I've been watching the Hazel's now being shown on Antenna TV, I was particularly looking forward to the color episodes to see what kind of quality, uncut, etc. things to look for. First the bad news (which is little) second the much good news.
The bad news is that they are cut versions about 22 to 23 min. each. The other mixed bag of bad news is that SOME episodes appear to be faded or slightly green or blueish.
Now the good news,
1st The episodes are clear and contain no grain or bad quality that one might remember from the WOR airings almost 2 decades ago.
2nd The episodes contain no annoying station ID that's constantly in a corner of the screen, I repeat NO station ID in the corner!!!
3rd The end credits are intact and not squeezed or shrunken or in any way electronically altered!! (Like the way TV Land butchers the credits)
4th The color on most of the episodes is excellent, clear, clean and bright and mostly accurate.

These are the best looking color episodes I've seen, I'm happy with the quality on most all of the shows. There are a few that pop up once in a while where the color is off or the picture seems to be overly bright and the color faded, but 90% so far look good. One I saw a few days ago looked like an old print, old blueish and dark film looking instead of looking like a new video like the rest of the color episodes, but that was one exception so far.

I've seen various various studio end tags, including the old "Colex" end tag that I remember seeing on the old Family Channel showings which came before the WOR showings. But most of them have the familiar noisy and annoying Sony end tag. I've seen other end tags too, but I don't remember them enough to describe.

The only real way Ant TV could improve would be to show the programs uncut.

Now with this mixed bag of various quality of the shows with most of them looking very good the question is what does this mean for a future 2nd season commercial DVD release?

I would have been more encouraged had every episode I've seen so far look superb and restored and remastered. Some do look excellent, very clear and absolutely no grain (which after watching my WOR Hazels for years now is a real revelation to know that Hazel actually wasn't made with built in grain.) But since every episode does not appear to be re-mastered and restored I am fearful that this may mean Sony may not release these commercially. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but I had thought that Sony was working on restoring all the episodes for a commercial Season 2 release, but with the few clinkers I've seen (again most of them are very good (not perfect or totally restored looking like the Gidget commercial release) I am fearful that this may mean Sony has not been restoring all the episodes.

Who knows, Sony might be working on this right now and we will all be thrilled beyond belief (& I mean that sincerely) when they release Season 2 and all the rest of the series in beautifully restored condition just like the Gidget release looked. :)

I'll agree the bad part is the shows are edited. But I didn't expect to see Hazel aired uncut anyway, although it sure would have been nice. On the positive side, since they air 10 shows a week Monday thru Friday, at that rate all the episodes should be aired by sometime in April as long as there are no changes or interruptions to the schedule.

I'm recording the shows starting with episode 40 in season 2, I missed episodes 36 to 39 so hopefully they will air those again at a later date.

So far I'm very impressed,I just hope they continue. I wouldn't be surprised if they remove Hazel and replace it with Happy Days or the Munsters. I'll just keep my fingers crossed! Incidentally on this past Tue or Wed they scheduled "License to Wed" with Season 3 "Dorothy takes a trip". L to Wed was one episode I don't have. What's up with that? Also the first 10 minutes of "Barney Hatfield where are you"a messed up big time. I guess I shouldn't nit pick...Just happy Hazel is back!

So far I'm very impressed,I just hope they continue. I wouldn't be surprised if they remove Hazel and replace it with Happy Days or the Munsters. I'll just keep my fingers crossed! Incidentally on this past Tue or Wed they scheduled "License to Wed" with Season 3 "Dorothy takes a trip". L to Wed was one episode I don't have. What's up with that? Also the first 10 minutes of "Barney Hatfield where are you"a messed up big time. I guess I shouldn't nit pick...Just happy Hazel is back!

I guess the telecast master copy of License To Wed isn't in good shape, so they didn't air it. I do have a copy of this episode recorded from film. Hopefully no other episodes will be skipped and all 5 seasons will be shown, but we'll see what happens. For the next two weeks, episodes 50 to 69 are shown on the schedule. I recorded the Barney Hatfield episode, I don't have any problems with it. Maybe your TV reception was messed up for a few minutes.

In Houston, TX, how would I watch Antenna TV? I believe it's on station 39.2 but I don't know how to access the .2 channels. I have standard Comcast cable and my tv won't pick up Antenna TV? How are you all watching it?

I would love to see Hazel season 2, 3, and 4 again!

I hope Shout! Factory will go ahead and release more of it.

I'm not at home now to check for certain, but I'm pretty sure I saw ANT TV's version of License To Wed. The show where Hazel let's her nephew and Deidra's daughter see the reality of running off and getting married. I'll have to check at home to be certain it was there, but I don't remember having to skip any episodes on my episode guide as I record these. I have the whole series already on DVD from my WOR and Family channel recordings, so I'm not missing any episodes, but I haven't noticed ANT TV skip any either. Also the Barney Where Are You episode looked fine broadcast in my area.

