Premiering in 1962, THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES sprang onto the American landscape like bubblin' crude, turning into television's number one show faster than any sitcom in history. A supreme television classic, this CBS-TV fol... more »klore favorite ran for nine years and still holds the record for TV's highest-rated half hour.From the creative genius of TV pioneer Paul Henning (The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show, Love That Bob, Petticoat Junction), comes the story of poor Ozark mountaineer Jed Clampett and his kin, striking it rich with oil and headin' for Beverly Hills, California. Join the feistiest Granny of them all, wise Uncle Jed, his critter-loving daughter Elly May and love-crazy Cousin Jethro in their unrefined, legendary quest for an idyllic West Coast existence. Welllll, doggies!This second Ultimate Collection features 27newly-restored and unedited episodes with the classic opening and closing theme songs (The Ballad Of Jed Clampett), rare cast commercials and other special material from the private archive of series? creator Paul Henning.Now, "set a spell...take your shoes off. Y'all come back now, y¹hear?"Authorized by the estate of creator Paul HenningBONUS FEATURESCast InterviewsOriginal Cast Sponsor CommercialsEpisode Commentary by Stephen Cox, author of The Beverly Hillbillies bookSpecial Footage« less
Great extras, fair to poor print condition for the shows.
Paul J. Mular | San Carlos, CA USA | 03/10/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I was excited to watch the extras so I immediately put in disc 4. I watched the 4th disc and was horrified to see multiple white emulsion scratches in most of the episodes. This transfer was made from Paul Henning's personal 16mm film collection which has gotten scratched over the years. Too bad they didn't work a deal with Paramount for access to the 35mm fine grain negatives!
That said, the extras are great! And I am glad they restored the origional sponsored titles! "K E doulble-L O double-Good Kelloggs best to you" is sung by Earl as part of the opening theme as the Clampetts drive past a Kellogg's billboard (in Beverly Hills?). Other episodes have the Clampetts pass a large truck with a WINSTON ad on it's side, the goodness of cigarettes is sung as part of the opening theme.
The cast commercials have been removed from the shows and stuck back-to-back on disc 4 as an extra. I am glad to have these as they brought back fond memories, but since these were story specific (the story line is carried over as the concept for the commercial) I would have prefered these to be left intact in the episodes they played in.
It is quite out of character to see the Clampetts talking of the goodness of Winston Cigarettes!
The 1966 interview with Irene Ryan on Art Linkletter's show is also priceless. This is something that could have been lost forever, thankfully it has been saved!
We should be glad for these wonderful extras!"
I Paid 30 Dollars For This?!!!
Brad Hoffman | 03/01/2006
(1 out of 5 stars)
"First thing out of the gate, I understand that the estate of "Hillbillies" creator Paul Henning owns the rights to roughly the first 55 or so episodes of the series, and I understand the desire of his family to cash in. But instead of brokering a deal with Paramount (which apparently owns rights to the remainder of the series), and releasing complete, quality, season by season sets for a percentage of the royalties, we're left with this swill: all of the first season, and about 85 percent of the second season, spaced out between two four disc sets. This of course, minus the Christmas episode, which MPI has decided to market as a separate disc, to make more money!! That being said, the thing that irritates me most about this set, is the picture quality. Where did these film prints come from? They are of substandard quality. As with volume one, nearly every episode has a series of scratches in the film, that leave trailing lines up the center of the screen, for the first 30 seconds of so of each show. They are so distracting, that one can't even enjoy the episode without being distracted by jumpy picture, lines, washed out black and white contrast, or other issues pertaining to the film. One episode, the Thankgiving one, has a big blurry spot that appears on the left side of the screen. This is unacceptable. Especially when you see the same episodes on televison, in BETTER quality than they appear on the DVD set! The producers of this set have obviously gone to a lot of trouble to dig up lots of bonus material for both volume's 1 & 2. If they really cared, they should have remastered the picture and sound from the original film negatives OR lowered the price of the set to around 13 dollars or so. This set is so cheap, that is doesn't even include a booklet. So you have no information about the episodes, nor any idea which ones are even on the thing. I feel absolutely fleeced by this purchase, and hope that Paramount will do a better job on future Hillbillies releases."
Relax--complete series --Paramount picks up the torch next.
D. Alan | CA USA | 11/29/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"For all those giving these sets 1 star, it is so unfair. These are great sets. MPI has released or will release in February every episode it has the rights to so cut them a break. Later in 2006 I am told Paramount will pick up where MPI left off with season sets. So you will be able to get every episode (the Christmas episode in season one is available in another collection but it IS available).
P.S. All the people complaining about these sets will be wishing MPI was still releasing them after Paramount delivers their sets with no real extras, scratchy film, and missing scenes. "
Episode List for Ultimate Collection 2
Joe West | 11/17/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This set starts with Season 1, Episode 28
Disk 1 Jed Pays his Income Tax The Clampetts and the Dodgers Duke Becomes a Father The Clampetts Entertain The Clampetts in Court The Clampetts Get Psychoanalyzed The Psychiatrist Gets Clampetted
Disk 2 Elly Becomes a Secretary Jethro's Friend Jed Gets the Misery Hair-Raising Holiday Granny's Garden Elly Starts to School The Clampett Look
Disk 3 Jethro's First Love Chickadee Returns The Clampetts Are Overdrawn The Clampetts Go Hollywood Turkey Day The Garden Party Elly Needs a Maw
Disk 4 The Clampetts Get Culture A Man for Elly The Giant Jackrabbit The Girl from Home Lafe Lingers On The Race for Queen
Note: As in Ultimate Collection 1, the Christmas at the Clampetts episode is not included. But, as before, this episode can be bought on a seperate DVD. "
I was happy with Volume 1
Greg Anderson | Raleigh, NC USA | 11/15/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"What are you folks griping about! Volume 1 was great, great extras and the theme music. Yes, I would like the entire season, but this is much better than any collection thus far, so let's enjoy! Volume 2 gets 5 stars as well!"