KnotForNow t1_j9r2co0 wrote on February 23, 2023 at 11:17 PM

Reply to comment by RocksAndGarbage in Taxi, with Judd Hirsch and Danny DeVito, is finally streaming by Downbound92

They are including the two episodes (s5e1 and s5e23) that Decades skips.

Mildly interesting that Taxi originally ran on NBC and ABC and now shows up on Paramount+.

Now, I wish some streamer would give Newhart the treatment it deserves.

ElectricPeterTork t1_j9s913d wrote on February 24, 2023 at 4:39 AM

Disney owns the show now, so good luck.

It was part of the MTM library, which was badly mistreated before Fox bought it. First it was purchased by a British company, then religious huckster Pat Robertson. The original elements were not treated kindly before Fox bought MTM in the late 90s.

When Shout Factory released the series on DVD, they had to use ancient videotape masters, and even resort to pulling YouTube quality clips to reinsert into some episodes to make them as complete as they could get them.

So, Newhart would have to get the TNG/Cheers/Frasier remaster and reassembly treatment to look as good as it could again, and Disney... well, they're not known for that sort of thing the way Paramount is. And that's assuming the original film still exists and is accessible after all the hands it passed through over the years.

No-Investigator-1754 t1_j9ubjpq wrote on February 24, 2023 at 4:48 PM

Any particular reason Decades skips those two?

KnotForNow t1_j9udvrt wrote on February 24, 2023 at 5:03 PM

All I know is that I have been collecting episodes from Decades for a couple years now and those two have never recorded. I think there were quite a few more missing from Hulu.