So anyone bought season three yet?

[Leslie Eckhardt]

It would appear that several season two episodes were edited together from more than one print of each episode. It would seem they could have looked for even one of the old 16mm syndication prints to patch together a complete version of "Campaign Manager." The old 16mm prints were shipped complete and unedited to the local stations back then, to be trimmed accordingly by the local station film editor to squeeze in however many commercials were desired. I have public domain dvds of The Lucy Show , Susie (Private Secretary) and others which are complete. These are taken from 16mm films broadcast back in the 60s and 70s by local stations. Most of my Pete and Gladys episodes are complete down to the original commercials and run 29+ minutes. The complete episode "Campaign Manager" exsists somewhere. When Antenna TV wished to run "The Farmer's Daughter", Sony, the distributor of "Hazel" simply said they couldn't locate the broadcast masters. We're talking about 104 missing episodes! I refuse to believe that these shows simply don't exsist anymore. The incompetent people at Sony just don't seem to care about classic TV series that appeal to an older age group. I'm not blaming Shout! Factory or Antenna TV, Just Sony!

[CelticJobber]

Meh, a few episodes missing a minute or two is really no big deal to me.

Edited or not, I appreciate Shout! for even putting these somewhat obscure shows that I love on DVD. It's certainly better than nothing.

A few bitter fans have probably made it so that Mama's Family will never be on DVD, because of so many complaints about the first season having syndication edits. Which as someone born in 1982 and missing out on the original TV run, I wouldn't have even noticed.

But I hope the same doesn't happen with Hazel.

I want all five seasons to come out on DVD, edited or not.

[Kasey]

Agreed, I do not blame Shout and I would hardly call their output 'inferior product'. If the whole season had suffered from edited eps I would feel different (as in S1 of "Rhoda"--but they redeemed themselves with superior subsequent releases) but this slip-up with "Hazel" does not alter my opinion of them. As someone else stated, I would rather have a few edits than no DVDs at all. I want S4 and S5 so hope this will not deter fans from buying.

[retroTVfan4ever]

The problem is, Shout Factory is just a distributor, they take whatever Sony gives them and uses it for the DVD's. When they found out Sony gave them an edited season 3 Hazel episode, instead of taking the extra step and obtaining the complete episode, they took the easy way out and put that disclaimer on back of the DVD case. Shout Factory needs a quality control department badly, they need to put more care into their products and show more consideration to the consumers that buy them. I have several DVD sets from Shout Factory, and there are problems with all of them, audio levels are all over the place, some episodes sound great while others have a low, muffled or distorted audio track. They certainly could do a much better job than that.

I'll still enjoy this Hazel season 3 DVD, but knowing an episode is edited puts a cloud on the whole thing. It's the same with The Flintstones 3rd season from Warners, there is an edited episode on that set also.

[MichaelKeith]

At least Shout! included the original openings and closings on all of their Hazel releases so far. I love having all the various opening sequences that they could have just as easily not included. Also, they've got the original Screen Gems logos in the closing.

And did you guys notice at the end of episodes 6 and 8 the blue satin background is not there but in its place is the front of a 1964 Ford car. Wow, I had never seen that before. I think Leslie Eckhardt mentioned this was the norm back when the show was in its first run on the network.

[retroTVfan4ever]

I thought the Screen Gems dancing sticks didn't appear until Hazel's 4th season, I am surprised to see it at the end of the 3rd season episodes. It is a shame about the edited episode on disc 4 but I guess we just have to live with it, Shout Factory should correct this error and reissue the disc, but I doubt that is going to happen. Aside from the edited episode, this is an enjoyable DVD set.

[dwayne986]

Originally Posted by MichaelKeith

And did you guys notice at the end of episodes 6 and 8 the blue satin background is not there but in its place is the front of a 1964 Ford car. Wow, I had never seen that before. I think Leslie Eckhardt mentioned this was the norm back when the show was in its first run on the network.

There's a later episode that shows that same 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 rolling down a highway! Much like what "My Three Sons" did with its sponsor, Chevrolet, during those early years.

[MichaelKeith]

Dwayne, thanks for the heads up. I haven't gotten to that episode yet but that will be great to see. yes, I remember seeing those 1961 and '62 Chevy's rolling down the road on the closing credits of My Three Sons.

[Hazel Anyday]

It also depends on how many episodes are edited, one?, 3?, 5? all of them? Since I am desperate to get as many unedited Hazel as possible I'll buy even if there's only 5 unedited episodes. But I, by all means, want the unedited versions, I've got the edit versions already. I just hope Shout will continue on with it's Hazel series releases. You never know.

[shipoopi]

Ordered mine on Wednesday, May 23 and received it on Friday, May 25 - without having to pay extra for quicker mail service. That was the first good thing about this set. Having watched the first three discs, so far, the film quality is far better than season two. There has been little fading and blemishes that I have noticed. Please release seasons 4 and 5, so Hazel can finally be complete.