🎄 Holidays! EXCLUSIVE! Merry Christmas, Darling: Carpenters Public TV Special and DVD

I tried to find a place on GPTV's website but could not find it, so I ordered from the link Jeff provided in his link to IPTV. Thanks, Jeff!
 
Just caught it on KWPTV. Wow. I am in awe as it brightened my spirit and it's such a treat to see it in such clear quality and with beautiful sound. Christ Is Born was amazing. Can't wait to get the dvd.
 
Hello. I am new to this forum. I ordered the "Carpenters Christmas Memories" thank you gift DVD from the WNED (Buffalo PBS) website today. I live in Canada, and I paid $84 Canadian (they accept donations from Canada in Canadian dollars "at par" to American dollars). Since the Canadian dollar is about 74 cents U.S. right now, I think I did okay. I hope to receive the DVD in the next couple of weeks. Last November I ordered the $120 Complete Singles + Christmas Portrait Special Edition thank you gift from KCTS and paid $120 Canadian. I received the CD'S in about 10 days and I was extremely happy with the single mixes/versions, some of which I hadn't heard before. I am looking forward to receiving the DVD! The new 30-minute Carpenters Christmas Memories special airs here this Friday night at 10:30 on WNED.
 
The first broadcast in the New York City area will be this Saturday night on WLIW Long Island PBS at 11pm. Connecticut PBS will air it on Sunday evening at 7pm. The dvd is already available on the WNET website.
 
I'm watching my special tonight and while this tv footage is old it suffers a bit from being too dark at times. The opening number really shows how dark this footage is and doesn't appear to have been remastered. I wish they could have at least brightened it up a bit even Richard playing Oh Holy Night the contrast is really dark.

The picture quality is great it's just dark and not vibrant. I'm wondering if this is the broadcast or if the DVD will be the same.
 
I ordered mine today from KQED. They say 4-6 weeks. I hope not. Want to enjoy it before Christmas , if possible. I just received, yesterday, the new reissue of Christmas Portrait! Finally! It sounds like I remember. Thank you Japan!
 
For those in the area, it's on WLIW (channel 21?) tonight at 9:30pm and during the next few days. Unfortunately, I don't get that channel. I don't believe it's on WNET (channel 13) until December 10th. Here I stay, waiting to watch it and for the postman to come... :D
 
I watched it tonight on my local PBS channel, Georgia Public Broadcasting. I ordered the DVD for $72 to support my local station. However, I checked both receipts and my e-mail and did not get an estimated delivery date. Anyhoo, I was so glad to see the Christmas Memories special on TV, especially because I had never seen some footage! It was like I was a young kid again discovering Carpenters for the first time! Who would have thought we'd still be getting stuff in 2016? I thought all new stuff was going to be over by 2004!
 
I'm watching my special tonight and while this tv footage is old it suffers a bit from being too dark at times. The opening number really shows how dark this footage is and doesn't appear to have been remastered. I wish they could have at least brightened it up a bit even Richard playing Oh Holy Night the contrast is really dark.

The picture quality is great it's just dark and not vibrant. I'm wondering if this is the broadcast or if the DVD will be the same.

You have to remember that the original 70's source tapes would've stored the video in composite. I know that with the Perry Como DVD I find it looks best on an older CRT TV hooked up by composite or s-video at most and then looks darker on an LCD TV played through HDMI where the composite is being split into component. Plus if you are comparing them to the VHS uploads on YouTube, I find the color tends to be lighter, whereas Betamax recorded color that was closer to broadcast.
 
You have to remember that the original 70's source tapes would've stored the video in composite. I know that with the Perry Como DVD I find it looks best on an older CRT TV hooked up by composite or s-video at most and then looks darker on an LCD TV played through HDMI where the composite is being split into component. Plus if you are comparing them to the VHS uploads on YouTube, I find the color tends to be lighter, whereas Betamax recorded color that was closer to broadcast.
Since you have an old CRT tv hookup I challenge you to take a screen capture of the DVD using this vs an LCD tv to see if your correct. I'll just have to adjust my setting on my LCD tv to see if I can increase the brightness and contrast because what I saw on that 30 min PBS special was really dark.
 
I was watching the special tonight, and I noticed that tonight's broadcast had a number of edits. Most notable was the Petula Clark concert footage at the end. It wasn't the footage of Clark in front of the guitarist that we are all used to, but she starts off with a laugh and then sings a different version of "For All We Know", before saying 'Goodnight, Karen', and turning off the light at the piano.

Another edit that I noticed was that Richard's line about the exec's at ABC, in regards to "Music, music, music" was cut.

