See, as much as I sometimes bitch about such things, I really do have a lot of respect for intellectual property. I also have a lot of respect for aesthetic integrity. Which is why this is so irksome.
Bill Wilson with WDUN 550 in North Georgia received his Addams Family Volume 1 set the other day, and noticed a small disclaimer on the back of the box:
This home entertainment version has been edited from its original television presentation.
He sent us a note, and we asked Fox/MGM what the disclaimer referred to. They told us that there were two edits done to the episodes, and both featured Carolyn Jones (as Morticia) singing “It’s so nice to have a Thing around the house” to the tune of “It’s So Nice to Have a Man Around the House.” The music couldn’t be licensed, so it had to be cut from the episode.
See, I’m sure there are all sorts of legal reasons for it, and, beyond those, financial reasons. But anything that keeps us from seeing Morticia Addams singing an amusing little ditty forty years after the fact … is just wrong. Nobody profits from it, and everyone loses.
So, it is even a stupier reason then why WKRP is such a no go.
*sigh*
It is really past time to kill that stupid law.
It’s not a matter of just “killing a law,” but reining it in.
Well…
I would kill corporate ownership for a start, or make it like any patent….in fact making this law in line with Patent Law is really the basis of where we should be in regards to Intellectual Property.
For people: Lifetime and/or max of 20 years and then it goes into public domain.
Or, just go to a one time payment and be done with it since anything can and will be copied.
Perhaps a bit more radical of a reining in than I’d recommend, but certainly along the right lines.