Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The [TV Show] (DVD)

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For 14 years, Americans tuned in to watch "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet," a sitcom featuring former band leader Ozzie Nelson, his singer-wife Harriet, and their two boys, David and Ricky. It wasn't reality TV, and it wasn't a straight fictional sitcom, either. Their TV house on 822 Sycamore Road was built to look like an exact replica of the Nelsons' Hollywood home, and the episodes were often inspired by the Nelsons' real lives, especially young Ricky's, who had a propensity for lowering his head and driving full speed ahead, no matter what was involved. But it wasn't reality TV. The Nelsons played themselves, but there were still scripts to memorize and you always suspected that when the cameras stopped rolling there was a side to the family that you never saw. I mean, name two siblings in America other than David and Ricky that never really fought? These guys were as polite to each other as they were to their teachers or parents, whom they addressed as "ma'am" or "sir." As in "No, ma'am," or "Yes, sir." But I can't think of a better way to get a feel for the Fifties than by watching "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet."

Ozzie and Harriet remained pretty much the same throughout this squeaky clean-cut series. Ozzie was the ever-smiling, often bumbling or hapless father who had a good relationship with his wife and sons, and who never raised his voice or got angry. There seemed to be no secrets with this group, and no topic that was too small or too taboo to bring up. Ozzie always seemed to talk on a level that would have made him a great kiddie show host, especially when he wore those cardigan sweaters that Mr. Rogers later would discover. Harriet, meanwhile, was the always perfectly coiffed and poised matron who was the quiet voice of reason and the apron-wearing expert on social graces. It's the boys who did all the changing, Ricky especially. Viewers first saw him as a milder, 11-year-old version of Dennis the Menace--that twinkle-in-the-eye mischief-maker who was basically a good kid but had some pretty definite ideas about how to have fun. Then, before you knew it, Ricky was caught up in the brand new rock 'n' roll craze and dressed like Elvis Presley for one Halloween episode. The pre-teens went nuts. The family had always been musical, with the boys playing multiple instruments, so it was a no-brainer for Ozzie to figure out how to incorporate Ricky's playing into the show. His first musical outing aired on April 10, 1957, with "Ricky the Drummer." Quickly, Ricky Nelson became a teen idol, and his father, who had the same sort of control over this show as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had over theirs, made sure to incorporate every single song somehow in the family sitcom. If there wasn't a way to work in the song during the show, then it was tacked on at the end, like an epilogue or a bonus scene.

By the time he reached the age of 21, Ricky Nelson had earned nine gold records for Imperial Records, with two of his biggest hits topping the Billboard charts. "Travelin' Man" was technically the first rock video, because Ozzie found a way to intercut location footage with Ricky's performance. "Hello Mary Lou" was Ricky's biggest hit ever, selling over 7 million records worldwide, and that song appears in this "Best of Ricky and Dave" collection. And so viewers watched Ricky go from an impish adolescent to teen to teen rock star to young married man, all in the span of 14 TV seasons. The quieter, more steady older brother Dave also grew up and got married by the show's end, with his wife June and Rick's wife Kris also appearing on the show. Because they were real people, Americans really formed an attachment to the Nelsons. It's as if they were part of all of our own extended families, we seemed to know them so well and watched them over such a long period of time.

Thus far, Shout! Factory has released two collections--"The Best of" and "The Best of Ricky and Dave"--that at a suggested retail price of $34.99 are priced mostly for fans of the show. Certainly there were enough holiday episodes to do that same thing in a third thematic set, but this time Shout! Factory seems to be going after a new audience. "Christmas with the Nelsons" is the kind of bargain-priced ($9.99) DVD one will see at point-of-purchase displays with Christmas music CDs and holiday movies, and I'm betting that quite a few people may pick this up out of curiosity. If they do, they'll find four episodes that span five years in the lives of the Nelsons, with the earliest airing in 1952.