I Love Lucy- Should I buy it? (1 Viewer)

[ScottR]

I am debating on whether or not to cave in and get the Lucy boxed set. I have been waiting on restored prints and original openings/bumpers/end credits...however, with all of the product placement involved on the origianl shows, I doubt this kind of release will ever see the light of day. I know there were some issues with quality on the first volume...were those ever worked out? Should I just go ahead and splurge, or will there be another release?

 

[JustinCleveland]

The eternal question... quality over avaliability. To buy a series you love because it's avaliable at less-than-stellar quality. Yet, if you don't, then it will appear that there is no interest in the title, and no reason to restore it.

I never assume there will be another release of a title I want. If there is, I hock the old version on eBay or give it to a family member as a holiday gift.

 

[Andrew Radke]

This is where I have a problem as well. My main problem is the fact that NINE disks are devoted to ONE season. While almost every other show on DVD has compact packaging which folds out, we have to set aside room for 9 disks to accomodate one season of the show.

Mind you, I'm willing to bed that they won't re-release the first season. That would tick off a lot of people I'm sure who have invested big bucks for these existing DVDs. So chances are, somewhere down the road I will pick this up regardless.

 

[Jeff Swearingen]

The discs so far have had the original Philip Morris (? or was it another tobacco company...I can't remember) opening available as a special feature and you can see the product placement in the episodes where footage has been restored.

 

[Ryan Wishton]

Well, in this case they probably wont go back to season 1... They will probably just go ahead to season 2 now...

So, it's probably best just to pick them up now, because you could be waiting many years before they return to season 1 and that will probably by with the next format...

 

[David Lambert]

I have the the 8 discs released so far and will be getting the 9th. I have very few complaints about these, and I can't think of anything that makes be regret their purchase. I agree they could have put more shows per disc, but the VERY extensive supplements use up a significant chunk of the remaining disc space rather nicely, thank you.

I would need to hear very SPECIFIC complaints about what is supposed to be wrong with these releases to persuade me to change my mind about them. It is true that some releases look a bit worse than others, but it's truly not by much, and everything is of an acceptable quality for a show this old. I say, "well done"...it's obvious that Oppenheimer put a lot of love into this when supervising the DVDs.


I cannot imagine these ever being re-done in the DVD format. Scott, if you like the show and can afford it, go get the Season 1 9-DVD set that streets this Tuesday...you can order it now from DVDPlanet for just $69.99 (that's significantly cheaper than most other places).

 

[Paul Drake]

For those going the B&M route, my local Sam's Club is selling these for $67.77. Great deal. I'm still on the fence about this though. I used to love the show, but it seems dated now especially with all of the books detailing that the real life Lucy was a bit harsher than her on screen personna. Don't get me wrong, the show still is brilliant, but I think Dick Van Dyke (which I do want to get) has held up better.

Of course, part of it could be that this is not my favorite Lucy show. I'm one of the minority that actually prefers "The Lucy Show" (with Mr. Mooney) to "I Love Lucy".

 

[Brian W.]

I have been waiting on restored prints and original openings/bumpers/end credits...however, with all of the product placement involved on the origianl shows, I doubt this kind of release will ever see the light of day.

These ARE restored prints. Almost every episode has something that was cut out in syndication, usually a Philip Morris plug within the show. All product placement WITHIN the shows has been restored, as has the original transition music. True, the original commercials are not there, but the original openings are available as supplements, and on the final Season One episode, a Philip Morris ad declaring the end of that season's shows.

No need to wait on something that's not being done. They're not restoring the titles/commercials to each episode, it's just not being done, so you're waiting for nothing. You'll never have the complete original shows with the original commercials.

Although the quality of the source material varies from show to show, and some of the restored segments are of lesser quality, being taken from 16mm, according to Gregg Oppenheimer all these shows were remastered specificially for the DVDs -- none of them were taken off old D2 masters, as some have alleged -- and were all mastered from the best existing material.

The short version: They're not redoing Season One, so go ahead and get it.

 

[Paul D G]

I still on the fence about this as well, but edging towards getting it. I have a niece in another country who discovered I Love Lucy on a trip here some years back and became an addict. I taped the broadcasts for her (mostly in order, but many were skipped entirely) for months and sent the tapes. She has nearly worn them out, watches them for hours on end.

I hadn't watched ILL for several years so it was a pleasure getting reaquainted with this show. Even my wife, who seemed to think the show was crap for some reason got caught out laughing enough times. Now even she will turn it on. I'm sure hearing that her grandfather was a huge fan of the show helped.

Recently picked up a boxed set of Lucy Show eps (mostly season 5/6) which I taped for my niece. Some of those shows were even quite funny.

The thought of such a massive set for Season 1, and my dwindling storage space is making me debate on if I should pick this up or not, but given the positive comments here I think I can feel my credit card getting just a little heavier.

Rambling,

-paul