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The Lucy Show Season 1 Spring 2009 (1 Viewer)

Tim Tucker

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The odd thing is that I first saw The Lucy Show in syndication in the '70s, and the Lucy/Viv episodes were always in black & white.
 

DoreSchary

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Just found this first review of The Lucy Show: The Official First Season...

http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2009/07/lucy-show-official-first-season-dvd.html
 

Corey3rd

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How did he manage to get it two weeks in advance?

cause they send the DVDs out early for review purposes. And it seems like the folks wanted to send out stuff earlier than usual to avoid any logjams over the 4th of July weekend

although you're only supposed to post reviews 10 days before the release date
 

Joe Lugoff

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I'm pretty sure she was, as surprising a fact as that the first toilet shown on television was on "Leave It to Beaver."

There's this book called "The Guide to United States Popular Culture" by Pat Browne. He says CBS wouldn't let Mary Tyler Moore play a divorced character on her 1970 sitcom because they were afraid people would think she had divorced Dick Van Dyke. He then goes on with this howler:

" More significant was the network's concern over the American viewer's readiness to accept a divorced character. CBS waited until 1975, when Bonnie Franklin became television's first divorced character in the sitcom One Day at a Time."

It just shows you can't trust what you read in books -- or on Internet forums, either, of course -- but as we Lucy fans know, Vivian Bagley was a "divorced character" 13 years before 1975.

P.S. After submitting this, I remembered that the title character in Maude, although currently married, had been divorced several times, hadn't she? And that was three years before One Day at a Time. But that's still ten years after Viv.
 

MatthewA

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Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff


P.S. After submitting this, I remembered that the title character in Maude, although currently married, had been divorced several times, hadn't she? And that was three years before One Day at a Time. But that's still ten years after Viv.
Two of Maude's husbands died, and she divorced the other. Walter Findlay was #4.

I heard that rumor of people thinking Mary Richards would have divorced Dick Van Dyke...in fact I read it on the box of the early 1990s MTM Home Video release of the first two episodes of that show. So before the internet even the production company started to believe rumors about its own productions. I seriously doubt anyone would believe that. It's appalling how many truly lazy books on popular culture get published, and the inaccurate info continues to persist in the internet age. Of course, they don't really have any form of peer review.
 

Gary OS

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Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff

" More significant was the network's concern over the American viewer's readiness to accept a divorced character. CBS waited until 1975, when Bonnie Franklin became television's first divorced character in the sitcom One Day at a Time."
So instead CBS glorified divorce and lampooned and belittled marriage with One Day at a Time to make sure America got the message.

Oh how I hated those preachy, liberal sitcoms from the 70's where every virtue became a vice and every vice became a virtue. Not all sitcoms from that era fell into this trap, but many did. One Day at a Time is a perfect example (as was Maude).

Gary "at least with The Lucy Show the fact that Viv was divorced wasn't glorified as some wonderful example all women should strive for" O.
 

Rob_Ray

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Originally Posted by MatthewA

I heard that rumor of people thinking Mary Richards would have divorced Dick Van Dyke...in fact I read it on the box of the early 1990s MTM Home Video release of the first two episodes of that show. So before the internet even the production company started to believe rumors about its own productions. I seriously doubt anyone would believe that.
I don't know. I always assumed that Vivian Bagley had divorced Fred and that the late, lamented Mr. Carmichael had spoken with a Cuban accent.

Seriously, I remember when MTM premiered and there had been discussions of making her a divorcee. I think the rationale was a bit more subtle than has been reported. CBS just felt that after audiences had seen her happily married to Dick Van Dyke for five years, it would just make audiences uncomfortable to now see her as a divorcee and that subconciously audiences would be imaginging her ex-husband as looking like Dick Van Dyke, thus giving this new show a bad first impression with potential viewers. I doubt CBS executives thought audiences would *literally* think she had divorced Dick Van Dyke.
 

Corey3rd

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besides the divorcee situation, you've got Lucy and Vivian supposedly having babies in their 40s. What does that say about their marriages since they didn't get knocked up until late in life?

One Day At a Time sure did glamorize the life of a divorcee - sitting back in a luxury condo and collecting those fat checks from the ex-husband. Bonnie Franklin sure had it easy on that show. My favorite episode is the one where Schnider installs her solid gold toilet.
 

