Our daughter came home (from Austin) for the weekend, and since we are fortunate to have our son living right here in San Antonio, the four of us have been together for the weekend. We celebrated Mother’s Day yesterday. Our son has a group function today that he goes to every other Sunday, and my daughter has a group hike she is at right now, thus the topsy-turvy Mother’s Day on Saturday.
I was very surprised to receive the second season of Hazel. Yes, Hazel, as in the 1960-ish television show. My husband and I have been making our way through this delightful show, and a while back I mentioned to him that I was going to go ahead and buy the second season. He told me to wait a while, just in case the end of the first season wasn’t up to par with where we currently were on our discs. Apparently, he knew our son and daughter had already purchased the second season of Hazel for one of my Mother’s Day goodies.
I have long been a fan of Shirley Booth – the actress who portrays Hazel, the housemaid of the Baxter family. I was first introduced to Shirley Booth’s acting when I saw the 1952 movie Come Back, Little Sheba. I was simply overwhelmed with how good she was. When I saw Booth in the 1958 movie called The Matchmaker, I knew she would be an actress whose work I would follow. (The Matchmaker is the original Hello, Dolly.)
Hazel is a situation comedy (sitcom) that aired in the early to mid 1960s. I had never watched the show, but while doing some internet surfing and digging a little while ago, I found it. I can’t remember how I happened upon it, but I’m glad I did. It has a “feel good” feeling about it, which is something my husband and I both enjoy. As I said before, Hazel is the maid in the Baxter household. The family is made up of Mr. Baxter/Mr. B. – Don DeFore, Mrs. Baxter/Missy – Whitney Blake [the mother of Meredith Baxter (Birney) and co-creator of another sitcom One Day at a Time], and Harold – Bobby Buntrock.
Hazel was the housemaid to Missy’s family while Missy was growing up, and she is now as close to Harold as she was to Missy. The very refreshing thing (these days!) is that Harold loves and respects Hazel, and doesn’t always have a roll of the eyes and some “clever” (in my mind what is really “smart-allecky”) retort every time a grown up talks to him. (The writing on the show is so good that they don’t have to rely on cheap gimmicks like a pain-in-the-neck kid to show humor.) The fourth member of the Baxter family is Hazel, for she is surely part of that loving family.
I started this entry as a short “Happy Mother’s Day” entry, but somehow, I got carried away with Shirley Booth and Hazel! To get back to my initial purpose: I hope you all have wonderful days!
For more Cozy viewing ideas, click on my Cozy Mystery TV & Movies page.
Denise says
Just took a break from a channel my cable company has called Antenna TV – they are having a Hazel marathon! Love love love the show. It started at 9 this morning and ends sometime after midnight. I won’t be up that late as I get up at 4AM but it is wonderful so watch a show that reflects good values.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Denise, you lucky, lucky person! I’m going to go check and see if we have Antenna TV. I love this show!
Patti S. says
I also love Hazel and have this on DVD, too! I never get tired of watching this nice, heartwarming, wholesome show. The junk they put on TV today cannot even match the good shows from yesterday! Shirley Booth was so good in this role.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Patti S, my husband told me that there’s a whole revamping of the Hazel show in the fifth season. What a shame >>> I think the rapport between Shirley Booth and Don DeFore is terrific.
Lois says
Isn’t it wonderful how good the writers on those old shows were? The Andy Griffith Show was another one that was so funny without resorting to anything cheap.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Lois, The Andy Griffith Show is another one that has been able to withstand the hands of time.
Patti S. says
Yes, Andy Griffith is another good show with good values. I just never get tired of watching this show!
Laurel says
For our movie night on Mother’s Day, my daughter said I should get to pick what we watched since it was my special day. (I always get outvoted by my husband and daughter) My pick? I Love Lucy. I have the first 5 complete seasons on DVD so we started with The Lost Pilot and made it through 3 episodes. Lucy never fails to make me laugh and it made me smile to listen to my daughter giggle the whole way through . It couldn’t have been a better day!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Laurel, I didn’t even know there was a lost pilot.
I get outvoted a lot of the time, also. But my husband would say that he gets outvoted all of the time!
Laurel says
The pilot’s so funny! I wouldn’t expect less from her, though.
My daughter always picks any of the first three (or 4-6) of the Star Wars movies and my husband chooses Looney Tunes. And while I love them all and Harrison Ford is nice on the eyes :), I do appreciate a little variety.
reginav says
You may enjoy “Hazel”, but I like “Mash”. I try to watch it every night. Unfortunately TV Land has phased it out, but it is still on ME TV.Often my husband will say “You have seen this episode before”, but I still watch it. I think Alan Alda is the greatest. It is nice to see that he has aged gracefully.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Regina, whenever I think of Alan Alda, I think of him in that Same Time, Next Year with Ellen Burstyn. (I had to look Ellen Burnstyn up >>> I somehow thought it was Sandy Dennis.)
Donna says
I’ve been watching the Hazel marathon on AntennaTV, too! Never saw the show before but it’s the type of gentle, feel-good comedy that they just don’t make anymore. We also watch MEtv a lot, they air oldies but goodies, too. I never miss an episode of Columbo and I’ve found some “new” old shows on these channels that are now my favorites. Seems like we watch the modern shows less and less.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Donna, that’s exactly what the Hazel show is to me: a “new” old show. I had never seen it before, but somehow found it.
After Denise mentioned AntennaTV yesterday, I had my husband check to see if we get it. It sounds like a channel that offers a lot of “new” old shows.
Laurel says
My 9-yr old has watched every episode of The Munsters and Leave it to Beaver at least twice on Netflix. We also introduced her to Gilligan’s Island and the old Dennis the Menace show and we all love The Andy Griffith Show. Nowadays, even the shows geared towards young children are filled with parents who are idiots, disrespectful children and dysfunctional families. It’s sad that we have to go back to shows that are 50 and 60-something years old to find something safe and clean for our children to watch.
Donna says
You can also go to their websites to locate the channels. MEtv and AntennaTV have a search box that will tell you where to find their stations in your viewing area. They are free over-the-air channels but some cable networks carry them, too.
Sandy says
Danna,
Just wanted to let ya’ll know that Amazon has Mary Daheim’s The Wurst is yet to come for $1.99 for Kindle.
Keep up the Great work,
Sandy
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Sandy, thank you for telling us about Mary Daheim’s Kindle version of The Wurst is Yet to Come being so cheap. I am always surprised when they lower the prices on authors’ current mystery books. (Getting this comment from you got me working on the latest Free Kindle Mystery Books & Cheap Kindle Mystery Books entry.)
Julia says
Danna,
I think I just have a warped sense of humor but I admit I found something poetic in spending Mother’s Day watching a TV show about a mom with a maid. Not quite sure that it’s the next best thing to having one in real life…but at least the dream is free.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Can you imagine, Julia, having a housemaid who lives with you?!? The people two doors up have a maid service who comes in for about three hours every week… and I’m guessing that costs more than Hazel saw in a month!