Customer Reviews

The Essential Ozzie & Harriet Collection

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Let me begin this review by saying that this isn't the best looking DVD collection of "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" on the market; that honor goes to The Best of the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet collection from Shout! Factory that was produced in cooperation with surviving members of the Nelson family, and which features the best looking transfers of the series as well as numerous extra features. That said, this set from Mill Creek Entertainment certainly gives you a healthy serving of the series' run (100 episodes of a series total of 435) and represents the largest collection of Ozzie & Harriet episodes available on DVD in a single collection. Incidentally, this is a greatly expanded version of Mill Creek's earlier Ozzie & Harriet Classics (4pc) collection of 38 episodes.

The episodes are not restored and very definitely of the audio/visual quality associated with public domain releases (which this collection is), but I've watched about half of the episodes in this collection and have to say that the vast majority of the episodes are highly watchable. A few of the episodes are syndicated versions running as little as 20 minutes (ironically, the episode titled "Be On Time" has the 20 minute running time), but the majority are full length versions, many of which are complete with original commercials and network IDs and running in excess of 29 minutes. By contrast, all of the episodes in the official collection from Shout! Factory are edited, syndicated versions running, on average, around 22 and a half minutes. Rick Nelson fans will be delighted to know that most musical numbers are included in this set. So in addition to seeing a great family comedy, you get a chance to see the evolution of one of rock & roll's early superstars. It also appears that the episodes are in chronological order, suggesting that Mill Creek actually researched the series for this release (atypical for most companies releasing public domain material).

The episodes are spread across 12 single-sided discs, with each disc containing eight to nine episodes and featuring a simple menu selection that allows you to either play all episodes or select the specific episode that you wish to view. Each disc is housed in its own cardboard folder; in turn, the 12 discs are housed in a laminated cardboard package that has a full listing of the episode titles on the back of the box. There are no DVD extras per se but, as mentioned above, the vast majority of the episodes contain original commercials and/or sponsor tags. It's fun to watch the Nelson family hawk products for Kodak, Quaker Oats and others. If there's a negative to this set, I suppose that it's the Mill Creek logo which appears briefly in the bottom right corner twice in each episode. The good news is that it's relatively unobtrusive and really won't detract much from your viewing experience. Viewers should also be aware that episodes from the show's 14th and final season were originally filmed in color; here they are presented in black & white.

The fact that Mill Creek has been able to assemble 100 episodes of this beloved family comedy series at a very affordable price is commendable. No other company has been able to bring this many episodes to the market in a single package. What makes this set even better is the inclusion of a number of episodes from the show's earlier years. Most of the Ozzie & Harriet collections of public domain episodes focus on the show's years from the 1960s when David and Ricky were in college, married, and later started their careers. There are plenty of those episodes in this set, but the inclusion of so many episodes from the 1950s when the boys were younger really distinguishes this set from the other Ozzie & Harriet collections that are available and, as such, makes this the definitive collection to own . . . . . at least until such time that someone issues something better.

This set is a must for fans of "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" and to those who appreciate warm-hearted family humor from a simpler time. My rating on this is closer to **** & ½, just missing the full five stars due a few beat-up looking prints included in this set. But, rest assured, you will not be disappointed if you purchase "The Essential Ozzie & Harriet Collection."

Wonderful set!, some episodes are better quality than others, but it's all still very watchable. A few have been edited, but most of them are not. I really like the commercials. Kodak; Quaker Oats, Aunt Jemima, Hot Point, Coke, and even Listerine!, Some of them even have the Nelson family members doing the ads! The Anita Bryant Coca-Cola commercials are a must see! Also, I thought I'd mention that the "Flying Down to Lunch" episode is actually the episode; "The T-Shirts" from Season 8. That said and done; I highly recommend this set to Ozzie & Harriet fans.

I am looking forward to getting this.

