I googled Hazel and just found these message boards and am happy to be here!

I just recently discovered antenna tv and also found Hazel. I thought it would annoy me but instead I am so hooked. All these old episodes are brand new to me. I feel like such a nerd but I adore this show. I remember watching other shows from this era as a kid but for some reason I never watched Hazel. I have now seen a lot of episodes from different seasons and they all have their own charm. Now they suddenly moved Hazel to 2 am! I am going through withdrawal. I have dvr but it's not the same. I was starting to look forward to my "hazel time" from 3-4. And now I regret not recording every episode when I had the chance. Why do the networks have to mess around with their scheduling all the time? For starters I guess I will buy the season one DVD. ......jonesin' for my Hazel fix :(

Don't feel like as you said a nerd for liking a great classic show like Hazel.It's the cool sophisticated intelligent tv viewers who appreciate these shows. The nerds are the ones that watch the new tv shows because they don't know any better.Its great antenna tv has brought Hazel back on the air.

All is not lost. I wrote about how I felt about the move to 2 am, but still all is not lost to you. You say you regret not recording before, you can still record them but just set the recorder for 2 to 3 am instead and then watch them the next day the same time you like to watch. I've watched Hazel since I was a kid in the '60's, so I've memorized the episodes by now, but I still love to watch them. My Hazel schedule is for me to watch every Sat. morning as I eat breakfast & whenever I'm on vacation I watch Hazel each morning with breakfast. But of course all my Hazels are recorded I have never watched it when it was actually on, at least not since I owned a VCR many long years ago. Now I watch my recorded DVDs of Hazel. Best thing is you can watch anytime you want. So start recording and enjoying again. Glad to have another Hazel fan join the ranks. (I called myself Hazel Anyday years ago when I joined Sitcoms Online because it meant I could watch Hazel anyday.)

I'm like you, RetroChick. I didn't watch Hazel much when I was a kid, either. I mostly watched shows with other kids in them like The Brady Bunch or shows with a gimmick like Gilligan, Bewitched or Jeannie. Now that I'm an adult, I enjoy Hazel's humor more. I like her competitive relationship with Mr. B and I laugh whenever she infuriates his snobbish sister, Deidre.
I also agree with Hazel Anyday. You should definitely record them so you'll have them for later because there's no telling how long Antenna TV will have the exclusive rights to it.
Talk about nerd: I record them everyday on my DVR and then I edit out the commercials and create menus using DVD authoring software. Here's a sample of one of my menus.

http://i55.tinypic.com/2gtufk8.jpg

Even though I age 48 and grew up with these shows mainly in reruns in the 70's, I love the classics and Hazel is in my top 10. I have been sick lately and need to spend alot of time in bed, so last weekend I spent the entire Memorial Day 2011 weekend transferring all 29 season 5 episodes to DVD from Antenna TV recordings. Yes I encourage the thread starter to buy season 1, as season 2 is expected soon and they are released unedited, unlike when they are shown on TV cut to 22/23 minutes. BTW...for those who care..the only uncut season 5 episode that was shown uncut on Antenna TV was "#139 "Hazel's Endearing Young Charms". It was quite a weekend watching 29 episodes of Hazel in 3 days, but now all the commercials are neatly & professionally cut out!

I had vague memories of Hazel growing up in the 60s, along with a lot of other shows. I remember when TVLAND first started to air a couple episodes,I watched them and wondered what happened to that big sheep dog. Then I realized I was thinking of Please don't eat the daisies. I dont know why I confused the two shows.

I recorded the Antenna TV airings also, the only episode they haven't shown yet is the 4th season Christmas episode. A couple 5th season episodes I recorded have that annoying 15 second public service message scrolling across the screen, I won't worry about it because the episodes are edited anyway. These Antenna TV airings are not perfect, but sufficient until the complete unedited series is out on DVD, no guarantee though if or when that is going to happen.

I recorded the Antenna TV airings also, the only episode they haven't shown yet is the 4th season Christmas episode. A couple 5th season episodes I recorded have that annoying 15 second public service message scrolling across the screen, I won't worry about it because the episodes are edited anyway. These Antenna TV airings are sufficient until the complete unedited series is out on DVD, no guarantee though if or when that is going to happen.

