Ozzie & Harriet (1 Viewer)

Has there been any updates from Sam Nelson on this project?

There was an update on January 8 where Sam said:
"I just want to give a quick update and let everyone know that we are well underway with digitizing and are about finished with the first season.
In December I drove across the country, interviewing people who participated (in the donation program). That went really well. I also did a video interview with The Jordanaires [First tenor Gordon Stoker and bass extraordinaire Ray Walker backed my dad on many of his greatest songs] while I was in Nashville. What an amazing experience."
He stated in the past that the project would probably take one to two years to complete the fourteen seasons. So, as much as I wish the show was out now, we'll just have to wait a while.

 

[Steve...O]

Thanks, John! If Sam can pull this off in two years that would be an incredible accomplishment. It would take CBS/P at least 14 years and 28 half season releases to pull that off

 

[MattPeriolat]

Stupid question time: would they consider releasing O&H as the process of digitization is completed or wait until all the seasons are finished before releasing them in case a problem crops up.

Curious to see if it will be sooner rather than later for the show.

 

Stupid question time: would they consider releasing O&H as the process of digitization is completed or wait until all the seasons are finished before releasing them in case a problem crops up.
Curious to see if it will be sooner rather than later for the show.

I believe Sam's original plan was to wait until all the episodes were transferred. I suppose it depends on whether he is contemplating a giant box set as the goal. I try to keep tabs on what's going on, so if I hear anything, I'll post it here.

 

[MattPeriolat]

Originally Posted by John Hermes /t/314965/ozzie-harriet/60#post_3892006
I believe Sam's original plan was to wait until all the episodes were transferred. I suppose it depends on whether he is contemplating a giant box set as the goal. I try to keep tabs on what's going on, so if I hear anything, I'll post it here.

Probably smart to finish everything in one go and get it all out at once than to risk the project getting derailed a season or two in. Just means more hurry up and wait, which my pocketbook is grateful for, but not me personally.

 

[Neil Brock]

     Quote:
I have to agree on the "far more popular" comment.  There's no doubt Ozzie & Harriet haven't gotten the air time that other popular sitcoms from that era have.  Shows like I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and My Three Sons (among others) certainly got far more run in syndication over the last 20 years.  No question about it.  But in spite of its limited run, I have a hard time believing One Step Beyond would be considered far more popular than Ozzie & Harriet on any level.  Even with its limited exposure over the last 20 years, I'll bet dollars to dimes that if you took the average Joe off the street and ask them about both shows that Ozzie & Harriet would ring a bell far quicker than OSB.  I can't imagine that would even be a close call.  The name recognition factor has to be in favor of the Nelsons in that race.
Gary "if this happens its going to be fantastic in my book - it will be a huge deal on the Vintage TV on DVD front" O.

One Step Beyond, at one point, was considered the most widely syndicated show of all time. Of course that was many years ago. Ozzie and Harriet has never had any decent syndication and probably hasn't run on any local stations in 30 years. I hope to be proved wrong, I really do, but I just don't see how this venture has any chance at succeeding.

 

[John Hermes]

I received this email from Sam Nelson today. You may recall he said it would take about two years to transfer all the shows.
Hey John,
Thanks for checking in. Yes indeed. You can inform everyone that we are about three seasons in. We have been digging deeper into the the vaults looking for items, photos, clips, etc, to include as bonus features. All of it is painstaking, as you can imagine, but will be well worth it when we get it all in order.
I will be sure to fill you in as we go.
I hope all is well
Speak soon
Respectfully
Sam

 

[Neil Brock]

I spoke with a couple of people in the business about this. One thinks he is delusional while the other thinks that he may actually be able to pull it off. I also spoke to someone in the music business and apparently all of the songs are owned by EMI and they are the easiest company to deal with.

 

[moviepas]

 

[DeWilson]

One Step Beyond, at one point, was considered the most widely syndicated show of all time. Of course that was many years ago.

ABC FILMS handled it from the start? We're talking what 1961 onwards in syndication?
I take it due to it being the most widely syndicated show is the reason they produced NEXT STEP BEYOND for First-Run Syndication?

 

[Neil Brock]

So has there been any word on this as we approach the one year point?

 

[John Hermes]

So has there been any word on this as we approach the one year point?

I emailed Sam recently and will pass along anything I hear from him. He originally said he thought it would be about a two-year project. I believe around November will mark the first year.

 

[John Hermes]

Here is an update I just received from Sam, sent to those who contributed to the Kickstarter program last fall.
Dear Kickstarters,
Happy end of summer! Its been a little bit of time and I just wanted to let you all know about the progress of things on the Ozzie and Harriet restoration front.
As you can imagine, the first films have been the "roughest" to weed through and work with. Some have suffered shrinkage because of time, bad missing edits, and or really bad sound. Its been a bit of a see as it comes, with one episode looking and sounding great, and the next one, not so much, so the first season or so we expect the process to be slower than the rest. Fingers crossed. The plus side is that the episodes that have been completed so far look and sound great!
As you all know, we were unable to achieve our full financial goal to get the entire series completed, but have been actively pursuing a DVD distrib ution deal to help complete the full restoration. We have had a couple of bites which is very encouraging but nothing has solidified just yet, but as soon as we are locked in I will let you all know.
The other option is the possibility of a Kickstarter part 2. But nothing is in the works until we finish this first bath of transfers.
All in,everything is going smoothly and productively and we are excited to keep it up.
Any questions feel free to contact me here.
Again, thank you to everyone for your support.
I hope everyone is staying healthy and happy.
Sam

 

[Jeff*H]

