The Lucy Show: The Official Third Season ... comes out November 30th, 2010!

Great coverart this season! Love the orange border and Lucy in the doorman's uniform.

GREAT news.  I was more worried about The Lucy Show being released in it's entirety than I was Here's Lucy, so it's good to know we're half-way there.  We'll most probably see them all released, unless there's a HUGE drop in sales after the Vance years. 

TV Shows on DVD is reporting that Paramount's facebook page is giving out early info on Season 4.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Lucy-Season-4/14477

That's right, Season Four.

Now, time for MPI to get Here's Lucy back on track.

Wow! That certainly surprised me. They are moving quicker than I expected with these and I'm so glad. They have realized that Lucy's other shows DO sell. I'm guessing "Here's Lucy" Season 4 will be out in February 2011. I think we will most-likely see "The Lucy Show" complete on dvd afterall.

I hope they don't chicken out on Season 5, because all but one episode of that season has been available on P.D. releases for many years.

For Season 5, if they don't include the "Lucy in London" hour special, I'll be mighty surprised.

I think of that special as really being a part of the series, anyway, for the following reasons:  It originally ran in the same time slot; it was preceded by an episode of Lucy on the plane flying to London; and they only did 22 regular episodes that season instead of 24, presumbably figuring the hour could be broken into two half hours for syndication, making 24 half hours.

Now, music clearance rights for it might make it cost prohibitive.  It also isn't very good, and it's incredibly dated, with its view of "mod" London in the so-called "swinging Sixties."  But it's the principle of the thing, right?

I'd say if they abandon "The Lucy Show," fans will pester them to license it to some other company, like Shout.  I wish they'd consider licensing all their series.  It's hard to believe there's not an audience for "The Beverly Hillbillies," for instance.

It didn't help that the Beverly Hillbillies didn't start with a Season One - instead you had the 3 other DVD sets that covered the first season and a half plus a separate Christmas special disc. Anybody who saw Season 2 on the shelf without a Season 1 in the same packaging was probably put off from buying it.
 

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Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff 

I'd say if they abandon "The Lucy Show," fans will pester them to license it to some other company, like Shout.  I wish they'd consider licensing all their series.  It's hard to believe there's not an audience for "The Beverly Hillbillies," for instance.

And for all the talk of abandoning shows, CBS have restarted and shows including Cheers, Taxi and recently kick starting Have Gun Will Travel. They've also just wrapped up a couple shows (Beverly Hills 90210 and Seventh Heaven). They're going to be done with Hawaii Five-O and the Fugitive in 2011. Doesn't seem like anyone at CBS DVD wants to shutter the office. putting up a facebook site and actually responding to questions is a help in keeping people in the loop as to what's in the process of being released.

it would be in their best interest to finish up the Lucy Show in 2011 so they can have a complete set ready to move for next Christmas along with season 6

Very excited about this release!  The wait is almost over!

Unless a network interfered, the air order is the way the shows are meant to be seen.  As you can see from your list, if you watch in production order, you'll see Lucy in her new apartment in Los Angeles (#85) before the episode that shows her moving to Los Angeles (#86).  As another example, #60 and #68 were meant to be seen two weeks in a row, when Lucy was working for the police department.

Production order was dictated by availability of sets, actors, etc.  The classic example of production order being wrong is the two-part I Love Lucy episode when Carolyn Appleby came to visit in Hollywood.  The first episode guest starred Van Johnson, and the second Harpo Marx, but they were filmed the other way around, because the first one was supposed to star Ray Bolger but he couldn't do it at the last minute.

For years, these episodes were shown the wrong way in syndication.  There's no reason to continue to watch them the wrong way, just because that was the order they were filmed.

By the way, being a stickler for air order, I know that The Lucy Show's Season 2, Episode 12, "The Loophole in the Lease," was originally scheduled as Season 2, Episode 9, but was not shown due to all television being pre-empted the day of President Kennedy's funeral.  It really should be watched as Episode 9, though, because it makes a reference to the immediately preceding episode, Season 2, Episode 8, "Lucy Decides to Redecorate."