As to how you get Antenna TV, look at the Antenna TV website:
http://www.antennatv.tv/shows/antenna/
there you will see a list of the areas of the country in which it's broadcast. It's not a cable only channel, in fact it's an antenna only channel!!! Love getting to see these great shows for free for once, don't have to pay $70 a month to see the old shows anymore, and even if I did still have cable they don't even show the old shows anymore, so it's an even bigger waste of money. Some cable companies also carry the Antenna TV channel if the particular local broadcast channels in that area happen to be carrying Antenna TV. That's the only way you'll see it on cable, if the local area is broadcasting it via the great new digital TV signal broadcasts. I love the new way of broadcasting, I get perfect pictures and it's all free! Used to be I had to get cable just to be able to see my local channels, now even the worst of the old local channels comes in perfectly on free TV. Antenna TV is one of the auxillary channels a local TV channel can choose to broadcast.

thanks, HazelAnyDay, I'll check into that.

I enjoy Hazel, but I think the show could have been funnier. Too often Hazel plays matchmaker, or she tries to solve someone else's problems. The best episodes of Hazel are usually those that involve Mr. B or the Baxter household. One of the best episodes is The Natural Athlete, where Hazel and Mr. B compete in a bowling tournament. That is a good episode, too bad there weren't more episodes like that one.

Two of the better Hazel episodes were shown today on Antenna TV. Hazel's Luck and Oh My Aching Back. These two episodes along with The Natural Athlete are among the best 2nd season episodes.

You are welcome to your own opinions, but there are many great episodes besides the couple you list. Hazel joining the ritzy winter resort in the b/w years stands out in my mind, right off the bat. Hazel wanting to join in with the kids in an overnight sleepover and then realizing her youth has passed her by and she can't re-live it, is an outstanding episode. Of course, Hazel and Adv. of Superman are my 2 all time favorite shows, so in my opinion there is no such thing as a bad episode of Hazel. Every Hazel episode is enjoyable, even the worst episode where Hazel joins a Health/exercise club and then can't afford it and starts bawling over the fact the club got the best of her (completely out of line with Hazel's character and portrays Hazel as an imbecile, really bad episode) still as bad as it was the last 15 minutes of this episode turned out more in line with the Hazel character and was better handled. But that was the only episode that makes me cringe because it insults the Hazel character, but as I say it ended well and the last 1/2 of the show was enjoyable again.

Every episode is enjoyable and fun to watch, I've seen them all dozens of times over since I've been recording them and watching them since the late '80s and back when I was a kid in the '60's I first watched them. I still watch an episode every Saturday while I eat breakfast and if I'm off work on vacation, Hazel is a must see every breakfast morning. Yes, I can practically recite the lines, but it don't matter, I love this show.

As for yesterday's Ant TV showing of "Oh My Aching Back", it was the best looking version of that show I've ever seen. The colors were all accurate and very bright, it looked like one of the restored episodes that give me hope that Sony will indeed be putting out Season 2 on DVD. But then the very next episode "Natural Athlete" was back to the greenish tint of other typical un-restored episodes that have been shown. I correct this on my TV by adjusting the color hue, but it's annoying to have to adjust the color for these un-restored episodes. The WOR set I made on DVD have this same problem, some episodes are either greenish or sometimes purplish or blueish, but mostly greenish and also all seem to be somewhat grainy. None of them from WOR had really bright color the way the Ant TV ones do. That's why I'm glad to be recording these again from Ant TV, most of them have very bright and accurate color and no grain at all. :) I just wish they could color correct ALL the episodes and stop showing some of them in green hues.:(

There are many good episodes, some I prefer more than others.

The last episode of season 2, So Long Brown Eyes, is emotional, especially the ending scene with Hazel and little Harold. Shirley Booth was quite fond of Bobby Buntrock, she thought he was a very nice little boy. It's sad he passed away tragically at such a young age.

To HazelAnyday,

I've been watching Hazel on Antenna TV, too, and I agree the picture quality is generally very good and clear.

I have a question about the laugh track--or lack of. None of the episodes on Antenna TV seem to have one, so I was surprised to hear a laugh track on the episode, "An Example for Hazel" the other day. Didn't they all used to have laugh tracks?

Also, do your old recordings from WOR and Family Channel have a laugh track? Also, were they edited like Antenna TV? Are you seeing any new scenes that you didn't see before?

To HazelAnyday,

I've been watching Hazel on Antenna TV, too, and I agree the picture quality is generally very good and clear.

I have a question about the laugh track--or lack of. None of the episodes on Antenna TV seem to have one, so I was surprised to hear a laugh track on the episode, "An Example for Hazel" the other day. Didn't they all used to have laugh tracks?

Also, do your old recordings from WOR and Family Channel have a laugh track? Also, were they edited like Antenna TV? Are you seeing any new scenes that you didn't see before?

I was wondering the same things if the edits are the same as your WWOR set?

thanks

Hazel is a great show, i watched it when it was on originally, and I can sit down and watch it anytime now. The chemistry with Don was perfect.
Hazel Anyday, Adv of Superman is in my top also. George Reeves was the perfect choice for that part, IMO. Reason I liked that series was it most resembled the comics I grew up with.

