The complete series beautifully restored and remastered on 36 discs! Inspired by the real-life experiences of creators Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher's own children, Leave It To Beaver follows the hilarious everyday adventures of young Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver and his older brother, Wally. Whether at home, at school, or playing around in their suburban neighborhood, Beaver always manages to get himself into some kind of trouble, comically learning each valuable lesson life has to offer along the way. Alongside baseball and apple pie, Leave It To Beaver reigns supreme in the pantheon of Americana with 234 beloved episodes, spanning six iconic seasons from 1957–63. No other series on television better exemplifies the purity of childhood and importance of family in America.Bonus Content:Disc 18 - Leave It To Beaver Season Three: Audio Interview with Jerry Mathers and Frank Bank from Shokus Internet Radio's "Stu's Show"Disc 24 - Leave It To Beaver Season Four: Audio Interview with Tony Dow from Shokus Internet Radio's "Stu's Show"Disc 30 - Leave It To Beaver Season Five: Audio Interview with Tony Dow, Ken Osmond and Frank Bank from Shokus Internet Radio's "Stu's Show" Disc 36 - Leave It To Beaver Season Six: Audio Interview with Tony Dow from Shokus Internet Radio's "Stu's Show" Review: The Beav is on Blu! - At last, one of the best TV shows of all time has arrived on Blu-ray. The DVD’s of LEAVE IT TO BEAVER released by Shout Factory a few years back were excellent, so the obvious question is: is the Blu-ray a significant upgrade? Well, as Beaver himself would say, kinda-sorta. The picture quality is a bit sharper, offering improved contrast and detail. This definitely helps the episodes from the first two seasons, which were shot on different film stock from the later years and always looked somewhat soft and fuzzy. However, it should be noted that the series has NOT been newly remastered for this Blu-ray release. The episodes appear to have been taken from the same source as the DVD’s, and any improvement in the image comes from the higher resolution of the Blu-ray format, not any new restoration work. This is not to say that the new set is a let-down in any way, it’s simply not the stunning upgrade some fans might have hoped for. As for the series itself, I'd like to offer a few random thoughts about the show. First off, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER holds up so well after all these years because it deals with basic experiences about home and school that just about everyone can relate to. The things that stand out for me personally are not the plots or the acting, but rather the simple moments showing the kids just being kids: Wally and the gang playing basketball in the driveway, Beaver waiting for his father to get home from work, the boys daydreaming about how they would spend a million dollars. These are things I remember experiencing in my own childhood, and the series did a marvelous job of capturing the essence of youthful innocence. There are certainly some memorable episodes in the first two seasons ("Beaver Runs Away" and "Happy Weekend" come to mind), but a lot of the early scripts are pretty thin. In my opinion the series reached its peak in its third year. The writers and cast really had things down to perfection in Year 3. Towards the end of the fourth season the show started to lose some of its freshness, mainly because Jerry Mathers was growing up and naturally beginning to lose his little-boy charm. Also, the characters of Ward and June turned closer to being caricatures in the final seasons, always being flawlessly groomed and speaking perfect English. It's kind of hard to tell just how big a place Mayfield is supposed to be. Sometimes it seems like a small town (as when Beaver visits old Gus at the fire station), but other times (as with scenes of the busy downtown area and the upscale sporting goods store) it seems like a pretty good-sized city. Actually I think BEAVER was as good as any series in TV history at creating a believable town. The writers did a great job of establishing and consistently referring to local sites such as Metzger's Field, Friends Lake, Miller's Pond and so on. The frequent use of outdoor scenes also added much to the believability. The pilot, "It's A Small World", is kind of eerie to watch. It's almost as if you're looking at the Cleaver family in an alternate universe. At first glance everything seems about the same, but then you start to notice familiar faces with different names, and vice versa. Spooky! It's interesting to note that in the pilot Mr. Cleaver is shown SMOKING (hard to imagine Hugh Beaumont as Ward puffing away on a cigarette while talking to his wife). Also, in the pilot Wally and Beaver seem to be looked upon as outcasts