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'''The Godfather Saga''' is a TV movie that combines ''The Godfather'' and ''The Godfather Part II'' into one film playing in chronological order. It originally aired on NBC over four consecutive nights (one three-hour segment and three two-hour segments) in November 1977.

Contents

Film structure

Nielsen ratings

''The Godfather Trilogy 1901-1980''

Film structure

Francis Ford Coppola re-edited the two films together adding some previously unseen footage, but also toned down the violence, sex and language for a television audience. Some scenes included that were not in the theatrical versions of the film include Don Fanucci being attacked by street thugs, Vito Corleone's first encounter with Hyman Roth, Vito killing two of the thugs who worked for Don Ciccio and were instrumental in his family's death, Michael's reunion with his father after his return from Sicily, and Sonny's taking charge of the family after his father is severely wounded. The previously unseen footage / deleted scenes totaled almost 75 minutes.
''The Godfather Saga'' is also known as ''The Godfather: The Complete Novel For Television'', ''The Godfather: A Novel for Television'', ''The Godfather Novella'' and ''The Godfather 1901-1959: The Complete Epic''. Coppola reportedly did this project to raise money for ''Apocalypse Now'', which was severely over-budget at the time.

Nielsen ratings

According to the entry in Les Brown's ''Encyclopedia of Television'' the Nielsen ratings for the special were supposedly not as high as expected, possibly because both films had already aired (albeit separately) on NBC in previous years.

''The Godfather Trilogy 1901-1980''

Coppola would again re-edit all three ''Godfather'' movies (''The Godfather'', ''The Godfather Part II'' and ''The Godfather Part III'') in chronological order for ''The Godfather Trilogy 1901-1980''. This version incorporated deleted scenes not included in the first re-edit. It was released on VHS and laserdisc in 1993 but has yet (as of 2007) to appear on DVD, although it is in regular rotation on Bravo. The total run time for this version is 583 minutes (9 hours, 43 minutes).