The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet

I really liked the series- a true American Classic. I agree with another poster about Wally Plumstead- he provided many humorous moments and actually carried the series for many of the episodes. I think I recall that there were some episodes where only Wally appeared and Rick was featured at the end in a separate filmed performance of his band. Also, the episodes with Thorny and the situations with Ozzie were definitely the most humorous in the series. Just one thing on your stats as far as appearances for each of the main characters. It says Harriet, David and Ricky each appeared in 172 episodes, where Ozzie was in 171. How could this be, since there were at 435 episodes total?

One of the big jokes about The Adventures Of Ozzie&Harriet was just what did Ozzie do for a living. I think that it was hoped that people would remember from radio and film that Ozzie was a bandleader and crooner coming up around the same time Bing Crosby did. Harriet was also a singer, but now a full time mom raising their two sons.

You have to view Ozzie&Harriet from a longer perspective. They were on radio for a dozen years before the TV series debuted in 1952. The births of David and Ricky were as much a part of our national folklore as Lucille Ball's most televised birth of little Ricky. And on radio it was known Ozzie was a musician.

It's not like there were any gags or routines on the show and Ozzie was not an idiot father being put down by his kids. Harriet certainly was an All American mom. I wish she had sung a little, she was a great singer in 30s and 40s. Just idealized family life in the Eisenhower years.

The show might have died had it not been discovered that Ricky Nelson inherited musical talent from his parents. He became quite the rock and roll king, but he could never be anything more than a good kid with Ozzie and Harriet raising him. No sullen Elvis Presley like rebellion in a Nelson.

Ricky had a string of some pretty good hits for about 10 years with a built in audience to introduce them. It added a whole new generation of fans for the Nelsons until musical tastes changed.

Change it did, the all American home wasn't playing quite so good in the counterculture 60s. But The Adventures of Ozzie&Harriet still has its place in our cultural history.

Ah, those were the days. THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET was such a wonderful piece of Americana, back in the days when the neighbor came in through the back door to pay his pal a visit. Nowadays, when the neighbor comes in through the back door, it's to spend a little time with his pal's wife! Sad to say, many people would consider the comedy of this wonderful sitcom as being obsolete, giving the false notion that this show is not funny. Actually, this show was really very funny, in spite of the lack of crude humor, the lack of profanity and the lack of, dare I say? sexual situations.

OZZIE AND HARRIET reminds me of that mythical sitcom featured on the movie, PLEASANTVILLE.

Even though Ozzie's character wasn't the most assertive person around, he was still the man of the house and he did keep his family together. He certainly did a far better job as the man of the house than (sad to say) too many so-called assertive husbands today as the number of divorces and dysfunctional households continue to increase.

The plots were funny enough. All those clever one-liners that took place throughout the program, only made what was originally a funny episode, even funnier, yet.

Before jumping to the ignorant conclusion that this show was bland, one must also remember that this show was one of the first sitcoms to feature real rock and roll as later episodes featured Ricky Nelson performing his hits.

This show not only brought rock and roll into American living rooms, it also made it acceptable to parents, proving that rock and roll music would not destroy American society.

One story that was printed long after the series was canceled involved Ricky Nelson and his mother, Harriet. Unlike too many mothers of that era, who thought rock and roll posed a threat to modern society, Harriet commented that when she was Ricky's age, the older generation made the exact same comments (in the 1920s) about jazz.

Another story that was printed involved Ricky Nelson's first encounter with Elvis Presley. Not knowing what to expect from this encounter, Ricky was surprised to discover that not only was Elvis a nice guy, he was also a big fan of THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET.

On screen, Ozzie may have been something of a good-natured fuddle, but off he had to be one sharp cookie. Lawyer, band-leader, producer, director, writer, actor, plus 13-year old Eagle Scout, that perpetual grin hid one talented guy. Then too, those Eagle Scout ideals fit in perfectly with the post-war period. From 1952-66, the show came into a ton of homes, mine included. It was a time when families were getting back together after a bad economy, a big war in Europe, plus a little one in Korea. Family life was treasured, and with any luck it gathered around a new-fangled TV in an expanding suburb. A very different time from now, one of expanding prosperity and opportunity.

One thing you knew when you tuned in, it would be a "wholesome" half-hour. Nothing controversial or serious. For better or worse, never anything about politics, sexual innuendo, or the outside world. Typically, it might be Oz trying to get his lawn-mower back from neighbor Thorny (DeFore) who doesn't want to move his car. True, it was a series basically about nothing. But the entries were nearly always amusing. Maybe not hilarious, but always worth a few head- nodding chuckles. Yes, life's trivial little problems could be entertaining if you were a gifted Ozzie Nelson.

Of course, Harriet was a big part of the humorous situations, always a voice of calm and good sense. Maybe vaguely amused by Oz's latest half-digested scheme. Wisely, I think, the show reserved any ditsy elements for neighbors or friends, a proved formula over the decades. That way the characters could drop in or out as needed. Importantly, however, characters like Clara Randolph (Croft) may be on the ditsy side but they were never exaggerated or mocked. Then too, except for sinister types, it looks like about every supporting player in Hollywood was on the show at one time or another.

At first, the boys-- a reliable David and a wise-cracking Ricky, oops! I mean Rick (as he preferred)-- blended in and out as junior members. But as they grew, the boys became more central, proving adept at the series low-key style. Then, of course, Rick became a teen R&R idol, a real risk for the show, given R&R's controversial influence on teens. Still, Oz proved as adept at handling that touchy phase as any other. In fact, many of us sort of grew up with Dave and Rick. But, I agree with others. Once the boys married, the show had outlived its appeal. Then too, times were changing. By 1966, Vietnam was heating up and so was the youth counter-culture, while a groundbreaking "All In The Family" (1971-79) and a very different kind of TV dad were only a few years off. An era had indeed ended.

Sure, in our own lid-is-off times, the show would likely never fly. For better or worse, it was very much an idealized reflection of its time. I recall even reading about folks who were unhappy because their family was not at all like the Nelsons. In a sense, as entertaining as they were, the TV Nelsons did exist in a societal vacuum, an ideal embodiment of that era. Still, I'm not at all sure that we're better off without it. I do regret, however, that Ozzie never appeared to get the industry recognition his low-key talent deserved. But then that sort of thing never does have a time limit.

I concur with the previous posts that Ozzie and Harriet was really a show "about nothing," and was quite funny until the boys got married (even then, it had its moments). Rather than showing how dull and boring the perfect traditional family could be, it celebrated the humor and fun in everyday life and its quirks. Most underrated was the comic talent of Ozzie. Not only was he hilariously adept and creative in his efforts to avoid work around the house, but when the situation resulted in physical comedy he was nothing short of amazing. I remember seeing a rerun 35 years ago, in which Ozzie has to swallow a big wad of ice cream. Just watching him, I could FEEL the brain freeze he got, and I still feel it just remembering. Personally, I like the 1952-1955 episodes with Don Defore as Thorny. The situations were believable but still funny-- Ozzie trying to convince everyone that he bought spot cleaner to help out an old lady instead of buying it to help out her sexy daughter, Ozzie scouring the town for tutti-fruity ice cream, Ozzie fretting over the rain damage that he knows he will get if he permits a nest of birds to remain in his rain gutter, Ozzie trying to send back a pair of chairs sent by mistake, Ozzie having to sleep apart from Harriet because she misinterprets Ozzie's support for separate rooms for the boys. In a way, Ozzie is a more functional and less stupid Homer Simpson. Since some of the shows can be obtained in the bargain DVD bins at Walmart and other places, do yourself a favor and give a few episodes a try.