Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour



Well....as dear PJ knows (and, yes, at this point, I consider her dear to me, although I don't
know if I'll ever get the honor of meeting my Lucy/Bewitched cohort), I was knocked to the
ground last week when I realized I had thrown out (yes, tossed in the trash) my fourth
disc of season three of ILL!! Pure mistake, I assure you.

I knew right away I had to replace it. But being someone who is from the era of rushing
out to the store to instantly replace something (rather than waiting several days via
EBay), I purchased the ENTIRE series (again) at Target. It was $44.99, before tax.

I look at it this way: I now have backup copies of the show (minus those third season
offerings), as well as ALL the Lucy/Desi Comedy Hours.

I watched (and thoroughly enjoyed) the two I adore: "The Celebrity Next Door" and "Lucy
Makes Room For Daddy." Both are hilarious, and it was refreshing to watch them again on
big screen DVD, instead of Youtube. I next watched "Lucy Hunts Uranium" and even found
THAT a decent episode.

Now I'm stuck with the OTHERS. I refuse to not watch them at least once, but know so
many are pretty stinky.

Does anyone have any suggestions on which ones I should watch next?

I should say that, last week, I ran an episode of "The Lucy Show" on Youtube. Here, Lucy
lies to get the next day off, so she can shop at a department store with "Mary Jane." Lucy
wins all sorts of appliances, gets her name in the papers, then has to explain to Mr. Mooney
why she was shopping when she said she was sick.

I didn't laugh once. It was just plain awful. Pathetically so.

Lucy must have a few, last, final moments in these Lucy/Desi shows, what with Lucy, Ricky,
Fred and Ethel.

Any recommendations before I dive in?

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YOU threw out a disc of ILL? Was it because of a high fever or jet lag? lol I figured that you'd find it somewhere, but not in the trash. I usually find lost articles AFTER I buy new ones.

When my disc three of season three got scratched, I bought the whole season. I'm glad to have the back-up for season three.
As far as The Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour, I recommend the Tallulah Bankhead episode. But I know you've seen it. I vaguely recall "Lucy Meets the Moustache" and I remember that I liked it.
I saw a few episodes about six, seven years ago on TV. I forget which station was airing them. The episode when they went to Japan was pretty much of a groaner for me. Her Lucy Ricardo shtick of disguising herself in outlandish get-ups was wearing thin for me. Also, Lucy wanted Ricky to buy her real pearls because she never owned them. Not true! Ricky bought her real ones for their anniversary in an early ILL episode.

As for some of the later Lucy Show episodes, I remember the one you cited. Painfully unfunny. Mary Jane Croft was very good in her various roles on ILL. She and Lucy had great chemistry as friends when she was neighbor Betty Ramsey. But on The Lucy Show, she was stepping into Ethel Mertz's shoes and they were TOO big to fill (no intended wisecrack about Ethel's supposedly huge feet!).

I'm pretty sure that even Vivian Vance would've had trouble with that clunker of an episode, Lucy taking a sick day and getting busted by winning a contest. But Ethel's mere presence would've made the episode a bit more entertaining.

I received a gift of some of the later color episodes of The Lucy Show. I could hardly get through them. It was sad to see Lucille Ball's once perfect timing and comedy skills fade away. Did no one advise her that she couldn't pull off the dizzy Lucy Ricardo character anymore? She really was stuck in the fifties. And the repetitive "Lucy Carmichael meets another celebrity" script REALLY got old.
For me, the only good Lucy Shows were the black and white ones with Viv and those hilarious youngsters.
Funny, I was thinking that we live so far apart. But my niece moved to California a few years ago. I thought if I ever visited her, I'll "pull a Lucy stunt" and hide out on gbennett's balcony, climb over his fence or disguise myself in some crazy costume! LOL

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I've always liked 'Lucy goes to Mexico" and "Lucy goes to Alaska" Those are fairly decent. Lucy goes to Alaska has some funny moments in the motel room. As for The Lucy Show, the season 6 episode with Joan Crawford was good(Viv was the guest star). Also there's a season 6 episode where Lucy and Mr. Mooney keep getting thrown in jail over and over again, I think that one was pretty hilarious.

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Yes, the first black-and-white season of "The Lucy Show" boasts some great moments. I love the shower ep, as well as
the TV antenna show. And the Christmas offering is incomparably superior to the 1956 ILL Xmas ep. But even in these,
it's Vance's acting that sells them. Lucy just seems to be shouting her lines AT actors, rather than conversing in
character. I just can't get into them, and, as the series progressed, it just got worse.

Sorry, Ball did NOT deserve her Emmy for "The Lucy Show." Elizabeth Montgomery, Marlo Thomas and Barbara Feldon
were all doing fresher work. For shame.

I will definitely give "Mexico" and "Alaska" a whirl. (The one I'm dreading is "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana." As if
Ball and Arnaz could convincingly portray their younger selves. And meeting the Mertz's on THEIR honeymoon? And,
no, I have little time for Ann Sothern)!

Well, PJ, if you ever come to California to visit your niece, I will set you up on a date with a hot (straight) guy (I know a
few), treat you to a steak dinner, and then we can watch "Baby Pictures" and "Lucy Tells the Truth" (it HAS to be
season three...AND Caroline Appleby!!!).

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