As a long-time fan of this show, thank you for the update.
The update seems to be a mixture of good news and not-so-good news. I'm happy that the restored shows look and sound great, but it doesn't make it clear if the missing edits have been located and restored to their respective episodes. I'm hoping for uncut shows, since most of us have probably only seen these episodes on TBS in the early 80s or on The Disney Channel in the mid-to-late 80s, and I believe both runs were edited and/or time compressed.
Hopefully their attempts to strike a distribution deal with a distributor comes to fruition (Shout Factory would seem to be a logical choice, or else some smaller, independent labels), because it would be unfortunate if they had to return to Kickstarter to continue raising more money. There's no telling at this point how many seasons they would be able to complete with their current level of funding and other donations of time/equipment/labor from industry folks, but hopefully they will be able to get the first set released sometime during the next year.
Fingers crossed! Thanks again for the update, it's greatly appreciated.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Here is an update I just received from Sam, sent to those who contributed to the Kickstarter program last fall.
Dear Kickstarters,
Happy end of summer! Its been a little bit of time and I just wanted to let you all know about the progress of things on the Ozzie and Harriet restoration front.
As you can imagine, the first films have been the "roughest" to weed through and work with. Some have suffered shrinkage because of time, bad missing edits, and or really bad sound. Its been a bit of a see as it comes, with one episode looking and sounding great, and the next one, not so much, so the first season or so we expect the process to be slower than the rest. Fingers crossed. The plus side is that the episodes that have been completed so far look and sound great!
As you all know, we were unable to achieve our full financial goal to get the entire series completed, but have been actively pursuing a DVD distrib ution deal to help complete the full restoration. We have had a couple of bites which is very encouraging but nothing has solidified just yet, but as soon as we are locked in I will let you all know.
The other option is the possibility of a Kickstarter part 2. But nothing is in the works until we finish this first bath of transfers.
All in,everything is going smoothly and productively and we are excited to keep it up.
Any questions feel free to contact me here.
Again, thank you to everyone for your support.
I hope everyone is staying healthy and happy.
Sam

What exactly were their financial goals? I was always confused about the Kickstarter thing anyway as I was not sure whether they were raising funds for the restoration or the film about O&H. So, is he saying that with the funds they got they were only able to do part of the first season?

 

[John Hermes]

What exactly were their financial goals? I was always confused about the Kickstarter thing anyway as I was not sure whether they were raising funds for the restoration or the film about O&H. So, is he saying that with the funds they got they were only able to do part of the first season?

The goal for Kickstarter was to transfer the original show for DVD release. Sam raised about 59% of the total he said he needed to transfer the complete show. If you look back at my post in May (#87), Sam stated they were about three seasons into the transfers at that point. I think what he was talking about here was the difficulty with some of the early episodes. There were supposed to be several sets of 35mm elements around the country, so hopefully, he can find good material for all the episodes.

 

January 9, 2013 UPDATE from Sam Nelson: Hello Kickstarters (Kickstaters are the people who donated to get the ball rolling in the fall of 2011), I hope everyone had a safe and happy Holiday! Gladly, the world hasn't ended, and we are still underway with our project . This past year was an incredible learning experience. A multitude of unexpected hurdles both internally and externally, caused the project to change course about three different times. After many months viewing the films, we found that several of the original 35mms thought to be pristine, have turned out to be problematic. Deterioration has been much worse than expected. Also some of the films have been inexplicably edited. These realizations have made the process more time consuming and expensive than previously thought. (Yet, we would not have known any of this information had we not taken the time to investigate. A bit of a chicken and the egg situation- as previously mentioned). The good news from it all though, is that things have now moved in a new direction, and 2013 promises to be a very positive and productive year. I wanted to give you all a definitive summary in these first few days, to let you you know where things are and how things are moving forward. 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 compete episodes will include all of the original commercials and edits. This process will also include a light restoration (contrast/light correction/stablizing, etc). The Archive has been a very supportive facility, and we are excited that they see the importance of our vision to get the show back in order. Because the amount of material being transferred is tremendous, The entire process will take several months. They will be delivering regular reports which I will then be relaying on a much more consistent basis. In addition, the next phase of things would be a distribution deal with a bigger manufacturing company. Several have expressed interest, as well as interest in broadcast, but its up to the various family members to come to an agreement about where and when to release the episodes. From that point, it is my hope that a deal in place would help fund the transferring and comprehensive restoration of the rest of the series. We are all looking forward to this incredibly exciting development, and are happy to start the year off on such a positive note. Thank you so much for all your patience and support. More to come in the next few weeks. Respectfully, Sam

 

[Gary OS]

I have to wonder if the inexplicable edits Sam Nelson mentioned are verification of the Disney Channel edits that I've read so much about over the years but never was able to get 100% proof of one way or the other. For any that doesn't know, the urban myth (that may be a reality) is that the original elements were cut for syndication on the Disney Channel decades ago. It's always been something I've wondered about. I'm hoping that's not what Sam is referring to because it would be a real shame to think that so many episodes would never have a chance to be restored to their full running time. On the plus side, I love hearing that UCLA has gotten involved. That's nothing but good news as far as I'm concerned. We'll have to wait for more info to see if/when these season sets actually happen, but the post sounds promising. Gary "keeping my fingers crossed" O.

 

Sam said earlier that Ozzie had a couple sets of 35mm elements around the country so hopefully complete shows can be found for everything.

 

[ChrisALM]

If I am understanding correctly, the first two seasons have complete episodes. So, that's a good start. Beyond that, I wonder how much editing has been done and how many episodes are affected. If there are more than one set of 35mms in existence, one would think that finding full, unedited episodes for all of the seasons would be very possible. We are fortunate that there is now a serious attempt being made at restoring Ozzie and Harriet. I hate to think about how many other shows from the golden age are sitting around deteriorating because nobody cares. Thank you, Sam Nelson, for being involved and I wish you the best in this project.