Hazel season 2?

Re: Hazel season 2?

Me, too, but I fearlessly predict that it won't happen. The place I got mine sold two out of twenty (one to me, one to my brother), and a month later it was knocked down to $17 and still sitting there. Like so many old shows, it's just too good to be successful today.

Re: Hazel season 2?

Very well said, Joe.

Gary "amen to those words" O.

Re: Hazel season 2?

A) It hasn't been run to death so the crowd that only buys shows they've seen 50 times over won't get it.

B) The first season is in black and white, personally a plus, but most under-30s won't even touch it.

C) There are no supernatural aspects to it, ala Bewitched, Jeannie, etc., making it a tougher sell.

Re: Hazel season 2?

D) There's no bathroom or sexual humor in it, making it unpalatable to most of today's audience.

Re: Hazel season 2?

Love you guy's posts. Too many good quotes to include in this reply. Sad (for us older-series fans) , but true in a lot of cases. An interesting "generation-gap-oddity", but I've been showing my nephew a couple of the older series over the holidays, "Mission:Impossible", in particular, and he's crazy about that series. My nephew is a "Millinium" kid, born in '80. Sometimes the younger crowd will suprise us "dinosaurs" He also likes the original Dick Van Dyke Show.

Jeff "Sometimes Life Surprises Us" W.

Re: Hazel season 2?

Amen to that one!
I often marvel as I enjoy my 50's/60's era TV-DVD collection (Hazel, Gidget, Dick Van Dyke, I Love Lucy, That Girl, Andy Griffith, Doris Day, That Girl, Family Affair, Hazel, etc) just how VERY MUCH quality humor those shows found in every day life withOUT the incessant dwelling in the gutter which has become the mainstay of modern era sitcoms.

HOWEVER, I'm holding out hope for a second season release of Hazel. If the lesser known Flying Nun could get two seasons released, surely the MUCH longer running Hazel is worthy of the same...at least I HOPE so! :-)

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Im sure they will eventually release more of Hazel...just may take a while....
Look at how they did Mad About You, Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley....
I was quite shocked to see even the first season come out.

Re: Hazel season 2?

Yep! So true! AND it seems that a big part of humor these days when it isn't centered around bodily functions is nothing but mean-spirited put-downs. That was always an element of humor (Ricky vs. Mrs. MacGillicuddy, Darrin vs. Endora, Buddy Sorrell vs. Mel Cooley, Alan Brady vs. Mel Cooley, etc.), but it wasn't the main thrust of a shows humor before. Everything today is so cynical and nasty. Like you, I am amazed at how much humor (and gentle drama) was milked from so many different facets of life on these classic shows. It's certainly a shame that it appears to be a dead art.

Re: Hazel season 2?

I love sitcoms from the 60's and 70's as well and hope more box sets become available in 2007.

I just bought Hazel (Season 1) from Amazon for only $10.50 and free shipping. I can't wait to see these old episodes once again.

Re: Hazel season 2?

i rember watching Hazel in afternoon reruns (the color ones) so i took a chance and got the first season on a buy one get one free sale. Hazel was
the freebie. i'm really surprised how much i actually like the show! it definitely
reflects a more innocent time, i mean did the Baxters really need a
live in maid?

anywhoo, now i will definitely get the 2nd season when (if) it ever shows up.
one episode that really surprised me was when Hazel got on her knees to pray
with the little boy in the series to thank God for letting him keep a dog.

i was so struck that would have played on prime time back then and no one
would have thought anything of it. then this sunday i watched Desperate
Housewives and wow what a difference 40 years makes!

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Boy, isn't that the truth Bob! How things have changed (and not for the better, IMHO) on the television landscape in the last 40 years. I too have been struck, as I've watched so many older tv shows on dvd in the last couple of years, at the amount of praying, Bible referencing and church going that characterized so many series in the 50's and 60's.

One in particular that stood out to me was a 1st season episode of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea." Entitled "Cradle of the Deep" it dealt with a mad scientist who was attempting to speed up evolution. At the end of the episode we see Admiral Nelson reading a book. Captain Crane asks a question and Nelson responds by saying something to the effect of, "Perhaps the answers are found right here." He then begins to read from Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The show fades out from there. I doubt we'd see anything like that on a prime time show today!

Gary "the wholesomeness of these older series is a real draw for me - I'm so tired of all the coarseness in today's television" O.

