Customer Reviews

The Beverly Hillbillies: The Official Second Season

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Having already owned these episodes as released by MPI from Paul Henning's personal 16mm prints, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Paramount's release.

I was thrilled to see that not only are the original sponsor openings and cast commercials included, but you have the option of watching with them INTEGRATED INTO THE SHOW via seamless branching! That's a feature even the "Ultimate Collection" couldn't boast... there, the sponsor clips were available only in a supplemental section.

The prints are much better here, too, with the exception of the opening and closing credits, which appear to be sourced from Henning's 16mm prints. Nonetheless, Parmount did a tremendous job on this release.

What a thrill to watch these episodes EXACTLY as originally broadcast. And what a trip, in our politically correct age, to see the Hillibillies actually smoking!

Thanks, Paramount, for not insulting our intellect by "deciding for us" what is or is not appropriate to watch.

...there is much to enjoy about the release of this Official Second Season (1963-1964).

I did submit to Amazon to change the format in the product listing to "black & white" rather than "color" as they have it described at the moment, since this season was filmed entirely in black & white and perhaps not everyone would know that (or think the releasing studio had colorized these disks).

*EDITED OCTOBER 30: I see Amazon did finally change the format to black & white for this set, so that is good to know there is less likely to be any potential for confusion.*

Since there is as of today not a listing of episodes contained in this set, I thought I would type the titles of all 36 full-length episodes (especially as there is apparently some cross-over for those buyers of the various collections regarding episodes...).

Jed Gets the Misery 09-25-63
Hair Raising Holiday 10-02-63
Granny's Garden 10-09-63
Elly Starts to School 10-16-63
The Clampett Look 10-23-63
Jethro's First Love 10-30-63
Chickadee Returns 11-06-63

The Clampetts Are Overdrawn 11-13-63
The Clampetts Go Hollywood 11-20-63
Turkey Day 11-27-63
The Garden Party 12-04-63
Elly Needs a Maw 12-11-63
The Clampetts Get Culture 12-18-63
Christmas at the Clampetts 12-25-63

A Man for Elly 01-01-64
The Giant Jack Rabbit 01-08-64
The Girl from Home 01-15-63
Lafe Lingers On 01-22-64
The Race for Queen 02-05-64
Lafe Returns 02-12-64
Son of Lafe Returns 02-19-64

The Clampetts Go Fishing 02-26-64
A Bride for Jed 03-04-64
The Critter Doctor 03-11-64
Granny Versus the Weather Bureau 03-25-64
Another Neighbor 04-01-64
The Bank Raising 04-08-64
The Great Crawdad Hunt 04-15-64

The Dress Shop 04-22-64
House of Granny 04-29-64
The Continental Touch 05-06-64
Jed Incorporated 05-13-64
Granny Learns to Drive 05-20-64
Cabin in Beverly Hills 05-27-64
Jed Foils a Home Wrecker 06-03-64
Jethro's Graduation 06-10-64

With so many recent releases being comprised of incomplete and altered versions of our beloved classic TV shows, it's smart to wait and decide to purchase (or not) well after the release date. It seems that the firestorms of complaint following releases such as THE FUGITIVE SEASON TWO VOL. ONE have been noticed, at least for the time being. I must say that THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES OFFICIAL SECOND SEASON set is of far higher quality than I expected. Yes, this is the complete second season, with excellent picture (a bit grainy at times, but overall superb) and sound transfers of every episode...but most important, the episodes are complete and with the original music as far as I can tell. It's nice to see a good bit of bonus material here too; the original sponsor opening and closings are great segments that have been lost to time over the years. Some of the closing segments are continuations of the episodes themselves and extend the episodes by several minutes; for example, the third episode, "Granny's Garden", runs 29 minutes with the sponsor segments added back in. This is nice stuff, and really adds to the value!

Don't hesitate to order this fine DVD set. Just as companies should be boycotted when they mangle releases, they should also be praised and supported when they make the effort to do things right. I don't think anyone will be disappointed with THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES OFFICIAL SECOND SEASON, and I hope that this high quality is maintained as a standard in future releases.

The second season set from Paramount is sooooo much improved over the MPI Volumes 1 & 2. I can't believe i had something nice to say regarding Paramount.

I never thought i would see it this clear and that is viewing it on my large screen LCD tv which sometimes makes older shows seem a little more off or grainey. I also tested a disc in my player hooked up to my 36 inch glass screen tv and it seems nice and clear without any real noticeable grainey quality.

This is such an improvement over MPI and those horrible other sets that were out there prior. This was one of my very favorite shows growing up. I was so sad to think all we'd ever see are episodes in the previous quality of the MPI sets.

