Hey, I'm all for open-source software and VideoLan looks like a pretty good player.
The fact is, though, that there IS a genuine problem with the Merv Griffin episode, it's just that VideoLan and perhaps some other players are able to tolerate it. Most players, including Windows Media Player, get stuck halfway through this episode, and I also had problems with this episode when converting to MPEG to create a video DVD. So I'm just pointing how to fix it.
George - this is a basic editing function that can be done with Video Edit Magic or with any other video editor - check out the help for whatever editor you're using.