New DVDs: Ricky Nelson, John Mayer

"The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" wasn't much of an adventure for viewers.

The Nelson family -- Ozzie, Harriet, and the boys David and Ricky -- spent their weekly 26 minutes fumbling with some minor domestic crisis or another. A show about next-to-nothing. Viewers were just stopping by for a visit.

No family puzzler proved too easy for Ozzie, whose character helped institutionalize the bumbling sitcom father. "Think I'll go out and polish the car and think this over," he'd say when confronted with the slight and the obvious.

In real life, Ozzie Nelson was a sharp guy who'd parlayed his long-running sitcom radio show into a decade-long TV contract with ABC. "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" ran from 1952-1966, part of the '50s TV trinity that included "Leave It to Beaver" and "Father Knows Best." They were America's families and we loved them.

In 1957, Ricky was a rich kid with the Elvis bug. He recorded Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin' " and performed it, stiffly, on the TV show. The song shot up the charts, selling more than a million units. Ricky Nelson instantly became the franchise player in the family business.

Shout! Factory's follow-up to last year's "The Best of the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" brings us the "Best of Ricky and Dave." But there's no mistaking that this is Ricky's show, with each of the four discs offering breakouts of his lip-synched musical performances.

The 12 songs include the hits "Hello Mary Lou," "Stood Up" and Fools Rush In." Unfortunately, there is no play-all option, so working through the six numbers on disc 2 is a bit of a chore.

Nelson's early performances show him stone-faced, playing to some guys and gals in the living room. When we get to "Fire Breathing Dragon" from the mid-'60s, Nelson is still plenty stiff -- but his eyes are dancing and he's fronting a hot band. The guitar body announces he's just "Rick."

Shout! Factory's DVDs come licensed from family survivor David (unlike the "public domain" releases out there). The black-and-white images are OK, kind of flat, not too much damage. The audio is pretty good, good enough.

The episodes range from May 1953 to March 1966, so the experience of watching the boys grow up on TV is available in a mere seven hours.

* * * * *

If there's a Ricky Nelson type out there these days, it could be John Mayer, the young romantic with a thing for wrist watches and Jimi Hendrix.

Sony's "Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live In Los Angeles" provides three hours of the camera-pleasing Mayer and band performing at L.A.'s Nokia Theatre.

The "Where the Light Is" Blu-ray is a gorgeous disc, something for showing off the system. The TrueHD audio delivers that silky sound of skin on steel strings, with some LFE punch when called upon. The black-and-blue-dominated images (it's "A Film by Danncy Clinch") are high on the contrasts but the effect is smooth and narcotic.

The three-hour show comes in three parts: acoustic, trio and full band.

Mayer appeals to a dominantly female audience, but guys could do worse than being dragged along to a show. The guitar slinger quotes Hendrix throughout and does two of the rock god's songs: "Wait Until Tomorrow" (a weak Jimi song made weaker) and "Bold As Love" (cool). Mayer also takes on the blues, flirting with white-boy parody. His slow acoustic cover of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin' " emphasizes the narrator's jerkiness, an interesting reading.

The fans' patience is rewarded with Mayer's middle-of-the-road hits such as "Daughters," "Why Georgia" and "Waiting on the World to Change."

The main extra is a post-show analysis by Mayer, who sits atop a Hollywood hill, playing guitar, having satisfied his inner critic, the guy with the "dictionary of music in his brain." (The disc hooks into BD-Live for a bonus song, "Belief.")

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week are two summer-movie tie-ins: Universal's repackaging of the original "The Mummy" and Fox's "The X-Files Revelations."

New and notable:

Complete list of this week's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org

The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet: Best of Ricky & Dave (Shout! Factory)
Batman Begins (various configurations, Warner)
Cannon (Paramount)
Fastlane (Warner)
Flakes (Genius Products)
I Dream of Jeannie, season 5 (Paramount)
Jake and the Fatman (Paramount)
Jet Li's Fearless: Director's Cut (Universal)
Mon oncle Antoine (The Criterion Collection)
The Mummy: Special Edition (1932, Universal)
The Mummy: Deluxe Edition (1999, Universal)
The Mummy Returns: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
Punk's Not Dead (MVD)
The Ruins (Blu-ray, Paramount)
Stargate: Atlantis, season 4 (Paramount)
Stop-Loss (Paramount)
The X-Files Revelations (Fox)

Comments

[Liz]

I like John Mayer. I can't necessarily defend some of his more mediocre music, but he seems like a chill guy that I would love to hang out with. I've also heard, from people who have met him, that he is one of the smartest people they've known.

It's good to hear that the DVD's top notch - I will be getting the Blu-Ray after we finally get an HD-TV.