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The "old days" are usually referred to as "more innocent." I think of them as "less perverted." I mean, people knew about the darker side of life back then -- they just didn't revel in it as they do now. Entertainment was an escape from negativity -- a lot of it was actually inspirational. Now they focus on the negative and it's terribly UNinspiring.

I'm intrigued by the question "Did the Baxters really NEED a live-in maid." I do think a family would have to have been a lot richer and live in a larger house than the Baxters before they'd need such a maid. However, I suspect the creators of the show thought if the Baxters were too highfalutin, the mass audience would have been unable to relate to them. So they had to achieve a balance -- but the show does seem to portray the rather unusual phenomenon of a normal, middle-class family with a live-in maid! (I accept it, though, because the show was so well done and Shirley Booth's performance was so good.)

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My kids love watching Hazel. Especially my 13 year old daughter. I vagully remember Hazel as a kid. No memory of episodes, I just remember Shirley Booth. So I bought it on a blind buy and I'm glad I did.

My kids agree with me that they just don't make shows like that anymore, and it's too bad. There isn't anything that we can watch together as a family. Once Touched by an Angel was gone there hasn't been anything safe.

So I'm grateful for DVD.

The family sitcom has all but disappeared. When I think of a show like "According to Jim" which is about a married couple who are always trying to put one over on the other, and the marriage is all about someone winning and the other guy losing, and then compare it to something like Hazel or Dick Van Dyke, then the classic show wins over everything. It's just plain funnier without making anyone look bad.

I think it's important to revive this thread now that Brian Ward on the Shout! Forums has announced that the rights to "Hazel" have finally been acquired and Season 2 should be out sometime in 2011.

 

I am looking forward to season 2 of Hazel for sure.   Hope they put out all remaining seasons.

Let me just say this and we're back on topic: I would kind of resent a box of tubes and switches telling me what I believe in is wrong as much as I would having my beliefs forced on anyone else. It is why I tend to shy away from anything religious on my blog on television. That and the Bishop Sheen archive is a mess.

 

Back on topic, I am sorry to confess I am not familiar with Hazel. It is one of those shows I just have never seen, even though it is on my "to-do" list. How does it stack up with programming I may know more about?

I believe discussing politics and religion is against forum rules and if it isn't, it should be.  And this is coming from someone who was raised in the 60's and has a natural aversion to rules.

 

I confess that HAZEL is one of those shows that just merrily rolled along without me all these years so I can't attest to either its virtues or vices. Similar to HOGAN'S HEROES, which I have also barely seen, the premise and production of HAZEL has just never piqued my interest or attraction, for whatever reason.

 

I  have seen one episode of HAZEL, an abysmal Christmas show wherein the father believes that Christmas is too much about materialism and wants to go back to the message and spirit of the holiday instead of just focusing on gift giving.  I won't say how it turns out, but there was a scene with the mother crying because she wasn't going to get her fur coat for Christmas. Ugh, it was disgusting.

 

I'm more than willing to give the series a try though, but what exactly makes it appealing to those of you who are ardent fans?

 

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First off, thanks to Robert for not allowing this thread to be sidetracked.  And to Point-Blank for helping along those lines as well.

 

The Christmas episode you are referencing is pretty bad, Walker.  I can't defend it at all.  It was a fourth season episode and by that time some of the shine was definitely off the series.  While it's no gem, I think the first season Christmas episode is better.

 

 

Gary "not sure what to compare this show to in terms of recommending it to someone" O.

Walker,

 

I recently bought the 1st season release at a bargain price.  I recall the series from syndication on one of the nat'l channels, TV Land I believe.  I liked the show but don't have an interest in collecting the series run.  The 1st season was B/W. 

 

I can't recall a close comparison to another series but the show is solid, just not one that I bought at release.

 

Just me but one season, maybe 2, is all I'd like to collect here.

For me, the appeal of "Hazel" rests largely with the appeal of Miss Shirley Booth and the supporting cast in general.  She's the boisterous, rough-hewn maid who butts into the personal lives of her employers to sometimes exasperating effect, but her heart of gold always wins the day.  Don DeFore plays Mr. Baxter, her employer, as Oliver Hardy would have, with a pompousness that Hazel manages to deflate before the final fadeout.  Whitney Blake (Meredith Baxter's real-life mother) is Mrs. Baxter, the perfectly coiffed lady of the house who has to play referee.  She is one of the few wives from this era who has a job (she's an interior decorator).  They have a son Harold who manages to avoid being too cute or too obnoxious but he's not dull either.

