I never saw it, but from what I heard about it, its main fault was that the 75-year old Lucille Ball was STILL playing Lucy Ricardo!
It was suggested that she portray a character completely different from her usual TV persona, say, an executive at a major corporation.
Interesting idea, but it must be remembered that when Lucy did play a different kind of role--in THE STONE PILLOW--it didn't go too well with the public.
So, why did HERE'S LUCY fail?
I watched the John Ritter and Peter Graves episodes when they aired, as well as the one where they go on the TV show.
I think it had a lot to overcome. Lucy couldn't do physical comedy at that age without alarming people. It tried to use the old formula instead of something fresher. It was on Saturday nights on ABC at a time when NBC was # 1.
I remember watching Johnny Carson in the spring of that year commenting that Lucy was coming back to prime time. The audience hesitated for a few seconds and then applauded. That was probably an omen that the public loved Lucy, but thought it might be a good idea if she didn't try a comeback.
Only a couple of episodes had physical comedy. It wasn't anything like I LOVE LUCY so I don't see how people can say Lucy was still playing Lucy Ricardo. In fact, the show wasn't anything like any of her earlier shows, this one was kind of a corny Donna Reed - Father Knows Best "family" sitcom not a wacky humor show like Lucy's other series. It might have actually worked better if it had been an update of old-style Lucy but it was a corny family thing (I mean really -set in a hardware store???) that hadn't been popular for decades.
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It might have actually worked better if it had been an update of old-style Lucy but it was a corny family thing (I mean really -set in a hardware store???) that hadn't been popular for decades.
"Home Improvement"
trollomatic:
<<< It might have actually worked better if it had been an update of old-style Lucy but it was a corny family thing (I mean really -set in a hardware store???) that hadn't been popular for decades.
"Home Improvement"
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I would hardly call Home Improvement a show about a hardware store.
She no longer had her great sense of timing. It was way off the mark. Gale Gordon on the other hand still retained his. I quit watching for the most part and really wished she had not attempted this show.
shareHad Lucy done an intelligent funny show like the Golden Girls, maybe she would have lasted a few seasons.
shareI think I agree with dakotasdad. While I don't necessarily think that Life with Lucy was an exact xerox copy of I Love Lucy I don't think it changed enough to do well with 80s audiences.
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I strained thru many of the episodes, and yea, she was trying to do the Ricardo character again, but of course thirty years on, it comes across more like Here's Lucy, where she was the old woman trying to act like Ricardo.
She thought strange things like having AR in her last name was good luck (Ricardo, Carmichael, Carter, etc).
I remember the John Ritter episode and the Peter Marshall episode with glue.
They were both difficult to watch.
One joke I do recall, perhaps shown in the premieres, involved Gale Gordon pouring oatmeal into the saxophone she was playing (saxophone from I Love Lucy, of course).
She definitely denied her age. I'm watching Here's Lucy with Carol Burnett and they are both in a beauty contest together.
Carol and the other three finalists are in one-piece swimsuits, but Lucy is in a mini dress outfit. I was wondering if she'd sport a swimsuit as she was almost sixty here.
when don adams tried to do get smart in the 80s(nude bomb) it was just kind of sad.SAME WITH JERRY LEWIS trying to do it old shtick. you just cant recreate the old magic many times.
shareHave never seen the Nude Bomb, but that was in the middle of some nostalgia comeback craze. Can't recall what triggered it then.
I take that back. I did see some of Nude Bomb, didn't find it very funny. Get Smart itself was a bit of try anyway, back when I watched it in reruns in the seventies.
The Jerry Lewis Hardly Working movie, if that is the one you are referring to, came about from some statement made that the French thought Lewis was the greatest comedian ever. It was a misquote, but Lewis decided it was time to make that comeback on those heels.
I did watch Hardly Working and yes, it was unbearable. Strangest bit was where he kept getting some woman's shawl caught and pulling it over her head. He just persisted at it.
She was supposed to look terribly annoyed and it was supposed to be funny, but you couldn't help but empathize with her. He was irritating.
no i wasn't referring to a jerry lewis movie. actually the man was a genius in his prime. his act didn't work when he got older. kind of like lucy.
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I've never seen it but heard it had potential. Looking at sitcoms from th 80's were more of a throwback to the escapist sitcoms of the 50's-60's with the added social issues of the 70's.
That could be why it was thought that Lucy would work. One thing I've read was that It was expected to be a Golden Girls type show and humor. Luc being old school didn't want a show based on sex jokes.
I just think as much as I hate to say it that Lucy did bring the show failure to herself. By her request the studio gave her full creative control. The studio wanted to give her writers of the 80's most favorite shows of the time but she declined and chose the same crew as her old shows. I think she could have had a hit with that show if she was not as stubborn as she was with being loyal to her old writing team. I am sure if she would have let the writers of the Golden Girls write for her we could have had an amazing come back but what we had is a show that scream of someone wanting to relieve her glory days by doing the things she did before. "Life with Lucy" is painful to watch. None of the secondary characters are important or fleshed out their sole purpose is to do things to make Lucy react in a funny way, they are absolute shells of characters. Lucy also had no chemistry with her TV kids and grand kids. I tried watching a few episode on YouTube and I was in awe at just how mediocre it is. Each episode feels like an overlong skit from a sketch show.
shareThe main reason for this is that critics found the show too “dated” in its comedy style and too similar to her other shows to be anything special. Also, it was believed that Lucy was too old to do the same kind of physical comedy she once did and that the audience found it sad to see Lucy doing pratfalls or hanging from ladders at her advanced age.share
At the time Ball was 76 years old. Aaron Spelling best known for producing glossy dramas like “Dynasty”, “Charlies Angels” and “Starsky and Hutch” was the producer attached to this show; and tried in vain to convince Lucy to modernize the show and not rely on physical comedy, but Ball insisted on using the same style that had served her well on her previous shows. (This would be the only sitcom Spelling ever produced). ABC and Spelling had offered Lucy writers from the critically acclaimed show “MASH” but she insisted on using writers from her previous shows.
All that aside, the real problem was the ratings. Though the debut episode was in the Weekly Top 30, (#23 to be exact), subsequent episodes lost viewers every week and never gained traction against NBC’s “The Facts of Life” losing its timeslot to them nearly every week. It finished the season 73 out of 79 shows on TV and was cancelled eight episodes into its 22 episode order.
It is regarded as one of the worst sitcoms ever made. It was the final series Lucy ever starred in and following its cancellation she went into retirement, making only rare public appearances thereafter.