Ozzie & Harriet -- is there a quality DVD release of this? (1 Viewer)

[JeffWld]

It's a cloudy area. SFM has the distribution rights to the show, but this doesn't mean that they have outright ownership of the show. The problem is compounded in that despite Ozzie Nelson's control over all aspects of the show, he wasn't as businesslike when it came to securing proper copyright for all the episodes. This is why a certain percentage of the show's run is considered PD.

When Disney ran episodes of the show in the 1980's, there was a revised copyright tag which credited ownership to the Nelson Estate Trust. However, the renewed copyright status likely only applies to the remastered version that includes the Harriet Nelson wraparounds.

It is probable that if SFM had gone ahead with the DVD project, the Nelson estate would have had some involvement in the clearance issues and royalty percentages.

 

[Tom.W]

Most of the episodes aired on Disney had the Harriet Nelson wraparounds. David introduced "Best of" or "Missing" eps. There were probably over 100 of the regular "Harriet" episodes. If David has any ownership rights, I hope he will get behind a release.

Despite the fact that the plots were commonplace and overlapping, the writing was good and the shows were usually very funny. I would grab season sets if they were done well. The fact that so many subpar PD releases are floating around makes me want a quality release even more.

 

[DaveyM]

I agree with Tom. I've bought all the low budget poor quality dvds i can find, but i would buy an official well done set as fast i could get my hands on it.
The idea that these low budget PD titles would hurt possible sales for a high quality set doesn't make sense to me either. I think it works the other way around. Casual fans may buy a $1 Ozzie and Harriet dvd at Wal-Mart, like it and would be more willing to buy a better set if it were available.