Leave It To Beaver – Season Three (1959 – 1960/Universal/Shout! Factory DVD Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Episodes: B
When
Universal started to personally issue the first seasons of Leave It To Beaver a few years ago, they were so good, we thought
we might see a revival of such classic TV via DVD. However, they took a break after 2006 and
fans wondered if that was the end of the releases. You can read our coverage of The Complete First Season at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3064/Leave+It+To+Beaver+-+The+Complet
Four
years later and we are finally getting Season
Three and the rest of the series, but more on that in a minute. This season had no less than 39 half-hours
and at this point, the energy and smooth free flow of the actors as the
characters was flawless. You believe
they are a family and it built up what was the “perfect” TV family and one so
many shows tried to imitate with few succeeding. The stories leaned more towards the kids,
where the likes of Father Knows Best
was balanced a little more towards the adults, but still leaned towards their
kids too. Beaver was not as serious a show.
Unlike sitcoms starting in the 1980s, children were not made out to be
precocious robots or the biggest problem in the world, but with respect as
young and growing people in healthy ways.
Richard
Deacon (Dick Van Dyke Show) and
Madge Blake (the Adam West Batman
series) show up as occurrent characters and Jean Vander Pyl (the voice of Wilma
on The Flintstones) shows up as two
different characters entirely. Also look
for Ann Jillian, Rory Stevens (De Palma’s Carrie
in Wally, The Businessman), Veronica
Cartwright, Majel Barrett (both in Beaver
& Violet) and character actors Paul Bryar (Beaver’s Bike) and Bill Baldwin (Wally’s Weekend Job) in a shows that hold up shockingly well a
half-century later.
The 1.33
X 1 black and white image is from excellent prints materials as shot on 35mm
film with fine Video Black and detail for this format, on par with Season One and even a tad better
throughout. There are still some issues
with softness here and there, plus some print flaws at times, but the show has
never looked better and this is not even High Definition. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also very clean
and clear for its age, even when it shows its age. This was a well-recorded show for its time
and Universal made sure it was top quality as they built their TV empire to go
with their motion picture studio. Extras
include a booklet with an episode guide for this season and a more recent radio
interview with original series co-stars Jerry Mathers and Frank Bank from Stu’s
Show.
The show
ran six seasons and a Complete Series
set is scheduled only a few weeks after this set’s release.
- Nicholas Sheffo