Well, as I said above on "Loophole in the Lease," if you know an episode was originally scheduled for a certain date, but was pre-empted and postponed, then that's another story.  But as you can see from my examples of watching shows out of logical order -- such as watching the episode where Lucy discovers that Mr. Mooney will still be her banker after the episode where she's already settled in and knows Mr. Mooney is her banker -- the order they aired (or were intended to be aired) was the way they were intended to be seen.

To each his own, but in my view this series NEVER had any serious continuity, so it doesn't matter to me a hoot what order I watch the episodes.  It's hardly an example of great writing and treating any character with depth or reality or consistency, particularly after Josefsberg took over.  Do what makes you happy.

Hunted and pecked my way through various episodes last night.  Agan, the picture quality is outstanding.

I watched "Lucy and the Monsters" last night and was reminded what hideous writing and directing is all about.  One of the WORST half hours in TV history, in my opinion, and I'm not exaggerating at all.  An embarrassment for everyone involved.  You even see a cameraman in the frame as they fade to commercial at one point.  Everyone was asleep at the wheel that week.  Shocked that Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson perpetrated that script.  Can't say I blame Vivian Vance for wanting more input into the scripts if she was going to remain.  Then they have "My Fair Lucy" a short time later, and it's pretty good.  It's going to be a hard slog through the remaining seasons (if they get released.) 

Wow-  Loved Season 1, but have dragged my feet buying Season 2-  Now I need Season 3 as well!  Gotta love it!

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Originally Posted by JohnMor 

To each his own, but in my view this series NEVER had any serious continuity, so it doesn't matter to me a hoot what order I watch the episodes.  It's hardly an example of great writing and treating any character with depth or reality or consistency, particularly after Josefsberg took over.  Do what makes you happy.

 

Hunted and pecked my way through various episodes last night.  Agan, the picture quality is outstanding.

 

I watched "Lucy and the Monsters" last night and was reminded what hideous writing and directing is all about.  One of the WORST half hours in TV history, in my opinion, and I'm not exaggerating at all.  An embarrassment for everyone involved.  You even see a cameraman in the frame as they fade to commercial at one point.  Everyone was asleep at the wheel that week.  Shocked that Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson perpetrated that script.  Can't say I blame Vivian Vance for wanting more input into the scripts if she was going to remain.  Then they have "My Fair Lucy" a short time later, and it's pretty good.  It's going to be a hard slog through the remaining seasons (if they get released.) 

I grew up with Lucy, and even 45+ years later, I'm still saddened and puzzled over the decline in her shows starting in the third season of "The Lucy Show."

Obviously, it's due to her old writers leaving the show, but even so -- some of the episodes are so stupid, it's unbelievable, and these were writers who did good work on other series.

However, I've seen that people who are younger than I am, and who first saw Lucille Ball in the later "Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy" actually like those series and find them funny.  I've even heard some people say they prefer them to "I Love Lucy," as astounding as that sounds.

Therefore, when I sit down to watch Lucille Ball in the second half of her TV career, I try to play a trick on myself and pretend that "I Love Lucy" never happened.  The shows still aren't great by any means, but they don't seem so bad that way.  I compare them to contemporaneous shows like "Green Acres" -- late Lucy can get just about as surreal as "Green Acres" -- and by those lower standards, even a Josefsberg script isn't so bad.

You gotta do what you gotta do, but let's face it -- NO ONE jumped the shark the way Lucy did!  Vivian Vance knew what she was doing when she bailed out.

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Originally Posted by Theodore J. Mooney 

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Originally Posted by JohnMor 

Hunted and pecked my way through various episodes last night.  Agan, the picture quality is outstanding.

 

I watched "Lucy and the Monsters" last night and was reminded what hideous writing and directing is all about.  One of the WORST half hours in TV history, in my opinion, and I'm not exaggerating at all.  An embarrassment for everyone involved.  You even see a cameraman in the frame as they fade to commercial at one point.  Everyone was asleep at the wheel that week.  Shocked that Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson perpetrated that script.  Can't say I blame Vivian Vance for wanting more input into the scripts if she was going to remain.  Then they have "My Fair Lucy" a short time later, and it's pretty good.  It's going to be a hard slog through the remaining seasons (if they get released.)
 

