I am 18 and a pretty big fan of I Love Lucy, owning all the seasons. Though I never have seen any of her other work other than Yours, Mine, and Ours. I am doing a personal study of TV comedy through the years and wonder if Here's Lucy and The Lucy Show are worth watching or if they are not as funny or good?
shareBoth "The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy" are vastly different from "I Love Lucy". I've only seen a few episodes of either show but from what I could tell, the first few seasons of the "The Lucy Show" were funny since Vivian Vance was in them. It was like the Adventures of Lucy and Ethel lol.
As for the "Here's Lucy", it's okay but not as funny.
The acting is pretty terrible. Lucy and her kids seem to believe that louder is funnier. Most of the episodes I've seen (I've only watched Season 1 so far) feature the cast yelling at the TV camera, or so it seems. It's off-putting. It's like she was unaware of electronic amplification and felt she needed to yell so the studio audience would hear her. I'd say stick with her first two shows and skip Here's Lucy.
shareThe plots are also thinner on Here's Lucy. Sometimes 3/4 of the show is stage business, e.g., Lucy and Carol Burnett singing, Wayne Newton singing, Lucy modeling the clothes sold at the boutique where Kim works, Lucy and Kim all but destroying a grocery store.
I have noticed that The Doris Day Show is very similar. Maybe it was hard to find clever writers or maybe everything just pales beside the creativity of I Love Lucy.
It's almost like a variety show with sketches. There's no character development at all. By the time of Here's Lucy, the really talented writers had left Lucille Ball years earlier. They liked working for Desi, not her.
shareExcept for the stream of famous guests stars, it not much except for Lucy getting into trouble. Instead of Ethel, it's her children, who seem to know better than Lucy.
shareHad never seen this before the Cozi reruns so Ive been watching everyday. Love "I Love Lucy" and mostly like the Lucy Desi Comedy Hour. Have not seen The Lucy Show though.
This isn't as funny to me. I don't think its bad though. I find it entertaining enough to keep watching. Not because its great comedy, though some parts are funny, but it is still entertaining if that makes sense. I don't think the acting is bad. Lucie Arnaz is ok imo. Ive seen the complaints about her.
My issues are theres too many celebrity guests, which would be fine if it wasn't glorified. Like make some of them play different characters instead of just portray themselves. That would have been nice. Most seem like an excuse to do something crazy or a genuine performance.
My other issue is the comedy is more slapstick and cartoony at times. Again not necessarily bad. I think I would have enjoyed this much more as a kid. Im 30 and watched ILL all through the 90s. Had I seen this closely afterwards I think I would have liked it more.
Another thing that has nothing to do with the show is Lucille's make-up. I know it was style then and other female characters are like this too but I really do not like the thick eye shadow/bigger fake eyelashes. Lucille Ball was beautiful and I hate seeing her so dolled-up. I know she always had make-up but its too much here.
Anyway, the big gap between my viewing and having ILL ingrained in my mind probably skews my opinion of Here's Lucy. Still I think its fun to watch.
Some of the star friends play characters; John Davidson played a college professor, Ricardo Montalban played a foreign prince, and Cesar Romero played a jewel thief.
shareYa I know. I think it worked better like that.
Well Cozi has gone through all the episodes now. They might be missing some though. There were a few episodes recently where they were scheduled in order but when I watched they were from early on when Desi Jr. was still there.