Right, that was my point -- the charity/subsidized work should be concentrated on the stuff that's
not cash cows for profitable companies who guard the copyrights with armies of lawyers. Let those
folks pay to preserve their cash cows, and then the LOC's staff and time and equipment can be better
used for the other material. I also said, and I stand by this statement, that "first draft of
history" material, news and the like, should be first priority over cheezy mass-market
entertainment. Most of those one-off shows didn't survive because they weren't any good, and it's
questionable if they deserve any preservation. One of the dumber arguments I've seen arguing for
preserving very dubious material is "well it was (pick your now-famous actor)'s first TV
appearance." So? Obviously, (pick your famous actor) went on to do better work, which is now worth
preserving by its copyright owner.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "O'Dell, Cary" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 4:38 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] backing up a point I made a while back ...
> I'm sure that "I Love Lucy" was just used as an example of our collective TV heritage, a way to
> propel people to care about this entire medium and its preservation.
>
> But, for every "I Love Lucy" there are hundreds of other series, one-off specials, documentaries,
> newscasts, commercials and other broadcast material that is not a "cash cow" for anyone but still
> needs to be preserved by the Library of Congress or any other responsible institution as a
> document of our past.
>
> Cary O'Dell
> National Recording Registry
> Library of Congress
> 19053 Mt. Pony Road
> Culpeper, VA 22701
> Phone: 202-707-0394
> FAX: 202-707-0848
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
> Of Tom Fine
> Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 4:03 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] backing up a point I made a while back ...
>
> http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/20/entertainment/la-et-ct-cbslucy-20120920
>
> "Lucy" is still a cash cow for CBS! The LOC has no business spending one minute or dime of
> taxpayer time or money preserving one foot of film for CBS's cash-cow unless CBS is sending big
> checks to fund the efforts. If the CBS News report on the LOC's extensive efforts with I Love Lucy
> episodes is correct, they may have unwittingly exposed one of the worst cases of corporate welfare
> ever documented.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
>
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