Sam's Project

[ullmanndb]

What's happening? Has anything been released? I never even got my T-shirt!

[gidgetgrape]

It's been 5 years and whenever someone asks about it, the response is that Sam is still working on it.

[Hazel Anyday]

I hope Sam lives long enough, more importantly, I hope I live long enough to see this miracle project come to life.

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by gidgetgrape

It's been 5 years and whenever someone asks about it, the response is that Sam is still working on it.

Hoo boy.

[Dan Tullis]

The last I heard, he was going to allow subscribers to view select episodes online. No word yet on a dvd.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by Dan Tullis

The last I heard, he was going to allow subscribers to view select episodes online. No word yet on a dvd.

Sadly I think the project has tanked. And Sam is getting all crazy about people posting eps on the Internet. Sadly, that horse got let of the stable years ago. Yes a lot is on The Tube for free, but he still has lot's of treasures his and his alone. Release those on a DVD perhaps. If marketed correctly as prime vintage nostalgia, which it is, it could appeal to many-not just us hard-core O&H fans.

[stevea]

It's really sad when old films deteriorate to such an extent that they can't be saved, and all that's left is what was preserved as edited syndication prints on videotape. And some episodes which were officially released on DVD, also based on syndication prints. So what we're left with is public domain episodes of varying quality, some of which are at least complete. What a shame.

[gidgetgrape]

Originally Posted by OH Nuts!

Sadly I think the project has tanked. And Sam is getting all crazy about people posting eps on the Internet. Sadly, that horse got let of the stable years ago. Yes a lot is on The Tube for free, but he still has lot's of treasures his and his alone. Release those on a DVD perhaps. If marketed correctly as prime vintage nostalgia, which it is, it could appeal to many-not just us hard-core O&H fans.

I think Sam was in over his head from the beginning. I've never understood why all the seasons had to be restored at once. Was he hoping for a syndication deal? It would have been better to release one season at a time than none at all, especially when you're taking donations. If this would have been a company instead of a Nelson, people would be livid.

[Dan Tullis]

Originally Posted by gidgetgrape

I think Sam was in over his head from the beginning. I've never understood why all the seasons had to be restored at once. Was he hoping for a syndication deal? It would have been better to release one season at a time than none at all, especially when you're taking donations. If this would have been a company instead of a Nelson, people would be livid.

Yes, he was in way over his head. He should have come clean at some point, and said "sorry folks, but this isn't going to happen". But he gets angry when anyone suggests he is ripping off the fans.

[TeeVeeCloset]

As a major contributor to the project, I say honestly I spent about 12 hours with Sam, gf & dog and toured him the town of ridgefield park and still standing teaneck road home.

We had alot of conversations that i must leave "off the record" but can say his ambitions were real, maybe a bit too premature or naive out of innocence.

What I can say from our day of conversation, I was taped for the dvd extras, he had total intentions of releasing one season at a time, I showed him the O&H board here (he wasn't aware) and yes we discussed when all done, a hopeful "new" syndication package for Metv, Antenna, etc.

At the time, Sam had not gone through the entire film cans, so he discovered that many were beyond repair and just red dust, there were family estate issues, he came through with every item i was entitled to being a "large" contributor.

We conversed for awhile, but haven't followed up with him in years, but please trust me the Sam I spent that sunny day with, was 100% sincere intentions.

PS.....I would like to add without writing anything too personal or private of the Nelson family, the stories Sam shared with me growing up being very close to his grandma Harriet are something so heartwarming I will never forget.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by TeeVeeCloset

As a major contributor to the project, I say honestly I spent about 12 hours with Sam, gf & dog and toured him the town of ridgefield park and still standing teaneck home.

We had alot of conversations that i must leave "off the record" but can say his ambitions were real, maybe a bit too premature or naive out of innocence.

What I can say from our day of conversation, I was taped for the dvd extras, he had total intentions of releasing one season at a time, I showed him the O&H board here (he wasn't aware) and yes we discussed when all done, a hopeful "new" syndication package for Metv, Antenna, etc.

At the time, Sam had not gone through the entire film cans, so he discovered that many were beyond repair and just red dust, there were family estate issues, he came through with every item i was entitled to being a "large" contributor.

We conversed for awhile, but haven't followed up with him in years, but please trust me the Sam I spent that sunny day with, was 100% sincere intentions.