Since you have an old CRT tv hookup I challenge you to take a screen capture of the DVD using this vs an LCD tv to see if your correct. I'll just have to adjust my setting on my LCD tv to see if I can increase the brightness and contrast because what I saw on that 30 min PBS special was really dark.

I didn't need to watch it on a CRT TV tonight, just switching to the RF output on my cable box and pausing to switch between RF and HDMI showed me that the image was brighter on the RF due to it being composite. Don't forget that in the 70's the specials would've been lit to make them look good over NTSC broadcast that most people would've received by antennae or analog cable. No one was thinking that people would be watching these on anything like a movie-theater screen.
 
I just ordered my DVD this morning from WPBS. It'll be interesting to see the other performances. But I noticed as well on last night's broadcast, but "Holy Night" was remixed to where the piano was really dominant at the beginning, and the choir was toned down. Plus the music was in 2.0 surround.
 
We have 2 PBS stations one is showing it and one is not and the one that's showing it doesn't even have the DVD on their website with all the other pledge gifts. I don't think this is being marketed very well and it's my opinion that this DVD will be pretty rare to own. Most of the public won't even know about this manufactured DVD.
 
We have 2 PBS stations one is showing it and one is not and the one that's showing it doesn't even have the DVD on their website with all the other pledge gifts. I don't think this is being marketed very well and it's my opinion that this DVD will be pretty rare to own. Most of the public won't even know about this manufactured DVD.

If that's the case this makes it even more of a missed opportunity. Never mind the general record buying public, some of the PBS audiences seem to be missing out on this gem.
 
Not going to be shown in Norfolk, VA area PBS (WHRO) :sad:
Have you contacted the station by email or phone? I just looked at WHRO's website and I have to say that it is a nightmare of a mess.

But I know that here in Eastern Ontario, on Cogeco anyway, we get WPBS as the standard def feed, while WPTV Detroit is the High Def feed and both are airing it at different times. WPBS aired it once in November and they'll air it again in December, while WPTV will be airing it twice in December. Maybe WHRO and KCTS are airing it later in December. Maybe they're holding it for the week between Christmas and New Year's when they know people will have Christmas money, but at the same time the Christmas programming is still appropriate.
 
The show aired here in Spokane Washington on KSPS last night. To be honest, I was disappointed as what was shown seemed quite short. About half of the 30 minute program was devoted to soliciting for pledges. From what little was broadcast, the video was sharp and clean, and the audio crisp. Of course, I ordered the DVD. Now the 4 to 6 weeks for delivery wait begins.
 
The show aired here in Spokane Washington on KSPS last night. To be honest, I was disappointed as what was shown seemed quite short. About half of the 30 minute program was devoted to soliciting for pledges. From what little was broadcast, the video was sharp and clean, and the audio crisp. Of course, I ordered the DVD. Now the 4 to 6 weeks for delivery wait begins.
I mentioned it earlier but the DVD is only 50 mins so a 30 min segment with pledges sounds about right, if they showed anymore there would be no reason to buy the DVD.

...still waiting for mr postman...
 
The show aired here in Spokane Washington on KSPS last night.
Thank you for this post! :) I checked the KSPS website, and they take Canadian dollars at par, so I ordered the DVD from them. KCTS Seattle, the PBS station that I get on cable here, aren't offering the DVD, and they charge in US dollars anyway. So their loss is Spokane's gain! :laugh:

I can hardly wait!
 
The two main Public TV stations for where we live are WUCF for Orlando and WEDU from Tampa. Only WEDU had a listing for the program for this coming Saturday evening, but unfortunately we will be at a neighborhood Christmas party. WUCF had nothing listed.

Meanwhile there's a second-tier Public Broadcasting station in Tampa that's already shown it, and it has a few more showings listed. None of these had any info on the new DVD, so I scrounged around and found the PBS station in Atlanta listing it and having it available as a premium. So THEY got my money. I'd have rather contributed locally, but if they're not going to offer it, then so be it.
 
PBS station in Los Angeles will broadcast on December 6, at 7:00 pm. DVR is set; I ordered the DVD from the link provided earlier in this thread. Hopefully it won't take the full 4-6 weeks.
 
PBS station in Los Angeles will broadcast on December 6, at 7:00 pm. DVR is set; I ordered the DVD from the link provided earlier in this thread. Hopefully it won't take the full 4-6 weeks.

Thanks for this! I was looking for it on the two stations I get (PBS and KVCR? I think) and couldn't find it on either. Will try to get out of work early that day to get home in time to watch!
 
Just caught the end of the PBS special with the longer performance from Petula Clark singing 'For All We Know' added to the doc itself. Much better with the additional segment.

That was followed by the 30 minute Christmas segment from the new DVD. It looks and sounds BEAUTIFUL! Can't wait to see the whole DVD.
 
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