Universal Studios Fire Destroys Video Vault

[geno57]

L.A.'s fire chief just told reporters about this.  It's going to be a very costly, tragic blaze.  Wonder if/what/how much GS video was stored there?

[urbanpreppie05]

I hope no one was injured...or worse.

But what game show could be stored there anyway?

[Kevin Prather]

The first thing that comes to mind is some Nickelodeon shows. Maybe Family Double Dare, etc. I imagine the loss of game show history will be pretty minimal.

[Steve Gavazzi]

According to the article currently up on Yahoo!, there were duplicates of the videos stored elsewhere, anyway.

[tvrandywest]

[quote name=\'geno57\' post=\'187198\' date=\'Jun 1 2008, 09:16 AM\']
... Wonder if/what/how much GS video was stored there?
[/quote]
Likely none. But I can only HOPE the master for my appearance on "Face The Music" was there!

Randy
tvrandywest.com

[Casey]

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' post=\'187209\' date=\'Jun 1 2008, 12:20 PM\']
Likely none. But I can only HOPE the master for my appearance on "Face The Music" was there!

Randy
tvrandywest.com
[/quote]
You know Sandy Frank is chomping at the bit to rerun that series again... :-)

[Hastin]

"Universal CEO Ron Meyer said that backups and copies exist of all of those films and although it would be a lot of work, nothing important will be lost." - Source

Don't know how this will affect the other TV tapings they have.

[JaminJon]

Nickelodeons shows were shot at Universal Studios in Florida...so, I dont think they would be sitting in CA.

[tvrandywest]

I hear some of the backlot was destroyed, specifically Tenement Row which served as the exterior of Abbot and Costello's brownstone, and even some of Sting Alley. Any link to post-fire photos will be appreciated.

Add this to the 1980s fire that took out some of the classic backlot at Paramount, and the fire a few years ago at 1040 Las Palmas that took out film storage.

>> Here are the photos. Just a lotta smoke without a clear sense of what was lost. It looks like Courthouse Square and the best known parts of the backlot are standing, but we'll see.

Randy
tvrandywest.com

[JamesVipond]

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' post=\'187225\' date=\'Jun 1 2008, 06:03 PM\']
>> Here are the photos. Just a lotta smoke without a clear sense of what was lost. It looks like Courthouse Square and the best known parts of the backlot are standing, but we'll see.
[/quote]

Unfortunately, the photos are no longer accessible, according to the AOL error message.

[DjohnsonCB]

[quote name=\'geno57\' post=\'187198\' date=\'Jun 1 2008, 12:16 PM\']
...Wonder if/what/how much GS video was stored there?
[/quote]
Don Adams' Screen Test ?  Hope they saved dupes of those; I'd love to see it again.

[bttritle]

Kind of a bad news/good news thing, I guess:

Physically, the fire destroyed all of the metro sets (NY Street, New England Street, Brownstone Street, "Sting Alley") save for the North and Eastern sides of "Courthouse Square" (Hill Valley from Back to the Future).  The TV production most directly affected by it is "Ghost Whisperer" as they had turned the square into the town center of Grandview for the show.  A lot of films had used those sets in the past few months.

As for film/video...can't say directly, but bear in mind that most shows under the NBC/Universal banner fell closer to the Blind Date type reality than outright game shows...that being said, I don't know off hand what, if any, GS tapes were directly affected.

The good news, if any, is that the fire was limited to only the metro area sets of the backlot and did not jump over to the western sets of "Six Points Texas" or "Lil Europe"...and was way away from Wisteria Lane (you can all exhale now... )  Also, from what I have heard, despite the size of the fire, which local residents called the worst they had seen, at last count I heard it was 9 firefighters who were treated for minor injuries (don't quote me on specifics, allow for wiggle room on numbers and qualifiers).
The amazing thing to see from the bridge that crossed from the park to the tram queue area was how total the ruin was of those buildings, yet to see the four walls that surrounded the King Kong attraction standing, with nothing existing inside or on top.  If you want to see photos, latimes.com has a good set of pics as does knbc.com

[uncamark]

The studios have been storing their archives elsewhere (mostly the Midwest, IIRC) for decades now, for insurance reasons (remember that southern California is in possible earthquake territory).  That material is safe and sound.

The more current problem is that NBCU has a potential revenue loss in not just production facilities, but in one of southern California's top tourist attractions.

[geno57]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' post=\'187422\' date=\'Jun 3 2008, 11:42 AM\']
The studios have been storing their archives elsewhere (mostly the Midwest, IIRC) for decades now, for insurance reasons (remember that southern California is in possible earthquake territory).  That material is safe and sound.
[/quote]

I've heard that a lot of material is stored here in Kansas City, in a huge facility that was built underground by the late Chiefs football owner Lamar Hunt.  Would love to get a tour of that place!

[Eric Paddon]

I have a report of a game show (at least one that is listed in the Encyclopedia) potentially wiped out by the fire.    Bear in mind, what's been lost is Universal's entire archive of video tape masters, and while yes, their filmed shows survive in their original negatives, it's now becoming clear that shows shot on videotape and specials on videotape have been put at risk unless a duplicate was out there.     This is the report from a post on Home Theater Forum.

"I am talking to some of my inside sources and this is way worse than Universal is telling anyone. They are really spinning this big time. Anything that they had 2-inch masters on, those are gone forever. For instance, the show Don Adams Screen Test, gone. Any specials, such as the Herb Alpert one, that they had a 2-inch tape on, gone. As for filmed TV shows, all of the transferred videotape masters are gone. Yes, they still have the original film elements but considering their astronomical in-house costs, are they really going to bother with many of these shows? I doubt it. So companies that are relying on existing tapes for their releases like Shout, Timeless and Arts Alliance could be out of luck."