Shirley Booth as "Hazel" (TV series)

[ClassyCo]

HAZEL starred award-winning actress Shirley Booth as a spunky live-in maid, Hazel Burke, who works for the Baxter family. The show produced five complete seasons and 154 half-hour episodes. From 1961 to 1965, the show aired on NBC, before it moved to CBS for a final season from 1965 to 1966.

I must admit, I haven't seen much of HAZEL, but my Papa (my momma's dad) used to like it and I have a co-worker who has brought it up a time or two when we discuss old TV shows we like. I don't have a TV with any sort of cable or satellite, and I don't have any streaming service running HAZEL, but I have added it to my wish list for Christmas. So, who knows, someone might buy it. You can buy the complete series on eBay for like $30 (US).

Any fans of this one? If memory serves, some of you have said in other threads that you are not a fan.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

I recall watching it as a child rather frequently, and even in my early-twenties. (In reruns, I'd like to point out). But it could be rough to get through, her screeching -- it's like if Jean Stapleton was the sole star of ALL IN THE FAMILY. Yikes!

It was at a time when we still thought gushing, maternalistic, heavy-set ladies were nice people. Like Aunt Bea (who wasn't near as irritating as Hazel). And the TV HAZEL was far different from the cartoon which inspired the show.

And then they fired the couple who employed Hazel over contract issues, moved the show to another network, and HAZEL was quickly done.

I know actors need incomes and can't always rest on their critical laurels, but HAZEL seemed like the classic example of an award-winning, Oscar-laden actress throwing everything (including her talent) to the wind and cashing in on a lead role in some shlocky TV series (if she could get one) which wasted her abilities.

Of course, for years, I only knew Shirley Booth from HAZEL. So, hopefully she was well-compensated.

 

[Chris2]

She was. The reason she did the series was to fund her retirement (Broadway doesn’t pay nearly as well as television). And she had ownership points in the show.

Depending on who you believe, Don DeFore and Whitney Blake were let go due to budgetary issues; or DeFore was let go after Blake declined to return for the last season (CBS at the time said she was “unavailable”). Blake’s daughter Meredith Baxter wrote in her book that her mother disliked doing the series and playing second fiddle to Booth.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

She was. The reason she did the series was to fund her retirement (Broadway doesn’t pay nearly as well as television). And she had ownership points in the show.

Depending on who you believe, Don DeFore and Whitney Blake were let go due to budgetary issues; or DeFore was let go after Blake declined to return for the last season (CBS at the time said she was “unavailable”). Blake’s daughter Meredith Baxter wrote in her book that her mother disliked doing the series and playing second fiddle to Booth.

Interesting.

If Whitney Blake was unhappy as second fiddle, didn't she understand that the show is called "Hazel" and that all other characters are second fiddles at best?

 

[Chris2]

Meredith wrote that Whitney thought she deserved to be a big star.

And look at Tina Louise, who somehow thought that Ginger was the lead character of a show called “GIlligan’s Island”. Self delusion is powerful!

 

[Spooky Owl!]

Still, the audience does care about the ensemble -- as DALLAS' Donna Reed fiasco, and DYNASTY's re-casting of all four grown Carrington children proves.

You'd hope a good producer would be able to navigate actors' quirky issues or bloated egos, but sometimes they can't. (Producers have some of those same issues, too).

So Don Defore was that loyal to Blake and her needs?

Frankly, a television series seems awful -- the environment, the politics, the speed with which you're working and the creative decisions are made.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Meredith wrote that Whitney thought she deserved to be a big star.

And look at Tina Louise, who somehow thought that Ginger was the lead character of a show called “GIlligan’s Island”. Self delusion is powerful!

I had been made aware of Tina Louise's dislike for the series and her role.

Interesting because she was superb in the Ginger role. I don't think they could have cast the role any better.

I always thought that she should have been on "Dallas" longer.

Maybe Tina Louise just didn't want to do another tv series