Bob Hug

Re: Ozzie & Harriet Shout Factory DVD Set - Episodes CUT!

Not that it lets Shout! Factory off the hook (they should let purchasers know about unrestored, syndicated episodes), but I think I'm beginning to get the picture here. It's supposition on my part, but it looks like the editing was done on the episodes (for syndication purposes) at a time (1985) when no one was really thinking about home entertainment sales of the series. Also, by 1985, the show was almost 20 years old (it ended in 1966) and the surviving Nelsons may have felt, at that time, that the show might not have had much future marketable value . . . so they cut the episodes for, presumably, one last major run via The Disney Channel. "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" was very much a family business and, as Steve...O suggests, the family probably did not do a good job of preserving the series over the years, particularly if they felt that the The Disney Channel run was the series' last great "hurrah." As is the case with some independent producers, the surviving film elements may have not been stored under ideal conditions and the cost to restore the films may not have been justified by the expected sales of the series on DVD, particularly given the number of unauthorized (but legal) public domain releases of the show already on the market. It's just really unfortunate that this American television classic is not getting better treatment. I'll still buy this set because it has episodes that I can't get elsewhere and for the extras, but I don't think that it bodes well for future authorized releases. And Troy, don't worry too much about the original commercials . . . there are plenty of them on the Mill Creek set, regardless of whether you receive the 38 or 100 episode set . . . to me, it's a greater shame that you have to buy a set from a company selling public domain material in order to get, at least, some complete episodes.