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Lucy Related Trivia


HarryCarter

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The Jack Benny Program? This I'm not sure about.

 

I actually don't know. I thought maybe you would, but I'm pretty sure it was a brand new show.

"Jack Benny" had already signed with NBC. I believe this was his choice and not CBS's because his show was still in the top 20.

It seems everyone had trouble with "Smiling Cobra" Jim Aubrey.

NBC scheduled Jack on Fridays right between Bob Hope ("Chrystler Theater") and Jack Paar's prime time show, opposite the surprise hit of the season "Gomer Pyle".

"Gomer"'s ratings surpassed the show that spawned it "Andy Griffith". It was still in the top 5 when Nabors decided to end it after 5 years in favor of a variety hour...WHICH did very well its first season..and then NBC scheduled "flip Wilson" at the same time, which put a dent into "Nabors Hour" but it still managed to be in the top 30. "Nabors" was part of the rural/older demographic house-cleaning CBS did in 1971, along with "Hillbillies" "Mayberry" and "Green Acres". "Mayberry" had dropped to #15. "Hillbillies" (9 seasons) and "Acres" (6) were not as reported still "highly rated" when canceled. They had been moved to back-to-back Tuesday night and had dropped out of the top 30. They had really run their course by this time. Rumor has it that "Here's Lucy" with its older viewership was to be part of this, but the 70-71 season was its best ratings showing ever.

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I actually don't know. I thought maybe you would, but I'm pretty sure it was a brand new show.

"Jack Benny" had already signed with NBC. I believe this was his choice and not CBS's because his show was still in the top 20.

It seems everyone had trouble with "Smiling Cobra" Jim Aubrey.

NBC scheduled Jack on Fridays right between Bob Hope ("Chrystler Theater") and Jack Paar's prime time show, opposite the surprise hit of the season "Gomer Pyle".

"Gomer"'s ratings surpassed the show that spawned it "Andy Griffith". It was still in the top 5 when Nabors decided to end it after 5 years in favor of a variety hour...WHICH did very well its first season..and then NBC scheduled "flip Wilson" at the same time, which put a dent into "Nabors Hour" but it still managed to be in the top 30. "Nabors" was part of the rural/older demographic house-cleaning CBS did in 1971, along with "Hillbillies" "Mayberry" and "Green Acres". "Mayberry" had dropped to #15. "Hillbillies" (9 seasons) and "Acres" (6) were not as reported still "highly rated" when canceled. They had been moved to back-to-back Tuesday night and had dropped out of the top 30. They had really run their course by this time. Rumor has it that "Here's Lucy" with its older viewership was to be part of this, but the 70-71 season was its best ratings showing ever.

You forgot about Petticoat Junction in the bucilic comedies CLEAN UP, which i always thought was attributed to Freddie Silverman. Hillbillies got so bad at the end when they relied on men in animal suits like another hit tv show starring a famous redhead, LOL!

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You forgot about Petticoat Junction in the bucilic comedies CLEAN UP, which i always thought was attributed to Freddie Silverman. Hillbillies got so bad at the end when they relied on men in animal suits like another hit tv show starring a famous redhead, LOL!

 

"Petticoat" was not officially part of the 1971 clean up. It was canceled in 1970 for low ratings. It had limped along for 2 seasons without its star Bea Benedaret. One of the other reasons for the 1971 purge is that the FCC cut back the network's prime time schedule from 3 1/2 hours to 3, so something had to go. CBS moved Gunsmoke and Lucy ahead a half hour, putting Lucy back to its ILL 9:00 time slot. Of Lucy's 18 years as a half-hour 8 of them were at 8:30; 10 of them were at 9.

It's hard to imagine the government getting involved in this issue, but somehow syndication show packagers convinced them to do this. The idea was that it would free up a half-hour of prime time for innovative programs from independent and local producers. Instead what we got were extremely low-grade, cheaply produced half-hour variety shows starring performers the networks wouldn't even consider (most with good reason) and revivals of game shows like "Name That Tune". The stations were not allowed to run syndicated reruns in this time slot. This applied to network affiliates only, not the independent stations.

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"Petticoat" was not officially part of the 1971 clean up. It was canceled in 1970 for low ratings. It had limped along for 2 seasons without its star Bea Benedaret. One of the other reasons for the 1971 purge is that the FCC cut back the network's prime time schedule from 3 1/2 hours to 3, so something had to go. CBS moved Gunsmoke and Lucy ahead a half hour, putting Lucy back to its ILL 9:00 time slot. Of Lucy's 18 years as a half-hour 8 of them were at 8:30; 10 of them were at 9.

It's hard to imagine the government getting involved in this issue, but somehow syndication show packagers convinced them to do this. The idea was that it would free up a half-hour of prime time for innovative programs from independent and local producers. Instead what we got were extremely low-grade, cheaply produced half-hour variety shows starring performers the networks wouldn't even consider (most with good reason) and revivals of game shows like "Name That Tune". The stations were not allowed to run syndicated reruns in this time slot. This applied to network affiliates only, not the independent stations.

Remember the uproar with GUNSMOKE and Lucy defending herself and the show saying she was NOT responsible for the rumors of cancellation because of her following Gunsmoke or something?