While the episodes are remastered the opening and closing credits are not. One feature is the option to view each episode with or without the original sponsor opening and closing. The sponsor opening extends the scene with all four driving in the truck while passing a truck or billboard with the Winston cigarettes or Kelloggs cereals logo on it. It also has extended theme lyrics mentioning one of the two sponsors. The closing is actually a short scene wrapping up the episode while having the Clampetts using one of the products in the scene. Unfortunately the sponsor closings are not remastered.

As far as the music, it plays the original theme song (with original vocalist) exactly as how we remembered it. Also i noticed that the regular intro music you would hear in the beginning of a scene is also the original music. So maybe the music that is altered pertains to performances of songs on the show or something along that line.

Seven of the episodes in season 2 have Sharon Tate wearing a black wig playing the part of Janet Trego, a bank secretary. In one episode "The Garden Party" she plays a guest at the party who dances with Jethro with her own blonde hair. She also appears in the "Elly Starts To School" episode as a "blink and you'll miss her" character named Mary. While it's nice to see her....it makes me sad at the same time.

If you are true fan of this show and was disheartened like i was with prior sets you'll want to pick this set up. I'm so glad i did!

Welllll doggies....it's time for me to have a heapin' helpin' of vittles in a Jethro sized bowl and set a spell with the Clampetts!

I don't have to mention how good this show is. The fact that many older TV programs don't get rerun as much as this program speaks volumes. Small note of interest. Original negatives are in 35 mm format. To make a transfer from the original negatives is expensive, not to mention valuable. After all, if the original negatives are destroyed or damaged, part of our film history is lost. Decades ago the episodes were transferred from the 35 mm masters to what is known as 3-quarter format, also known as broadcast quality. For decades the episodes have been on VHS and TV repeatedly referred to from the 3-quarter masters. This prevents any chance of damage to the original 35 mm reels.

Now some episodes have fallen into the public domain, so dollar store DVDs have put them available on disc but since the music is still copyrighted, they replaced the theme music with generic non-copyrighted music. Shame on them. Course, the consumers get what they paid for.

Good news and rejoice! This DVD set "The Official Second Season" was mastered from the original 35 mm masters! Yes, that means the quality is as good as it is ever going to get. All 36 episodes and with their original music score. After all, could we really watch these without that zingy "Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed . . ." I bought one of the public domain DVDs once and not hearing the familiar theme song was distracting with each viewing.

This set not only has the superb transfer quality prints using today's technology from the 35 mm masters, but the extras are nice. Irene Ryan screen test as Granny, a clip from "The Stars' Address is CBS" (1963 fall preview show), the 1963/64 CBS Network Promo, and the Paul Henning Interview from 1969.

So buy this set and watch this bevy of backwoods bumpkins turn Beverly Hills upside down.

Ignore the anxiety-inducing "Music has been changed..." warning on the package. Also ignore the "Some episodes may be edited..." disclaimer.

These are the real deal, 100% complete. Not one note of the classic opening or closing theme song has been altered. Every bit of Perry Botkin's classic background music is intact, too. And contrary to the review below, "Granny's Garden" is NOT edited -- it was simply filmed with fewer fade-outs to commercial breaks.

The option to play each episode with or without the original sponsor intros/outros is a great bonus. But the best part of this release is the episodes themselves -- every single one is laugh-out-loud funny, and shows just how wrong TV critics were back in the '60s when they lambasted The Beverly Hillbillies for being a mindless series. It's actually very, very clever (and, in episodes like "Elly Starts to School," remarkably sophisticated.)

Great job, Paramount.

I have been a collector of the Beverley Hillbillies for many years and have so many various discs. It is good to see the OFFICIAL seasons, I see Two and THree but no FIRST season? Is it available?

Despite one serious flaw (discussed below), this set is well worth buying and should be supported wholeheartedly by all BH fans. We vote for a product (whether good or bad) by purchasing it, which we hope encourages the bigwigs to continue to produce it. There are nine seasons of this show, all of which deserve to be released on DVD, so we have a long way to go. We don't want this show to suffer the fate of "Green Acres" (which the bigwigs stopped releasing after three of six seasons, presumably due to lack of sales). So buy it not only for its own sake and the enjoyment you will surely derive from owning it, but also as an investment in the future release of the other seasons in the series.

This show is a true classic, one of the all time greats. It holds the world's record for the most highly rated single episode of a sitcom ever broadcast (the episode entitled, "The Giant Jackrabbit", which is contained in this set). The scripts are well written with witty and hilarious dialog and loveable characters. This show is also genuinely FUNNY, with no hidden agenda to convert the viewer to leftist ideology like today's TV shows. Also unlike today's TV, no attempt is made here to defile the innocence of any defenseless children who may be in the room, so you may safely allow your kids to view this show (and they will love it!).

Even if you already own both volumes of the BH Ultimate Collection (which you should), this set is still worth having since it includes 17 episodes from season two not previously released. The sound and picture quality of the episodes on this set is quite good. The length of the episodes varies, the shortest being 25:07 and the longest coming in at 25:36. Average length overall is 25:22, thus they can reasonably be thought to be free of edits.

