Television shows that are collected on DVDs come in two distinct varieties, and only two. There are the packages of DVDs of TV shows that are currently on the air, and then there are those TV shows that have long been canceled or left of their own volition. Regardless of whether you buy a DVD of a show that you can still can still wach new episodes of each fall or whether you are just nostalgic for a show long off the air, there is a common denominator at work. You want to see your favorite episodes as they originally aired. Let’s face it, there really is little reason to buy something like Seinfeld or The Simpsons on DVD if you don’t care whether you are getting to see 100% of what originally aired the first time around because both those shows as well as many others are in heavily syndicated rotation. When you watch syndicated reruns, however, you may be missing as much as two or three minutes or even more from what originally aired. Hence, the popularity of television shows on DVD. If you bought any of the ALF DVDs and think you are getting around both the problem of ALF not being syndicated or the reruns cutting out those scenes you remember vividly then you are in for a surprise.
None of the official ALF DVD collections contain the full episodes as they originally aired. What you are buying when you purchase or rent an ALF DVD are episodes that are no different than what you can watch wherever ALF may be airing in reruns. (Wherever that may be; certainly not on my Cox Cable lineup.) Big deal, you say? Well, I happen to have taped the first season of ALF when it aired and still have part of it. As an example of what you don’t see when you watch these ALF DVDs consider the Christmas episode in which ALF cuts down the Tanner tree and Willie and the furry alien go off to chop one down. In the DVD you get to see the fantasy segment, true, but you don’t see it all. In fact, there are almost two minutes of the fantasy segment that didn’t make it onto the DVD. The big deal is that while some people buy DVDs for the specials-like the commentaries on every single episode of the Simpsons-everybody buys DVDs to see what they can’t because syndication means heavy cutting. When it comes down to it, there is really no reason at all to buy a DVD of a TV show that only contains the syndicated version. After all, what’s the deal? These guys can’t get their hands on the original episodes? What’s the deal with that? Well, the distributor of this travesty is Lionsgate. The distributor of that travesty known as Happily N’Ever After was Lionsgate. Coincidence? I think not.
