The Lucy Show: The Official Second Season ... coming out on July 13th, 2010! (1 Viewer)

[Rob_Ray]

I'm savoring my set. No more than one episode per week, preferably on a Monday night. I watched a lot of the extras, and "Lucy Plays Cleopatra" last night. The color is absolutely outstanding!


The extras are comparable to those on Season One. Best so far is the Lucille Ball Comedy Hour with Bob Hope and Lucy performing a reworking of a Sherwood Schwartz play in which TV's most popular Mr. and Mrs team are hiding the fact that they are not really married. It's fun to see Lucy in a more adult comedy role and looking sexy throughout. I really think that, despite the fact that her voice was getting gravelly by this point, she never looked sexier than she did in the early-to-mid sixties, up to the Lucy in London special, where she gets to model all those mod Carnaby street clothes and not look ridiculous.


Carole Cook is interviewed on this set. She's still telling the story of being mistaken for Lucille Ball by fans after Lucy's death. The story changes every time she tells it, so I doubt it's true, but she certainly knows how to tell a good story.

 

[Gary OS]

Got my set on Thursday and immediately popped in the first disc and sat down to watch it with my oldest daughter (who's almost 17 now - ugh, I'm getting old). Anyhow, it only took me 30 seconds of watching in color to ask my daughter if she preferred this over the b/w. Without prodding from me or any hesitation she said, "Dad, let's watch this in b/w." I completely agreed with her and we switched our TV color off. For both of us the difference was astounding and sure enough the effect about the "aging" was better.

One of the other reasons I turned the set to b/w is because of the horrid eye shadow the ladies were wearing. It was a huge distraction to both my daughter and I and once the color was turned off that was negated and made the viewing experience much more enjoyable.


I love Gale Gordon and his addition to the cast is of course a huge plus for the series. Having said that, I've immediately picked up on Vivian Vance's somewhat reduced role in a few episodes. And the kids... Forget about it. The shift in focus more toward Lucy herself, and the occasional guest star, is obvious. And for me the show has already lost something. Again, my daughter agrees. The "sitcom" element is quickly fading and I have to be honest and say I'm not sure if I'll continue buying these season sets. But I'm happy for everyone that really loves Lucille Ball in general. I love ILL and the first season of this series, but I'm pretty sure that in spite of Gale Gordon's presence I'm going to grow less and less enthused with each subsequent season.

Gary "hopefully these sets will continue to be released so that fans can keep collecting" O.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Gary, if you're getting disenchanted with Season 2, you will absolutely loathe the remaining four seasons of this series.


At least in Season 2, Lucy is still "Lucy." In the future, she turns from a quick-witted schemer to just a typical stupid sitcom character.


I've already mentioned the eye shadow problem. But I have to say I don't understand your aversion to color. These episodes look great in color. And why shouldn't 50-something women look their ages? I'd rather see that than someone like Joan Rivers who tries to look young but only succeeds in looking like something that escaped from a wax museum.

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff

I've already mentioned the eye shadow problem. But I have to say I don't understand your aversion to color. These episodes look great in color. And why shouldn't 50-something women look their ages? I'd rather see that than someone like Joan Rivers who tries to look young but only succeeds in looking like something that escaped from a wax museum.

I don't have an aversion to color in and of itself. But with this show I grew up watching the reruns in b/w so I'm used to that. Plus, as I've said several times now in this thread, I just think switching to b/w with this particular series helps make Lucy and Viv look not quite as old as they do in color. And for me, with the plots in this show, I'm prone to envision Lucy as more of a woman in her mid to late 40's rather than mid to late 50's, which is what she looks like to me when watching the show in color. Again, that's just my opinion and the way I see the show. And if I'm going to watch Lucy going duck hunting with Keith Andes and believe that they are a dating "match", then I'd prefer to stick to anything that makes that seem more plausible - and for me watching it in b/w helps. I don't see the wrinkles as much watching it that way. Maybe that's really weird for everyone else, but it works for me.


As for when I'll stop buying these... I'll probably buy the 3rd season (assuming it is released) since the basic format doesn't change until after that. The only reason I'd go beyond that to S4 would be to get a clean copy of "Lucy, the Choirmaster" (the second and last Christmas episode of the series).


Gary "lol about Joan Rivers - we agree completely on that one" O.

 

[Neil Brock]

Originally Posted by JohnMor
And guys, if you think LB looks a tad too old to play a mother of a 9 year old, stay FAR away from the Leave it to Beaver set. Madge Blake plays Larry Mondello's mother and Whitey's parents look more like GRANDparents! LOL. Scary, indeed!

She would have been about 49 or 50. Must have adopted Larry or else she was really his grandmother and maybe she was covering for a wayward daughter who got knocked up out of wedlock and she decided to pretend the kid was hers! Hey, that stuff still happens today, cough, cough, Sarah Palin.

 

[Jude86]

Loving this set--so many faves plus I finally get to see a few "lost" episodes--episodes I missed during my taping of the Nick at Nite era. I sneaked a peek at the Lucille Ball Comedy Hour--WOW, is that a pristine copy or what??? The episodes look glorious and it is nice to see the original 2nd season opening for these episodes, rather than the tacky plastered on CBS Daytime opening used for almost all the episodes (during the Nick run).

