Lucille Ball: The First Lady of Comedy

[ClassyCo]

I so wish they were doing something special for the 75th Anniversary of I LOVE LUCY, but yet they're just releasing the same DVDs with a new slip cover.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

The temptation to reduce a person to a specific stereotype ("she was a bitch", "she was a sociopath") is overly simplistic.

Ahhhhh, Moon in Capricorn. They even call each other "sociopath".

 

[Crimson]

37 years ago today.

 

[Crimson]

I'm still doing my I LOVE LUCY binge, but I'm going to get more episodes in the can before I do more write-ups.

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.

 

[ClassyCo]

I assume you abandoned this. If you didn't make it through the first season, that doesn't surprise me.

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.

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.

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 still love it all though, except that lousy episode with Orson Welles.

I've never been a fan of that episode. Not crazy about the Bob Hope one, either.

 

[Crimson]

Not crazy about the Bob Hope one, either.

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.