Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

I gotta say that I find there was definitely a decline in the quality of Lucy's performances the last couple of years of HL as a rule. But there were exceptions, too. "Lucy Is Really In A Pickle," for example. Even Lucie Arnaz acknolwedged that she (Lucy) was reading off cue cards the last couple of years. Not that she was horrible, but she was not giving the complete performances she did on ILL or TLS, or even early HL.

Add to that some of the HIDEOUS scripts HL had, and it can be painful to sit through at times.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

Theodore J. Mooney, I'm not sure how old you are, but I'm guessing you're about 10 to 20 years younger than I am. I was alive and very much interested in "I Love Lucy" when these hour shows were new.

We all thought of it merely as a continuation of "I Love Lucy." Desi Arnaz even said when the show stopped production of 30-minute episodes in the 1956-57 season that in the future it would continue as bimonthly hour specials.

CBS decided to rerun them all in the summer of 1962. That was when they called them "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour," but we all knew that wasn't a real series -- it was reruns of the specials.

Why you don't believe us, I don't know.

It wasn't even unique. They also reran other comedy specials as "The CBS Comedy Hour" or something like that. No one considered that a series.

You know the DVDs refer to the hour shows as "I Love Lucy" - Seasons 7, 8 and 9. That isn't technically correct, but it's close to what it really was.


CBS slapped that title on it later. I don't know why you continue to dispute this.

Those were created in 1962, two years after they stopped making the shows. The "typeface" of the credits is identical with Season 1 of "The Lucy Show," also being filmed at that time at Desilu.


No, the second half of the sixth and final season of the half-hour series was also set in that country house (in Connecticut). The hour shows picked up right where the half-hour shows left off.

But not (as I said) by the DVDs, which call the hour specials the 7th, 8th and 9th seasons of "I Love Lucy," which isn't far from the truth.

Not really. They did the specials for three years -- that's fully 50% of the length of the run of the original half-hour series. And I'm sure you know they stopped because the stars got a divorce! Otherwise I'm confident it would have continued. In fact, there was another episode written. I've read who the guest star was going to be, but I've forgotten who it was.
Unfortunately, what people "remember" or think they know is absolutely irrelevant. Facts are facts.
This is a pet peeve of mine. The hour specials are very good, for the most part. In fact, I rank the scripts of the shows with Tallulah Bankhead and Danny Thomas as two of the greatest scripts Lucille Ball ever got in her entire career!

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

You are off target, way off. I am from the Nick-at-Nite generation. I grew up watching Lucy through Nick-at-Nite.

The first time I saw The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour I didn't care for it. It just didn't feel like the original I Love Lucy. There was something about the show that wasn't from or of the original. Not that it is a bad thing. But over the years I grown to like the comedy hours a lot. Of course, they are no I Love Lucy as they are a different Lucy, a different show if you will. So in the years I grew up watching Lucy, I Love Lucy was its own show as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour was too. I remember Nick-at-Nite advertising TLDCH over the week as the show aired on Saturdays. One of the advertisements went something like this, "Watch Lucy and Ricky skate on ice as they head out to Alaska on The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour". Notice that Nick-at-Nite didn't advertise the show as I Love Lucy. So to me anyways, they will always be two different shows. Moreover, the feeling I get from watching I Love Lucy isn't the same feeling I get from watching The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour and it has been that way for as long as I can remember.

Well, on the back of the season six DVD set, it says in fine print: "It's I Love Lucy's sixth and final season". And according to most documents, I Love Lucy ran for sixth seasons not nine. If it ran for nine, then we couldn't say that show bowed out on top as the no. #1 show in country in it's final season. As an I Love Lucy fan, I would rather keep that record for the show and deny anything that came after the sixth season as I Love Lucy. Plus, I just assume that the reason The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour didn't come out on DVD as its own series is because it would have not sold near as much as being branded as I Love Lucy. Afterall, the most popular series of Lucille Ball, without a doubt, is ILL.

They were specials under a different title. But CBS turned it into a series under a new name that has lasted for more than 40 years.