 

I really enjoyed the "Lucy and the Monsters" episode. I find it to be quite unique compared to other episodes of the series. I don't see anything wrong with it at all ... I wouldn't change a thing about it at all except the camera man showing up for those few seconds. What was wrong with the writing?

Mr. Mooney, I know what you mean -- taken in the right attitude, there are laughs in that episode.  It's just that "I Love Lucy" was character and story driven, whereas an episode like "Lucy and the Monsters" is just a bunch of jokes.  But accepting it for what it is, instead of wanting it to be something it isn't, there's really nothing wrong with the writing.  It's just more like a sketch from a variety show than an episode of a situation comedy that has a story to it.
 

Funny how one person's perspective can be so different from another one's. "Lucy and the Monsters" is actually one of my favorites. Definitely not the worst half-hour in television history.  Maybe I'm biased but I just adore anything with Lucy in it. She brings joy to anything even the worst script, imo.

Looking forward to Season 4 for my favorite episode of that season "Lucy and Joan".

"The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy" were similar to "Green Acres" in that they could get very surrealistic.  If you're not sure what that means, look it up.  If you don't think Lucy's shows got surrealistic, then we must live in two different Universes.  (Just think of the episode where she gets super strength; or she gets drafted into the Marines.  It's stupid enough that they force a woman to be drafted with the men, but she never once says she's way too OLD!  That would have got her out immediately.)

According to the books, Joan Blondell was going to replace Vivian Vance as Lucy's new chubby, blonde, wise-cracking sidekick.  The problem was she couldn't stand working with Lucille Ball and quit after two episodes -- she stormed off the set at the conclusion of the second episode and never came back.

Then it was to be Ann Sothern, but Lucy wouldn't let her have equal star billing.

Vivian had quit for many reasons, including that Lucy wouldn't give her a raise.

Lucille Ball was very talented, but she wasn't easy to get along with in real life.

Have tp jump in here on two counts -- one, the Joan Blondell thing: Joan was never supposed to be a full-time regular on the show to replace Vivian. She was just one of a number of actresses Desilu had under consideration. The plan was always to have Lucy have multiple girlfriends during her first few months in California, just to see which "worked" and which did not... Vivian left primarily because she wanted to pursue other career interests. She considered Vivian Bagley to be an extension of Ethel Mertz, and while all that was fun and wonderful, it did nothing for her creative urges and need to grow as a performer.

As to the earlier comments about "Lucy and the Monsters," while I tend to agree that it seems a bit foolish today, we cannot constantly compare these shows to earlier Lucy programs, particularly to "I Love Lucy."  Rather, we need to remember what was happening on TV in 1964-65 -- what were these particular "Lucy" shows competing with?  The big hits of the day were things like "The Munsters," "The Addams Family," "Bewitched," "I Dream of Jeannie," "My Favorite Martian," "Gilligan's Island," "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Petticoat Junction," etc.  Sitcoms featuring "normal" families doing amusing things were starting to fail miserably... within a year or two things like "Donna Reed Show" and "Ozzie and Harriet" would be long gone. The only one of these to survive the "weird sitcom" era was "My Three Sons."

Desilu/Lucy tried to stay ahead of the game by changing with the times and staying competitive...

PLUS, and this is a biggie -- "The Lucy Show" was in constant competition with "I Love Lucy," which was still being rerun every weekday morning on CBS, and in primetime every summer. The writers were always, in effect, competing with themselves... They knew they had to change things or grow stale...

The irony, of course, is that the older Lucys have remained somehow "fresh and current" (because they were based on real-life situations) whereas some of these later ones now seem very dated...  But no one could have predicted that in 1964 -- and, at that time, these Lucys were extremely popular!

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Originally Posted by Theodore J. Mooney 

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnMor 

Hunted and pecked my way through various episodes last night.  Agan, the picture quality is outstanding.

