Hallmark Hacks

I can't believe how much Hallmark hacks up LHotP episodes. I just watched "Country Girls", which I had recorded recently from Hallmark. They cut out the scene where Laura asks how Willie is going to get the numbers off the blackboard! I can't remember the exact dialog, but it goes something like this:

Laura: Miss Beadle, how's he going to get those numbers off there?
[Class laughs.]
Miss Beadle: Now, class, Laura asked a question. Willie, would you demonstrate for Laura how to erase the numbers?
Nellie: What did I tell you? Country girls! Don't even know what a blackboard is!

As Hallmark showed it this time, Willie wrote the number "3" on the board, followed immediately by Laura spelling "cat", "bat", "rat", etc. at home.

Hallmark isn't consistent from showing to showing, as I'm pretty sure they've shown that scene when I've seen them show "Country Girls" before. As bad as that cut is, it's probably not as bad as what they did to "The Lord Is My Shepherd". They cut out the scene where the cross comes loose from around Laura's neck and floats downstream. That's such a major development in the plot!

Oh well, at least TV Land doesn't cut scenes nearly as much as Hallmark does. Maybe it's time I buy the DVDs!

Sometimes I think they have deaf and blind people, who cut the scenes.
It's the same here in Germany - the TV-show is cut and the DVDs are cut in a different way. But the missing scenes are different from what is cut out from the show or DVDs in the USA.
It's all a mess...

I guess what I don't understand is how they can take out scenes that are so crucial to the plot of the show. Maybe the one in Country Girls isn't that important, but the cross floating downstream which is how Charles finds Laura is a big one. And the scene in Sweet Sixteen when they cut out Laura buying her new shoes is another big one (yeah, I'm still harping on that one).

Don't you wish you knew how they decided what to cut and what to keep?

I just saw part I of "I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away" for the first time on Hallmark. They cut short one of my favorite dramatic scenes from the entire series. It's the scene where Charles tells Mary she's going blind. In the uncut scene, Mary runs away, Charles sobs for a while and then looks back to find that Laura had been standing behind them and had overheard their conversation. Laura doesn't say anything, but the viewer knows instantly that Laura is sad for Mary but also feels guilty for the jealous feelings she had about Mary because of Mary's relationship with Seth. In the Hallmark version, they cut to a commercial a few seconds after Mary runs away, and we don't see Laura in that scene at all. Anybody watching for the first time would have no idea how Laura found out about Mary's impending blindness. I remember that scene from when it first aired. It was so memorable, because Laura's presence was unexpected, but also because Laura expressed so much emotion without saying a single word.

ChristinaAL wrote:

It annoys me too, to see so many scenes cut when are pretty important to the episode. I wonder why the DVDs can't at least be complete - aren't they supposed to be coming from the originals that were shown when the series first came out?

Paramount has a master set and a syndication set of Little House. The syndication set has some scenes cut. NBC told Paramount to give Imavision the syndication set for the DVDs, so that explains why the DVD's are missing some scenes. The TV stations also have the syndication sets and usually hack them up even more for broadcast. It is unfortunate that Imavision didn't recieve the master set for the DVDs. It probably would have fit on the same number of discs. I have read that the versions in England are uncut, but I have no way to tell for sure.

I taped most of th shows here in Britain when they were all re-run in 1991-1992 just after Michael Landon died and the episodes are all complete. Believe me, when you know the scripts back to front and inside out like I do, you wouldn't believe just how many scenes are cut from the DVD's. I'm so glad I kept my tapes all these years.

jes9 wrote:

I just saw part I of "I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away" for the first time on Hallmark. They cut short one of my favorite dramatic scenes from the entire series. It's the scene where Charles tells Mary she's going blind. In the uncut scene, Mary runs away, Charles sobs for a while and then looks back to find that Laura had been standing behind them and had overheard their conversation. Laura doesn't say anything, but the viewer knows instantly that Laura is sad for Mary but also feels guilty for the jealous feelings she had about Mary because of Mary's relationship with Seth. In the Hallmark version, they cut to a commercial a few seconds after Mary runs away, and we don't see Laura in that scene at all. Anybody watching for the first time would have no idea how Laura found out about Mary's impending blindness. I remember that scene from when it first aired. It was so memorable, because Laura's presence was unexpected, but also because Laura expressed so much emotion without saying a single word.

