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Ahhhhh, Moon in Capricorn. They even call each other "sociopath".
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I assume you abandoned this. If you didn't make it through the first season, that doesn't surprise me.
Years ago, I read a critic opine that Lucille's legendary reputation was built on very little, four years out of sixty. That rankled me. Surely she at least deserves credit for all six seasons of ILL. Begrudgingly, I have come around. Seasons two through five do most of the heavy lifting for ILL's reputation. The first season is rocky and chaotic, the last season is kind of tired.
I still love it all though, except that lousy episode with Orson Welles.
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Unfortunately, I did bail on my I LOVE LUCY binge. I bailed on MARY TYLER MOORE, too. It's not that I don't like both shows, I just got into other binges that eventually occupied my screen time.
I aim to get back at both of them eventually.
Yes, I must agree. As much as I love Lucy, I must admit that the first season of I LOVE LUCY isn't the best. There are several really good episodes, but there are several that are duds. I'd say the show definitely entered the "classic" status at the start of the second season.
I've never been a fan of that episode. Not crazy about the Bob Hope one, either.
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Probably my second least favorite episode, only marginally prefer it over Orson Welles because at least Lucy & Hope had good chemistry. Both represent my least favorite addition to Lucy's comedy: being obnoxious when meeting a celebrity. Some of the Hollywood episodes handled it well, but all of the celebrity episodes after are just Lucy being an annoying jerk. It's one of the reasons I don't care for her other sitcoms, because it became such a recurring plot.
The first season has its share of duds, but I prefer it over the last season. S1 is chaotic, but everyone is so lively. Lucy & Desi are so young and vibrant. There's reason to believe Lucy Ricardo was originally meant to be in her late 20s -- thus, why she was so childish and bratty -- and even at 40, Lucille pulled if off. By the last season, everyone was so middle aged, puffy and tired. Well except Frawley who was just old at that point.
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Two of my least favorite episodes as well(Bob Hope and Orson Wells)
I did binge a few of my favorites the last few days: Lucy's Schedule, Lucy Changes Apartments? The Million Dollar Idea, Lucy Plays Cupid, Equal Rights, Ricky Asks for a Raise.
I was never interested in Here's Lucy but I did watch the first episode. It's unfortunately not a good show imho, but the dance routine she does at the end disguised as her daughter I actually really liked.
I also saw the episode in which Vivian Vance has a date with Lucy's boss/brother-in-law. I have to say the writers could have been more original. It was basically her relationship with Fred on ILL.
Lucy seemed to rely on having celebrities regularly guest star on this show. I scrolled through the episode guide and it was one special guest star after the next. Is this what helped keep HL going for six seasons? Has anyone watched all the seasons?
I did binge a few of my favorites the last few days: Lucy's Schedule, Lucy Changes Apartments? The Million Dollar Idea, Lucy Plays Cupid, Equal Rights, Ricky Asks for a Raise.
I was never interested in Here's Lucy but I did watch the first episode. It's unfortunately not a good show imho, but the dance routine she does at the end disguised as her daughter I actually really liked.
I also saw the episode in which Vivian Vance has a date with Lucy's boss/brother-in-law. I have to say the writers could have been more original. It was basically her relationship with Fred on ILL.
Lucy seemed to rely on having celebrities regularly guest star on this show. I scrolled through the episode guide and it was one special guest star after the next. Is this what helped keep HL going for six seasons? Has anyone watched all the seasons?
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One of my favorites and, for me, almost a perfect example of the show at its best. People always remember the big physical comedy bits (Vitameatavegamin, chocolate factory, grape stomping, etc), but I think the show was at its best focusing on the Ricardos and Mertzes interacting.
Even as a hardcore Lucy fan, I haven't bothered with much of HERE'S LUCY. I've seen maybe two dozen random episodes through the years. I find the show pretty much unwatchable. With no exaggeration, I'd rather watch LIFE WITH LUCY. HL is just so loud and stale, and overstuffed with guests that are mostly now corny or obscure.
The Burtons excluded.
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My all-time favorite episodes of I LOVE LUCY are "The Charm School" (S3, E15), where Lucy and Ethel go to guest star Natalie Schafer for glamour makeovers, and "Ricky Needs an Agent" (S4, E29), in which Lucy masquerades as Ricky's agent before fictional MGM producer Walter Riley, "the vice president in charge of Ricky Ricardo". While I'd stop short of calling either of these episodes the best episodes of the show, I'll stand by both of them being good, perhaps even overlooked episodes.