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil Brock

Hey, that stuff still happens today, cough, cough, Sarah Palin.

Was that really necessary?


Gary "sigh..." O.

 

[Theodore J. Mooney]

Originally Posted by Neil Brock




She would have been about 49 or 50. Must have adopted Larry or else she was really his grandmother and maybe she was covering for a wayward daughter who got knocked up out of wedlock and she decided to pretend the kid was hers! Hey, that stuff still happens today, cough, cough, Sarah Palin.

I hate to burst your little bubble, but NO ONE is perfect or leads a perfect life and that even includes the current U.S. president.


I agree with Gary OS on this one .... :sigh:

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Well, this is a shame. I'm no fan of Sarah Palin, but she clearly didn't claim that her daughter's baby was hers. There are enough things to complain about in this world without making things up.


As for Mrs. Mondello: It was stated that Larry had a married sister and brother, so he was a change of life baby.


How in the world did a thread about "The Lucy Show" wind up being about Sarah Palin and Larry Mondello's mother?

 

[JohnMor]

Gary, that's funny. I had the complete opposite experience. I found S2 MUCH more enjoyable that S1, which I found a colossal bore with very little humor at all. I did like "Lucy is a Kangaroo for a Day," and a couple of others, but nothing else. This season I had quite few belly laughs, although there are some duds here and there ("Lucy and the Scout Trip." Dear God!). No great episodes per se, but I found MANY more wonderful moments in these than in S1. The one that surprised me the most was "Lucy Goes to Art Class," which I found to be really excellent overall: crisp, funny dialogue and wonderful performances. I love that Lucy is not an imbicile (yet) and that the relationship with Mooney isn't one-sided (yet.) I love how she dominates him in "Loophole in the Lease." It's a great relationship at this point. And much funnier than she had with Charles Lane, geat as he is.


But one thing I had forgotten over the years came rushing back watching these: Lucy C became a REALLY nasty, rude person when talking to Viv. Poor Viv. I woulda slugged the old broad if she talked to me that way all the time.


Being a completist, I'll get all seasons that are released, as long as the quality stays as high.

 

[Jack P]

Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff

Well, this is a shame. I'm no fan of Sarah Palin, but she clearly didn't claim that her daughter's baby was hers. There are enough things to complain about in this world without making things up.


As for Mrs. Mondello: It was stated that Larry had a married sister and brother, so he was a change of life baby.


How in the world did a thread about "The Lucy Show" wind up being about Sarah Palin and Larry Mondello's mother?

What he's doing is repeating a story that originated in the vivid imagination of some internet bloggers (re: Andrew Sullivan) that Sarah Palin's Down Syndrome baby was really her daughter's and she covered for her. It has no business being repeated even in jest.

 

[JohnMor]

Can we PLEASE keep the conversation related to Lucy? PLEASE!

 

[Cees Alons]

A post, and several other posts quoting that one have been removed.


No politics on the forum, please, in whatever form.

And, please, do not re-open the subject, it will not be allowed and more severe measures will be taken.



Cees

 

[JohnMor]

Thank you, Cees.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I disagree that there are no great episodes in Season 2.


I think the two-parter that introduced Mr. Mooney ranks as a classic. I also like the Kiddie Parties one a lot.


Lines like, "I don't know, the clown has my list" (in context) are the kinds of lines that disappear from this series after this season.

 

[Jude86]

I think Season 2 has many great episodes! Yes, Kiddie Parties Inc. is one....and the season ender Lucy enters a Baking Contest is one of my personal faves (it's here where Viv is quite the nasty one to Lucy)


I'm really not too fond of the season opener where Lucy plays Cleopatra in a volunteer fire dept benefit--it was quite a weak episode to lead off season 2.

 

[JohnMor]

I would say very good episodes, not great. Great to me equates with the best of I Love Lucy, which nothing in this series does. But there are great moments in many eps. I agree about the season opener not being very strong. But it's better than the absolute dogs "Lucy and the Scout Trip," "Lucy Takes Up Golf" and "Chris Goes Steady." The whole volunteer firefighter storyline is repetitive and not funny, a precursor to the idiotic "Ironman Carmichael" crap that is to come in the Hollywood seasons.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Cleopatra was all the rage in 1963, so it made sense to open the season with it. I actually like that episode: "In Shakespeare, you die alphabetically" is the kind of quick-witted lie that made the classic Lucy what she was.


I also like that final episode with the baking contest. However, it makes me sad, too, because according to the books, Lucille Ball didn't like the script and wasn't tactful (to put it mildly) in expressing her displeasure, and her writers of so many years finally had had enough and quit. The series never recovered from that.


I've wondered exactly why Lucy hated that script. It might have been because it showed her to be a terrible cook. Whatever else the Lucy character was, she was never supposed to be a bad homemaker.


Another real mystery is, if she didn't like that script, what in the world did she think of some of those really lousy ones she'd be given later in her career?

 

[JohnMor]

And they had delivered much worse scripts earlier in the season. "Baking Contest" was hardly their poorest of the year.

 

[MartinP.]

I talked to someone who was working on extras for the 3rd season, so that will be coming out, but I do not know when.