HBO Max’s “Mad Men” vomit scene proved that “remastered” doesn’t mean “better.”

But the problem goes beyond changing the aspect ratio. Remaking shows that were originally filmed with more primitive technology, sometimes horribly like I love Lucy A clip that went viral last year showed a pair of once-blurred background actors getting so much attention that they now look like surreal Picasso sketches.

I visited the complex Fraser In the late 90s, as the television industry was preparing to switch from standard to hi-def. As I admired the decor in Dr. Crane’s living room, one of the acclaimed sitcom producers lamented that it all looked so much dirtier in HD than in the more visually forgiving SD format, and worried that they would have to pay to rebuild all of their stand-up sets. Fraser, LucyAnd many more were created without thinking about how they might one day look in a format that didn’t exist at the time.

While countless classic films have been successfully remastered for HD or 4K, they are also stand-alone projects where real care and attention can be paid to every frame. Seinfeld and I love Lucy Both have made 180 episodes. The Simpsons 429 parts are made in standard mode. It is very difficult to perform quality control with this amount of product, which is why many of these mistakes are made. (In the case of The Simpsons(Disney+ finally introduced an option to watch the first 20 seasons in its original aspect ratio.) wirewhich creator David Simon insisted was involved in the process of changing the image quality and aspect ratio of the gritty urban drama, but it is rare.

This special mad men The error is a strange one, as the show was always presented in widescreen HD. But the first four seasons were filmed, so maybe in the remaking process someone inadvertently used an alternate take of the vomit scene where the crew members weren’t digitally erased. A source close to the process said Lionsgate gave HBO Max the “incorrect files” and the correct versions will be uploaded as soon as possible.