it shocks me after seeing some episodes of this show recently how lame it was,and especially how pathetic Lucille Ball was...what happened to her? She was hilarious in 'I love Lucy',but had realy lost her comic touch in this show. She had none of the comic flair anymore,and she wasnt all that old so thats no excuse...and I also didnt find Gale Gordon as Mr.Mooney funny at all.
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Desi was NOTHING without her.
Without Lucy there would be no Desi. Even though this show wasn't nearly the big hit that I Love Lucy was, she still managed to hold on and carry the show on her own two shoulders and that was a lot to do for a woman back then and now. Her and Desi had amazing chemistry even though it was faked on many occasions but there would be no Desi if it weren't for a red headed silly gal named Lucy.
If so, then there'd be a I Love Desi show somewhere or the Desi Show.
"Sticks and stones may break your bones but cement pays homage to tradition."
I agree with Angie. I watched an episode of this show the other night on Family Land, and it was hilarious. I even recognized the guy who taught her how to sing as the same guy who was the English instructor on "I Love Lucy" in 1952. The actor's name was Hans Conried.
"I'd be very happy to be myself if I could remember who I am. Who am I?"
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You are wrong with this ill-informed post. Sure, the show wasn't as much a classic as I LOVE LUCY (nothing else will ever be) - but you obviously haven't seen all the great episodes from seasons one and two of LUCY SHOW. You should try and find these - not easy since most aren't in public domain yet or on DVD. But seasons one and two were written by almost all the same writers as I LOVE LUCY and featured some amazing comedy! Lucy and Viv were the perfect team yet again and episodes such as LUCY AND VIV PUT IN A SHOWER and LUCY AND THE ELECTRIC MATRESS (not to mention Lucy waits up for Chris or Lucy Conducts the Symphony or Lucy and Viv buy a boat) are equal to anything Lucy ever did on her first show.
I hope the first two seasons (which are in black and white) and maybe even season three (in color - mostly with Viv but increasingly dominated by Mr. Mooney and without the original team of writers) are finally released on DVD. For those of you not fortunate to see these shows yet, trust me - some of them are amazing and Lucy shows why she became the undisputed FIRST LADY OF COMEDY.
Lawrence
You're absolutely correct- Lucy wasn't funny anymore. It kinda reminded me of Invasion of the Body Snatchers - it's like some pod person took over Lucy's body. I mean, it looked like her, sounded like her and acted like her- but it wasn't Lucy. It's as if they somehow drained her of the very essence that made her funny.
So, to sum it up in legal terminology: Get lost, you bum.
It's all a matter of opinion because I thought she was just as funny (if not funnier) in this show.
I have a collection of both and to me, she's always Lucy and still made me laugh. I just wish there was more of Vivian Vance... Desi was never funny to me really but I still enjoyed watching him as Ricky Ricardo.
"Sticks and stones may break your bones but cement pays homage to tradition."
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Her character could also be very bossy and a know-it-all. Not appealing characteristics.
"Is my cousin one of your things?"
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I think around the mid-1960s, comedy was changing to where characters would often break fourth wall and make asides or celebrity inside jokes in order to provide a new brand of humor to the audience. That's why Lucy's performance was so different.
I think The Lucy Show needed a charming straight man like Desi Arnaz, who could balance out the zaniness of Lucy's antics. Charm was a lacking ingredient that could have made this show more entertaining.
I still disagree with the OP, because I recently saw a color episode of this show where Lucy was griping to her boss about never getting a raise, and then later in the show, she made a big goof when she thought an actor was robbing the bank when the boss had given the actor and his people permission to use the bank when it was closed for a robbery scene in a TV show they were doing. To me, it was pretty hilarious, just classic Lucy. Why did Vivian Vance leave "The Lucy Show"? I thought she and Lucy together were a great team. Loved their "I Love Lucy" and "Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" schemes.
"I'd be very happy to be myself if I could remember who I am. Who am I?"
At the end of season three (1964-1965) Vivian wanted a better contract which would allow her to write, direct, and to become a full equal partner to Lucy on the series. Vivian was growing tired of commuting out to California week in and week out. If she was to keep on doing this, she wanted more to do and better pay. Lucy was going to allow all of this for Vivian, but studio executives, etc. pursaded Lucy not to give what Vivian wanted. The truth is that the ladies never really talked to each other about this. It was all done through lawyers, etc. Had they spoken to each other one and one, we would have seen Vivian Vance return for the fourth (1965-1966) season.
There are some funny episodes in the California seasons (1965-1968), but none of them compare to anything in the first three seasons with Vivian Vance.