You are right. However, I am saying that I Love Lucy's primary home location wasn't set in Connecticut. It was the New York Apartment. With The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, the home location was set in Connecticut. And that's a difference between the two series.

That would be like saying the whole Three's a Crowd series in the 9th season of Three's Company or the whole Golden Palace series is the 8th and 9th seasons of The Golden Girls. Get what I am saying?

I was referring to the amount of episodes not the amount of years. 13 episodes of any show IS short-lived.


I personally would have loved to see the series continued. Afterall, there were only 13 episodes made.

I never knew that. Where have you gotten this information at?

I guess you have a point there.

I agree. Those two scripts were among the best.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

I read about the next (planned) hour show in one of the many books on Lucy and Desilu I've read. I couldn't begin to remember where it was now.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

I think an earlier post put it best so that the difference may be understood that this is not a series and just several specials and follow-ups to I Love Lucy which is why they are still in the country right where season 6 of ILL ends. This is exactly the same way that the 3-4 Return/Rescue from Gilligan's Island were done. Those are not considered a seperate series either but specials/follow-ups.
The Lucy/Desi specials were always planned as 5 episodes a year so three years is a decent time for these to run. The total # of episodes in this case is not really relevant.
Desi stated himself as can be read in several books that he wanted to produce more at desilu but he knew I Love Lucy was still popular so he continued it as 5 specials a year so he could have his time free to produce. He never started a new series or it would have been new sets and new characters.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

I also concur on the excellence of the Danny Thomas (the courtroom sequence is priceless as Lucy mimes a snowball fight!) and Tallulah episodes. I also liked the finale with Ernie Kovacs, which of course was bittersweet as the divorce was filed the very next day after the filimg wrapped.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

I'm very excited about getting Here's Lucy in complete season sets. As I said in an earlier post, this it the series the I grew up watching Lucy. I have vey fond memories of this series and will be glad to see it again. While I do understand that near the end it was looking a bit tattered around the edges it was still a good show. Bring on the DVDs.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

One thing that will be somewhat irritating in the first season of "Here's Lucy" is that when Lucy Carter sings, her voice is dubbed by Carole Cook. How they thought they were fooling anyone, I'll never know. We all knew how Lucy sounded when she sang.

Eventually they stopped that nonsense and Lucy sang for herself, as painful as that sometimes was.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

Even though I'm not a big fan of this series (or LB's previous one), I am very glad it is coming to dvd complete. Both for the fans who want it, and because it bodes well for more classic TV on dvd.

As you said, "Bring on the DVDs."

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

I wouldn't dream of not getting this series. I might be a masochist, but I want to see it again and bend over backwards to find something good about it.

The only way one can enjoy late Lucille Ball is to forget that "I Love Lucy" ever existed. "Here's Lucy" should not be compared to it. It should be compared to other shows of its era, such as "Green Acres" and "The Doris Day Show."

During the run of "Here's Lucy," TV comedy changed due to "All in the Family," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "M*A*S*H." Instead of adapting, Lucy seemed to go backwards. Her TV days were numbered then. She had no real success on TV during the last 15 years of her life.

If she had done something like "The Golden Girls," she might have been back on top again. But, no. All she could think of was working with Gale Gordon again and dropping something on his foot for the big laugh.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

Ugh...! Joe, you are so right. I was eight when Here's Lucy went off the air, but even I knew that it was old school for its time. I generally didn't like watching it (although my mother always had it on, probably out of habit). I didn't like HL in its final couple years because unfortunately it had to compete with ILL which was huge in syndication at the time. I can imagine it was very tough for an aging Lucy to have to compete with her younger, fresher wittier self flickering across the airwaves at all hours of the day. I maintain that HL seemed to be on the air merely for old times' sake. It served its purpose; it was funny, it got good ratings, but it was by no means a brilliant show.