I'm afraid the "annoying 15 second public service message scrolling across the screen" as you describe was something coming from your local affliate and did not go on the national feed...I watch Antenna TV on WPIX.4 in New York and none of my season 5 episodes had any crawls. I only recorded season 5 because I feel with season 2 coming from Shout Factory, Season 1 was released from Sony (The owners)...there is a very good chance that season 5 will never be released on DVD because of the cast change, as the series moved from NBC to CBS and it is a gamble that all seasons 2, 3, 4, & 5 will ever be released. I figure they will give up after season 4, if we even get that far.

That is why I also recorded the entire last season 3 of "The Flying Nun", as it has been years since Sony released seasons 1 and 2 and I highly doubt season 3 will ever be released by anyone.

As far Antenna TV and playing Christmas Episodes, it is very odd. On some series they play them and other series they are skipped over.....Dennis The Menace had 4 seasons and 3 Christmas episodes which have all been played, Hazel had 5 seasons and 2 Christmas episodes. BTW...The two Hazel Christmas episodes were released on an official VHS totally unedited about 15 years ago and they can be found from ebay sellers at a very economical price, plus they have no "copy-guard"...so I transferred them to DVD perfectly.

I'm afraid the "annoying 15 second public service message scrolling across the screen" as you describe was something coming from your local affliate and did not go on the national feed...I watch Antenna TV on WPIX.4 in New York and none of my season 5 episodes had any crawls. I only recorded season 5 because I feel with season 2 coming from Shout Factory, Season 1 was released from Sony (The owners)...there is a very good chance that season 5 will never be released on DVD because of the cast change, as the series moved from NBC to CBS and it is a gamble that all seasons 2, 3, 4, & 5 will ever be released. I figure they will give up after season 4, if we even get that far.

That is why I also recorded the entire last season 3 of "The Flying Nun", as it has been years since Sony released seasons 1 and 2 and I highly doubt season 3 will ever be released by anyone.

As far Antenna TV and playing Christmas Episodes, it is very odd. On some series they play them and other series they are skipped over.....Dennis The Menace had 4 seasons and 3 Christmas episodes which have all been played, Hazel had 5 seasons and 2 Christmas episodes. BTW...The two Hazel Christmas episodes were released on an official VHS totally unedited about 15 years ago and they can be found from ebay sellers at a very economical price, plus they have no "copy-guard"...so I transferred them to DVD perfectly.

I considered recording the 3rd season Flying Nuns, but I think those shows are edited worse than the Hazels, an additional minute is trimmed off of them so I just let it go. Hopefully the 3rd season DVD will eventually get released, but I agree with you I'm not holding my breath waiting for it to happen.

I have an edited airing of Hazels 4th season Christmas episode from WWOR, I imagine Antenna TV will eventually air the episode and I can plan to record it for an upgrade at that time.

Hey, Thanks for the welcome. Ronny, that's really cool. I'm feeling less nerdy already. You all really know your hazel trivia. I think it's a riot that theres this running gag with her mentioning Mr. B's weight. And then I see her kick butt at pool, bowling and I remember seeing her try her hand at car restoration! So far I don't know what I'm missing regarding all the editing that goes on. I sure wish they would edit all those depressing and repetitive commercials :mad: Unfortunately I know them by heart. At least with dvr I can avoid another ad about debt consolidation. They must think their demographic is a bunch of deadbeats.

Hey, Thanks for the welcome. Ronny, that's really cool. I'm feeling less nerdy already. You all really know your hazel trivia. I think it's a riot that theres this running gag with her mentioning Mr. B's weight. And then I see her kick butt at pool, bowling and I remember seeing her try her hand at car restoration! So far I don't know what I'm missing regarding all the editing that goes on. I sure wish they would edit all those depressing and repetitive commercials :mad: Unfortunately I know them by heart. At least with dvr I can avoid another ad about debt consolidation. They must think their demographic is a bunch of deadbeats.

Yes, welcome to the forum RetroChick. This is a fun place to discuss favorite old TV shows from the good ol days.

To explain the editing we are talking about: Complete episodes of Hazel are about 25 1/2 minutes long. Now that the show is in syndication, the episodes are edited down to about 22 1/2 minutes each. So roughly 3 minutes of material is cut from the episodes. Antenna TV has had a couple unusual exceptions where a complete episode has aired. Antenna TV has said that they air shows as provided to them from the supplier. In the case of Hazel, Sony supplied the episodes and all are edited outside of those couple exceptions. Hazel season 2 is supposed to be coming out on DVD in the near future, I imagine the complete episodes will be on the DVD's. At least I hope so. :lol:

RetroTVfan4ever, I was thinking the same thing too. Shout! Factory is putting out season 2 of Hazel later this year and I bet they will do like they did with "Leave It To Beaver" and release the whole series at once and also release individual season sets on DVD. I for one can't wait. Hazel is one of my all-time favorite shows, right up there with Bewitched!!! :D

Question: how long do you think i would have to wait if they decide to put out the entire series?

