Product Description

THE OZZIE & HARRIET COLLECTION

Here come the Nelsons! Ozzie, Harriet, David, and - of course - Ricky! They're all here along with Thorny, Wally, and the rest of the gang in 25 delightful episodes on 5 discs.

The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet was a landmark family sit-com (about a real family) that ran for a staggering fourteen years on ABC, from October of 1952 (when future heartthrob Ricky Nelson was only twelve years old) to September of 1966 (when he was twenty-six, married, and a father!). It's amazing to realize that one television program could start in the post-World War II era of Harry Truman and finish when Lyndon Johnson was dealing with Vietnam war protesters.

Today's audiences may be puzzled that these shows were called "adventures" when the stories revolved around such life-threatening crises as Harriet losing a pin or David's disappointment that he wasn't asked to a dance, but The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet entertained millions of viewers each and every week, and you'll discover (or rediscover) why in this classic comedy collection.

Disc One (1952-1954)

The Pills (Originally aired 10/17/52) - When Ozzie and Thorny (Don DeFore of Hazel) have a contest to see who can lose the most weight, Ozzie begins taking diet pills to "gain" the advantage. With original commercials.

Separate Rooms (Originally aired 2/6/53) - Ricky and David reach the point where they need to have separate bedrooms. Ellen Corby (The Waltons) guest stars.

David's 17th Birthday (Originally aired 10/23/53) - Dave tries to keep his true age a secret to impress a girl who prefers older men. This episode features clips from actual 1930s Nelson family home movies.

Be On Time (Originally aired 4/16/54) - Ozzie has trouble practicing what he preaches when he lectures Ricky about the importance of punctuality. With original commercials.

Bird's Nest (Originally aired 5/7/54) - Ozzie and the boys start to clean out the gutter before a rainstorm, but stop when they discover a robin's nest with eggs about to hatch.

Disc Two (1956-1959)

A Day in Bed (Originally aired 3/23/56) - Ozzie tries to avoid stress by spending the day in bed. (But what does he actually do for a living?)

The Kappa Sigma Party (Originally aired 10/3/56) - David tries to hold a rush party for his fraternity at the Nelson home - without the rest of the family getting in the way. Dwayne Hickman (Dobie Gillis) guest stars as one of the frat brothers.

Ozzie and the Space Age (Originally aired 1/28/59) - Ozzie wants to take a picture of a genuine flying saucer so he can win a $1000 prize being offered by a theatre that's showing a sci-fi flick. With original commercials.

The Exploding Book (Originally aired 3/4/59) - Wally (Skip Young) tricks Dave into getting a gag gift for a girl they are both interested in, so Dave and Ricky decide it's payback time.

Rick Gets Even (Originally aired 12/16/59) - A pretty but snobbish classmate (Tuesday Weld, taking time off from Dobie Gillis) dents Rick's car and winds up making it up to him by becoming his slave.

Disc Three (1960-1962)

David's Car Payment (Originally aired 1/20/60) - David starts borrowing money from everybody under the sun when he falls behind in his car payments.

No News For Harriet (Originally aired 6/8/60) - Harriet feels left out when Ozzie doesn't share with her all of the "exciting" things that happen to him, so Joe (Lyle Talbot of Plan 9 From Outer Space) advises him to "make up a few things."

Dave's Golf Story (Originally aired 3/8/61) - While golfing with Wally, Dave hits a hole-in-one, but Wally tries to take credit for it in order to impress a girl.

David Goes Back to Work (Originally aired 10/26/61) - June (real-life wife, June Blair) has trouble adjusting to being separated from David for the first time since they were married.

Making Wally Study (Originally 2/22/62) - Rick tries to help Wally with his studies, but it's harder than it looked to get him to concentrate.

Disc Four (1962-1964)

Lonesome Parents (Originally aired 3/15/62) - After Dave and June get married, Ozzie and Harriet start to feel the early stages of Empty Nest Syndrome.

Tigers Go to the Dance (Originally aired 11/1/62) - Harriet's club decides to hold a children's dance but Harriet soon realizes eight-year-olds don't really know how to dance. Barry Livingston (My Three Sons) guest stars.

Women's Club Bazaar (Originally aired 4/3/63) - Harriet convinces a reluctant Ozzie to help put on her women's club's annual bazaar.

The Swami (Originally aired 1/8/64) - Ozzie attempts to fool the ladies at the women's club luncheon by putting on a mind-reading act. Janet Waldo, the "future" voice of Judy Jetson, appears.