Sorry, I've not been back recently. As for the differences, it's a great question. I have been monitoring the series as I record it, meaning I'm not listening to it only looking at it, but having seen the shows throughout all the past 22 years, I've practically memorized them. (I remember my grandmother was the same way with Perry Mason, all she had to see was the first 30 seconds of a Perry Mason and she could tell me the story.)

Since 1988 I would watch every Sat. & Sun. at breakfast on weekends, but in the past few years I've been watching only on Saturday mornings during breakfast and on holidays and any day I'm off work.

As to the present, I'm recording both shows in an hour clump during the day on a DVD-RAM disc (meaning it's eraseable and re-recordable) and at night I transfer the shows one at a time onto DVD-R discs all in SP Speed. If Ant TV would stop after one episode and show a couple commercials in between episodes I would record it during the day and not bother to transfer at night. But since there is no way I can set my recorder to stop at the precise second the first show is over and start again at the next second for the next show, I am forced to record in hour blocks on DVD Ram and then separate the shows and title them on permanent DVD-R discs at night.

So this is to explain that I have not been listening to the shows as I transfer them, I have a split screen widescreen TV that I can monitor the Hazel show on the right side in a small version and watch what I want to watch at night on the left side. This way as I record I can cut out the commercials as I keep an eye on the shows as I record.

Meaning I have not heard or watched the shows with a real critical eye to spot missing scenes. But I can tell you that everything I've seen so far in just keeping an eye on the show as it records has not been new to what the WOR channels showed. I can tell you however, that when Family Channel showed them they did several times that I can remember right now show different versions of the show than WOR showed.

For instance, in the show that was a Steve Baxter show when Claude Akins plays an modern painter and while Deidra hires Akins to paint a portrait of her, Hazel hires him to just paint her room, the walls in her room! But Claude does a wild and crazy painting on Hazel's walls that all the critics love when they see it rather than fawn over the Deidra portrait. The difference in the WOR & FAM version is in the Fam version they show Claude actually painting the walls in Hazel's room and Hazel complaining about what he's doing, while in the WOR version that actual painting scene is cut out.

The show about luck and Mr. B winning a lottery ticket was never shown on the FAM channel. (Anti-religious? Who knows why. But WOR showed it.)

Also in the show show where Mr. B wants Mr. Griffin's opinion on the plastic skillet, the WOR version shows Mr. Griffin going to a restaurant and getting his future told by a gypsy, in the FAM version they cut out the fortune gypsy teller and the whole scene with Mr. Griffin and her. There is also another Steve Baxter small difference where they show an extended kitchen scene in the FAM version and a very abbreviated kitchen scene in the WOR version.

These are just the examples I can think of off the top of my head. But so far (from what I've monitored) the ANT TV shows seem to be the same edits as the WOR versions. But I have not actually really watched the ANT TV versions yet, I am currently watching the b/w first season and when this is done I will start watching the ANT TV 2nd season. As you can tell I rigidly stick to the episode guide order when I actually do watch the show each week, and even though ANT TV is currently showing the color years I'm still in my own world on my Saturday morning viewings in the b/w first season (I'm watching the commercial DVDs now, I didn't bother to record the edit ANT TV b/w shows). In my own world showings I do skip the holiday shows and save them for the appropriate holiday season.

[Point to note, there are 4 different Thanksgiving Hazel's. :turkey: I have put them all together on one disc so every Thanksgiving holiday I start on Thursday with the b/w show, then on Friday, Sat. and Sun. I watch the next 3 different color Thanksgiving related Hazel shows.]

So when I actually start watching the color ANT TV shows I will get back to you and tell you any differences I've seen. Sorry for the long winded answer, but you've hit a subject I love to talk about.:talk:

Thanks Hazel Anyday, I enjoyed reading your response. I'm also recording the show daily so I know how you feel. I wish they would leave some room between episodes. Fortunately, my DVD recorder has a built-in hard drive so I can record the show to the hard drive or to a disc. I like to record to the hard drive because it has a lot of special features. It allows me to edit out the commercials and divide the shows before finalizing it to a disc.

BTW, I saw a cool thing on Hazel the other day. At the end of one of the episodes (I can't remember the episode at this moment) during the closing credits, they showed a car driving down the street instead of the familiar blue background. I guess back then, Hazel was sponsored by some car company and they were showing off the latest model. Have you ever seen that before?

:talk: Yes, I've seen that, I believe it was the only time I saw the car driving credits used on Hazel. Hazel was sponsored by Ford for the first 4 years, that's why the only cars you see on Hazel during the first 4 years of the show are Fords, Ford Thunderbirds, Falcons, Galaxys, and of course the Mustang. They were doing product placement ads before it was popular. If you're a fan of My 3 Sons also you may have noticed they did the same thing, showed a car driving or drawings of different models of cars while they ran the credits. Though with My 3 Sons it was always a Pontiac that they showed.