"And now back to The Untouchables" with the visual of the book and page turn is considered a commercial bumper. Likewise the etching of the Chicago skyline with the silhouettes of The Untouchables is part of the commercial bumpers.
These began and ended the acts, and came before and after the commercials. The scene would fade out, or cross dissolve via venetian blind into the image of the commercial bumper.
In the Columbia House releases and in a number of the DVD prints, many of these are removed entirely, replaced by a fade or cross dissolve. It disrupts the fabric of the original presentation, often times causing erroneous and sloppy fade outs of music (often times the score from a particular scene and the commercial bumper music were crossfaded into each other and to hide that the latter existed after removing it, the editors were forced to quickly fade out the scene's score, altering the original and intended execution of the episode. This is most noticeable in the newly released cut of Rusty Heller about fifteen minutes in when Rusty is nearly taken into custody.
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rustyheller2003
15 years ago
You're right, I don't know why I didn't notice all those great "bumpers" that are missing in the second set, I just thought that I overlooked them in my haste to watch the great episodes in the second season. I definitely prefer the "And now back to The Untouchables" blurbs with the visuals of the book page turns plus that great artwork of the Chicago skyline with the silhouettes of The Untouchables beginning and ending the acts while the scenes fade out or cross dissole into the "venetian blind" fade-outs. That was all part of the original charm of the show and should be there. Now I feel cheated. Let's hope they return in the third season DVD's.
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wlong
15 years ago
Fascinating - I appreciate the enlightenment. Any news on Season 3?
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