A Wife in the Office (Originally aired 2/5/64) - David is put on the spot when June offers to fill in for his regular secretary, who's on vacation.

Disc Five (1964-1966)

The Pennies (Originally aired 10/28/64) - Ozzie, entrusted with a jar filled with pennies that the kids in the neighborhood have collected, takes it to a poker game, unaware that the jar contains some scarce and collectible cents. Billy Mumy (Twilight Zone, Lost In Space) and Frank Cady (Green Acres) guest star.

Kris Plays Cupid (Originally aired 11/25/64) - Kris (Ricky's real-life wife, Kristin Harmon) tries to get Wally to reconcile with Ginger (Charlene Salerno) by throwing a dinner for them, but he messes things up by bringing a date.

Rick Grows a Beard (Originally aired 1/20/65) - Everybody (but Harriet, of course) decides to grow a beard when they see how nice Rick's looks.

The Ghost Town (Originally aired 12/8/65) - Harriet convinces Ozzie to drive to an old ghost town to see if they can dig up a few antiques.

Dave's Other Office (Originally aired 3/12/66) - Dave and Ricky try to conduct business in Dave's living room while their law office is being repaired. Reta Shaw (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir) guest stars.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #85416 in DVD
• Brand: Koch International
• Released on: 2006-05-23
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Subtitled
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Dimensions: .45 pounds
• Running time: 640 minutes

Customer Reviews

The quality isn't that great.....but
I just received this set today. I mainly got it because there are a handful of episodes in this set that I don't have. In all fairness, the quality of these episodes isn't all that great, as stated by another person. I offer the following explanation as to why this is. First off, all of the episodes in this set are in public domain. That means that anyone can copy them without copyright infringement. That is why most of these episodes are available from so may different companies on DVD & VHS. Second, all of these episodes have been copied from 16mm films. I believe that during the show's initial run, many of the episodes were transfered to 16mm film to be shown overseas to our armed forces stationed in other countries. (The Amos n' Andy show was also transfered to 16mm for the same reason) This is also true of the last season of Ozzie & Harriet, which was shown on TV in color. For some reason, the color episodes were copied in black & white and transfered to 16mm film. Unfortunately, time has not been very kind to these films, many of the older films have faded with age or have been spliced and taped together and the end result is blurry and jumpy pictures, the audio usually suffers too. There are roughly 50 to 60 episodes of this series in public domain. There may be less, this is just a guess on my part. The rest of the episodes that are not in public domain, roughly 360 are copyrighted and the copyright belongs to Mr. David Oswald Nelson, the only surviving member of the original TV family. It's up to him to release the rest of the episodes. Hopefully, one day soon he will do this.. I'm almost certain there are original copies in the Library of Congress, but as to what condition they are in is anybody's guess. So, I will only recommend this to a diehard, "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" fan. They may not be the best, but they are the only thing out there at the moment and the episodes are all still very watchable.

"TAOOAH" - An an innocent show from a bygone era!
The Adventures of Ozzie And Harriet - a pleasant perusal of the real life Nelson family portraying the fictional middle American family, The Nelsons. Viewing the first disc, and keeping an open mind as to the date of the material, I found myself chuckling at most of the punchlines and wishing I had a neighbor like Thorny. Ozzie's dry wit, Harriet's clever come backs, Ricky and his 'early' precociousness with David portraying the straight man provide silly and harmless laughs for anyone.

The quality of this set? Horrible, by today's standards. With 435 episodes in the public domain and really only appealing to an older demographic, we may never see the digital restoration this American treasure deserves. So for the time being just enjoy this delightful set that spans over the entire run of the series. I sure wish I could get a cool job like Oz has!

Love Ozzie & Harriet? Don't buy this collection!
My family love Ozzie and Harriet, and we have added all the episodes we can find to our collection over the past few years. This particular collection, which has 12 episodes we haven't seen, features absolutley horrible quality DVD transfer. Someone will have to explain why the even the episodes we had previously (on VHS & DVD) that are clean, crisp, well-lit and about as good as old-TV can get, were ruined in this transfer. Scratched, over-lit, faded, with gravelly video--what an awful pile of junk.

Amazing that the holders of the copyrights, and the distributors, have such low regard for their customer base.

Don't buy this collection. Don't even think about it. At some point, a smarter company will purchase the rights to the original prints and make them available to a receptive and appreciative audience.