rather than popular kids: both of them are referred to as being "creeps" by the other boys. Tony Dow's lack of acting experience is pretty evident in the very early episodes. However, he improved rapidly, and by the end of the series he was probably the most natural actor in the cast. In fact, during the final two seasons the best episodes were those centering around Wally, not Beaver. It's kind of funny when you think about it, but the Cleavers were, to put it bluntly, ultra-square. After all, the series was produced during the heyday of the early rock `n roll era, but Wally and his pals went to formal dances, wore suits and ties, and never did anything wilder than the cha-cha. Apparently those Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley records never made it to the music stores in Mayfield! Speaking of funny, check out the opening credits of the sixth season. If you look closely at the final shot, you can see that there’s no glass in the back window of the family car! (I’m sure it was temporarily removed to avoid reflections and provide a clear view of Wally and Beaver.) For those who are interested in seeing cast members in other roles, you might want to take a look at the first season of MR. NOVAK, an excellent drama series from the early 60’s (now on DVD) set in a big city high school that features a number of familiar faces from LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, including Tony Dow. It’s interesting to compare BEAVER with another family-oriented series from the same era, FATHER KNOWS BEST. Both shows are great, and both have their strengths and weaknesses. The acting on FATHER is a lot more natural, and the stories often have some moments of genuine drama and emotion. Yet too many of the FATHER scripts seem calculated to deliver an all-too-obvious moral lesson and have a tendency to drift into teary-eyed sentimentality. BEAVER’s lessons are usually built into the situations themselves and are blunted by some off-the-wall humor. On the negative side, sometimes I wish the writers and actors had loosened up a bit. The characters on BEAVER (adults and kids alike) often seem a little TOO well behaved and proper, and the dialogue tends to be a little stiff. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons that Wally’s wise-guy friend Eddie Haskell is so entertaining and one of the highlights of the show. Even with its shortcomings, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER still stands as one of television's all-time top comedies, and its blend of gentle wisdom and low-key humor will certainly keep audiences laughing for years to come. In today's entertainment world of wretched excess and cheap laughs, it's certainly a welcome treat. Is the new Blu-ray package worth getting? For die-hard fans or for those who never got the previous releases, I’d definitely say yes. For people who already own the DVD’s from Shout Factory, which were pretty darn good, I’d let your wallet make the call. Review: Good series and dvd set - I've wanted this dvd set for a long time but it was always too expensive. When I saw it here for the crazy low price of 36 dollars I pounced on it like Puff Puff the cat on a mouse and i'm so happy to finally own it. With over 200 episodes i'm sure there's a lot of episodes that i've still haven't seen from the television airings. I'm only on season 1 and have already enjoyed 2 episodes that were "new" to me so i'm anticipating a lot more. One of the "new" ones for me was the hunting jacket episode in season one and I enjoyed it a lot, especially the ending. So just for that alone, this dvd set was well worth purchasing. The set plays very clear with no issues and each season is packed inside it's own case which I really like over just putting them haphazardly into one large case. For those like myself who rely on then, the set is fully Closed Captioned which I very much appreciate because some studios tend to skimp on this feature making it inaccessible to a lot of viewers. And best of all.....there's no commercials to suffer through!! Beaver blissfully uninterrupted!
| ASIN | B07VCMNZ1N |
| Actors | Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Jerry Mathers, Ken Osmond, Tony Dow |
| Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 |
| Best Sellers Rank | #4,608 in Movies & TV ( See Top 100 in Movies & TV ) #2,053 in DVD |
| Customer Reviews | 4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars (773) |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Item model number | B07VCMNZ1N |
| MPAA rating | NR (Not Rated) |
| Media Format | DVD, NTSC, Subtitled |
| Number of discs | 36 |
| Product Dimensions | 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.5 Pounds |
| Release date | October 8, 2019 |
| Run time | 102 hours |
| Studio | SHOUT! FACTORY |
K**D
The Beav is on Blu!
