I love the first format of "Hazel" with Don Defore and Whitney Blake as the Baxters. I just wish they had made at least 28 or 30 episodes in season four instead of only 26. Seems 26 was the bare minimum back in 1964-1965.

But at least Shout! Factory has released season four! I'm happy to have it. Wish the show had continued in this format for another two or three seasons.

As we all know, S4 was the last NBC season for "Hazel." The ratings were dropping, and Ford Motor Company dropped its full sponsorship of the show after S3, so we were fortunate to get 26 episodes at all.

In the earliest days of TV (think "I Love Lucy"), a typical TV "season" consisted of 39 originals and 13 repeats...but by the 1964-'65 season, that number had dropped due to production cost and stars' salaries.

When Shirley Booth bought the rights to "Hazel," that saved the series for CBS, but as it turned out, her health, not the ratings, was what kept her from going into the 1966-67 year....