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Remember the uproar with GUNSMOKE and Lucy defending herself and the show saying she was NOT responsible for the rumors of cancellation because of her following Gunsmoke or something?

 

I don't know what you're referring to, Claude. Can you enlighten me?

 

Gunsmoke was headed for cancellation in 1967 from its Saturday 10pm time slot, but CBS gave it another chance and moved it to 7:30 Monday (preceding "Lucy" whose numbers also increased) much to the chagrin of the "Gilligan's Island" cast who had expected to return in their same time slot. "Gunsmoke" zoomed back to the top outlasting all the hit westerns of its day including top-rated Bonanza----even running one year past the end of "Here's Lucy".

 

I'm still looking through my old TV Guides for the Lucy-less fall 1964 fall schedule and ran across this from these two references:

Feb 8, 1964: The Lucy Show is in doubt. Reports indicate Miss Ball wants to expand the program to an hour but CBS won't agree. (??? "The Lucy-Vivie Comedy Hour"??)

March 14th edition: "Lucille Ball's on-again, off-again affair with CBS is on again as of this writing, at least. EXERCISING THE PREROGATIVE OF HER GENDER, Mill Ball apparently has changed her mind about sitting the next season out."

The latter is from the Kansas City version of TV Guide WHOSE CBS affiliate, by they way, did NOT carry CBS's I Love Lucy morning rerun instead opting for "The Lee Philips Show" what was probably a locally produced how-to show for women---when they COULD have had "Mary Margaret McMertz"

And just a little more info: "The Lucy Show" episodes that had their first airings in these guides: Feb. 10th "Ethel Merman and the Scouts Show" ("Lucy and Viv are miffed because their sons have made them wardrobe mistresses--instead of stars--for the scout show") ; March 16th: "Lucy Meets a Millionaire" ("...named Umberto whose command of English is about equal to Lucy's mastery of Italian") , 2 stellar 2nd season shows. What IDIOT at CBS wouldn't want to expand this to an hour??

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I don't know what you're referring to, Claude. Can you enlighten me?

 

Gunsmoke was headed for cancellation in 1967 from its Saturday 10pm time slot, but CBS gave it another chance and moved it to 7:30 Monday (preceding "Lucy" whose numbers also increased) much to the chagrin of the "Gilligan's Island" cast who had expected to return in their same time slot. "Gunsmoke" zoomed back to the top outlasting all the hit westerns of its day including top-rated Bonanza----even running one year past the end of "Here's Lucy".

 

I'm still looking through my old TV Guides for the Lucy-less fall 1964 fall schedule and ran across this from these two references:

Feb 8, 1964: The Lucy Show is in doubt. Reports indicate Miss Ball wants to expand the program to an hour but CBS won't agree. (??? "The Lucy-Vivie Comedy Hour"??)

March 14th edition: "Lucille Ball's on-again, off-again affair with CBS is on again as of this writing, at least. EXERCISING THE PREROGATIVE OF HER GENDER, Mill Ball apparently has changed her mind about sitting the next season out."

The latter is from the Kansas City version of TV Guide WHOSE CBS affiliate, by they way, did NOT carry CBS's I Love Lucy morning rerun instead opting for "The Lee Philips Show" what was probably a locally produced how-to show for women---when they COULD have had "Mary Margaret McMertz"

And just a little more info: "The Lucy Show" episodes that had their first airings in these guides: Feb. 10th "Ethel Merman and the Scouts Show" ("Lucy and Viv are miffed because their sons have made them wardrobe mistresses--instead of stars--for the scout show") ; March 16th: "Lucy Meets a Millionaire" ("...named Umberto whose command of English is about equal to Lucy's mastery of Italian") , 2 stellar 2nd season shows. What IDIOT at CBS wouldn't want to expand this to an hour??

All i recall is Lucy telling the press to stop blaming her for Gunsmoke either being talked of as being cancelled or moved to a different slot because of HER show or her time slot being involved, she said she liked Gunsmoke and certainly did not want to be held responsible if it dissapeared from the CBS schedule.

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All i recall is Lucy telling the press to stop blaming her for Gunsmoke either being talked of as being cancelled or moved to a different slot because of HER show or her time slot being involved, she said she liked Gunsmoke and certainly did not want to be held responsible if it dissapeared from the CBS schedule.

 

Maybe to boost "Gunsmoke"'s ratings she should have offered to guest star as Ironman Carmichael who wanders into Dodge City and causes trouble at the Long Branch.

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Maybe to boost "Gunsmoke"'s ratings she should have offered to guest star as Ironman Carmichael who wanders into Dodge City and causes trouble at the Long Branch.

LOL! I think it involved the new children's hour of 8 PM so maybe that was when they moved Gunsmoke to eight from seven thirty and Lucy at nine? I just dun't remember the details, only Lucy having to issue a statement where she said she loved the western and never wanted to be blamed for it's move.

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LOL! I think it involved the new children's hour of 8 PM so maybe that was when they moved Gunsmoke to eight from seven thirty and Lucy at nine? I just dun't remember the details, only Lucy having to issue a statement where she said she loved the western and never wanted to be blamed for it's move.