At last, one of the best TV shows of all time has arrived on Blu-ray. The DVD’s of LEAVE IT TO BEAVER released by Shout Factory a few years back were excellent, so the obvious question is: is the Blu-ray a significant upgrade? Well, as Beaver himself would say, kinda-sorta. The picture quality is a bit sharper, offering improved contrast and detail. This definitely helps the episodes from the first two seasons, which were shot on different film stock from the later years and always looked somewhat soft and fuzzy. However, it should be noted that the series has NOT been newly remastered for this Blu-ray release. The episodes appear to have been taken from the same source as the DVD’s, and any improvement in the image comes from the higher resolution of the Blu-ray format, not any new restoration work. This is not to say that the new set is a let-down in any way, it’s simply not the stunning upgrade some fans might have hoped for. As for the series itself, I'd like to offer a few random thoughts about the show. First off, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER holds up so well after all these years because it deals with basic experiences about home and school that just about everyone can relate to. The things that stand out for me personally are not the plots or the acting, but rather the simple moments showing the kids just being kids: Wally and the gang playing basketball in the driveway, Beaver waiting for his father to get home from work, the boys daydreaming about how they would spend a million dollars. These are things I remember experiencing in my own childhood, and the series did a marvelous job of capturing the essence of youthful innocence. There are certainly some memorable episodes in the first two seasons ("Beaver Runs Away" and "Happy Weekend" come to mind), but a lot of the early scripts are pretty thin. In my opinion the series reached its peak in its third year. The writers and cast really had things down to perfection in Year 3. Towards the end of the fourth season the show started to lose some of its freshness, mainly because Jerry Mathers was growing up and naturally beginning to lose his little-boy charm. Also, the characters of Ward and June turned closer to being caricatures in the final seasons, always being flawlessly groomed and speaking perfect English. It's kind of hard to tell just how big a place Mayfield is supposed to be. Sometimes it seems like a small town (as when Beaver visits old Gus at the fire station), but other times (as with scenes of the busy downtown area and the upscale sporting goods store) it seems like a pretty good-sized city. Actually I think BEAVER was as good as any series in TV history at creating a believable town. The writers did a great job of establishing and consistently referring to local sites such as Metzger's Field, Friends Lake, Miller's Pond and so on. The frequent use of outdoor scenes also added much to the believability. The pilot, "It's A Small World", is kind of eerie to watch. It's almost as if you're looking at the Cleaver family in an alternate universe. At first glance everything seems about the same, but then you start to notice familiar faces with different names, and vice versa. Spooky! It's interesting to note that in the pilot Mr. Cleaver is shown SMOKING (hard to imagine Hugh Beaumont as Ward puffing away on a cigarette while talking to his wife). Also, in the pilot Wally and Beaver seem to be looked upon as outcasts rather than popular kids: both of them are referred to as being "creeps" by the other boys. Tony Dow's lack of acting experience is pretty evident in the very early episodes. However, he improved rapidly, and by the end of the series he was probably the most natural actor in the cast. In fact, during the final two seasons the best episodes were those centering around Wally, not Beaver. It's kind of funny when you think about it, but the Cleavers were, to put it bluntly, ultra-square. After all, the series was produced during the heyday of the early rock `n roll era, but Wally and his pals went to formal dances, wore suits and ties, and never did anything wilder than the cha-cha. Apparently those Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley records never made it to the music stores in Mayfield! Speaking of funny, check out the opening credits of the sixth season. If you look closely at the final shot, you can see that there’s no glass in the back window of the family car! (I’m sure it was temporarily removed to avoid reflections and provide a clear view of Wally and Beaver.) For those who are interested in seeing cast members in other roles, you might want to take a look at the first season of MR. NOVAK, an excellent