Ozzie & Harriet (1 Viewer)

[Neil Brock]

Perhaps now the best thing that may come out of this is Sam may finally come to realize that there is no way he'll be able to pull this off on his own. I know of at least one DVD company that had interest in dealing with this series and they were turned down. Maybe now Sam will see that working with an existing company is a better way to go.

 

[jimmyjet]

well, lets give mr. nelson some thanks and credit, and not just count him out.

he obviously wanted to give us as a good a product as possible, instead of churning it out just to make money, like the dvd companies would/will.

let's just see what happens.

 

[Radioman970]

I'm always questioning those kickstarter amounts. They often seem way to low. This is no different.

But I agree with what everybody is saying. He does want to give a good product to the fans.

 

[JoeDoakes]

It sounded to me that they were successfully transferring the film elements, but that the cleanup was the sticking point. Personally, the way I read the kickstarter thing, the funds were going to make a documentary film about O&H, not the restoration. The restored episodes were just a bonus for contributors.

 

[Ron1973]

Without going back through the thread to see, let me ask something. Aren't some of the episodes in the public domain? If so, I would think that would hurt any potential sales as anyone could grab the newly minted transfers upon release and do their own release.

My fear is there isn't enough of a market left for this show. Let's face reality of the situation. I hate to be the proverbial Negative Nancy but we're talking a show from the 50's and 60's. You're looking at a niche market, a market that isn't getting any younger. This is something my parents would have watched and they're both in their 60's with my dad edging 70.

Perhaps there is a bright side. Perhaps if these are newly minted into a presentable product, ME-TV or some other independent might pick it up and breathe new life into it. If there were a demand for it from a network such as that it might be feasible to continue digging them out of the vault and restoring them.

 

[jimmyjet]

hi ron,

has ozzie not been shown on any sort of tvland channel ?

cuz lots of young people like leave it to beaver.

i think these types of shows will always have magic for people.

and with the way society is today, do we ever need a nice influx of change.

 

[Ron1973]

hi ron,

has ozzie not been shown on any sort of tvland channel ?

cuz lots of young people like leave it to beaver.

i think these types of shows will always have magic for people.

and with the way society is today, do we ever need a nice influx of change.

I would certainly take O&H over any crapola on TV today. Beaver was syndicated a lot heavier than O&H ever was I believe and would have a better exposure than it. Plus you still have some of the major stars alive and making the circuits appearing at shows and specials. Ricky has been gone since the mid-80's.

I wasn't attempting to say it wouldn't be enjoyed by people. Gary and others have made the point that the curtain seems to be closing on anything major B&W being released. I would love to see O&H in its entirety but I just fear it won't happen.

 

[John Hermes]

Yeah, so what's the story on THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES? Don't leave us hanging.

Now I have a compulsion to comment on: "Going back to the elements for a show that lasted 14 or 15 seasons and had something like 39 episodes for most seasons ..."

The number of seasons it lasted isn't a mystery. It's 14, which is an incredible run. (Although it has to be admitted that its continuance for so long was almost entirely due to it being on ABC, which in those days was a poor third to CBS and NBC and they didn't expect really high ratings from their shows -- and the popularity of Ricky Nelson with teenage girls. Whenever Ozzie told ABC that Ricky wanted to leave the series, ABC told Ozzie "goodbye," so he talked his son into staying.)

There was no rhyme or reason to the number of episodes per season on O&H. Actually, only three seasons had 39 episodes. Here's the rundown:

Season 1 - 39
2 - 39
3 - 28
4 - 26
5 -39
6 - 35
7 - 36
8 - 32
9 - 33
10 - 25
11 - 26
12 - 25
13 - 26
14 - 26

That gives a grand total of 435 episodes. Among scripted shows, only three network series ("Gunsmoke," "The Simpsons" and "Law and Order"), one network/syndicated series ("Lassie") and one syndicated series ("Death Valley Days") had more episodes.

This is from a Sam Nelson Kickstarter update from January 9, 2013:

"As of this week, the Kickstarter portion of the project is to be relocated to the UCLA Film and Television Archive here in Los Angeles. The transfer and digitization process is to begin immediately for the first two complete seasons of the show (80 episodes). These complete episodes will include all of the original commercials and edits. This process will also include a light restoration (contrast/light correction/stablizing, etc)."

 

[jimmyjet]

hi ron,

well if i had to sell a show to an audience, i cant think of anyone better than ricky nelson to sell to "half" of that audience !!

 

[Ron1973]

hi ron,

well if i had to sell a show to an audience, i cant think of anyone better than ricky nelson to sell to "half" of that audience !!

I love Ricky's music. My mother has "Hello, Mary Lou" as her ringtone. I have my middle son hooked on his spiritual/gospel tune "Glory Train." He sings it at church and I back him on guitar but I'm no James Burton; it comes out as more of a bluegrassy version with me on guitar. A slight bit off topic but here's one of my favorite Rick tunes; it's the flipside of "Garden Party":

 

[jimmyjet]

i dont know much about his later music, with the stone canyon band.

this song has a bit of a country sound to it.

 

[Radioman970]

I wish he'd just done the old songs. I mean, that is why I came! I was simply NOT pleased... :p

 

[Ron1973]

I wish he'd just done the old songs. I mean, that is why I came! I was simply NOT pleased...

Lol

 

[Neil Brock]

Without going back through the thread to see, let me ask something. Aren't some of the episodes in the public domain? If so, I would think that would hurt any potential sales as anyone could grab the newly minted transfers upon release and do their own release.

