Info:
DVD Release Date: May 2, 2006 (Universal Studios Home Entertainment)
B&W/1958-1959
MSRP: $49.98
Number of Discs: 3 (double-sided)
Number of Episodes: 39
Running Time: 1009 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: N/A
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English
subtitles
Special Features: None
Introduction:
Beaver is back! One of the greatest family
sitcoms—not to mention the show that DEFINED the
"perfect" family—is back for its second season on
DVD, just months after the release of the first
season, in a three-disc box set from Universal Studios
Home Entertainment.
The second season of the show isn't much different
from the first season, although the second season does
mark the shows move from CBS to ABC. Still, the
characters are all the same: there's Ward (Hugh
Beaumont) and June (Barbara Billingsley), who happen
to be the PERFECT parents, there's older brother Wally
(Tony Dow), and of course, the show just wouldn't be
complete without Theodore Cleaver himself, aka Beaver
(Jerry Mathers).
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
This set has a whopping 39 episodes (twice as many
episodes as a season of a show today!) of the show,
yet still, there are too many great and memorable
episodes to truly make a "best of" list for the
season. But, in the interest of being somewhat brief,
I'll try to. The season begins with "Beaver's Poem,"
where Beaver has to write a poem for school, and then
Ward helps him a little bit... then a little bit
more... and a little bit more... and keeps on helping
him until Beaver's poem becomes Ward's work. In
"Eddie's Girl," Eddie claims to have a girlfriend, but
the girl that he thinks is his girlfriend is actually
more interested in Wally! Beaver's newest friend in
"Beaver and Chuey" only speaks Spanish, so Eddie (who
just happens to be taking Spanish in school) decides
to teach Beaver a phrase to tell his new
friend—except Eddie knows that what he is telling
Beaver to tell Chuey is actually an insult! In "The
Shave," all of Wally's friends are shaving, and Wally
wants to prove to the other guys that he has to shave
too—leave it to Ward to help him prove it. Larry and
Beaver decide to try smoking in "The Pipe," but they
don't jump into tobacco right away, they start out by
smoking coffee grounds! Wally convinces Ward and June
to let him shop for a new suit on his own in "Wally's
New Suit," but what will they do when he picks out the
tackiest one he can find?
On Disc 2, in "Beaver Plays Hooky," Beaver and Larry
believe that it is a better idea to just skip school
than to be tardy one more time, which seems to work
out fine until they accidentally appear on live
television. Wally becomes concerned about his pug nose
after a girl he likes notices it in "Wally's Pug
Nose." After being disciplined (well, not quite) by
Ward, Beaver decides to go to an adoption agency to
find new parents in "Beaver Gets Adopted." Beaver
decides to go into Mrs. Rayburn's office after school
to find the legendary (and non-existent) spanking
machine that she has in "Price of Fame."
Finally, on Disc 3, Beaver gets a new sweater in
"Beaver's Sweater," but somebody else in the class has
the same sweater, and it's Judy! Wally has a new
hairstyle in "Wally's Haircomb," but Ward and June
aren't too pleased about it. Larry and Beaver are in
charge of a cookie fund in "The Cookie Fund," but what
will they do when they are conned out of three
dollars? In "Found Money," Larry's mother refuses to
give him money to go to the carnival, so Larry decides
to go to the carnival with money he "finds," as in
finding some of his own mother's money that HE threw
out the window!
Packaging:
The packaging for this season is somewhat like the
packaging used for the first season (the standard box
release), but it is not exactly the same. This time,
instead of a white box, we have a blue box, with a
picture of Beaver on the front (a different picture
than the one used for the first season) and a picture
of the entire Cleaver family on the back. The first
season was missing any indication on the side that it
was the first season, but this time, the box clearly
says on the spin "The Complete Second Season." The
cardboard used on the box this time is a little more
flimsy than the box that was used for the first
season, but that isn't a major deal. Once again, the
set uses slim cases, also in the blue color scheme,
with the same artwork that is on the front of the box.
The back of each slim case includes not only a listing
of each episode on each disc, but also a brief
description of the episode. As for the discs
themselves, they are two sided, so there isn't any
disc artwork. Episodes 40-46 are contained on Disc
1/Side A, 47-53 are on Disc 1/Side B, 54-60 are on
Disc 2/Side A, 61-67 are on Disc 2/Side B, 68-74 are
on Disc 3/Side A, and finally, 75-78 are on Disc
3/Side B.
Menu Design and Navigation:
Like the packaging, the menus are mostly the same as
the menus from the first season, but there are some
changes. When the main menu comes up, you are greeted
with the options of Episode Index, Languages, and Play
All, with the theme song playing in the background. To
go along with the box art, the menus are all in a blue
color scheme. The Episode Index menu takes you to a
menu where, well, you select episodes. And once you
select the episode, the episode plays IMMEDIATELY.