drama series from the early 60’s (now on DVD) set in a big city high school that features a number of familiar faces from LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, including Tony Dow. It’s interesting to compare BEAVER with another family-oriented series from the same era, FATHER KNOWS BEST. Both shows are great, and both have their strengths and weaknesses. The acting on FATHER is a lot more natural, and the stories often have some moments of genuine drama and emotion. Yet too many of the FATHER scripts seem calculated to deliver an all-too-obvious moral lesson and have a tendency to drift into teary-eyed sentimentality. BEAVER’s lessons are usually built into the situations themselves and are blunted by some off-the-wall humor. On the negative side, sometimes I wish the writers and actors had loosened up a bit. The characters on BEAVER (adults and kids alike) often seem a little TOO well behaved and proper, and the dialogue tends to be a little stiff. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons that Wally’s wise-guy friend Eddie Haskell is so entertaining and one of the highlights of the show. Even with its shortcomings, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER still stands as one of television's all-time top comedies, and its blend of gentle wisdom and low-key humor will certainly keep audiences laughing for years to come. In today's entertainment world of wretched excess and cheap laughs, it's certainly a welcome treat. Is the new Blu-ray package worth getting? For die-hard fans or for those who never got the previous releases, I’d definitely say yes. For people who already own the DVD’s from Shout Factory, which were pretty darn good, I’d let your wallet make the call.
C**R
Good series and dvd set
I've wanted this dvd set for a long time but it was always too expensive. When I saw it here for the crazy low price of 36 dollars I pounced on it like Puff Puff the cat on a mouse and i'm so happy to finally own it. With over 200 episodes i'm sure there's a lot of episodes that i've still haven't seen from the television airings. I'm only on season 1 and have already enjoyed 2 episodes that were "new" to me so i'm anticipating a lot more. One of the "new" ones for me was the hunting jacket episode in season one and I enjoyed it a lot, especially the ending. So just for that alone, this dvd set was well worth purchasing. The set plays very clear with no issues and each season is packed inside it's own case which I really like over just putting them haphazardly into one large case. For those like myself who rely on then, the set is fully Closed Captioned which I very much appreciate because some studios tend to skimp on this feature making it inaccessible to a lot of viewers. And best of all.....there's no commercials to suffer through!! Beaver blissfully uninterrupted!
J**N
Never gets old.
Excellent quality. Watch over and over again at your leisure.
B**Y
Great quality
Perfect condition and great price
B**.
Worth its weight in gold.
I got the complete series years ago but some episodes will not play,especially one of my favorites,'A Night In the Woods" so this was the option.It was discounted and every episode plays.Hoarah!!
S**L
Absolutely Wonderful!
Such a great show and perfect discs! No scratches and very clear, also sound quality is excellent! I would recommend these to anybody that has a family with small kids. It is a great teaching tool on how to bring up children the best way possible! It is also hilarious! Wally and Beaver act like real life kids!! It is a TIMELESS TV show!
C**S
GREAT QUALITY, BUT LACKING BONUS MATERIAL ON DVD COMPLETE SERIES
The indoor scenes in season 1 are a little less grainy than the DVD release, but not as good as I was hoping. The video looks great, and if you don't have the DVD, the blu-ray is the one to purchase, though you'll miss out on the bonus material on the complete DVD box set. SO much more expensive in Canada, U.S. Amazon is the best place to buy this set. Four or five of my disc were loose in the season sets when it arrived, so that was a little disappointing.
M**R
All discs worked
Such a great family show, a classic
T**I
I like the beaver, so far no glitches
R**N
I managed to verify all of the discs except for Disc 2 from Season 5. I have been unable to read the disc successfully. Is it possible to send me a replacement for this disc? Thanks, Ron
B**L
No problems so far, 2 discs in, but I am expecting issues with some discs. Signed - Pessimist.
E**N
Love the complete set. So happy I purchased it.
K**R
Well worth the money spent! I love these old innocent tv shows.
Trustpilot
1 month ago
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