PS.....I would like to add without writing anything too personal or private of the Nelson family, the stories Sam shared with me growing up being very close to his grandma Harriet are something so heartwarming I will never forget.

I think Sam had good intentions, but I’m glad I only donated $50. At least I got a cool T-shirt and a good pic. I’m certainly not resentful in any way. I think he wanted to do something to bring himself and O&H fans close to his heritage, but the project was MUCH more complex than he realized.

[stevea]

Ozzie was such a great overseer/producer of the show, and put together 400+ great episodes (allowing for a few duds). But decisions made later, I don't know. Why were the copyrights allowed to expire? Other than for Disney Channel, were the episodes ever transferred to videotape? (I'd doubt it, since that would be a source to convert to DVD, if the 35mm's had deteriorated).

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by stevea

Ozzie was such a great overseer/producer of the show, and put together 400+ great episodes (allowing for a few duds). But decisions made later, I don't know. Why were the copyrights allowed to expire? Other than for Disney Channel, were the episodes ever transferred to videotape? (I'd doubt it, since that would be a source to convert to DVD, if the 35mm's had deteriorated).

Out of 435 eps maybe 10 were duds. Not a bad %! Too bad copyrights were allowed to expire.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by TeeVeeCloset

As a major contributor to the project, I say honestly I spent about 12 hours with Sam, gf & dog and toured him the town of ridgefield park and still standing teaneck road home.

We had alot of conversations that i must leave "off the record" but can say his ambitions were real, maybe a bit too premature or naive out of innocence.

What I can say from our day of conversation, I was taped for the dvd extras, he had total intentions of releasing one season at a time, I showed him the O&H board here (he wasn't aware) and yes we discussed when all done, a hopeful "new" syndication package for Metv, Antenna, etc.

At the time, Sam had not gone through the entire film cans, so he discovered that many were beyond repair and just red dust, there were family estate issues, he came through with every item i was entitled to being a "large" contributor.

We conversed for awhile, but haven't followed up with him in years, but please trust me the Sam I spent that sunny day with, was 100% sincere intentions.

PS.....I would like to add without writing anything too personal or private of the Nelson family, the stories Sam shared with me growing up being very close to his grandma Harriet are something so heartwarming I will never forget.

I envy you. I would have loved to meet Sam. And I am in agreement; I think his intentions were good - he just bit of more than he could chew without realizing it.

I hope he’ll reach out, or create an opportunity to meet with fans of the show.

[TeeVeeCloset]

Originally Posted by OH Nuts!

I envy you. I would have loved to meet Sam. And I am in agreement; I think his intentions were good - he just bit of more than he could chew without realizing it.

I hope he’ll reach out, or create an opportunity to meet with fans of the show.

Sam was a very gentle sweet man during the day I was with him, video taped, and then we went to the correct Teaneck road home, the original house number was changed decades ago, But I knew the correct house that still stands. Then to Ozzie Nelson Drive near the High School in Ridgefield Park. All captured on Tape.

Please remember when Sam started the kickstarter project, the long time very large Nelson family lawyer was still "in-charge", After my day with Sam as mentioned we emailed a few times, he sent me the rick cd boxset, plaque with my name, etc. He told me of his sincere disappointment when finding that a huge amount of early season episodes were beyond repair. He then had the UCLA restoration consortium start doing restorations, this is extremely expensive frame by frame. At least at UCLA....at the time.

I emailed with the family lawyer on a subject, without malice i found him to be very uncooperative or again for "legal reasons here", we simply were not on the same page. I have no idea as of this writing who in charge/represents the Nelson estate now, so again this post does not reflect on any current Nelson estate representation. Remember family patriarch David was the legal decision maker along with the lawyer. I stress I have had no contact for no particular reasons with Sam or the Nelson estate in many years. I simply moved onto other projects.

Please read in between the lines, I will "say" When you have many family members in an estate, though "they" may not show any legal ambition to restore the series or keep its history preserved for future generations, when one family member has an interest, with potential "possible" profits, (legal disclaimer) I "write" this with "opinion & no legal fact" as my "opinions do not reflect any Nelson family member, estate, or legal representation" (current or past) some start to demand profits before a film can is open.

The above editorial opinion does not represent/reflect upon any Nelson family member and/or current/past legal Nelson family representation.