Jack P

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Originally Posted by Rob_Ray

CBS just felt that after audiences had seen her happily married to Dick Van Dyke for five years, it would just make audiences uncomfortable to now see her as a divorcee and that subconciously audiences would be imaginging her ex-husband as looking like Dick Van Dyke, thus giving this new show a bad first impression with potential viewers. I doubt CBS executives thought audiences would *literally* think she had divorced Dick Van Dyke.
Keep in mind also that not only were syndicated reruns of DVD Show still fresh in everyone's mind but Dick and Mary had also just the year before reunited in a highly rated TV special "Dick Van Dyke And The Other Woman". The idea that they were afraid of was that Mary Richards divorcee could easily seem like Laura Petrie divorcee (and understandable in that it's NEVER easy for someone widely identified with one TV role to shake that image right away).
 

Jack P

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Originally Posted by Gary OS


So instead CBS glorified divorce and lampooned and belittled marriage with One Day at a Time to make sure America got the message.

Oh how I hated those preachy, liberal sitcoms from the 70's where every virtue became a vice and every vice became a virtue. Not all sitcoms from that era fell into this trap, but many did.
I couldn't agree more. To me the Norman Lear sitcoms are very overrated because they ushered in the trend of using sitcoms as a vehicle for agenda preaching at the expense of entertainment, and the agenda preaching was always one-sided.

"All In The Family" I give a partial pass to only because of the brilliant comic timing of the actors and the fact that when the show stuck to traditional ways of doing comedy the results were hilarious. When Archie gets locked in the basement for instance, that's an example of when the show is great fun to watch. But listening to the dumb sermonettes of Meathead, who was ultimately totally out of synch with where the country was heading makes the show cringe-inducing on many occasions (and considering that Meathead was being given the privilege of free room and board he would have been well-advised to show more tact and tolerance for Archie's vices)
 

Gary OS

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Originally Posted by Jack P

I couldn't agree more. To me the Norman Lear sitcoms are very overrated because they ushered in the trend of using sitcoms as a vehicle for agenda preaching at the expense of entertainment, and the agenda preaching was always one-sided.

"All In The Family" I give a partial pass to only because of the brilliant comic timing of the actors and the fact that when the show stuck to traditional ways of doing comedy the results were hilarious. When Archie gets locked in the basement for instance, that's an example of when the show is great fun to watch. But listening to the dumb sermonettes of Meathead, who was ultimately totally out of synch with where the country was heading makes the show cringe-inducing on many occasions (and considering that Meathead was being given the privilege of free room and board he would have been well-advised to show more tact and tolerance for Archie's vices)

Very well said, Jack. We definitely agree on this point. Give me the classic 50's and 60's sitcoms over those preachy, Norman Lear 70's ones any day of the week.

Gary "really looking forward to The Lucy Show: Season 1" O.
 

Robert13

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The Press Release was just posted on tvshowsondvd.com. I thought they lived in Danfield, Connecticut. It says they live together in a suburban New York house. Whatever they write, I can't wait to buy this set!!!!
 

Will Krupp

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It is Danfield, New York and not Connecticut (altho the mistake is often made)


I can't wait to get my hands on this set!
 

Joe Lugoff

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Yeah, I once had this big Internet argument with a guy over the Connecticut-New York issue.

People assume it's Connecticut, because that's where the Ricardos were living when "I Love Lucy" ended.

But it's definitely New York, and it's explicitly stated in the third season episode with Arthur Godfrey, to name one example.

I'm thinking Danfield was in Westchester county, not far from New Rochelle, where Rob and Laura Petrie were living at the same time. But it might have been on Long Island.
 

JohnMor

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Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff

Yeah, I once had this big Internet argument with a guy over the Connecticut-New York issue.

People assume it's Connecticut, because that's where the Ricardos were living when "I Love Lucy" ended.
I think the main reason people assumed it was because in reality there is no Danfield NY, but there is a Danfield CT. Danfield NY is strictly a fictional location.

And it definitely "feels" more like Westchester (or thereabouts) than Long Island, the way they depicted it.
 

Robert13

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Ah, thanks for clearing that up. For some reason, I never felt like it was New York when I was watching the show. I had forgotten about the Arthur Godrey episode. Thanks again! :)
 

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