Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy? (1 Viewer)

[70sTVlover]

Whilst browsing the sitcoms online board for Here's Lucy I came across this:

At the Friends of Old-Time Radio Convention in NJ this weekend, during a Saturday Q&A with Luci Arnaz, Larry Luckinbill and the other guests...

Luci said that HERE'S LUCY will be distributed by MPI Video in 2010/2011. Season sets; the entire series.

At the same Q&A, Gregg Oppenheimer confirmed that THE LUCY SHOW Season 1 is set for a CBS/Paramount release in 2009.

Finally, Luci knows of no plans for Desi's (Exec. Prod.) THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW (1967 - 1969).



"Here's Lucy" Coming To DVD in 2010! - Sitcoms Online Message Boards


Anyone know if this is true?

 

[Brian Himes]

I would buy this series in season sets. No question. This was the one Lucy show that I remember watching when it was originally on. Loved this show. Bring it on MPI.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

The prints used in the "Here's Lucy" set released a few years ago were among the best I've ever seen (as were the extras.) I hope that quality is maintained.

As for "The Lucy Show," that will be Paramount, so it might have the dreaded music replacement.

But whatever the situation, these two series are long overdue, although they assuredly won't sell as well as "I Love Lucy."

 

[Ollie]

Looks like we'll be getting season sets of Here's Lucy AND the Mothers in Law sooner rather than later:

Here's Lucy DVD news: DVDs Planned for Here's Lucy (season sets) | TVShowsOnDVD.com

I remember seeing this one in re-runs as a child. It's hard to believe that this one is going to get season sets before "The Lucy Show". The first 3 seasons of the latter are what I REALLY want.

The transfers of the Best of Collection put out by Shout! a few years back were very clear. It will be interesting to see how the MPI Season Sets look.

 

[Jack Cleveland]

Great news!! Between this and The Mothers-In-Law and Peyton Place, I suspect the bank account is in trouble!! And Lucille Ball specials too!

Jack

 

[Jude86]

This is great news, even though it is ironic that Here's Lucy will be finished on DVD before The Lucy Show.

Since the Arnaz kids own the series and have the masters, I'm sure crisp clear prints will be available on these sets as well.

 

[potnoodle]

Did I miss something in the TVShowsOnDVD.com story - Where does it mention that "Mothers in Law" series is also being released? 70sTVLover's post said there are no plans to release this series.

 

[Jack Cleveland]

It's listed directly under the "Here's Lucy" news item. It's on its' way!! It says "later in 2009".

 

[potnoodle]

Thanks! I didn't check the main page for that site.

 

[cherisland]

This is GREAT news!!! I am SO excited that this series is finally getting whole season releases. Way to go MPI!! Though my favorite seasons were the first three that included Desi Arnaz Jr. I will be buying the complete series as they are released. To have these complete and UNCUT with bonus features yet, is a dream come true! Aside from the episodes released in the Shout Factory set, I have yet to ever watch any of these episodes complete and uncut. I am hoping that MPI will do an exemplary job when it releases these seasons onto DVD so I am expecting some really incredible sets from them!
Even better news that they will also be releasing Lucy's TV Specials as well.According to TVShowsOnDVD.com the bonus features mention new and vintage material for the specials and the season sets so this is all very exciting!
Its true that I too would very much LOVE to see the LUCY SHOW get complete season releases, but in the meantime having "Here's Lucy" being released is a wonderful surprise to all Lucy fans out there, not to mention "The Mothers-In-Law" (also with extras) too! I know my pocket book will be feeling the crunch, but for me, these will be must-have purchases. This is going to be a GREAT SUMMER!
Thank you MPI!!

 

[Theodore J. Mooney]

Well, this certainly is a surprise. It definitely looks like we will be getting this series earlier than expected. And that is AWESOME!

I am just so thrilled that more LUCY stuff is coming out on DVD - her shows, her specials, her movies, ect. This has really been an exciting time. This year for Lucy, I think, is going to be great!

Of course, I plan on getting the season 1 release as well as the following five. I like the Here's Lucy series a lot and I am so happy to see it be released and in full.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Now I'm glad I passed on that "best of" set from a few years back. There's sometimes a good reason to hurry up and wait. Btw, how did the prints in that set look?

I'm glad Lucy's #3 series is coming, even though I think she was kind of phoning it in the last couple years there...

 

[Larry.P]

It is still worth getting the existing "Best Of" set for the extras. I don't believe MPI is planning on much double-dipping of bonus materials. And as far as Lucy "phoning it in" toward the end, all you need to do is watch the rehearsal footage on the existing set for proof that this is not true. Lucille lived for her work and would NEVER "phone it in".

 

[JohnMor]

The "Best of" set looked GORGEOUS. The episodes were beautifully remastered. Chances are, they will not look as good on the complete seasons sets. I would bet we'll see the same video quality for Here's Lucy as we did for The Doris Day Show. Day's company, Arwin, owns those films too (like the Arnazes own HL), and while we got a few eps remastered from the original negatives, most were existing transfers. MPI said they could not afford to remaster all prints from the original negs on TDDS without a sale to syndication to help cover the expense. But the extras MORE than made up for the lesser video quality.

It will probably look most MPI shows look. Not bad, but not how the "Best of" looked.

 

[Theodore J. Mooney]

Just to set the record straight:

Here's Lucy was the fourth television series of Lucille Ball. It came after The Lucy Show and was before Life with Lucy. The two other television series of Lucille Ball came earlier in her career (i.e. I Love Lucy and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour).

But in terms of the long-running television series, Here's Lucy was the third as I Love Lucy was the first and The Lucy Show the second.

Overall, Lucille Ball starred in six series (consisting of four that were long-running and the other two being short-lived) with My Favorite Husband being her first. For those who don't know, My Favorite Husband was a radio program that ran from 1948 to 1951.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Phoning it in ... walking through it ... reading off cue cards ... yep.

In some ways, though, the last three seasons are better than the first three. "I Love Lucy" writers Madelyn and Bob returned to her, and wrote about 1/3 of the scripts. Although they're never interesting or funny, at least they aren't brain-deadening stupid like a lot of the episodes, especially those bizarre episodes with various chimps and gorillas.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

By the time the series ended, she was. After you've seen all 144 episodes, see if you can come back here and still make that statement.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

But the "series" and "title" The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour only applied to the CBS repeats of the 13 hour shows, shown in the summers of 1962-65 and 1967.

The first five of those were "specials," with names like "Ford Presents The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show."

The last eight of them ran as part of the anthology series "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse."

It's possible some of this seems odd to younger people, because regular network television has changed so much since those days. There really aren't "specials" like those anymore, nor "anthology series" or shows with the sponsor's name in the title.

By the way, at the end of the 1957-58 television season, the trade paper Variety ran a list of the highest rated specials of the year. There were a lot of them back in those days, including some big, expensive, all-star musical shows.

The first five spots were the five Ball-Arnaz specials, each with a rating over 40, which would be unheard of today.

 

[potnoodle]

Of course, back in the fifties and sixties, the television universe was a lot smaller (although not necessarily better) . Most major markets had three network affiliated stations (CBS, NBC, ABC), a public educational tv station, and an independent station or two (if even that). Getting a 40 share wasn't impossible back then. Now, network execs would gladly commit murder to come up with a program that would get that kind of share.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Well, those 40's for the Lucy-Desi specials weren't the shares ... those were the actual ratings! The shares were even higher.

Obviously, the reason TV shows could get such high ratings back then is there was no competition from cable, satellite, home video and the Internet. The world may not have been a better place, but the programming on network TV sure was, at least in my not humble opinion.