I like HERE'S LUCY pretty good, and even prefer it to the final seasons of THE LUCY SHOW. But, yes, it is a parade of guest stars.
One of Vivian Vance's guest spots on HERE'S LUCY is a rehash of the Carolyn Appleby Hollywood episode of I LOVE LUCY. Just as Carolyn did, Vivian comes to town and Lucy takes her glasses from her while wearing masks and fooling her into believing she's a celebrity. Yeah, it's a blatant ripoff.
This show isn't nearly as bad as I had been led to believe. We've discussed it elsewhere, but with some fine tuning and a shakeup in on-screen relationships, it could've worked better.
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Outside of I Love Lucy, what would one say is Lucille's best work, including her radio show, Broadway(Wildcats), films, TV movies and other series?
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I'm not terribly well-versed on Lucille's work outside of television. I recall seeing some of EASY TO WED once, but Lucille, as much as I like her, was a weak stand-in for Jean Harlow from LIBELED LADY. I've seen pieces of her other films, but not enough to write much about them.
As for her other TV work, I thought the TV special WHAT NOW, CATHERINE CURTIS? was good, and with the right execution, could've been a weekly series for Lucille to follow HERE'S LUCY.
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Her film career is very underrated, IMO. I'm rare among Lucy fans in that I like her film career as much as her TV work; in fact I'd rank many of her movies ahead of her non-ILL television work. I'd go so far as to say I think she has one of the most interesting -- not necessarily the best -- filmographies of 1940s actresses.
STAGE DOOR
FIVE CAME BACK
DANCE, GIRL, DANCE
THE BIG STREET
THE DARK CORNER
LURED
MISS GRANT TAKES RICHMOND
THE FULLER BRUSH GIRL
THE LONG, LONG TRAILER
THE FACTS OF LIFE
YOURS, MINE & OURS
All interesting, (near) great and very entertaining movies showcasing her versatility between comedy and drama. I find the late '40s phase of her career particularly interesting because you can see I LOVE LUCY take shape. Her radio show MY FAVORITE HUSBAND (very enjoyable) combined with the films MISS GRANT and FULLER BRUSH laid down the framework for ILL. THE LONG, LONG TRAILER is her non-ILL peak, one of the all-time great comedies.
The first season of THE LUCY SHOW is terrific, nearly as good as ILL. I rewatched it a few months ago and appreciated it even more. It's all downhill from S2 onward. I've grown to really dislike her partnership with Gale Gordon; I think she overestimated how well they worked on screen.
The first season of the Lucy Show is a solid show and better than anything that came after it in Lucille Ball’s TV career. And it has some classic physical comedy moments, like the shower and the antenna. I agree with you about Gale Gordon, and he’s mercifully absent from that first season.
But The Lucy Show lacks the perfectly drawn characters and acting of the ILL quartet. The setup of the two families sharing the house feels contrived, as opposed to the more straightforward setup of ILL. The kids are cardboard cutout props that add little to the show. Candy Moore as Chris is so artificial, it’s cringy every time she opens her mouth. It’s just not in the same league as ILL.
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I don't disagree with any of that, but I agree less than before my last rewatch. The 1st season of TLS is very similar to the 1st season of ILL -- messy, uneven, figuring things out. A few duds, a few classics, but still overall very funny. The difference is ILL locked in and became a classic; TLS changed course and became a mess. Without Jess Oppenheimer or even Desi, TLS never found its footing. Madeline & the 3 Bobs could still write funny episodes at that point, but they couldn't pull it together in a cohesive direction. I think the TLS premise could have worked if they hadn't flinched. KATE & ALLIE pulled it off for six years. Someone at CBS called TLS "The Dyke Sans Dick Show" and the show shifted away from its mixed family premise.
I think the 2 sons were fine as child actors go, but agree about Candy Moore. I suspect Lucille got a hold of her and gave her bad advice about "projecting" her voice.
There's a stretch in the middle of the 1st season of TLS where things started to gel. There's an episode about Lucy & Viv double dating with Harry & Eddie, their casual beaux, that I think is as close in spirit to ILL as anything Lucille did after 1960. Obviously Harry & Eddie weren't as well developed as Ricky & Fred, but the show established potential in a few directions.
Watching TLS season over season is remarkable in its ability to self-destruct; it's just a string of bad creative choices. Once Mr. Mooney was introduced, I found the show increasingly unpleasant. The entire show was refocused on a screaming jerk and a crying middle aged woman. I made it through S2 and S3 mostly because of Viv. She never gave Mrs. Bagley the same nuance as Ethel, but Vance was a whip with a quip. I realized every time I laughed, it was her sarcastic comments rather than Lucy's antics.
