By John Corrado

Paramount has just put out this brand new edition of The Beverly Hillbillies: The Official First Season on DVD, including all thirty six episodes from the inaugural season of the beloved classic sitcom, digitally remastered for the first time ever.

Originally broadcast between 1962 and 1963, the 5-disc set starts with both the original and extended versions of the pilot episode (The Clampetts Strike Oil), and also includes the Halloween special (Trick or Treat) and the two Christmas episodes (Home for Christmas and No Place Like Home).

Although The Beverly Hillbillies has been put out in different collections over the years, this set offers a step up in quality from many previous releases, notably restoring the original cigarette sponsorship ads and opening theme music, which have been absent from other sets that I have gotten in the past.

There is a certain charm to watching this loveable backwoods family try to fit in amongst the elite of Beverly Hills, and the show itself also holds up surprisingly well watching it again now, with the iconic characters and their frequent societal misunderstandings still providing a lot of laughs.  This is an absolute classic of TV comedy, and the first season remains an excellent showcase of the series at its best.  The show went on to run for nine seasons until 1971, so Paramount will hopefully continue to restore and release the rest of the series in this fashion.

Bonus features on the set include the extended pilot and sponsorship ads that I mentioned above.