Product Details

• Actors: Ozzie Nelson, Buster Keaton, Alan Young, Mickey Rooney, Jack Benny
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 12
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: July 22, 2008
• Run Time: 3936 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00196SUS8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #157,980 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Essential Family Television" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

ESSENTIAL FAMILY TELEVISION - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sitcoms, adventure and variety shows rom TV's Golden Age, July 17, 2008

By 

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Essential Family Television (DVD)

The twelve single-side recorded DVDs in MILL CREEK's ESSENTIAL FAMILY TELEVISION contain episodes of 1950's and '60s sitcom and adventure series, plus some variety shows (Milton Berle, Ed Wynn, Eddie Fisher) and specials (Phil Silvers, Edgar Bergen). Besides the more commonly seen programs, there's samples here of some genuine TV rarities, like the Buster Keaton, Jim Backus, Dennis Day and Dennis O'Keefe shows. Video and audio transfer quality of these antique TV films is generally good.

All DVDs come individually stored in gloss-coated heavy paper sleeves that also provide program data and episode titles. The discs are housed in a space-saving easy-access storage box (front hinged door with two velcro closures). "Essential Family Television" is over 65 hours of classic TV from America's leading seller of value-priced DVD compilations, MILL CREEK ENTERTAINMENT.


Vintage TV fans are sure to enjoy SPIES & LIES, also from MILL CREEK. There's 50 episodes here from 11 rarely seen crime/action series.


PROGRAM LIST for ESSENTIAL FAMILY TELEVISION (number of episodes in parentheses)--

(_6) The Adventures of Hiram Holiday
(20) The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet
(_7) The Bob Cummings Show
(_2) The Buster Keaton Show
(_2) The Dennis Day Show
(_4) The Dennis O'Keefe Show
(_4) The Dick Van Dyke Show
(_5) The Ed Wynn Show
(_1) The Eddie Fisher Show ("Coke Time")
(_1) The Edgar Bergen Show
(_6) The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
(_1) The Howdy Doody Show
(_6) I Married Joan
(10) Jack Benny Program
(_2) The Jim Backus Show
(_2) Lassie
(_4) The Liberace Show
(_2) The Life of Riley
(_6) Life With Elizabeth
(20) The Lucy Show
(_5) Make Room For Daddy
(_5) The Mickey Rooney Show
(_5) The Milton Berle Show
(_1) Mister Ed
(_2) Our Miss Brooks
(_6) Petticoat Junction
(_3) Private Secretary
(_1) Sea Hunt
(_4) Sky King
(_1) The Slowest Gun in the West (A Phil Silvers special)
(_6) Trouble With Father

FOR COMPLETE DATA ON ALL EPISODES, SEE COMMENT #1 BELOW

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Back when TV was NOT a Game Show, August 2, 2008

By 

S. L. Swayze "scottfromaz" (Mesa, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Essential Family Television (DVD)

With the absolute garbage on television today these DVD sets are a godsend. You get one-hundred and fifty old television shows, at least 70 hours of quality entertainment! And here's what they don't tell you in any of the ads--many of these shows run the full half hour complete with all those woderful old commercials! See the brand new 57 Chevy or the top of the line Brownie camera. Or how about Efrem plugging the next episode of the FBI this Sunday night. Great, great stuff. There are other Mill Creek boxed sets of old television shows, and there worth every penny!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hours and Hours of Vintage Television, September 1, 2010

By 

Tee (LA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Essential Family Television (DVD)

This 12 disc set of vintage television shows of the 1950's and 1960's will be treasured by any fan of TV from the era. Although THE LUCY SHOW (20 episodes), OZZIE AND HARRIET (20 episodes) and THE JACK BENNY SHOW (10 episodes) are perhaps too overrepresented in the set, there's still another 28 shows that have 1-7 episodes each here.

There's not much to add to the credits beyond Annie Van Auken's always essential comments on sets like these, however I would like to point out some of my favorite shows. There's super rare EDGAR BERGEN variety show from 1950 with guest Diana Lynn with a Thanksgiving theme (and of course Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd), an episode from LIBERACE with a very rare chance to see the iconic vaudeville stars The Duncan Sisters (one of four Liberace episodes), and certainly the five episodes of the ED WYNN show from 1949-50 are worth buying the set for by themselves with such great guests as Hattie McDaniel, The Three Stooges, Buster Keaton, Virginia O'Brien, and Victor Moore. The 50's children's show SKY KING has four episodes and there are two episodes from the surprisingly hard-to-find Eve Arden classic OUR MISS BROOKS. There's two episodes from the elusive BUSTER KEATON show of the 1950's snf five from MICKEY ROONEY's long-forgotten sitcom. Ann Sothern's hit PRIVATE SECRETARY is represented by three programs and everyone's favorite collie LASSIE has two episodes from the early years. Other rarities in the set include Wally Cox's THE ADVENTURES OF HIRAM HOLIDAY (six episodes), THE DENNIS O'KEEFE SHOW (four), THE JIM BACKUS SHOW (two), and Stu Erwin's THE TROUBLE WITH FATHER (six). Joan Davis' well-remembered I MARRIED JOAN has six programs in the set as is the evergreen TV legend Betty White in her first sitcom LIFE WITH ELIZABETH. Cult favorites MISTER ED, HOWDY DOODY, and SEA HUNT are represented with an episode a piece. Most of the programs are half-hour shows.

I should add Mill Creek has changed the cover of the set from initial release; the original pictured Danny Thomas, Dick Van Dyke, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, Mister Ed and Alan Young. The current edition pictures Van Dyke along with Mary Tyler Moore and Robbie. I have no idea if they have changed the lineup any but it's likely minor if any. The set I have is in line with the episodes mentioned by Amazon's listing and Annie Van Auken's review.

Mill Creek has done many of these "public domain" box sets on various movies, I'd love to see them do a sequel to this set with even more rarities from the 50's and 60's. Picture quality is usually very good considering how old many of these shows are and how several of the early ones are from kineoscopes rather than film prints.