell" had the decency to tell us that they put new music in the DVD episodes and included with the DVD was a letter from the producers explaining. I did contact the head of the company I bought it from and she agreed to give me a gift certificate for the amount I paid for this FRAUD. (...)

And for those who are complaining about us, just go watch your edited Cosby show on Nickelodian, and leave this to the true collectors!

I've been waiting for this one. But it's ridiculous that they would release edited-for-syndication versions IN A DVD SET. WHY?!?! Don't support this practice. Do not buy.

Please don't let the current rating average of 4 1/2 stars fool you ... most of those people were reviewing the TV show and not this actual DVD set. If you read reviews prior to August 2, 2005, you will see that people almost universally rave about how great the show was and how they are looking forward to ordering the DVD. They wrote these reviews before we all found out the DVD had only chopped-up syndicated versions.

One person has asked, "How can 1 minute really make a difference? Could you honestly notice?" For me, the answer is, "ABSOLUTELY." When "The Cosby Show" came out, VCRs were still just catching on, and so I taped these shows direct off the airwaves. My friends and I used to have "Cosby nights" when we'd get together and watch the shows back-to-back for hours.

Some of my favorite moments in a given episode were not the famous lines or events, but just a look on someone's face or a throwaway comment. While it's not the kind of thing a casual fan of the show would notice, it *is* the kind of thing that hurts the kind of fan who would buy this DVD. People who don't mind a couple of missing minutes have about 20 chances a week to watch these cut-up versions for free (or at least, no extra charge beyond their cable or satellite service).

Those of us who want the DVD to get back what's been missing for twenty years, on the other hand, need to hold out for the real thing.

Unfortunately, I didn't read the reviews here before I bought this set. Unlike the uncut versions (the same as the original network airings) that were promised, this horrible set is full of the cut, syndicated versions of ALL episodes. These are exactly the same (to the second) that currently air for hours every day on TV on various stations.

Save your money, until they do Cosby right. Until then, just watch the reruns on TV.

...I obtained a prerelease copy for a review for another site. The episodes, despite being touted in the press release as from the NBC airings, with 2-3 extra minutes of footage. Upon playing episodes from the release, however, I was surprised to learn that these are in fact the edited-for-syndication episode cuts that run 22:00 (As opposed to the network 24:00).

While the episodes look splendind, and sound quite good, the episodes themselves ARE the cuts you'd see on your local station, and not as-originally-aired. Buyers should keep this in mind before purchase.

Nominated for 29 Emmys, and winner of six including Outstanding Comedy Series, The Cosby Show dominated prime-time TV from the mid- to late-eighties. The brainchild of popular comedian Bill Cosby, the series followed the life and times of a normal upper-middle class African-American family. One of the most successful sitcoms in network television history, The Cosby Show earned the #1 Nielsen rating for five consecutive years (1985-1990), and in its eight seasons it never dropped out of the Top 20. Coupled with the hit comedy series Cheers, the two shows made Thursday nights a weekly ratings sweep for NBC...

The Cosby Show is set in a New York brownstone where Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable (Bill Cosby) and his wife Clair (Phylicia Rashad) live with their five children - Sondra (Sabrina Le Beauf), Denise (Lisa Bonet), Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe), and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam). Cliff is a popular obstetrician/gynecologist who runs his practice out of the home's basement (which has its own street entrance), while Clair is a successful attorney with a local law firm. In the first season, Sondra is not seen because she's attending Princeton, but she and her boyfriend (and later husband) Elvin (Geoffrey Owens) become major characters in subsequent seasons. Most of the comic relief derives from Cliff and Clair's struggles with their children and the often stupid things they do, but in general, the family gets along very well. If The Simpsons are the quintessential dysfunctional TV family, then The Cosby Show is illustrative of the ideal real-life family. Bad language is non-existent in the series, and it showcases a plethora of African-American role models such as Stevie Wonder, Lena Horne, and Sammy Davis Jr. One of the best written sitcoms since I Love Lucy, The Cosby Show holds its own in the hallowed halls of the TV elite...