 

I watched "Lucy and the Monsters" last night and was reminded what hideous writing and directing is all about.  One of the WORST half hours in TV history, in my opinion, and I'm not exaggerating at all.  An embarrassment for everyone involved.  You even see a cameraman in the frame as they fade to commercial at one point.  Everyone was asleep at the wheel that week.  Shocked that Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson perpetrated that script.  Can't say I blame Vivian Vance for wanting more input into the scripts if she was going to remain.  Then they have "My Fair Lucy" a short time later, and it's pretty good.  It's going to be a hard slog through the remaining seasons (if they get released.)
 

 

I really enjoyed the "Lucy and the Monsters" episode. I find it to be quite unique compared to other episodes of the series. I don't see anything wrong with it at all ... I wouldn't change a thing about it at all except the camera man showing up for those few seconds. What was wrong with the writing?

Oh, where to start...

First, there wasn't one single laugh, humorous bit or original idea in the entire episode. It was a super-stale, bad vaudeville sketch already in 1965. Secondly, the character of Lucy Carmichael is nothing even remotely like she appeared before or after the ep.  She literally moans and wrings her hands and exhibits such exaggerated, irrational fear and goes so far as to literally walk over Vivian on the staircase without so much as a backward glance and a "Sorry, Viv."  It would be one thing to sleep with the lights on, but the garlic necklace, wooden stake and pushing the chest in front of the door are too ludicrous to be believed from an intelligent adult, which up until that ep, Lucy Carmichael still was.

Thirdly, the groan inducingly bad dialogue: "Table for two." "Please Mummy, I'd rather do it myself!" "I run a blood bank." "I'm the Head of the house." It's bad enough to not have a shred of wit in sight, but to compound it with painfully bad jokes that weren't funny in Abbott and Costello's day makes it even worse.  Fourth, characters behave like no human beings ever do, just for the sake of a "joke."  Like when the man comes in at the end dressed as Dracula.  When the front door is opened he strides right into the living room of a stranger without being invited in, talking in his Transylvanian accent.  No one does that.  He's written to do that so that the girls will scream and react, but that's not a valid enough reason.

Fifth, a gorilla in an apron.  Sixth, the melee rule: when you have no idea how to end something, have all the characters scream and chase each other around the stage.

It's great to have a change of pace episode and/or a dream episode, and was done brilliantly on The Dick Van Dyke Show ("It May Look Like A Walnut") and on I Love Lucy ("Lucy Goes To Scotland"), but this was just a misfire on all counts.  It plays like a Junior High talent show sketch. It may even be worse than the Here's Lucy episode, "Lucy In The Jungle."  It certainly is not any better.

Even I Love Lucy had bad episodes, such as "Lucy Is Envious." But even then they adhered to the basic premise of the reality of the characters.

As far as the show trying to keep up with the then ubiquitous supernatural sitcoms, that has nothing to do with the quality of the episode. The premise is fine.  It's the execution that's beneath the talents of all involved.

Thinking about it now, I think one thing that would have helped avoid the inexcusable idiocy of the first part, was if they each had a dream after seeing the movie, and Viv's dream was about how scared Lucy was.  Then at least there would be an excuse for Lucy knocking Viv down on the stairs and walking over her back and wearing a necklace of garlic, etc., as the character wouldn't have really been doing those out-of-character things in real life.

I think the point of "Monsters," and believe me I am NOT trying to defend it -- was to do it as a spoof... Pull out all the hoary old gags and do them once again in a send-up...

Admittedly, this kind of thing works a lot better in a sketch-comedy/variety show format. It really has no place in a filmed "situation comedy." But doing a spoof was what they were trying to do...

Yeah, I get that it's a spoof, but as you said, that was not the venue for it.  Sadly, Lucy's series became the venues for more and more of that as the years went by.  It's just the change in direction when she hired Milt Josefsberg.  What worked for Jack Benny on a sketch show didn't work for Lucy in a situation comedy.  Sadly, Lucy too often let her personal feelings get in the way of business decisions, and it's a shame. Luckily, there's still some reasonably good eps sprinkled in every year here and there.