Halloween Party
The Ballet
The Tuba Incident
The Traffic Signal
The Bowling Alley
The Orchid and the Violet
The Pancake Mix
The New Chairs
The Boy's Paper Route
David's 17th Birthday
Suggestion Box
The Initiation
Father and Son Tournament
Be On Time
An Evening with Hamlet
The Bird's Nest
The Odd Bolt
The Pajama Game
Music Appreciation
A Ball of Tin Foil
The Car Mix-Up
A Day in Bed
David Picks Up the Tab
Ozzie's Double
A Hairstyle for Harriet
The Duenna
The Reading Room
The Jet Pilot
The Editor
Ricky the Drummer
Ricky's Big Night
Ozzie's Triple Banana Surprise
Tutti-Frutti Ice Cream
The Christmas Tree Lot
Road Race
The Old Band Pavilion
The Top Gun
The Bachelor
The Magic of Three
The Bridge Group
A Cruise for Harriet
Rick's Riding Lesson
The Motorcycle
Rick's Dinner Guests
Jealous Joe Randolph
The Exploding Book
The Little Black Box
The Sea Captain
David the Law Clerk
David the Sleuth
Rick Gets Even
David Goofs Off
No News for Harriet
His Brother's Girl
A Sweater for Rick
David's Almost In-Laws
David Hires a Secretary
The Girl in the Emporium
The Girl Who Loses Things
Safe Husbands
Two Small Boys and a Dog
Dave's Golf Story
The Little House Guest
The Manly Arts
A Question of Suits and Ties
Built-in TV Set
The Dancing Lesson
The Fraternity Rents Out a Room
Dave Goes Back to Work
The Barking Dog
A Lamp for Dave and June
Making Wally Study
Lonesome Parents
Little Handprints in the Sidewalk
Rick and the Maid of Honor
The Tigers Go to a Dance
Rick Sends a Picture
An Old Friend of June's
Decorating Dave's Office
Woman's Club Bazaar
Dave and the Fraternity Lease
Ozzie, Joe and the Fashion Models
A Wife in the Office
A Letter About Harriet
The Ballerina
A Bedtime Story
Kris Plays Cupid
The Petition
Rick's Raise
Breakfast for Harriet
A Painting from the Past
A Rose a Day
Kris and the Queen
The Prowler
A Message from Kris
Flying Down to Lunch
The Ghost Town
Trip Trap
Waiting for Joe
Dave's Other Office

This 12 DVD set of 100 hundred episodes "The Essential Ozzie and Harriet collection" is the single largest collection available from Mill Creek Entertainment. Prior collections available on DVD usually contain 4 episodes in one to four separate volumes. This is a fantastic buy in one book style package of virtually all the available episodes for a very small price.

As far as quality over quantity the official Nelson estate "The Best of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" 4 DVD set from Shout Factory should be your first stop, and is a must for any true fan or Ozzie & Harriet collector. That said, this product states on the rear of the package the "episodes have been digitally re-mastered." The sound is of excellent quality including for the musical performances. The vast majority of the episodes have good to very good video quality. Some of the shows have what I would call problems with the contrast-their faces are washed out too white. Their is a minimal amount of artifact or jittering of the video in a only few episodes. We obviously don't know how terrible the source material was for these video transfers so I surmise they cleaned them up the best they could without breaking the bank on any one episode. If these shows were truly digitally re-mastered it was only to a certain point dictated by budget issues most likely.

No special features or commentaries in this unofficial release of public domain episodes. It has a basic menu allowing all or each individual show to be played. The 12 DVD's are each in their own pocket slip case with art to match the cover and number 1-12 with the episodes printed on the back of each. The front box cover opens like a book with the 12 discs piled together in a single space inside. The back cover has all one hundred shows listed in order, but not by DVD so you are not sure which particular disc to go for without looking at the pocket cases inside.

The episodes themselves seem to be in chronological order with the first ones having Ricky and David as boys,then in college and then married as attorneys at the end. There are plenty of singing performances by Ricky.
A particular delight is some singing and duets by Ozzie & Harriet together such as in "A Cruise for Harriet". The boys are featured doing many different activities as they grow older, such as David dressed up in black leather a la Marlon Brando racing motorcycles against his parents concerns in "The Motorcycle". The commercials for Hotpoint, Listerine, Kodack and especially Coca-Cola are fun must see vintage all by themselves.
This box set with so many episodes will give the newbie fan or collector a real good picture into the life of the overall show as a whole-the longest running sitcom of its kind in TV history on ABC from 1952-1966 with a total of 435 episodes.

I recently purchased the Essential Ozzie and Harriet Collection and have to say that it exceeds my expectations. I have not viewed all 100 episodes but those that I did are very watchable and very funny. This is a 12 disc set and I had a problem with several of the discs that I received in the original shipment from Amazon. They made a high pitch spinning noise in my OPPO DVD player. I contacted Amazon customer service and they immediately shipped me out a replacement set. It was a real pleasure dealing them them. They really seem to care about their customers. I received the second set in two days and had similar problems with other discs. Mind you again all were watchable. I again contacted Amazon Customer Service and they offered to refund my money or ship a third set. I told them to standby and I contacted Mill Creek to discuss the problem I was having. The customer service people at Mill Creek were also excellent and immediately shipped out the three disc's that I was having a problem with. They solved the problem.