I've seen a couple of the black and white episodes of this show and maybe one or two of the color episodes and I have to say I agree. While I like the show overall, it's funnier when it's with Lucy and Viv and their kids. Of course, I'm sure Lucy's daughter on the show (in the black and white episodes) had to grow up and so on. I will say this...I notice that Lucy's voice started getting hoarse from her doing all that smoking when she was younger (and doing "I Love Lucy" with her husband Desi Arnaz), so the fact that her voice deepened as she got older and was more hoarse sounding at times was no surprise. When I saw her on "Three's Company" when they had her do a two-part retrospective on the show in the sixth season, it was kind of shocking to me after watching "I Love Lucy" episodes that she was that much older looking (but then again she was like 30 years older than when she did "I Love Lucy," so I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised). Heck, I'm almost 41 and I think I started looking older about 8-10 years ago, but people always tell me I look like I'm maybe 32. May God bless them. LOL!!
"I'd be very happy to be myself if I could remember who I am. Who am I?"
Amen!
Comparing I Love Lucy to The Lucy Show is like comparing All In the Family with Archie’s Place.
I remember seeing the Lucy Show color episodes growing up, and I didn’t laugh as much as I did watching ILL.
But last night I saw an old B&W Lucy Show episode called “Lucy & Viv Put in a Shower”.
I laughed just as hard as I would have watching any I love Lucy rerun.
The writing might have been more consistent for I Love Lucy, but The Lucy Show had it’s moments.
Trust me,
Swan
My, you're nosey, aren't you?
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At the end of season three (1964-1965) Vivian wanted a better contract which would allow her to write, direct, and to become a full equal partner to Lucy on the series. Vivian was growing tired of commuting out to California week in and week out. If she was to keep on doing this, she wanted more to do and better pay. Lucy was going to allow all of this for Vivian, but studio executives, etc. pursaded Lucy not to give what Vivian wanted. The truth is that the ladies never really talked to each other about this. It was all done through lawyers, etc. Had they spoken to each other one and one, we would have seen Vivian Vance return for the fourth (1965-1966) season.
There are some funny episodes in the California seasons (1965-1968), but none of them compare to anything in the first three seasons with Vivian Vance.
Intersting take on what happened behind the scenes. I'd also read the story that Lucy and Viv communicated through lawyers and ultimately Vivian Vance's
requests were not met. I suppose since both ladies are gone we'll never know the whole story.
One thing though about Viv's commuting issue. I don't think it would've been an issue a decade earlier during I Love Lucy. She didn't live in Connecticut then. She lived in California with her husbnd Phil Ober.By the time The Lucy Show debuted Viv was remarried to Johnny Dodds and living in Connecticut. I have a biography of Vivian Vance and one of her concerns was leaving her husband for such long stretches oftime to go to L.A. towork. She had a number of concerns about that.
I feel the same way...
In this show, Lucy used the 'FAKE BAWLING' almost every show, and it was almost always for 'Lucy needed $, an ADVANCE on her allowance,' etc. and that is how she got her way with men. She continued to have her writers do scenes with her 'lying outrageously', OR 'BAWLING', BUT, without DESI as the STRAIGHT, AND, probably, more importantly, the ONLY PERSON to tell her as a 50 plus y.o. . she was NOT 'CUTE', attractive, & more importantly, funny most of the time! She had TOO MUCH POWER as 'OWNER of the STUDIO, EXEC. PRODUCER AND STAR..for ANYONE to say 'not funny'-and people watched because-it was LUCY, light, and 30 minutes long..and on MONDAYS-her 'I LOVE LUCY' slot..
I disagree, there were some really funny color episodes, like Lucy the Bean Queen when she tried to drive that forklift through Ed Begley's warehouse, Lucy and the Substitute Secretary where she dressed up as all of these outrageous people to spy on Mr. Mooney and her substitute secretary while she was supposed to be on vacation afraid that she would be replaced, or Lucy gets caught up in the Draft where she accidently gets drafted into the marines and Jim Nabors(Gomer Pyle)makes a cameo at the end.
sharePeople seem to underestimate Desi. He started using 3 cameras to film "I Love Lucy" which became an industry standard. He had the show filmed, not put on kinescopes. If not for that decision, we probably wouldn't have seen it in reruns as most TV stations didn't save kinescopes, they were taped over.
Back to the original topic: I think Lucy is very funny in this show. Some spisodes are better than others, but that's true of every TV series.
Lucy certainly was funny on this show, and I get tired of hearing this B.S. from PEOPLE WHO PROBABLY WATCHED 2 eps that were mediocre AND ALREADY MADE UP THEIR MIND THAT THIS SHOW WAS NOT FUNNY.
SHE DID NOT NEED DESI TO BE FUNNY, OR SHE NEVER WOULD HAVE HAD A CAREER FOR 20 YRS BEFORE DESI CAME ALONG. ONLY 5 YRS ELAPSED FROM THE END OF THE ILL ORIGINAL EPISODES AND THIS SHOW. Here's Lucy is where she became much less funnier.