Not some, all. The whole series is PD. Ozzie, the supposed great businessman, did a horrible job with the copyrights on this series. I've actually been finishing up transfering to DVD around a hundred or so episodes that I have from film prints that I had gotten 30 or so years ago. There's either no copyright notice or improper copyright notices on the prints. Which is a moot point anyway as they were never registered with Library of Congress anyway. As I understand it, the only thing that can be done with them is to alter them in some fashion which would allow a copyright registration of the new version, similar to what Worldvision did with those cheesy new opens that they put on One Step Beyond when that fell into PD. Of course that would not prevent these companies from taking the non-modified portions of the show and doing whatever they like with it. Again, something else which apparently Sam Nelson seems to have no clue about.

The Nelson family did a horrendous job with the legacy of the series. It was never even put into syndication until over a decade after going off the air. And it was done with a dinky little syndicator, All American Television. They also only ever syndicated 200 shows and weren't able to get sales in more than 5 or 6 markets. From what I've heard, David Nelson himself used to offer 16mm prints of the shows for sale to collectors.

As for the UCLA project, I don't know if this has affected the process but I do know that the University Film Dept. got a new person in charge a while back and he has instituted very high fees for work that used to be done for far more reasonable prices.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I don't think it's true that O&H wasn't put into syndication until over a decade after going off the air, which would be after 1976.

I was looking through a Los Angeles TV Guide from 1968 yesterday, and O&H was on daily there, which I assume means it was syndicated.

The real problem with O&H is that it wasn't successful in syndication. After running 14 seasons, you'd think it was some kind of beloved show, but it seemed to have no afterlife. There's no rhyme or reason to this. "The Munsters" was on 2 seasons and I don't think it's ever been off the air somewhere.

My best guess as to why O&H bombed in syndication is that most of its popularity originally was due to the teenage girls who watched it to see Ricky. What has a shorter shelf life than a teenage idol of the 1950s?

Oh, and one other thing. It's really not very good.

Of course, that shouldn't really matter. Few TV shows are. "Gilligan's Island" is even worse, and that's never been off the air.

 

[John Hermes]

I don't think it's true that O&H wasn't put into syndication until over a decade after going off the air, which would be after 1976.

I was looking through a Los Angeles TV Guide from 1968 yesterday, and O&H was on daily there, which I assume means it was syndicated.

The real problem with O&H is that it wasn't successful in syndication. After running 14 seasons, you'd think it was some kind of beloved show, but it seemed to have no afterlife. There's no rhyme or reason to this. "The Munsters" was on 2 seasons and I don't think it's ever been off the air somewhere.

My best guess as to why O&H bombed in syndication is that most of its popularity originally was due to the teenage girls who watched it to see Ricky. What has a shorter shelf life than a teenage idol of the 1950s?

Oh, and one other thing. It's really not very good.

Of course, that shouldn't really matter. Few TV shows are. "Gilligan's Island" is even worse, and that's never been off the air.

I've lived in SoCal all my life and channel 5 in L.A. ran O&H for a long, long time and started way before 1976. "Not very good" is in the eye of the beholder. I know Gary OS and I think it's one of the best comedies ever. It is quite unique as well in its humor. The show ran five years before Ricky ever started singing also.

 

[jimmyjet]

i have very fond memories of it. i sure think it is a good show.

but ouch, regarding what neil said !!

all the shows are part of public domain.

the ownership seems to be a starting point for every show.

i am guessing that mr. nelson has some sort of plan for that ??

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I've lived in SoCal all my life and channel 5 in L.A. ran O&H for a long, long time and started way before 1976. "Not very good" is in the eye of the beholder. I know Gary OS and I think it's one of the best comedies ever. It is quite unique as well in its humor. The show ran five years before Ricky ever started singing also.

Of course it's in the eye of the beholder. What we like and dislike says something about who we are, too.

I know why people would like O&H and not, for instance, "All in the Family." You don't have to be a genius to figure that out.

I like the O&H type of shows. I love "Father Knows Best" and "Leave It to Beaver," for instance, but O&H just wasn't in their league. I've watched several episodes online and it's okay, but I never laughed once, or even smiled. So, yes, it's unique in its humor. It's a kind of unfunny humor.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

i have very fond memories of it. i sure think it is a good show.

but ouch, regarding what neil said !!

all the shows are part of public domain.

the ownership seems to be a starting point for every show.

i am guessing that mr. nelson has some sort of plan for that ??

Just because someone says something here doesn't mean it's true. I don't know if O&H is all P.D. or not. I'm only saying that just because some self-proclaimed expert here says something, that doesn't mean it's true, and that goes for me, too.

After all, this same person confidently said that O&H didn't go into syndication for over ten years after it went off the network, and unless old TV Guides lie, I know that isn't true -- and someone else here confirmed what I said.

 

[John Hermes]

Of course it's in the eye of the beholder. What we like and dislike says something about who we are, too.

I know why people would like O&H and not, for instance, "All in the Family." You don't have to be a genius to figure that out.

I like the O&H type of shows. I love "Father Knows Best" and "Leave It to Beaver," for instance, but O&H just wasn't in their league. I've watched several episodes online and it's okay, but I never laughed once, or even smiled. So, yes, it's unique in its humor. It's a kind of unfunny humor.

It didn't stay on network TV for fourteen years, Ricky or no Ricky, because it's unfunny. Maybe to you, Joe.