The Lucy Show Season 1 Spring 2009 (1 Viewer)

[Gary OS]

This is fantastic news. I'm in for at least the first couple of seasons, probably up through season 3. After that I'm not so sure. I'm really looking forward to the great Christmas episode that will appear on this first season set.

Gary "I agree with those that feel Season 1 was, in spirit, very close to 'I Love Lucy'" O.

 

[Larry.P]

I know Dore Schary. He is well connected.
He used to work for MGM. He was the guy who pulled on the lion's tail whenever they wanted him to rrrrrrr!

 

[Joe Lugoff]

That was a great gaffe on "I Love Lucy." When Lucy's mother joined the trek to Hollywood, she said she wanted to go to present her book to Dore Schary personally.

Later, when they were out there, the Ricardos and the Mertzes were talking about Dore Schary, and Lucy's mother asked who he was (and that's when Fred gave her the facetious line quoted above.)

I know the woman was daffy, but that really was a goof.

Be that as it may, I agree with Gary OS about that Christmas episode from Season One. The scene where Lucy and Viv ruin each others' trees is an all-time classic. If that had been on "I Love Lucy," people would be talking about it all the time.

You "I Love Lucy" fans really have to give Season One of "The Lucy Show" a chance. It's nothing like those later color episodes where Lucy worked for Mr. Mooney in the bank and "celebrities" came walking through the door in every other episode.

 

[Radioman970]

That season 4 one is the one I like so much. I grew up with it. The "hammering up letters" one is on a few on the Mill Creek set. I was disappointed when I first saw it. But happy when I noticed some had the one more familiar to me.

The studio suits probably didn't agree with Lucy. She wanted variety, which was smart, they probably wanted the familiarity that the same opening titles would bring.

 

[MartinP.]

I must also chime in on this wonderful episode and add my agreement!
Not only is the episode hilarious, the denouement is, I think, unexpected.

 

[Garysb]

The thing that always bothered me about the shows after I Love Lucy was that Lucy's voice already was getting deep.She never sounded like Lucy Ricardo or the Lucy from the 30's and 40's movies again.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

No, she didn't.

I was watching an episode from the last season of "Here's Lucy" (on YouTube), and her voice was so low she had no flexibility in it at all.

The books about her say this came about due to too much smoking, too much Scotch, too much screaming and not ever really knowing how to project her voice properly. This last theory came from her own daughter, who felt her mother might have ruined her voice doing her Broadway show "Wildcat" in 1960-61.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

TV Shows on DVD announced this today July 21, the entire 1st Season. I'm Grateful to Paramount but I'd still like to hear the rational how we can get a complete season for Lucy and Split seasons for Gunsmoke. Lucy was Popular but you're still talking the longest running show (Up till recently) of all time. Once again I can't wait to grab Lucy. It's been along time since I've seen this, I remember mostly the color seasons in syndication, the B&W not so much.

 

[Gary OS]

Fantastic news! This is one of the few sets that I'll actually pre-order.

Gary "can't wait to get another great Christmas-themed episode in pristine, uncut condition that I can add to my collection" O.

 

[jdee28]

Notice how CBS/Paramount talks about the beautiful remastering in their message, but say nothing about the audio. Hopefully there will be no music replacements on this, that Lucy is a big enough name, that they went out and cleared the music. It would be really sad to see this go the way of My Three Sons.

 

[Gary OS]

The truly sad thing is that we are even having to talk about the potential of this. Shows how much we've lost faith in CBS/P because of previous releases (THE FUGITIVE, MY THREE SONS). I'd be shocked if the entire backscore was redone. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be shocked if there was a song substitution here or there. The Christmas episode did feature one or two famous Christmas songs, but I'm hoping those are public domain at this point and it won't be an issue.

Gary "it would be very bold of CBS to bring back the 'we put classic TV on a pedestal' ad if they were doing anything drastic to the music" O.

 

[MattPeriolat]

Speaking for myself, I think Lucy will be fine as CBS/P would be dealing with a big public relations nightmare by responding to the demand for Lucy with an inferior product. Plus, after all, one would assume they are hoping to get more than one season out of the demand.

I'll certainly be on board for a release. Give me a reason to sell off my Mill Creek volume of Lucy as a trade-up.

 

[Jude86]

I'm so stoked about this being announced--I posted at Sitcoms Online and even made it my status at Facebook! LOL

it'll be nice to finally get rid of my old VHS taped off Nick at Nite versions!

I think sales for this one will be brisk and that will encourage CBS to release season 2 as well, as many fans will also want to own the first Mr. Mooney season. I think we may get at least Season 3 out of CBS too. After that, it may be abandoned as sales taper off for the less popular seasons (amongst hardcore fans). Just my take, not gospel!

 

[Bob Hug]

You might want to wait on doing that until the later seasons of the series are released. The episodes on the Mill Creek collection (and others like St. Clair Entertainment) are the public domain episodes and the vast majority of them are from seasons 5 and 6. A couple of the PD episodes are from season 1, though.

 

[Gary OS]

If I were a betting man I'd say we could reasonably expect to see Season 2 by the end of the year. This will almost surely be a nice seller for CBS/P and they've generally released these type of sets twice a year.

Gary "I'm excited to see this set coming too - it's been quite some time since I've seen most of these first season episodes" O.

 

[Rob_Ray]

And the other issue to consider before selling off the PD releases (the bulk of which are from season 5) is that after Lucy moves to California in season 4, they start relying much more heavily on the Lucy-Meets-the-Celebrity-of-the-Week format with its emphasis on stars singing. The music clearances in these seasons will be an absolute nightmare.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Someone here who claimed to be "in the know" says we shouldn't worry about music replacement on "Lucy Show Season 1." I sure hope he's right.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Oh oh. There's something ominous in that story on TVShowsonDVD.

It gives the running time as 733 minutes.

Dividing that by 30 episodes comes to slightly under 24 and 1/2 minutes per episode.

In 1962-63, half-hour sitcoms minus commercials should clock in at 26 minutes per episode.

Could it be ... is it even possible ... don't tell me ... but are they using syndicated prints for this?

If so, I'm going on record now: Obviously, it will go from "Must Buy" to "No Sale" for me ... and it will be the last straw. It will once and for all keep me from ever being excited about a TVonDVD release again.

 

[JohnMor]

I wouldn't worry too much about the stated running time. They're frequently off. The official announcement did say these came from the original negatives, so I doubt they're syndicated prints. I'm sure they'll be complete.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Joe, you're jumping to conclusions. You're making a big assumption about running times in the 1960's ... most shows back then ran around 24-25 minutes. Also, I seriously doubt that you have the original broadcast episodes or are old enough to remember that time.

Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Wonder Woman, Kung Fu, Gilligan's Island, etc all ran at 24-25 minutes but never exceeded that.