Extras include an Irene Ryan screen test/comparison with an excerpt from the pilot episode (1:16), "The Stars Address is CBS" 1963 fall preview spot (2:33, but you can tell it is edited, they cut out the Twilight Zone segment), a CBS network promo spot from 1963 (0:46), and an excerpt from a 1969 Paul Henning interview (2:39, also edited. Part, though not all, of this interview is included in the BH Ultimate Collection Vol. II).

But the greatest extra of all, and the one that makes this set so much worth buying, is the inclusion of some of the CAST COMMERCIALS!! While the previously released BH Ultimate Collections also (fortunately) contained the cast commercials (some of which are duplicated here), this set also contains a few not found on the previous BHUC releases. Also very convenient here is that the menu provides an option to watch each episode in it's entirety with the CC's integrated into the episode as they were intended to be seen, instead of just lumping them altogether at the end of disc 4 as with the previously released Ultimate Collection sets.

On a brand new DVD release we already expect full, complete, unedited episodes (and factually speaking they are not truly complete unless they include the cast commercials), with good sound and picture quality. That much is a given; anything less and the bigwigs can take a flying leap and forget about getting my hard earned money. But the inclusion of the cast commercials takes any DVD set to a whole new level. We've all seen these episodes before (in edited form) on network/cable TV, and we know how enjoyable they are. But what you will never see on TV are these awesome Cast Commercials, which feature the characters from the show hawking the sponsor's products in very clever and witty spots which often continue the story line of the episodes. These things are great!! It really is all about the cast commercials, the inclusion of which here is the single best of many good reasons to buy this set.

Which brings me to its one shameful flaw. There are 36 episodes (the complete 2nd season) on this set, so there should have also been 36 cast commercials on it. Instead, there are 11 missing, NINE of which (and here we come to the shameful part) are the Winston cigarette commercials (the commercials alternate each week between the show's two sponsors, Winston and Kelloggs). Specifically, the ONLY Winston commercials present on this set are the SAME ONES that were already released on the BHUC sets (the fact that they are to be found on a competitor's set is doubtless the only reason they were included on this set). So the powers that be deliberately cut out the remaining Winston commercials, apparently afraid that if they let us watch 40 year old Winston cigarette commercials we all will take up smoking (I don't smoke, never have, and no amount of persuasion is going to make me start. I'm not nearly as weak minded as the bigwigs think I am). Or more likely they just lack the moral courage to stand up and do the right thing for their customers and for posterity, it being easier to just cave in and sell out to the political correctness thought police (doesn't it make you feel good to know there are people out there smarter and better than we are, who care so much about our safety and welfare that they are willing to protect us from ourselves and make our decisions for us since we are all just a bunch of ignorant hicks and simplistic little children?). They even went so far in their cowardice as to put little mandatory blurbs at the beginning of the Winston episodes (even the ones which have had the commercials cut out) warning about the dangerous evils of smoking (I agree that smoking is not the smartest way to spend your time or money, but that is still something adults have the right to decide for themselves, without holier-than-thou paternalistic busybodies attempting to dictate and force their personal preferences on the rest of us).

Indeed a shame that what could have been a great release is marred by moral cowardice and lack of principle. Even so, to have some cast commercials is better than to have none. Hopefully future releases of BH will be at least as good as this one, if not better (i.e., they will include ALL the cast commercials, not just the ones that the political correctness stormtroopers deem "acceptable"). So buy it for yourself, for your friends and relatives, for anyone who needs a good laugh, or for anyone who could benefit from having their cultural horizons expanded.

I forgot how funny this show was. "The Giant Jack Rabbit" episode is a classic. While the episode was based on Granny trying to capture the critter and was extremely funny, I never laughed so hard at the telephone exchanges between Jed/Granny and Beverly Caterers. Back in 64 they let the viewers fill in the blanks, and did so successfully. I'll be buying Season 3.

I was worried that due to copyrights and music rights issues that this DVD set would not feature the popular theme song and incidental music all the fans expect to hear. Thankfully, Paramount/CBS Home Video and Paul Henning's estate must have worked out their problems because the original music is there!

The epiosdes I have watched so far all have a length of over 25 minutes, so, as far as I can tell the episodes are unedited. And the picture quality looks good enough to me.

Since Paul Henning's Estate still owns the rights to the first season and part of the second season (as I understand it), I was wondering how Paramount would release the second season. Eventually, I learned that this set would be the complete second season, so I knew going in that this set would have some repeats carried over from the "Ultimate Collection" put out about two years ago. But most of the shows haven't been released on DVD before (to my knowledge).

If you are a fan, pick up the set. Hopefully, sales will warrant Paramount releasing all the seasons on DVD in the near-future.