LITTLE ROCK — What is it? Leave It to Beaver, the complete series, 234 episodes on 37 discs from Shout! Factory
When? Tuesday
How much? $199.99
What’s Leave It to Beaver? You’ve got to be kidding. Either that or you’re very young and your pop-culture education has been sorely neglected. Or you’ve been living under a rock for the last 53 years.
Who isn’t familiar with Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver (Jerry Mathers) - the sweet, well-meaning little boy who has a tendency to get into trouble? Or ideal big brother Wally (Tony Dow)? Or understanding parents Ward and June (Hugh Beaumont and Barbara Billingsley)?
This classic sitcom from 1957 to 1963 is basically a series of life and morality lessons with gentle comedy and kids who are cute without being cloying or obnoxious. Well, except for the ones you’re not supposed to like. Wally’s devious pal, EddieHaskell (Ken Osmond), has become a model for weasels and insincere flatterers everywhere.
How does it hold up? Pretty well. It’s funnier than I’d remembered or expected. No, it’s not perfectly realistic. It’s an idealized portrait of a family. But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing, does it?
Half a century later, this is still good, solid entertainment.
And thanks to restoration and remastering, the episodes look crisp and clear.
What about extras? Since this is the special complete series release, there’s a whole disc of extra features including some promotional video and a short interviewwith composer Dave Kahn. Lengthier items are:
Forever the Beaver: The Cleavers Look Back - This is 1 hour and 14 minutes’ worth of interviews with Mathers, Dow, Billingsley and Brian Levant (co-creator of The New Leave It to Beaver) from 2005. It’s a relaxed, informative feature full of anecdotes and their memories of co-stars and working on the series.
Ken Osmond & Frank Bank Remember - Memories of the series with Eddie and another of Wally’s pals, Lumpy Rutherford. The scripted banter between the two is pretty stilted and awkward, but they do have some nice stories to share.
Leave It to Beaver U.S. Treasury Film - This 15-minute film uses a story about Beaver trying to save moneyfor a bicycle to teach about savings stamp books and savings bonds.
Original Pilot - Rarely seen, this is a typical episode of the series but features Max Showalter (billed as Casey Adams) as Ward and Paul Sullivan as Wally.
There’s also a fold-up reproduction of the Leave It to Beaver Money Maker Game.
In addition, each season set contains one audio interview from Shokus Internet Radio’s Stu’s Show. The interviews are over an hour and run as a sort of commentary track over episodes.
New this week: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, series; The Closer, Season 5; Eureka, Season 3.5; Mad About You, Season 4.
Next week: Dragnet 1967, Season 2; ER, Season 13; Life on Mars, series; Rhoda, Season 3.
Style, Pages 53 on 06/27/2010