This work deals with the experimental observation of the shape oscillations followed by a viscous liquid drop immersed in another viscous fluid matrix when retracting from a deformed state into the spherical shape under the action of interfacial forces. The droplet is firstly deformed into an ellipsoidal shape by a shear flow and later allowed to recover the equilibrium shape after cessation of the flow. It is observed that such an oscillatory process occurs for a wide range of viscosity ratios and it may be described by a dampened oscillation. Viscous components dominate the drop retraction, just allowing few oscillations. The dampening factor, frequency and amplitude of the oscillations are affected by the drop viscosity. Frequencies and amplitudes are also influenced by the initial drop deformation. (C) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.