The Cosby Show (Season 1) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere in which Theo returns from school sporting a report card with 4 D's. Believing he doesn't need to go to college, Theo is given a memorable lesson (using Monopoly money) by Cliff - prompting him to vow to do his best from now on. This episode is especially interesting given the various aspects of the family and home that are different from the rest of the series. Since this was the pilot, the characters and their lives had yet to be firmly established... Other notable episodes from Season 1 include "Mr. Fish" in which the family participates in a formal toilet funeral for Rudy's dead goldfish, and "Father's Day" in which Cliff rebels against the oddball Father's Day presents he's received over the years, such as a giant polka-dot tie with twinkling lights...

Below is a list of episodes included on The Cosby Show (Season 1) DVD:

Episode 1 (The Pilot)
Episode 2 (Mr. Fish)
Episode 3 (Bad Dreams)
Episode 4 (Is That My Boy?)
Episode 5 (A Shirt Story)
Episode 6 (Breaking With Tradition)
Episode 7 (One More Time)
Episode 8 (Play It Again, Vanessa)
Episode 9 (How Ugly Is He?)
Episode 10 (Bon Jour Sondra)
Episode 11 (You're Not a Mother Night)
Episode 12 (Rudy's Sick)
Episode 13 (Father's Day)
Episode 14 (Independence Day)
Episode 15 (Physician of the Year)
Episode 16 (Jitterbug Break)
Episode 17 (Theo and the Joint)
Episode 18 (Vanessa's New Class)
Episode 19 (Clair's Case)
Episode 20 (Back to the Track, Jack)
Episode 21 (The Younger Woman)
Episode 22 (Slumber Party)
Episode 23 (Mr. Quiet)
Episode 24 (Cliff's Birthday)

The DVD Report

To respectfully answer all the people who question why we who are not interested in buying these heavily edited shows are not buying them, they are shown the EXACT same way FOR FREE MANY TIMES A DAY! Why do we need to buy these? Once again, we can watch them for FREE MANY TIMES A DAY! The EXACT SAME WAY! We can tape them! We can Tivo them! We do not have to spend our $$$$ to own edited copies of shows we grew up on and love and can see FOR FREE MANY TIMES A DAY!
So why are we dissapointed and why are we complaining? Because we WOULD pay $$$ to get these the way they were intended to be. Unedited! Would you buy a book that had 10% of the pages removed that you could read for FREE every day? Would you buy a favorite record album that had a song missing that you could hear and even tape FOR FREE every day? Would you buy a copy of a favorite movie that had 10 minutes of it cut out that you could watch for FREE every day? No. I wouldn't. Most people wouldn't. Would you buy STAR WARS with 10 minutes chopped out? Probably not.

What we would like is the original versions on DVD. We WOULD pay $$$ for that.
How come older shows like "The Twilight Zone", "The Honeymooners" and "I Love Lucy" can be released UNCUT but relatively recent shows like "Cosby" and "Roseanne" only get released in the edited versions? Answer... Because Carsey Werner doesn't care. They are lazy and didn't make ANY effort for the fans AND they aren't even up front about it. NOWHERE on these sets do they mention these are the edited incomplete versions.
Heck, the ROSEANNE set even says "THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON" on the front! I'm sorry but 90% of the first season is NOT complete! Look at the "FRIENDS" DVDs! They actually ADDED footage! And they marketed them and sold them that way! We not only got the original versions, they bothered to put in EXTRA material! And I'll bet they sold ALOT more copies that way! And if 3 minutes cut out, "doesn't really matter.." then how much does? 5 minutes? 10?


Now if all of you who are bitching about us just trying to enlighten everyone actually PREFER to have the edited versions, fine! Buy whatever the hell you like, but don't attack the true fans who actually want the complete episodes for our hard-earned $$$. If people just pony up their $$$ like obediant little sheep for this, it'll only get worse! They will think that most people just don't really care and they'll start slapping on logos on the image just like TV stations now do. There ARE already some DVDs out there like that. So, if you do care about this show and think that it DESERVES to be treated correctly, write some emails/letters to Carsey/Werner and Anchor bay and vote the only way that you can, with your wallet!
Imagine how dumb you'd feel if they do release the UNCUT versions later on????