"Hazel" (1961) TV series 1961-1966

Creator:

Ted Key

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

28 September 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

George Baxter was a highly successful corporation lawyer who was always in control of everything at the office...

Plot Keywords:

Wife | Maid | Beautiful Woman | Sitcom | Household Servant

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Shirley Booth	...	Hazel Burke (154 episodes, 1961-1966)
Bobby Buntrock	...	Harold Baxter (154 episodes, 1961-1966)
Don DeFore	...	George Baxter (125 episodes, 1961-1965)
Whitney Blake	...	Dorothy Baxter (125 episodes, 1961-1965)

Runtime:

30 min (154 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Trivia:

Although the first season was in black and white, one episode was filmed in color: "Hazel: What'll We Watch Tonight? (#1.6)" (1961), in which the Baxter household gets the first color TV on the block. Reportedly, RCA Color TV was a sponsor, and this was a promotional gimmick. Later in 1964, Shirley Booth and Don DeFore appeared in a print ad for RCA Color TV in many magazines.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mad About You: Maid About You (#1.12)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Hazel

The Real Burke's Law

The 154 half-hour episodes (34 in B&W, 120 in color) of the situation comedy "Hazel" were originally broadcast on NBC (last season on CBS) from 1961-1966. The was an extremely popular baby boomer show although it is now in the "dead man walking" category as none of the original four principal actors are still alive.

George Baxter (Don Defore who already had a following from his years as Thorny on "Ozzie and Harriet") was a successful and wrapped a little too tight attorney who had married a woman (Whitney Blake) with her own lifelong nanny/housekeeper (Shirley Booth in the title role). They had a young son Harold (Bobby Buntrock). George is a klutz around the house and most of the conflict revolves around his frustration when he is routinely shown-up by the much more competent Hazel.

Hazel pretty much runs the family, sorting out the Baxter's weekly problems and keeping the frustrated blustering George in line. Living with Hazel was a lot worse than living with Amos McCoy because she was rarely (if ever) wrong or repentant as she incessantly meddled in everyone's life.

In its last season the producers shake things up and ship George and Dorothy off to Saudi Arabia. Hazel and Harold move in with George's younger brother Steve (Ray Fulmer), his wife Barbara (Lynn Borden), and his daughter Susie (Julia Benjamin); 1960's television was notorious for finding creative ways to back fill with younger children when the original ones grew too old to appeal to their intended demographic.

Steve, Barbara, and Susie constitute the most physically attractive family in television history, but Hazel soon took over their household as well; although Steve and Barbara do stand up to her better than their predecessors. The popular theory at the time was than George and Dorothy just made up the Saudi story so they could escape Hazel's domination and live out their lives somewhere else with some degree of independence.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.