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I cannot believe how blank my mind went when I tried to think of some of Lucille's movies when I posted before. But, thanks to @Crimson, my memory has been refreshed.
I've always liked movies with big, ensemble casts, and I've always liked movies about the theater. So, as it would go, this one is easily one of my favorites. Lucille's role is small as a wannabe stage actress, but she shares the screen with the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Gail Patrick, Ann Miller, Andrea Leeds, and Eve Arden. It's a downright good movie, and one I like to revisit often.
I believe I've seen this one twice. Once upon a time, we had TCM and I had it recorded on my DVR. A host of plane passengers get stranded on an island, and Lucille is the showgirl of the batch. It's interesting to see Lucille play the same role Anita Ekberg had in the 1956 remake, BACK FROM ETERNITY, and basically playing the role Tina Louise played for three years on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND.
I've yet to see any of these, but they're all on my watch-list.
If memory serves, I've seen pieces of this movie, but probably not quite all of it. I recall enjoying it, and perhaps it would've made a good set-up for a late-60s sitcom for Lucille instead of HERE'S LUCY. But would that have cancelled out THE BRADY BUNCH?
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Piggy-backing off what some of you have already said, I too find the first season of THE LUCY SHOW to be very good. For a while, as it were, it appeared as if Lucille was going to pick up exactly where she left off on TV. And, when you look just at the ratings, I guess she did. THE LUCY SHOW never left the Top 10, and HERE'S LUCY was still in the Top 10 as late as 1972, so she spent an entire decade at the top of the ratings.
Creatively, however, is where the issues arise. THE LUCY SHOW started out solid, but got progressively worse each passing season. Comparing the first and final seasons of that show make it appear as if you're watching two entirely different shows that just happen to star Lucille Ball. While I have frequently come to the defense of HERE'S LUCY, even I give no excuses for the lack of creativity, the reliance on guest stars, and the utter staleness of it all.
Creatively, however, is where the issues arise. THE LUCY SHOW started out solid, but got progressively worse each passing season. Comparing the first and final seasons of that show make it appear as if you're watching two entirely different shows that just happen to star Lucille Ball. While I have frequently come to the defense of HERE'S LUCY, even I give no excuses for the lack of creativity, the reliance on guest stars, and the utter staleness of it all.
All good points about TLS. I wish the kids had been better developed (and cast) to the point where they could carry stories. I think dropping Dick Martin was a mistake, too. They should have developed it into more of an ensemale, but instead it was all about Lucy/Viv or Lucy/Mooney.
I also agree with you that they needed a Desi or a Jess to provide the vision. It’s too bad that Lucy didn’t reconcile with Jess and bring him aboard as the showrunner once Desi left the studio.
I also agree with you that they needed a Desi or a Jess to provide the vision. It’s too bad that Lucy didn’t reconcile with Jess and bring him aboard as the showrunner once Desi left the studio.
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This, I believe, would've helped the show the most. Lucy could've still be the namesake and focal point of the show, but let the others have some time in the sun, too.
Another interesting point supporting the idea that The Lucy Show, season 1, is closer in tone to ILL: The CBS syndication bible shows a package called “The Complete Lucy”, which includes 179 episodes of “I Love Lucy”, 26 episodes of “We Love Lucy” (the Lucy/Desi hours split in half), and the first season of “The Lucy Show”. Kind of odd they call it “The Complete Lucy” but it does represent Ball’s best sitcom work.
I don’t know of a station that carried this package but someone must have!
synbible.cbstvd.com
I don’t know of a station that carried this package but someone must have!
Syndication Bible
synbible.cbstvd.com
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Maybe the first season of TLS wasn't included, originally, in the syndication package? It was very common for those sitcoms that switched to color to not include the B&W season(s). Maybe they grouped it all with the earlier B&W shows.
And yes, TLS needed more an ensemble. That's why I love the middle of the 1st season, an ensemble was taking shape. The kids, Mr. Barnsdahl, Harry, Eddie. None where great characters, but they could have been developed more. I too liked Dick Martin as Harry, even if he made Lucy & Viv look old by comparison. I also like Charles Lane more than Gale Gordon, although I know Lane was fired because he couldn't remember his dialogue in front of the live audience. I also think both boy actors were fine, even better than some other kid actors of the era. They were no Ronnie Howard for sure, but that kid was the Olivier of child actors.
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