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

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The Boys Christmas Money is an engaging episode that has a little more sibling sass that usual, though the boys are always hyper-polite with their parents and other adults. Kids watching with their families will no doubt be astounded by the level of civility and the fact that the kids say "Yes sir" and "Thank you sir" to adults. This story finds the boys wanting to get a jump on earning the money to buy Christmas presents. Actually, it's the older David who's proposing to earn it; Ricky would just as soon have Dad fork it over. But Ozzie goes along with it, and decides to "help" the boys find work when none seems to be available by making a deal with the local grocer. If he'll give the boys some chores and pay them a dollar each, Ozzie will reimburse him later. We never see the boys at work and never see anything done with Christmas money. Typical of "Ozzie & Harriet" episodes, the whole thing revolves around Ozzie and Harriet's attempts to help the boys, with a final irony taking both of them by surprise.

Late Christmas Gift aired the same year (1952). Grandma Nelson's gifts arrived late, and Ricky keeps bugging David about this gigantic history book that was inside the box with his name on it. Why would Grandma give you a book? he wants to know. Ricky starts him thinking that maybe the jacket he liked that his father opened up was really for him, and that book was for dear old Dad. It's another twist plot, but a slower-moving one that the far superior first episode on this disc.

The Fruitcake is kind of a 1955 Grinch version of "Gift of the Magi," with everything set in motion when Harriet reminds everyone that they should write thank-you notes to the people who gave them gifts. But when it comes to Ozzie thanking Thorny (Don DeFore) for the fruitcake that he unimaginatively gives every year, the words just don't seem to flow very easily. In fact, resentment and anger flows more readily. In another episode that features a twist revolving around a single issue, we end up hearing Thorny's side of it. Probably the second best episode on this disc.

The Christmas Tree Lot shows the boys all grown up, and includes Ricky performing "Baby I'm Sorry" at the Christmas tree lot the boys have set up with their friends in order to (yep, you guessed it) earn the money to buy Christmas presents. Though much of the episode involves Ozzie trying to help the boys get a lot or a space for their trees, the highlight is really that Ricky Nelson number and the interaction between the Nelson boys and their friends, which we sometimes don't see enough of in this series.

Video:
The box doesn't say so, but these episodes look as if they've been cleaned up a bit. They're old and they show their age, with not as deep contrast as the better B&W videos from this time period, and there are several episodes of noise and squiggles that appear to be the result of compression artifacting. The black levels are a little low, but overall, the 1.33:1 picture looks very good. You won't get the commercials that introduced and concluded the shows, but the episodes themselves are clean enough so that the picture quality isn't a distraction as it is with some releases.

Audio:
The audio is (big surprise) a no-frills Mono that at least is mostly free of hiss, pop, crackling, and other distortion. You get some of it in several episodes--after all, this set spans a number of years--but overall the sound is also solid enough to keep from being an intrusion. On one episode, though, when the edit following a commercial break occurs there's a sudden reduction in sound level, which is atypical for Shout! Factory productions. But it only happens once, and a quick sound adjustment takes care of it.

Extras:
There are no bonus features on this bargain-priced DVD.

Bottom Line:
There are so many holiday movies out there that a number of families watch one every night in December as a build-up to Christmas. It's nice to be able to throw a new one into the mix of old standards, and while "Christmas with the Nelsons" isn't exactly an "over the meadow and through the woods to Grandma's house," it's pretty darned wholesome family fare. It also might spark a discussion among family members about then and now, while grandparents or parents will find themselves basking in the warm glow of nostalgia. Two of these episodes are strong, while two are okay. In my book, that makes it a 6 out of 10.

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