I LOVE LUCY 7th, 8th, and 9th season (1 Viewer)

[Joe Lugoff]

That would be Carole Cook, not Barbara. (Also, Robert Osborne, well known from Turner Classic Movies now.)

 

[Joseph_G]

If I actually had the connections to be working for free on the DVD releases of these Lucille Ball shows, I would. Where do I sign up?

I don't think there should be too much worry about the PD Lucy Show releases. There are only about three episodes with Vivian Vance available, and I feel like she'd be a huge draw in the DVD release of the first three seasons. And since I can only assume all other Lucy fans have the same opinion as me, I'm sure I'm right ;-)

 

[Ethan Riley]

The Vivian Vance episodes are the only ones I even like. After that, the series was just a showcase for whatever Big Name Guest Star needed to plug their stupid movie that week. Yes, "Lucy" hosted some of the greatest stars on the planet, but their appearances were generally tiresome and unfunny. Even "I Love Lucy" suffered from Big Headed Hollywood in its 4th season. True, we got the classic episodes with Harpo Marx and John Wayne, but who in 2007 gives a shit about Cornel Wilde and Richard Widmark?

 

[Rob_Ray]

I can assure you that in 2007 there are more than a few classic film buffs who "give a shit" about Cornel Wilde, Richard Widmark and lots of other stars from the classic era. But apart from that debatable topic, what makes I Love Lucy stand apart from The Lucy Show is that, regardless of whether the stars in question have stood the test of time, those episodes are genuinely funny. "The Star Upstairs" contains one of my favorite Vivian Vance moments of all time -- her priceless reaction as Lucy plummets to the ground below as the audience roars and her nervous comment about having to "go pick up a friend." For me, season 4 of ILL has more classic episodes than any other.

 

[Robert13]

YES! That's one of my favorite moments too. I love when she starts telling Ricky about her cake recipe.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

The worst of "The Lucy Show" weren't the guest stars --- the worst was having some of the stupidest episodes in the history of television:

Lucy becomes a superwoman

Lucy, 55 years old and a woman with big false eyelashes, is drafted into the army and no one seems to notice she's too old and the wrong sex

Lucy goes back to high school (even though she attended her college reunion earlier in the series) and instead of taking a correspondence course, she actually goes to high school with teenagers

Lucy seriously thinks Mr. Mooney has turned into a monkey

And to add insult to injury, the episodes are totally unfunny. It's almost like her writers hated her and wanted to get even with her, because those same writers wrote good stuff for other shows.

 

[Garysb]

The later Lucy Shows are missing Desi . Rather then her husband, the person saying no was Gale Gordon, and the relationship was obviously not the same.
There was no more men against woman. No more Lucy trying to get into show business.
Lucy Ricardo was clever and always thinking up schemes . Later Lucys were stupid and clumsy
I think the Lucy character had just run its course after I Love Lucy and the Lucy Desi shows.
It is amazing that the shows stayed popular. It was popular but not funny. It is a shame that people would not accept her as another character .

 

[Jay Pennington]

Agreed, the later Lucy shows have no appeal for me at all. I can understand if she had tired of playing the ditzy but lovable Lucy Ricardo and wanted a character more reflective of her own maturity, but with that change so went the charm. For me, anyway. Her characters just became a stupid loud broad in the later incarnations.

It is fun watching Gale Gordon, though. But not enough.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

It's difficult to know what happened. When "The Lucy Show" began, I read it was actually written in the writers' contracts that Lucy Carmichael was to be exactly like Lucy Ricardo. Then the creator of "I Love Lucy," Jess Oppenheimer, threatened to sue and settled out of court. (I mentioned this once in a newsgroup and Gregg Oppenheimer himself answered the message to explain the situation.)

If Lucille Ball had had some business sense and hadn't been so cheap, she'd have paid Oppenheimer on a regular basis and given him the credit "Lucy Character Created by ..." But, no. So the Lucy character become a really stupid, clumsy screwball and lost Lucy Ricardo's cleverness and scheming.

Even so -- the show didn't have to get as bad as it got. Some episodes (including "Here's Lucy") are actually painful to sit through.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Well, she was really phoning it in all through the 60s and 70s. You can see she just wasn't working as hard as she had been in the 50s. The 70s shows are painful because they lack the wit and sophistication of ILL. My interest in "Lucy" grows less and less the more her voice drops...

 

[Garysb]

I read that she started using cue cards after she became president of Desilu
because she no longer had the time to memorize her part.

 

[YELLOW11]

Hey, I know this is off topic, but what were the scenes that were added to the Season Four replacement disc? And what were the special features added to the 7-disc set of the first season?
Thanks

 

[Garysb]

The set is available at Costco for about $25.

 

[Brandy681]

I bought my set @ Amazon for $27.99 with free shipping but I think it has went up a few dollars now. I also saw this set at Walmart for $29.99 but it has been selling out like hot cakes...

 

[PaulP]

What the hell is this?

 

[jacktripper1]

Oh, I've already got that. It was called Lucy Mania. It's a set of 5 VHS tapes packed together into a cardboard box. It also has the Luci-Desi Westinghouse special on one tape that was included as a special feature on I lOve Lucy, the 7th, 8th, and 9th seasons. They are some very interesting tapes. I will definently pick this up, then sell my Lucy Mania tapes. I would definently recommend this. The picture quality is a little srcathy on the I've got a secret, but otherwise this is a GREAT buy.

 

[PaulP]

Sweet, and for ten bucks it looks like a worthy addition to my Lucy collection!

 

[Joe Lugoff]

That's not the same as the box set of VHS tapes I have -- the tapes present the complete shows, and I think this new DVD just shows the Lucy-Desi segments.

 

[jacktripper1]

I didnt say it had the same box. II said it had the same FEATURES. I've been trying for an hour to upload these darn pics of the box and tapes and either its too large or the hyperlink doesnt work or an invalid URL. I gave up. Sorry.

 

[PaulP]

I wonder if there's a review of this anywhere?