Some of you are wondering how many seasons Hallmark will be showing. Sometime last year a bunch of us wrote to Hallmark (typed snail mail letters) asking them to show all nine seasons. Some of us (not me) got nice responses saying they were working on getting all the episodes to air.
Then during the December 'hiatus' I emailed Hallmark asking them if the show would be back after the holidays and would they be airing all nine seasons. Their response to me in January was that it was back 'to stay', so I'm assuming (and hoping....) that they mean all nine seasons, wouldn't that be grand?!
That would be great Alice. Topping it off with 'The Men From Shiloh' would be even better. But some broadcasters view that as a seperate series to 'The Virginian' and I have to admit that the feel of the show is so different than the previous 'Virginian' seasons I often see it as a spin-off rather than part of the same show.
Boy, I hope your right Alice. I guess, I should buy some more VHS tapes and start saving for a DVD recorder! Nine seasons is a dream come true! I pray, Hallmark sticks to its word.
Hi Everyone.
This is a super bit of news, about the possibility of Hallmark keeping The Virginian in its programming schedule! Think of how gloriously long it will have to run if all the seasons are aired just the one day a week. And how much tape it will take. And how other family members are going to like it when the world goes on hold for a total of 3 hours while at least 2 people are glued to the remote and screen in order to edit those darned five minute commercials!!
Yes Tina - those commercials! Hallmark has so many, they actually edit 'The Virginian' episodes to fit them in. They regularly cut secenes from individual episodes. My major gripe against Hallmark.
What happened???? No Virginian today on Hallmark. I was so excited about the show returning in Jan. and we are missing it again. That upsets me!
I wanted to make a comment about Hallmark and commercials too! It is so aggrevating how many commercials they show. Just when you are getting into the show there is 5 minutes of commercials. Wouldn't it be neat if they aired the show straight through even edited to have commercial time but air the commercials at the end of the show. So what if you have 28 minutes of commercials! At least we at home could get up and get some work done and then come back to watch another show. The way it is now you see 7-9 minutes of the show and then 5 minutes commercials. As previously mentioned I bought a DVD recorder with harddrive in Jan of 2004. I am able to edit commercials before transfering to DVD. It is really nice. Even if I don't want to put the show that I record on dvd I can get rid of those commercials before I watch. It is so hard for me to watch a regularly aired TV program on TV now because I am so use to no commercials. I received a few tapes from someone who had recorded Virginian off of Lonestar in Canada. Supposedly they air original versions that are unedited. When I took the commercials out the show ran 1 hour and 10 minutes (maybe 12 minutes I can't remember for sure) on Hallmark it runs 1 hour and 2 minutes. So we are definitely missing a lot of the show. I do not want to complain too much because I am just so thankful to have the show aired so that I can get it on dvd to have for a long time.
If there are any of you that are considering buying a dvd recorder the ones with harddrives are really nice. You can do a lot of neat things with them. The commercail editing is my favorite benefit but you can also edit home movies from VHS. They do cost quite a bit more but definitely worth it. I buy DVD-Rs at Sam's Wholesale Club for 50 for 23.00. That is hardly nothing. So all these westerns that you would love to have by the season you could do them yourself. Big Vally, Bonanza, Virginian and many many more. If they were ever released you would probably spend at minimum 30.00 a season (probably more) just think how much money you would save. Of course the quality of the DVDs are not as good as bought DVD sets from the companies but they are still very good.
I did not mean to write a book! Just wanted to share my experience with the DVD recorder with harddrive.
If anyone has any questions about doing this I would be glad to help if I can. Just email me.
Do they want us to grovel and moan, beg for even more commercials? Hallmark has the power and authority, it appears, to really disappoint us. And taking off even 6 minutes of episode scenes is quite alot when you have to sit through long commercial breaks (or if you're like me, get busy cooking, cleaning, etc. and forget to start the recorder up when the sound goes back down as the commercials end!)and you think "is something missing here" when the new scene begins. So now we are to the point of saying, "we'll take another 10 minutes of commercials, just put The Virginian back on!!!" LOL
I even lowered myself to watch the two HOLLYWIERD HORSEY movies they aired this morning. The dressage moves were nice to see on the second movie, but the rest was just too cheesey... guess I watched T. V. only because it's too cold and muddy outside for me to hang out with my own horses. I sure would have rather watched the "rough and ready" Saturday normal programming as long as I was a house captive. ---Tina
That's a big chunk that goes missing from each episode Belinda.
I bought a Lonestar copy of 'The Drifter' from Alice and compared it with the Hallmark version. A scene was missing from Hallmark that was key in cementing a trust between The Virginan and Judge Garth (he tended to his wounds at Shiloh). BJ has also told me about key scenes missing from other episodes. Hallmark obviously gives preference to its advertisers.
I think back to my youth when the BBC showed all nine seasons uncut and commercial free. What bliss!
That was probably Andrea you got this episode from, Paul, not me, but I also have a tape with the scene where the Judge tends to V's wounds and it is a shame Hallmark cut it. I think when the series aired originally in the 60s this scene was even longer. I've got other so-called "complete" episodes that I am sure are also missing scenes, perhaps only a minute or two, but still a shame.
Yes it was Andrea Lopez, Alice. I got confused with the A's.
It's a great shame the Virginian episodes are badly edited on Hallmark. You don't appreciate how bad the edits are until you own the complete episodes. I first noticed the edits on Hallmark's 'Bonanza' episodes. They ruined 'Forever' (the double episode where Little Joe gets married) and completely cut a key scene in which Little Joe talks about the death of Hoss. The people who edit these episodes have no appreciation of the show or characters.