But none of that explains the train wreck that was Life With Lucy a decade later. By the mid-80s tv sitcoms had become more like exercises in good parenting: 15 minutes of craziness from the kids followed by 15 minutes of the parent sitting the brat down on the couch and straightening him out (see the Cosby Show or Family Ties). Well--along comes Lucy, and she has grandkids on the show, but instead of straightening them out, they're delivering all the straight lines and Lucy's the trouble-maker in the house. Very eerie television...!

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

I have trouble wrapping my head around Life With Lucy. Apparently the hype around the show was big, and she (and producer Aaron Spelling, who has no other sitcoms on his gigantic resumé except playing a gas station attendant in the I Love Lucy episode "Tennessee Bound", which I'm sure is a coincidence) had full creative control (out of character for ABC), no pilot, and no focus groups. They even brought in her old writers. But when the public saw the product, they tuned out in droves.

I saw it on the Nick at Nite Lucy marathon in 1996 and I didn't think much of it. Outside of Gale Gordon, the supporting cast was a bundle of non-entities. There was nothing you couldn't already see on one of Lucy's previous 3 shows.

Outside of the actual content (which was probably the biggest culprit), what happened there? Was it Lucy being out of touch with the TV landscape of 1986 or Aaron Spelling's influence, or a combination of the two? Ironically, she starred as a homeless woman in "Stone Pillow" a year before, which showed audiences would accept her in a dramatic role or anything not a rehash of the same-old-same-old.

Did the show's failure really have the impact on the last years of her life that is said? I know the failure of the show hurt her deeply, its quality notwithstanding.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

Actually, I wouldn't have minded Lucy doing the same old thing till the day she died -- if it had been any good!

Somewhere along the line, she lost sight of what made the original Lucy character so good -- she was a quick-witted, clever person, not a dumbbell. She was wacky, not a dimwit. What made her actually admirable was that she'd go to any extremes to achieve her goal, whether it was breaking into show business or getting a new hat.

What I liked most about her was that quick-wittedness. If caught in a lie, she'd quickly cover up for it. If one scheme fell apart, she'd come up with a new one. The Lucy character was very much "with it," with a great sense of humor. And in portraying that character, Lucille Ball's facial expressions, timing and line deliveries were as good as any comedienne's in history.

All of that was lost along the way, and she seemed to think what made the Lucy character funny was that she screwed things up due to stupidity, not due to wackiness or being outrageous in pursuit of her goals.

I've read she changed the Lucy character under threat of lawsuit by Jess Oppenheimer, who created the original character of Lucy Ricardo. If that's true, she made a terrible mistake by being tighter than Fred Mertz: she should have paid the guy and thanked him for her success!

Actually, the reason her popularity declined wasn't because she was still doing the same old Lucy character: it was because she was doing a very much simplified, unfunny version of it.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

I get scared when I hear of a favorite show coming to dvd. Especially when its months away (double figure months). I heard the Rifleman was coming out months ago. (well, sorta coming out). If I told you I was employed by a major studio as senior manager in charge of ferreting out tv shows that could sell on dvd would you believe me? "Well....would you believe....."


Yes. I believe there will be a Lucy. Anytime, anywhere. But for most other shows I don't believe they know what they're doing next month let alone next year. Outside of Lucy, other shows could be cancelled with so much time to play with. I think studios (or studioes) you decide, should never give more then a 120 day window to an upcoming release. Now, please son't ask. I don't know why I wrote this either. Its raining out!!

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

OK, it seems this will be released this year, not next.

TVShowsonDVD is announcing an August 25 release for "Here's Lucy," Season 1.

And here we go ..... again!

Since this is MPI Home Video, of the infamous "Doris Day Show," I had a gut feeling that this release would use syndicated prints. The "Best of Here's Lucy" set used gorgeous, complete, pristine prints, but I'm thinking that no one would lay out the money to restore all the episodes of this risky proposition.

The episodes on the "Best Of" set run 25+ to 26 minutes each (which would be correct for those days).

So what do we see on the press release? "... you'll get 24 episodes running 580 minutes." And slamming those numbers into my trusty calculator gives an average of slightly over 24 minutes per episode, which sounds "syndicated" to me.

