"The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" (1952)TV series 1952-1966

Director:

David Nelson

Writers:

Dick Chevillat (writer)
Bob Schiller (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

Release Date:

3 October 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family

Plot:

Very long running family saga, based largely on the actual actors involved. As the sons age we go through their teenage dating problems...

Plot Keywords:

Sitcom | Based On Radio Show | Brother Brother Relationship | Marriage | Actor Shares First Name With Character

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Ozzie Nelson	...	Ozzie Nelson / ... (223 episodes, 1952-1966)
Harriet Hilliard	...	Harriet Nelson / ... (223 episodes, 1952-1966)
Ricky Nelson	...	Ricky Nelson / ... (212 episodes, 1952-1966)
David Nelson	...	David Nelson / ... (211 episodes, 1952-1966)

Also Known As:

Ozzie and Harriet

Runtime:

30 min (435 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Selznick International Studios - 9336 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Stage Five Productions

Trivia:

Ricky Nelson's launch as a rock star on this series is an interesting tale. He was already musically talented, having inherited his ability from his parents. As rock-n-roll was starting to grow and Ricky's interest in the music grew, he kept asking father Ozzie Nelson to let him play on the show. Initially, Ozzie resisted until he realized that it was an opportunity to take advantage of Ricky's growth as a "teen idol" and would thereby help the show's popularity. Ricky first sang a cover of Fats Domino's "I'm Walking" on the episode "Ricky the Drummer" and soon afterward more episodes were tailored around showcasing Ricky's talents. However, not everyone was pleased with his foray into Rock-n-Roll. Most parents in America were still concerned that rock would be a bad influence on their children and many wrote letters to Ozzie and Harriet Hilliard protesting their allowing their son to take part in the music. The Nelsons dealt with the furor by injecting moments in the episodes in which Ozzie and/or Harriet would offer a sound and practical reasoning for supporting their son's music. With that, the furor died down and Ricky went on to become a major rocker with hits like "It's Late", "Traveling Man" and "Hello, Mary Lou".

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Sopranos: Big Girls Don't Cry (#2.5)" (2000)

Television's long running vintage situation comedy

Ozzie and Harriet Nelson were a real life husband and wife, and David and Ricky were their two sons. When the show started on October 3, 1952, David was 15 and Ricky was 12.

Some of the friends and neighbors were Thorny Thornberry (Don DeFore), Darby (Parley Baer), Joe (Lyle Talbot) and Clara Randolph (Mary Jane Croft), Doc Williams (Frank Cady) and Butch Barton (Gordon Jones), which gave the show a good supporting cast.

After Ricky sang "I'm Walkin" (the Fats Domino hit), on the episode, Ricky The Drummer (aired April 10, 1957), it became a million selling record and he became a rock and roll star. Ricky's songs were often featured in the episodes.

June Blair and Kris Harmon, David's and Rick's real life wives, respectively, joined the cast in the 1960s.

The character of Wally (Skip Young) gave the show some good comic moments.

The show was called "The Adventures Of The Nelson Family" in 1960 for a short time.

In the episode, "The Kappa Sig Party", Ozzie puts some great words together to express his feelings for his sons.

The number of "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" episodes that are available on video doesn't even come close to reaching the total of the 435 episodes that originally aired. I can only hope that those other episodes will be available sometime soon. This show is an American classic and deserves to be seen in its entirety. If the episodes that are unavailable on video are not in the public domain, then, someone needs to buy the rights and release those episodes on video. And please, when this does happen, put the episodes to DVD in a quality manner, the way they were originally seen, with the full length intact, and original commercials, if at all possible.