Ozzie & Harriet Shout Factory DVD Set - Episodes CUT! (1 Viewer)

I just received the new Shout Factory Best Of The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet DVD Set. I won it from eBay and received it before release date. Being a huge Ozzie & Harriet / Rick Nelson fan, I couldn't wait to watch it. I was shocked to find that ALL of 24 episodes included are the cut syndicated 22 minute versions! Each episode ends with the "1985 - Copyright By Harriet Nelson" piece. These were the same copies that ran on The Disney Channel back in the 1980s.

I can't believe that David Nelson would put out a release like this. I have enjoyed listening to some of the commentaries with David and Sam Nelson, but I am very disappointed with this set. I was expecting beautiful new DVD prints from the Nelson archives, but these were just unrestored old syndicated prints.

"Ozzie And Harriet" is my favorite classic show of all time, and I am very upset about this release.

Cross this one off my list.

Since these appear to be the Disney Channel versions, does this set include the introduction from Harriet Nelson that ran before each episode?

Very disappointing. Thanks for the heads up Troy.

I had this on my radar but will now pass on this. It's a shame that one of the landmark series in TV history is getting such poor treatment on DVD. I don't blame SHOUT! for this. It seems clear that the Nelson family didn't do a good job at asset preservation (maintaining copyrights, keeping complete prints archived properly, etc.)

Steve

Another dvd set bites the dust. :frowning:

This is very disappointing to hear. If these are unrestored syndication prints, you may just as well get the new set from Mill Creek. The episodes are also unrestored prints, but many are full length versions, a number with original commercials. You can currently get 38 pre-1960 episodes at DeepDiscount for six and a half bucks.

http://www.deepdiscount.com/viewprod...uctId=11531679

It's ironic that some of the companies specializing in public domain material have more complete versions of episodes than the offical release.

This is horrible and very unexpected news. I'll follow through with my order from Amazon.com only because at the time of the order I was able to apply a $5.00 off coupon (which is now useless and can't be re-applied if I cancel this set). That brought my total down to $18.99, so I guess I'll keep this collection for that price. But make no mistake, I'm very displeased and will not be picking up future volumes if this continues to be the norm.

Gary "what a shame, I really wanted to see this series restored and uncut" O.

None of the OZZIE AND HARRIET episodes had the Harriet Nelson 1980s opening that aired on The Disney Channel. I am still surprised about this release, because everything else from Shout Factory has been restored, complete and uncut.

They should have included some some original Kodak, Listerine, Hotpoint, or Coke commercials in the Shout Factory set. David and Sam were talking about the Kodak commercials during one of the commentaries, so they should have added a few original commercials as DVD extras.

I ordered the Mill Creek Ozzie & Harriet box last week from Deep Discount. I am hoping for the 100 episode set, but it looks like everyone is receiving the 38 episode box set now.

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.

"Expected sales" will dip even further when corners like this are cut.

A reviewer on DVD Talk is confirming that this Shout! Factory release of "Ozzie and Harriet" does include the syndicated episodes. I'm speechless.

Here's the thread started by Bob Hug on their community forum, maybe someone could leave post and find out what went wrong.

http://www.shoutfactory.com/community/71/thread.aspx

"... because everything else from Shout Factory has been restored, complete and uncut."

You might want to check out quite a few of their DIC cartoon releases.

SitcomsOnline.com has posted their review of the set (mainly favorable), but confirms use of the edited episodes:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/thebest...dreview.h tml

A second review, from DVD Talk, also confirms the 22 minute episodes. I do urge fans of the series, as well as prospective buyers of the Shout! Factory release to read this very thorough and balanced review by Paul Mavis, who has a deep appreciation for the show and its place in television history:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=27788

Bob, Thanks for that link. Paul Mavis has written another brilliant review. Back when I first heard about this release, I posted that I thought it sounded like one of the best releases of 2007. It is so unfortunate that they decided to use the syndicated versions of the episodes. If I hadn't already preordered the set, I probably would have cancelled my order, but I'm going to keep it at least for the bonus material.

Doug, though I have no way of knowing for certain, I'm of the mind that the Nelson family no longer has full-length, unedited episodes in their possession. I'm guessing that the damage was done in 1985 when the episodes were edited for broadcast on the Disney Channel. The problem here, of course, is that a number of the episodes circulating on the public domain sets, Mill Creek included, are complete. So here's the dilemma . . . do you purchase full length episodes with lesser audio/visual quality, or do you purchase edited episodes with better audio/visual quality? For myself, I've purchased a number of the public domain releases and was lucky enough to get Mill Creek's 100 episode set because of the Mill Creek/Deep Discount mix-up. But I've made the decision that I'm going to go ahead and purchase the Shout! Factory set because TAOOAH is one of the landmark sitcoms of American television. I don't want to miss out on David Nelson's commentaries and the other extras and also for the opportunity of seeing some episodes that have never appeared on DVD, including the last episode of the series which is in color. For the record, 12 of the 24 episodes appearing on the Shout! Factory set also appear on the Mill Creek 100 episode set.

Personally, I feel the Mill Creek set is a cut above the usual PD material in quality. And the original commercials add much enjoyment to the set.

I vaguely remember that the TDC copies had filmed credits which mentioned "Produced for syndication" or something to that effect, so the cuts would have been made well before the 1980s.

Whether the negatives were cut to this length is unknown. However, it is possible that the negatives still exist but the Nelsons didn't want to put up the money for remastering.

They should have obtained both and spliced in the missing footage from lesser quality versions.

This is from an interview David Nelson did in 1989 with old-time radio historian Chuck Schaden:
"After the show went off the air in '67, late '66, my father edited 200 of the 435 shows for syndication. They had to be shortened in time for syndication, so he took that opportunity to update a lot of the music in the shows. He was mainly interested in music so he changed the music in the majority of the shows he edited.
CS: You mean the bridge music, the background music?
DN: Yes, he just felt that they were too old-fashioned. And to this day I still like to go back and look at the original films that have the old music in it, because it's like looking, for me anyway, looking at a Rolls Royce where they changed the fenders!
It's interesting to me that, although we did two years in color-the last two years-my father felt the show was funnier in black and white. Since he had done 12 years in black and white, we had black and white prints made from the color negatives! So the whole 200 series are black and white. My mother said, too, that she felt the comedy was funnier in black and white."