I read that recently, and I don't believe it was personal. Lucy's writers pitched her a reformat of the show when Vivian Vance left, without the kids. And Lucy went for it. Had Viv stayed and they kept the Danfield format, I'm sure Candy would have still been part of the show.
shareI'm guessing that when Vivian Vance decided to leave, Lucille Ball decided to have the show reset in California and she didn't want Lucy to be tied down raising kids. By that time, Candy Moore's character Chris would have been college-age anyway so it made sense to send her away to college and write her out of the show. The focus of seasons 4, 5 and 6 were to have Lucy encounter and interact with some of Hollywood's big names at that time. Some of them played themselves and some of them played actual characters. It gave Lucille Ball a chance to sing and dance in many of the episodes which is what she loved to do. That would not have happened if the setting had stayed in Danfield, CT and Lucy was a full-time mother.
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