How sad. I didn't even know that scene existed. I never saw it and just assumed that the audience was to think that Laura's parents had told her at some other time. It makes me wonder how much we all miss.

I know what you mean Pam. This was such a big scene it just shouldnt have been cut. I know commercials have to get in there but I wish on certain episodes they wouldnt cut at all. Now if it were the epy of Nasty Nancy falling down that well....well they could have cut the part of her ...say GETTING OUT!

Couldn't agree more, Gin! *LOL*

pamh36 wrote:

jes9 wrote:

I just saw part I of "I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away" for the first time on Hallmark. They cut short one of my favorite dramatic scenes from the entire series. It's the scene where Charles tells Mary she's going blind. In the uncut scene, Mary runs away, Charles sobs for a while and then looks back to find that Laura had been standing behind them and had overheard their conversation. Laura doesn't say anything, but the viewer knows instantly that Laura is sad for Mary but also feels guilty for the jealous feelings she had about Mary because of Mary's relationship with Seth. In the Hallmark version, they cut to a commercial a few seconds after Mary runs away, and we don't see Laura in that scene at all. Anybody watching for the first time would have no idea how Laura found out about Mary's impending blindness. I remember that scene from when it first aired. It was so memorable, because Laura's presence was unexpected, but also because Laura expressed so much emotion without saying a single word.

How sad. I didn't even know that scene existed. I never saw it and just assumed that the audience was to think that Laura's parents had told her at some other time. It makes me wonder how much we all miss.

I agree. That is one of the most emotional scenes from this episode. I would love to know how they decide which scenes to cut because they always seem to cut out the most important ones.

Cheryl

Another part they cut out of a LH episode For My Lady is when Caroline makes the new blouse and she thinks that Charles didn't notice the blouse, well when it is uncut, Caroline is visably upset and she is talking to Charles and as he is walking into the bedroom he tells her that her new blouse is pretty and Caroline looks up and realizes he did notice the blouse. They cut that line out of the episode which makes it look like Charles was being kind of a jerk and we all know that wasn't the case!!

I noticed some cuts from early season 5 episodes. In Part I of "As Long As We're Together", Carrie's mishap on the sidewalk is cut short. Laura says, "Come on, Carrie, let's go." Carrie replies, "I already did." In the Hallmark version, they cut this scene as Laura looks down. We don't get to see what Carrie leaves behind on the sidewalk. In the same episode, the scene where the dresser falls over on Carrie is cut out. In "The Winoka Warriors", a scene containing a funny line is cut out. This is where the kids are deciding who should coach the team. Somebody suggests Jonathan Garvey, and Andy replies, "My pa doesn't know anything about football!" I always thought that was funny, because in real life Merlin Olsen knew a lot about football!

It seems to me that Hallmark is cutting even more scenes these days, and adding more commercials. I should write and tell them that I don't watch LHOP on their channel to see lots of commercials, I watch it to see the show they advertise...Little House on the Prairie!!

Yep, it makes me mad...

If they came out with a newer version of the DVD's, uncut, I would not buy them! I spent too much money when they were first released.

Here's another big Hallmark cut. Remember the modern day scene at the end of "Once Upon a Time", where the girl walks into the library, pulls Little House on the Prairie off the shelf and sits down at a table and begins to read it while Michael Landon narrates that Laura would later publish her books without any changes? That scene is completely missing from the Hallmark version. On Hallmark, this episode ends with the runner-up in the writing contest accepting the award that Laura would have won.

bethandmanly wrote:

I would love to know how they decide which scenes to cut because they always seem to cut out the most important ones.

Cheryl

My guess is that most of the cuts are done close to where the original commercial breaks are, and a lot of important scenes were probably right before a commercial break. One of these days I will buy the season 1 DVD from the UK. I know that there is software that takes out the region codes, but I'm not sure if it will convert PAL to NTSC.

I might be wrong, but I think they cut part of the scene when Nellie found Nancy in The Return of Nellie. I thought I remembered them having a conversation when Nellie found her, but all Hallmark showed was 20 seconds of Nancy crying and Nellie calming her down.