There is no episode menu this time with an episode
description; you'll have to rely on the back of each
slim case this time. Chapters were missing in season
one (and chapters seem to be a big problem with
Universal DVD sets lately in general), but much to my
surprise, this set includes chapters placed at all of
the appropriate places (after the opening credits,
midway through the episode, and just before the
closing credits). And additionally, that annoying 22
second Universal logo that plagued season one is gone
this time (although a few episodes mysteriously have a
short NBC Universal logo at the END of the episode),
so once you start the episode, the episode itself
begins playing.
Video and Audio Quality:
These episodes are from the 1958-1959 season, so if
you are expecting high-definition video and audio
quality, you'll be TERRIBLY disappointed. However, if
you are realistic and understand that the show is very
old and isn't going to be perfect, you'll be happy
with this set, because the video and audio quality
looks much better than just decent. It is obvious that
the video has been cleaned up to an extent, and the
audio (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono for the audio geeks out
there) is perfectly fine. There is still some dust and
debris here and there, but what can you expect from a
show that is nearly 50 years old? The episodes aren't
closed-captioned, but English subtitles are available.
The first season included Spanish subtitles also, but
they aren't there this time.
Update: It appears that the audio is a bit out of sync
in the episode "Wally's Haircomb." We've heard this
from multiple people.
The episodes all run between 25:30 and 26:00, although
one is a little shorter; however, it is still roughly
25 minutes long, so I hardly think there is any reason
to be concerned. The disc breakdown and runtimes of
the episodes are as follows:
Disc 1/Side A:
40. Beaver's Poem (25:51)
41. Eddie's Girl (25:54)
42. Ward's Problem (25:48)
43. Beaver and Chuey (25:47)
44. The Lost Watch (25:48)
45. Her Idol (25:55)
46. Beaver's Ring (25:47)
Disc 1/Side B:
47. The Shave (25:48)
48. The Pipe (25:55)
49. Wally's New Suit (25:54)
50. School Play (25:46)
51. The Visiting Aunts (25:50)
52. Happy Weekend (25:59)
53. Wally's Present (25:48)
Disc 2/Side A:
54. The Grass Is Always Greener (25:48)
55. The Boat Builders (25:53)
56. Beaver Plays Hooky (25:43)
57. The Garage Painters (25:54)
58. Wally's Pug Nose (25:51)
59. Beaver's Pigeons (25:31)
60. The Tooth (25:55)
Disc 2/Side B:
61. Beaver Gets Adopted (25:51)
62. The Haunted House (25:53)
63. The Bus Ride (25:56)
64. Beaver and Gilbert (25:54)
65. Price of Fame (25:55)
66. A Horse Named Nick (25:50)
67. Beaver's Hero (25:53)
Disc 3/Side A:
68. Beaver Says Good-Bye (25:34)
69. Beaver's Newspaper (25:23)
70. Beaver's Sweater (24:54)
71. Friendship (25:55)
72. Dance Contest (25:53)
73. Wally's Haircomb (25:35)
74. The Cookie Fund (25:53)
Disc 3/Side B:
75. Forgotten Party (25:55)
76. Beaver the Athlete (25:50)
77. Found Money (25:52)
78. Most Interesting Character (25:56)
Special Features:
There are no special features on the set. Most of the
stars of the show are still alive and very willing to
talk about the show, so Universal ought to take
advantage of this and use them for interviews, or
better yet, commentaries. Other footage would be nice
too, but considering how old the show is, it would
probably be very difficult to track down such footage.
There are trailers on Disc 1/Side A for the movie
"Nanny McPhee" (I've never seen it, but it looks like
a pretty bad movie), as well as a preview for
Universal's various sitcom releases of shows from the
80s.
Final Comments:
This is such a great show to watch! I don't know how
anybody could not love this show. I'm not a huge fan
of too many of the family sitcoms of the 1950s and
early 1960s, but this show is just so much different
from the rest and very enjoyable—I love watching
these episodes over and over again! You can always
watch Leave it to Beaver on TV Land, but these DVDs
make the experience much more enjoyable, because there
is always so much missing from the episodes on TV
Land, and they just look better on the DVD set. I
would like to see more special features next time, but
aside from that, Universal did a fine job on this set.
It is definitely worth buying and even worth saving
for if your weekly allowance is (much like Beaver's)
measured in cents.
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars - How our point system works)
Video Quality: 4/5
Audio Quality: 4/5
Special Features: 0/5
Menu Navigation/Design: 4.5/5
Overall: 4/5
-- Reviewed by skees53 on 05/12/06
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