I don't think Shout Factory will be releasing Hazel as a complete series. The show isn't popular enough to justify a complete series release. It will be the normal route, one season at a time. Best case scenario, if sales are good enough, seasons 3 and 4 might be out in 2012, and season 5 sometime in 2013. But if sales are poor for season 2, the series will probably get stalled again and chances become slim for completion on DVD.

Also, if sales aren't great, they might release the remaining seasons as Shout Factory exclusives--meaning you can only buy them at their website at a price which is generally more expensive than if you were to buy them at other stores. They did this to the later seasons of Father Knows Best and Mr. Ed.

Also, I don't think Hazel is ready to go to a complete series box set. The episodes need to be remastered. Beaver was already remastered, and ready to go, so it was easier to release it as a complete box set.

There is not even a guarantee with the Shout Factory exclusives. Room 222 season 2 was a Shout exclusive, sales of it were so poor that further releases have been stalled. I have hopes however, that Hazel will sell good enough to at least remain on the exclusives schedule until all the seasons are released.

There is not even a guarantee with the Shout Factory exclusives. Room 222 season 2 was a Shout exclusive, sales of it were so poor that further releases have been stalled. I have hopes however, that Hazel will sell good enough to at least remain on the exclusives schedule until all the seasons are released.

Somewhere probably in the Room 222 Board I went on a long rant about this, that the Shout Exclusives seed was planted here when Brian Ward of Shout used to post here. The site was supposed to be the place for niche series with extremely limited sales potentional. So out of the gate came Bill Cosby, Season 2 after being abandoned for nearly 3 years. We also got other forgotten series gems like Small Wonder, My Two Dads and yes Room 222, season 2 was resurrected. Then Mr. Ward announced at the Shout Board, that in order for a series to be successful and continue to warrant releases at Shout Exclusives, it had to sell in the 1000's! Anyone at Shout that ever even considered that a long lost, not seen series like Room 222 would sell over 1000 units at $40 a piece was dreaming and back in the summer of love, meaning they were on drugs (not really) but not being realistic. So Room 222 became the first series to be abandoned on a site that was originally created for abandoned series! Soon followed Small Wonder, My Two Dads, etc...all left on the shelf....by the way 1000 x $40 each is $40,000! Yeah Room 222 had the potential to be that successful in sales and greed...lol......

TeeVeeCloset, interesting information. However, I hope that Hazel doesn't end up with the same fate as Room 222. We also used to watch Room 222 in its original run and it was a good show, but I still prefer Hazel and feel that Hazel has a wider audience and broader appeal than Room 222.

Even if Shout! Factory just releases individual seasons of Hazel instead of the entire series at once, I seriously hope they at least release through season 4. I'm not that interested in season 5 with Lynn Borden and Ray Fulmer. I love the original format with Whitney Blake and Don DeFore. Once I have seasons 1 through 4 of Hazel on DVD, I will be as happy as a bug in a snug rug :happyface

Then Mr. Ward announced at the Shout Board, that in order for a series to be successful and continue to warrant releases at Shout Exclusives, it had to sell in the 1000's! Anyone at Shout that ever even considered that a long lost, not seen series like Room 222 would sell over 1000 units at $40 a piece was dreaming and back in the summer of love, meaning they were on drugs (not really) but not being realistic. So Room 222 became the first series to be abandoned on a site that was originally created for abandoned series! Soon followed Small Wonder, My Two Dads, etc...all left on the shelf....by the way 1000 x $40 each is $40,000! Yeah Room 222 had the potential to be that successful in sales and greed...lol......
THANK YOU!!! This is precisely why the studios need to re-consider their licensing fees. NONE of these shows are going to sell to their desired goals. And hanging onto them isn't going to make 'em any money either. They would make more money by getting them off the shelf in the vaults and letting a studio like Shout take over. If Shout can't sell enough copies to cover their licensing fees, obviously they are going to abandon a series as well. The studios are acting stupid in this respect.

These enormous money goals are never going to be reached. It is ridiculous.

What Shout Factory should do regarding these TV shows that undersell even for a Shout exclusive, is maybe offer a manufacture on demand option for those devoted fans who absolutely want the next season released. I don't know if Shout Factory would consider adding this option, but I thought I'd make the suggestion.