Which Hazel do you perfer? I like the first one.http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/icons/icon7.gif

Do you mean which format? Clearly, it's the first one, with the original Baxter family. When TV Land showed the last episode on Sunday, it was the first time I'd seen Steve and Barbara Baxter in 15 years, and it reminded me of how far the show fell in the last season.

Sure, Hazel got dumber and more irritating as the years went on, but at least you got the sense that George and Dorothy had a genuine affection for her. To Steve and Barbara, she's just a servant, nothing more. And Barbara Baxter really rubs me the wrong way -- she seems like a spoiled teenager (and probably isn't that much older). Give me the cool elegance of Dorothy any day!

Stick with the first format (and preferably the superior first season) if you're interested in watching "Hazel".

I'm also assuming you mean format.

I prefer the first family A LOT more then the second one. Give me the original Baxters any day over the old ones. The parents rub me the wrong way. The only really good thing about Barbara is the hair. At least what I remembered of it, lol. The show also lost a lot of it's entertaining qualities after a while.

Like TV Guy mentioned, Hazel seemed more like a servant then a friend to the second set of Baxters.

The first family, by far the best. It was clear they (George & Dorothy) had more of an affection for her than the OTHER family (lol). When a show goes to color, it's hard to keep the quality it had in B&W. So, with a new family and in color, IMO, Hazel just wasn't the same. So definitely the first family.

There were three years in color with the original Baxter family as well, but I like that first B&W season the best.

Originally posted by TV Guy
There were three years in color with the original Baxter family as well, but I like that first B&W season the best.

Oh, yeah, that's right, LOL, I completely forgot the original family were in color too, LOL. But you all know what I meant I think.

The original Baxters in both B&W and color.

The first Baxter family is my favorite also. But not just because George Baxter was a more entertaining, enjoyable and believable character and Dorothy was such a hot number who I never tire of drooling over. In addition to those 2 reasons, one reason I don't like the new Baxter's shows is that Hazel got really dumbed down by the time she moved in with the Steve Baxter's. The Hazel of the first few seasons would have run circles around the half-witted Hazel of the Steve Baxter days.
The worst example of this is when the Dope Hazel signs up for exercise lessons. This show is almost painful for me to watch, Hazel is such a pitiful mess in this program. She is completely bamboozled by a fast talking Lee Merriweather, the exerciase guru, the old Hazel would have just laughed at the sales spiel she was getting. Then after one lesson Dope Hazel slowly walks all the way back from the exercise session and falls into an easy chair and actually starts wailing at her own stupidity. Real stupid balling over her own moron decisions. Now you know the old Hazel, would #1 never have signed up, # 2, if she did sign up she would have gotten Mr. B to throw his lawyerly skills around to get her out of the "contract" and # 3 would have figured out how to get her money back from Lee without resorting to sticking someone else with her problem, which is what the new Sap Hazel did in the actual episode when she passed on the crooked excercise program onto another hapless fat woman. This show is the absolute worst of the series. I actually do get used to the Steve Baxter family after a while and I don't really mind them so much, but what I do mind is how they made Hazel into a dim-witted moron that could barely function. :confused:

The only reason I tune into the newer episodes is to see young Ann Jillian. She played a teenage on the show.

When Hazel moved from NBC to CBS for its last season in 1965-1966,it aired on Monday nights after The Lucy Show at 8:30 P.M. Notice the huge dropoff in the ratings when Hazel came on. It didn't even rank in the top 30 in its last and only season on CBS.

I definitely enjoyed George and Dorothy a lot better than I did Steve and Barbara. Steve and Barbara looked about 20 years younger than George and Dorothy even though Steve was George's brother.

George and Dorothy.

I like the original baxters better. I thought Ann Jillian was great and Lynn Borden sometimes and she honestly wasn't much older than a teenager she was only 26 and Ray fulner was like 31 or 2 i believe. I have only seen a few of the last season though.

Oh definitely George and Dorothy. I mean Steve and his wife were OK, but George and Dorothy had more personality. But the show never really jumped the shark, as our beloved Hazel was still there, baking award winning cookies, saving the day, bowling 290’s and butting into EVERYTHING!

Oh definitely George and Dorothy. I mean Steve and his wife were OK, but George and Dorothy had more personality. But the show never really jumped the shark, as our beloved Hazel was still there, baking award winning cookies, saving the day, bowling 290’s and butting into EVERYTHING!

Does anyone know why they decided to switch families? It was a huge mistake.

I'm only guessing, but CBS may have thought that the problem that caused NBC to have lower ratings (and therefore cancel the show), was the adult actors. So they directed Screen Gems to find new adult actors. I'm not sure why they decided to keep Bobby Buntrock--it appeared Shirley liked him for real, and maybe she intervened. I read somewhere Don DeFore found out that he was out by reading it in the newspaper.

By the way, I agree with the other posters, I prefer the original Baxters.

Thanks OH Nuts, for bumping this thread--I hadn't seen it before.

Hey, Witch Hazel is a Warner Bros. cartoon character--she was always chasing Bugs (in about 3 cartoons). Voiced by Bea Benaderet or June Foray.