 

Maudie Prickett (the hotel maid in "North by Northwest") is Rosie, Hazel's answer to Ethel Mertz.  She works for the daffy society couple who lives next door.  Norma Varden, who specialized in daffy society ladies in "Strangers on a Train" and "Witness for the Prosecution" is Rosie's employer.

 

The writing was never anything extra special.  Serviceable, formulaic sixties sitcom stuff, no better or worse than most sitcoms of this time.  Shirley Booth is the whole show and she's a delight.  Anybody who has seen her in "The Matchmaker" will know what I'm talking about.

 

If you like Shirley Booth, you'll definitely want to spend time with Hazel.  If you've never seen Shirley Booth, you should avail yourself of the chance.  She was a Broadway actress who won an Academy Award in 1952 recreating a Broadway role as a slovenly wife, lightyears different from Hazel, in "Come Back Little Sheba" and stayed in Hollywood long enough to do a couple of other films like "About Mrs. Leslie" before she fell into the role of "Hazel."  Critics at the time decried the fact that such an esteemed Broadway actress and Oscar winner would stoop to playing in a silly sitcom, but Miss Booth cried all the way to the bank and earned far greater fame through the vast exposure of weekly TV than she ever had on the stage.

 

Hazel also has the distinction of being one of the earliest comedies to switch to color.  Season Two will be 100% color for those who have an aversion to black and white.

 

BTW, Hazel is currently running on Antenna TV, a US digital channel.

Shirley Booth makes this show, and won the Emmy for the first two seasons.  If you like her, you'll like the show.  If you don't like her, you won't.

Agreed--there was a reason her name appeared before the title, aside from her esteemed status: Shirley was the show. I can't say that I'd like it any less if someone else played George, or Missy, etc.

 

It's hard to explain for those who haven't seen it. It's not the situations that make it so enjoyable, it's watching Ms. Booth work her magic with basic sitcom scripts. Her delivery is perfect and priceless. One line that makes me laugh every time I think about it is when Hazel begins telling a joke and Mr. B berates her: "Hazel, you've told that joke a dozen times" and her simple, sharp retort "Yeah--but I got a new endin'" doesn't sound like much on paper, but is hilarious to hear.

 

Shirley Booth was so talented she took what could have been a nagging, bossy, meddling pain and made her into a completely lovable character, someone whom viewers wished they could have in their home.

I also like the occasional visits from Mr. Baxter's sister, Deidre, played by Cathy Lewis. She is such a snob and she can't stand Hazel. She thinks the hired help should be seen and not heard. I love to watch her facial expressions whenever Hazel butts into her conversation to offer some helpful advice.

 

I'm glad to hear season 2 is finally in the works, but I'm a little less excited now that Antenna TV is airing this rare show and I finally get to see it. They just finished airing season 2 and are now on season 3. I've been recording the show daily, so I probably won't purchase it.

I'll buy it but then again I buy every show from the 50s and 60s that comes out. But I find Hazel to be annoying and just wish the Baxters would tell her to shut and mind her own business. In the last season, did they really relocate to Saudi Arabia or did they just tell Hazel that so they could get away from her? Personally, for a show about a maid who runs a household because the family is made up of nitwits who can't do it themselves, I prefer Beulah.

That's exactly right.  It's similar to what Lucille Ball did with Lucy Ricardo, who taken at face value was really an obnoxious person.

 

They originally wanted Thelma Ritter for the part, but she turned it down.  They were very lucky; I doubt she could have made the character so lovable, the way Booth did.

While Shirley Booth was indeed the heart and soul of the show, I think Don DeFore doesn't get the credit he deserves.  He has the tougher role to play because he could all too easily become a tiresome blowhard.  The chemistry he had with Shirley Booth, with its underlying deep-hearted respect for the other's opinion and worth, is what made the show work.  When DeFore and Whitney Blake left the show, it sank like a rock.  I don't recall the final season ever playing in syndication.
 

 

I agree! Don DeFore helped a lot in making this series work! I loved the relationship between George Baxter and Hazel! There many sparing moments with one another where Hazel most always takes the prize is fun to watch! And as Rob pointed out, I loved how much they really admired and respected each other underneath it all!! I am very glad that 'Season Two' is finally being released!!!