I know the 580 could be wrong. But as always in this frustrating hobby, only time will tell ...........

Also as always, I'll say, in case MPI Home Video monitors these forums: If they're not complete episodes, as originally broadcast, it's No Sale with me (and many others, I'm sure.)

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

I don't think either Lucie Arnaz or Desi Arnaz, Jr. would allow this DVD set to have syndication edits. Here's Lucy is apart of their mother's legacy and they too were apart of this show. Moreover ... the last I checked, they own the show. And if I remember correctly, they are the ones who were behind getting this show on DVD in the first place.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

Yes, and they did a great job with the "Best Of" set.

However, they probably lost money on that (I've seen it remaindered all over the place). And I suspect they may not want to go to any great expense this time. I hope I'm wrong.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

I've heard the best-loved set of Here's Lucy did decent. So decent that they were going to go ahead and release another best-loved set of the series. But those plans fell through because Shout Factory wanted too much money to produce and distribute the set.

Anyways, I am really looking forward to the season one set of Here's Lucy. I've waited and waited for this day to come. And to now know that it is actually coming is a dream come true.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

I'm happy for the Lucy fans that they'll be getting this show finally. But it's really not a good show at all and it got worse as it went along. But at least you know that MPI is a company that finishes what it starts, unlike everybody else.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

They have it listed at amazon for $20.99. (at least for now) I am really surprised that it is priced so inexpensively. It is coming this summer. I will be ordering this, especially at this great price.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

1.) Press release running times are are wrong about 7 out of 10 times.

2,) Syndicated prints are 22-23 minutes. So slightly over 24 minutes to me says original 25 minute prints that they slightly miscalculated on the complete running time.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

I'm thinking (and hoping) you're right, Randy.



I agree with the first part ... it's really not a good show, by any standards ... but I actually think the last three seasons were somewhat better than the first three.

Starting with Season 4, Lucy's original writers (Madelyn and Bob, as we Lucy fans call them) returned to write 1/3 of the episodes.

They were way past their prime, but at least their episodes tended to only be dull and unfunny, as opposed to a typical "Here's Lucy" episode of the first three seasons, which could be unbelievably crude and stupid.

By the last season, the show was using only three sets of writers, each writer or team of writers writing 1/3 of the episodes -- and they were the best writers the show ever had (which may not be saying much) -- and it then became what I'd rate as a "fair" sitcom instead of the "poor" sitcom I had previously rated it.

But those prints on the "Best Of" set were so gorgeous, it made it a pleasure to look at, no matter how weak the episode. I'm hoping against hope the prints on the Season Sets are as good.

Re: Possible 2010 release for Here's Lucy?

The Internet is an amazing place, because even an insignificant voice like mine can be heard.

Or so I'd like to think.

I expressed concern that the episodes on "Here's Lucy - Season 1" might be cut and won't look as wonderful as they did on the "Best Of" set, and it's possible MPI responded to that via TVShowsonDVD, which today reports:

"MPI informs us that the episodes are uncut and digitally remastered 'direct from the original 35mm color negatives, for stunning quality.'"

And "stunning" is just what they were on the "Best Of" set.

Along with the bonuses, this has the potential of being a great set, making it much more fun than watching "Here's Lucy" in 1968-69 actually was.

As expected, there is no sign of the commentaries from the Shout Best of set on the MPI Season 1 set released yesterday, so folks may want to keep (and/or pick up) the Shout set before it disappears if you are interested in the commentaries (or other bonus material from the Shout set).  Mildly surprising on the commentaries, only because the Shout set says all bonus material is owned by Lucille Ball Productions, LLC, but they may still have had to pay Paul Brownstein some production fees if they wanted to reuse them.

Of course, some of the Shout bonus material aside from the commentaries might still appear on subsequent Here's Lucy sets, but I think one can safely assume that any commentary on Season 1 episodes included in the Shout set will not be on future MPI season sets.

Jay
Edited by Jay*W - 8/26/09 at 5:48am

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