There are certain shows that TV lovers must have at least a modicum of familiarity with in order to legitimately call themselves experts on the medium. For example, you don’t necessarily need to have every episode of
I Love Lucy on your shelf, but if someone mentions Fred and Ethel in casual conversation, you’d better be able to keep up. Just bits and pieces here and there are fine: where Mayberry is; what theme song starts with “Come on, knock on my door…”; who shot J.R. A primer coat must be put down.
This TV-head got a chance to beef up his knowledge of all things boob tube when I received
The Beverly Hillbillies: The Official Second Season last week. I knew about the feature film spin-off and had a relative familiarity with the series’ iconic theme song and the show’s basic concept, but I had yet to actually sit down and watch an episode (or, in this case, a season). It was quite an eye-opener.
The reasoning behind the nomenclature of
The Official Second Season is because the episodes of
The Beverly Hillbillies’ first season are in the public domain. Paramount simply hasn’t had the exclusivity required to merit a full episode-by-episode first season set, so this second season box set is the first of its ilk. I may not be getting a full dose of how the show started, but I definitely know how it looks in its sophomore session. It goes a little something like this…
The Clampetts struck oil a while back, and they took their immense fortune and headed west for the “hills of Beverly.” There, they fused their pseudo-Ozark backwoods sensibilities with the glitz and glamour of the California stardom epicenter. There’s Jed (Buddy Ebsen), the figurehead of the group, and Granny (Irene Ryan), the lovable if completely whacked-out matriarch of the clan, as well as Elly May (Donna Douglas), and an extended cast of country-bumpkin weirdos who have trouble adjusting to the L.A. life.
And what kind of events occur in this second season? I’m glad you asked. In the second episode (
Hair-Raising Holiday), the group celebrates Possum Day (there’s even a parade), Elly May starts her scholastic career at a prep school nearby (
Elly Starts to School), the clan tries to stage a deep-sea fishing trip (
The Clampetts Go Fishing), and we get a visit from a zany veterinarian who’s called in to the Clampett mansion (
The Critter Doctor). The list goes on. How is it, though? Not great.
Like
The Addams Family,
The Beverly Hillbillies stays glue-stick-close to its shtick. If you fall in the love with one
BH episode, odds are you’ll be roped for the whole shebang. If you’re on the series’ wavelength, you’ll be in light-comedy heaven. It should come as little surprise, however, that time has not been kind to
The Beverly Hillbillies. For every example of charm (Ella May’s adorable turn in a Beverly Hills beauty pageant), there are antiquated plot devices that simply stall (Jed’s constant search for a beau for Elly May is borderline creepy).
We get some great guest stars; this writer was particularly impressed with Flatt & Scruggs appearance as themselves. But for the most part, these second-season episodes of
The Beverly Hillbillies are more important historically than as entertainment. The show made such a splash during its initial run that it seems only fair to have a slight knowledge of the series, but aside from a few chuckles, this is definitely time-capsule TV that’s hardly mandatory for your DVD shelf.
Although, I will now exclusively refer to veterinarians as “Critter Doctors.”
The Video: How Does The Disc Look?
My expectations were pretty low for the visuals on these discs, but they really stunned me; the show looks great. Sure, there’s a bit of smear to all the episodes; of all the characteristics of these transfers, finely grained detail suffers the most. But the cleanliness of the transfer prints is far more pristine than I would have ever imagined, and strobing is kept to a minimum.
Hillbillies fans will be ecstatic when they see these.
The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
I wish the same could be said for the monaural tracks. I mean, the tracks are mono (and
were mono when originally broadcast), but fidelity is exceptionally limited, even more than normal. The show’s theme song sounds all right, and dialogue comes through moderately clearly, but in my experience with classic old-fashioned TV, I’ve heard far better tracks than these.
English Closed Captions are included.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
The big bonuses are the
original openings and closings to each episode; they’re a lot of fun. We also have four
featurettes: Irene Ryan’s original screen tests; a clip from the original pilot of the series; a network promo; and, a 1969 interview with Paul Henning.
One also has the option of watching these episodes with their vintage,
original sponsor ads, which is kinda fun.
Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?
There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.
Final Thoughts
If you have a soft spot for
The Beverly Hillbillies, this second season will shock you; these episodes look ten times better than you might imagine. Those without a predetermined affinity for the series, though, might want to proceed with caution (although if you watch these episodes, I insist you watch with the original sponsor ads mixed in; that’s a hoot).