 

"Gunsmoke"'s record as the longest running series with continuing characters is a LITTLE deceptive, because towards the end it became more of a western anthology with stories revolving

guest actors, not big names with the regulars popping in from time to time.

As far as the "Here's Lucy" ratings for the last 3 seasons being lower than the first, that had more to do with the move to 9:00 in the 4th season, necessitated by the FCC mandate than anything about the show. Lucy's 71-74 competition was NBC's Monday Movie and ABC Monday Night Football/Monday movie (half-season each). In the last season "Lucy and Joan Rivers" ran opposite NBC's showing of "Yours Mine and Ours"! I don't know which won that ratings race but it would be interesting to find out. I have an article somewhere that ran in the LA paper that day "Lucy Faces Strong Competition: Her own Movie" which described "Joan Rivers" as "one of the better HL episodes of this season"---not sure if it was the rerun. The article was written by Cecil Smith.

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"Gunsmoke"'s record as the longest running series with continuing characters is a LITTLE deceptive, because towards the end it became more of a western anthology with stories revolving

guest actors, not big names with the regulars popping in from time to time.

As far as the "Here's Lucy" ratings for the last 3 seasons being lower than the first, that had more to do with the move to 9:00 in the 4th season, necessitated by the FCC mandate than anything about the show. Lucy's 71-74 competition was NBC's Monday Movie and ABC Monday Night Football/Monday movie (half-season each). In the last season "Lucy and Joan Rivers" ran opposite NBC's showing of "Yours Mine and Ours"! I don't know which won that ratings race but it would be interesting to find out. I have an article somewhere that ran in the LA paper that day "Lucy Faces Strong Competition: Her own Movie" which described "Joan Rivers" as "one of the better HL episodes of this season"---not sure if it was the rerun. The article was written by Cecil Smith.

Well, there ya go, Cecil was Cleo's husband, wasn't he? LOL! Remember the days Neil, when MOVIES played on regular networks and got blockbuster type ratings, movies of the week also. Of course they were edited for risquee language, not to mention nude scenes, no worries about Yours mine and ours though, only the Goddess of FERTILITY statue and it's effect on that old married couple with 18 children, 2 on loan out and a pregnant woman at 57, she was always ahead of her time, wasn't she? LOL!

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When reel video recorders came out my school had one, so when something Lucy was on I would lug the thing home and it weighed 150 pounds. Plus you had to have a special monitor with rabbit ears, so had to lug that home too. The recordings were b/w at first, so I had what was probably the first home video version of "Mame" from the 1976 NBC showing. ABC acquired the rights to "YMO" after the NBC showing and that's the version I had. I think the fertility goddess thing was included. The only thing I remember being edited out was the "Living in a Sometimes (?) World" song, which is OK except Lucy looks SO good. I don't remember there being any criticism at the time about Lucy being too old to be pregnant. Whatever they were doing to make her look good, she sure did in YMO. BTW, I don't know if "Mame"'s TV showing has ever been discussed, but two versions of potentially offensive lines were filmed. "The man in the moon is a BITCH!" was replaced by (something like) "I told you you weren't any good when we were in the chorus together", much milder and referencing Vera's earlier remark that she was 'never in the chorus'. I don't remember what they did for "That Bastard!". "Most poor sons-o-bitchs" became "Most poor suckers"....or it MIGHT even have been "Most poor souls"..can't remember for sure. "Mame" actually played very well on TV and I think it's very odd that it did so poorly in the ratings: the bottom 5!!

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When reel video recorders came out my school had one, so when something Lucy was on I would lug the thing home and it weighed 150 pounds. Plus you had to have a special monitor with rabbit ears, so had to lug that home too. The recordings were b/w at first, so I had what was probably the first home video version of "Mame" from the 1976 NBC showing. ABC acquired the rights to "YMO" after the NBC showing and that's the version I had. I think the fertility goddess thing was included. The only thing I remember being edited out was the "Living in a Sometimes (?) World" song, which is OK except Lucy looks SO good. I don't remember there being any criticism at the time about Lucy being too old to be pregnant. Whatever they were doing to make her look good, she sure did in YMO. BTW, I don't know if "Mame"'s TV showing has ever been discussed, but two versions of potentially offensive lines were filmed. "The man in the moon is a BITCH!" was replaced by (something like) "I told you you weren't any good when we were in the chorus together", much milder and referencing Vera's earlier remark that she was 'never in the chorus'. I don't remember what they did for "That Bastard!". "Most poor sons-o-bitchs" became "Most poor suckers"....or it MIGHT even have been "Most poor souls"..can't remember for sure. "Mame" actually played very well on TV and I think it's very odd that it did so poorly in the ratings: the bottom 5!!

Musicals had just faded in popularity, nobody watched them, it took years for them to become popular again, with CHICAGO they were back on top as an art form. EVERY critic said that MAME played much better on TV, i wonder why? You didn't notice the theatricality as much on the small screen? I saw it here on the biggest movie screen in the country, so i expected the moon, on tv, i expected nothing and it sure was better, you don't criticize something as much when you get it free, at home, LOL!

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