Don't Leave It, Take It

In the 1950's, TV was an expensive addition to the household, and once purchased, took pride of place for the entire family's entertainment. TV producers responded by carrying over family favourites from the radio over to the TV, and by developing family friendly prime time television shows to lure new audiences into spending their money on that TV. TV back in the 50's and '60's were governed by very strict rules and actually had to pass the censor BEFORE being aired, just as motion pictures have to today. It's probably not surprising, then, that most TV was made clean cut and wholesome from the word go, in order to avoid expensive reshoots, rewrites, and alienating sponsors.

One such clean cut family TV show of the period was Leave it to Beaver, and this show has had a steady stream of ready viewers. Some watch it as they recall the first run, and introduced their own children to it. Others like me watched it because Ted Turner's WTBS and other regional independent stations were spending cash on expanding their broadcast reach via cable, and after school all the way to early prime time, ran all the old TV shows they could grab on the cheap from syndication. Black and white shows were amongst the cheapest in this world of colour TVs, so black and white shows that had family appeal were staple. This meant that I got to see it for years as TBS ran this in rotation, as did several other small independent TV stations in other areas we moved to thanks to Uncle Sam.

I have to say right here that nostalgia is not my main reason for having ordered the series though. No, I have kids, and they are at that age where they don't go to bed to 9 PM, but what's on between 7 and 9 just is not suitable unless we want nothing but the Simpsons and cartoon kiddie channels. Like most people, we like variety, so the past few years, we have been dredging up old TV shows that fit the family friendly standard of viewing we desired to enjoy with our kids, and began to order them. This is one such set.

Leave it to Beaver focuses on the two young brothers and their friends, as well as the boys' parents. It is primarily about the two brothers, and the show is shown from their perspective. Young Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver and his brother Wally live in a leafy suburban street with their father Ward and mother June. June was a typical middle class American home maker of the period, keeping a tidy home and providing food and treats with a ready smile. Ward was a hardworking man who took a close interest in his sons and was devoted to June. Wally was the rather fed up older brother who was trying to grow up without getting into too much trouble. With his disturbingly charming and utterly devious friend Eddie Haskell, this was not always possible. Nor was young Beaver entirely innocent. Childhood is full of so many pitfalls, and somehow he seems to have a talent for finding them, poor little guy!

Of course, finding trouble means Mom and Dad having the goings on brought firmly to their attention. To give them credit, malfeasance was dealt with firmly, fairly, lovingly, and appropriately, with the boys learning a valuable lesson. That is not to say the Beaver and Wally were overjoyed about it. No, they got pretty down, but did understand how they went wrong and why the consequences were what they were. These were the days when if you screwed up, you knew something was going to be done about. No neighbours or businesses here having to go to lengths for restraining orders or anything, as the community worked together, parents taught and enforced values, and kids and their parents were an involved family unit. Not to say the show is all doom and gloom. Far from it, as just in any child's life, Beaver and Wally had their ups as well as their downs. The ups were dealt with as much as the downs, and when their WAS a down, it was dealt with gently and humorously, but always with that tiny moral nugget hidden in there. Even bullying was dealt with great understanding, and its a real treat to watch the bullying, unhappy child known as Lumpy go from feared bully to understood friend as both he and the boys grow a little thanks to a bit of parental guidance here and there.

The scripts were particularly well written, with inspiration for the stories coming directly from the lives of the writers' children. The writers took notes of their children's interactions with friends and the scrapes they got in, working them into the stories still so beloved today .Because of this, the stories still ring true and do not feel contrived, and don't suffer from that awful cuteness and over sentiment that shows about children can all prey to. Likewise, the young actors were chosen for their realistic outlook. Young Jerry Mathers (Beaver Cleaver) famously came to several auditions in his Cub Scout uniform, and at one call back wanted to know if they could hurry, as he wanted to go to Scouts and hang out with his friends. This sort of non glamour and ordinariness was the exact thing they were looking for, and he got the part on the spot, along with being sent on his way to Cubs.

This particular box set is in the original black and white, which is great in my opinion. I don't understand the need to colour in everything, and sometimes, it ruins the look of a film. In this case, the black and white serves to underscore the feeling of tradition. We are trying to raise our children with a respect for traditional community and family values, and seeing kids just like themselves, in the black and white of half a century ago, goes on to reinforce the idea that childhood has not changed much, and that some values simply do not change. Please and thank you are never out of demand, nor is the appreciation of doing your chores, and so on. It's all very watchable because of the timeless quality of the scripts, the fine acting of the cast, and not least to the crisp and clear transfers from the 35 mm to digital. The immediacy of the themes comes across quite strongly thanks to the clarity of the transfer and restoration, making this look like it could have been shot last week.

Likewise the audio is crisp and clear, though mono as you would expect from the non stereo decades of the 20th century. It is clear and undistorted, however, so just turn up your volume slightly to compensate and all will be well. This region 1 only release has all 39 episodes present here, uncut, and great relief is to be had that the horrible laugh track had not yet invaded the consciousness. The original pilot pitch to the network is provided as an extra too, which is an opportunity to see a young Harry Shearer of The Simpsons as he makes an appearance as a friend of the boys. There are some adverts for upcoming film releases, but consideration was shown in keeping this down to under 5 minutes AND making it available to commands from the remote to skip them.

My only real quibble is the whole double sided disc thing again. Until they manage to print on a side that you can also read data from, its a terrible idea. You get that tiny writing so small that not only can I barely read it without squinting, even my kids practically need a magnifying glass to, and they have perfect vision. How on earth it is expected to be read in artificial light, in the evening, using an energy saving bulb, I don't know. So two thumbs down on that front. It's the only thing spoiling an otherwise perfect release though, so here's hoping they hear the complaints and save future endeavours from this pitfall.