Both Amazon and Mills Creek showed that they really care about there customers and stand 100% behind their products.

I continue to watch the set several times a week and have enjoyed each episode. Some even have the original commercials in them. I highly recommend the set to any Ozzie and Harriet fan.

Ok, I am giving this dvd set five stars because of the amount of episodes in this low priced box set. True, the quality of the shows vary from one to another, but at least I have one hundered shows to watch on dvd now instead of off my vhs copies from the Disney Channel.

On the box it says the shows are digitally re-mastered, but I don't see this.

I like the included old commericals and the early episodes. I thought I had all the episodes made, but found a few on here I had never seen.

Five stars because Mill Creek is giving us one hundred shows of this underappreicated show.

This comment is primarily for the benefit of those who came of age after the era of black-and-white television. In my opinion, the picture quality in this set ranges from fair to horrible (black tones totally gone). Even in those portions I rate as "fair," much of the background detail is indistinct or muddy. The sound quality generally is decent, however. Despite these deficiencies, this 100 episode set is worth $11.49, the steeply discounted price. As others have noted, the original commercials are a nice bonus.

It is a shame that so much of our television heritage has been allowed to degrade to this state. If you would like to see what a black-and-white television program of the same era looks like when properly restored, watch "I Love Lucy" on DVD. Almost as good is "Perry Mason." Given that "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" ran almost three times longer than "I Love Lucy," let's hope that this series will be properly restored and offered in season sets.

I received this as a Fathers' Day gift and have thoroughly enjoyed watching these episodes of a great old sitcom. For some reason, "Ozzie and Harriet" re-runs haven't been shown over the years as much as other programs of the era. I think I've seen every episode ever made of "Leave it to Beaver", "Dick Van Dyke Show", and "Andy Griffith Show". But almost all the episodes on this DVD set were new to me. So it wasn't a nostalgic experience so much as a discovery of a lost TV treasure.
The DVD set contains roughly a fourth of the episodes from the long-running series. They seem to be a pretty good sample distribution from 1952-1966. (A few might be out of sequence; for example, Dave is married in one episode and seems to be single again in the next). And speaking of the boys' wives, June (Dave's real and TV wife) is seen in a handful of episodes on the later discs (once or twice as a different character before settling in as June); and Kris (Rick's real and TV wife) is seen in several episodes as well. Interestingly, the two girls never appear together in any of the episodes in the set.
If the idea of a story in which the characters spend an entire sleepless night in a desperate, cravings-driven quest for tutti-frutti ice cream seems just too boring to you, steer clear of this DVD set. But if you believe that, in the hands of the right cast and writers, such an idea just might be charming and funny -- then get this set. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

If you liked Ozzie & Harriet you will LOVE this set! The quality is very good, not perfect, but I think they did a great job remastering it.
OMG I cannot get enough of this set! I completely go into another world, which is where those old shows seemed to come from. I feel like I'm back in the womb watching them!
My favorite episode, hands down, is Tutti Frutti Ice-Cream- I drive my family crazy !! Harriet, in her forties can dance up a storm! And David is sooooooooooo cute as the singing waiter. I love this family so much! Each member had their special charm :)
It's very funny to see characters change roles, as happened in those days.
My fav neighbor is Thorny (Don Defore) who went on to be stellar in "Hazel". He doesn't change but many others do. Frank Cady starts as a repairman and ends up as a doctor!!
I like the commercials as much as the shows! They are so primitive and funny. The simplicity can be appreciated in this new century of modern TV. I'm very glad they included them.
I'm so thrilled that Ozzie and Harriet is available to old TV show lovers like me.
It is simply a treasure!

HEY BIG OZZIE & HARRIET FANS!! I MUST SAY THIS IS A BIG AND HUGE BARGAIN FOR YOUR MONEY!!! I ABSOLUTELY AM A DIE HARD FAN OF OZZIE & HARRIET--ESPECIALLY RICKY.... OH WELL, THIS SET INCLUDES A 12-DISC SET OF 100--YES 100 EPISODES IN INDIVIDUAL SLEEVES WITH THE TITLES ON EACH ONE!!! MILL CREEK ENTERTAINMENT BROUGHT ***** ENTERTAINMENT ON THIS COLLECTION!!! WOULD LOVE TO SEE MORE EPISODES COME OUT SOON!!!!

I HOPE THAT YOU FEEL CONFIDENT IN THIS REVIEW & PURCHASE IT FOR YOURSELF OR ANY DIE HARD OZZIE & HARRIET FAN!!!! THANKS FOR READING MY REVIEW!!!