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A fan of vintage TV's take on 'Adventures of Ozzie + Harriet'

posted 15 years ago by forgetmenotnyc
12 replies | jump to latest

I recently watched a 2 DVD box set that was available from my local library. They were not catagorized as by season. There were 2 discs called "Primary School" and 2 called "High School." Unlike other B/W vintage family TV series that I have really enjoyed: Make Room for Daddy, Leave it to Beaver, Beverly Hillbillies, Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best, My Three Sons - these particular shows were badly reproduced/blurry, pretty charmless, and basically irritated me - especially the character of Wally (ick). Maybe knowing that this was an actual family living out their little dream life before an adoring public, tainted things somewhat for me. The fact that Ricky went on to become some kind of teen star amazes me since his energy level is so unappealingly low. Oh well, I will give them a try again if I see another possibility at higher resolution - but NO WALLY again, ever. He has to be the most gross totally irritating unappealing nerd character ever on TV?

[–] spike71 15 years ago

It's a shame the shows had such poor viewing quality. I am a die-hard Ozzie and Harriet show fan but I have to admit that even with the best picture quality, Wally gets/got on my nerves. But nevertheless, he's part of the show. I'm not surprised that Ricky made it as a teen star. His father promoted him alot. I wonder if Ricky's energy level seemed low because he didn't like what he was doing. I never thought he looked happy when he was singing. He always looked so somber. Maybe that was the sexy, enticing look that the girls loves. I've read several articles that say he really hated singing and he tells that in his song "Garden Party." Of the 2 boys, David was actually my favorite. I guess with the Nelson's, you either love them or not. I just loved the fact that it was a nice family show with some comedy and it demonstrated how family members respect each other. Sure, some of it was "corny" but it's innocent, clean entertainment. I'm hoping that all seasons are released!

[–] actionsub 8 years ago

The thing with "Garden Party" was that Rick was trying to express with that song that he was wanting his music to evolve with the times, but his fans kept wanting to hear "Poor Little Fool", "Hello Mary Lou", etc. They wanted to keep him the same "Ricky" they grew up watching on TV, failing to realize he'd grown along with them.

[–] Navaros 7 years ago

Garden Party sucks though. His older music was much better. You can't blame people for preferring his good music over his bad music.

[–] actionsub 7 years ago

I will give you that. By "Garden Party" he'd gone from a guy who, for his time and place, was kind of edgy to an old "get off my lawn" fogy. It totally lacked the energy of his earlier songs.

[–] Doug-Oh 7 years ago

By "Garden Party" he'd gone from a guy who, for his time and place, was kind of edgy to an old "get off my lawn" fogy. It totally lacked the energy of his earlier songs.

You kidding?
His music progressed toward country-rock.
His early 1970s LPs, particularly Garden Party, sounds like a lot of early Eagles songs, which were influenced by Nelson's groundbreaking "Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band" music.

[–] Navaros 7 years ago

I agree with actionsub. IMO Ricky's music devolved, not progressed.

I'll never understand why he hated being a handsome & popular & cool guy who made good music. Who wouldn't want that? IMO he must have had some psychological issues in his brain.

[–] Doug-Oh 7 years ago

I didn't say I didn't like his earlier music, which, IMO, was better (1956-1964), but in the late 1960s, he changed styles, which is usually what progressive artists (ala Brian Wilson (Beach Boys), Ray Charles, etc.) do.

[–] Doug-Oh 7 years ago

edite

[–] Doug-Oh 7 years ago

If you look at Ricky's later hits of the mid-1960s, after FOR YOU, his last major hit (from early 1964), the song selection was pretty mediocre.
Tin Pan Alley?
Old standards?
Slow ballads?

This during The Year of The Beatles (and Beach Boys) (1964)

Like Elvis, Ricky seemed to take himself "out of competition" in terms of his recording career, from 1964-1968.
From 1964, Elvis focused on songs from westerns, slow ballads, mostly uninteresting songs compared to the great tunes from the aforementioned groups as well as many others.

[–] flobiwan-1 13 years ago

I think Ricky was so deadpan because he couldn't act! Don't get me wrong, i love the show but acting was obviously not Ricky Nelson's forte. I also don't think his voice was that great either. Fantastic show, though.

[–] bmovies 13 years ago

"I think Ricky was so deadpan because he couldn't act!"

I agree with you. But I think his singing was better.

[–] actionsub 7 years ago

But didn't it seem like almost every male character who interacted with Ozzie and the boys was kind of nerdy? They almost needed some sort of "alpha male" caricature to contrast with Ozzie, but everyone was so low-key.
They speak of "Seinfeld" as being "a show about nothing", but Ozzie Nelson took it to depths Jerry and the gang never sunk to.