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Lucy Marathon on Decades on April 26th


mickie
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On April 26th, the Decades Network will be showing a mini-marathon of Lucy (which will run 4 times a day). The following shows will be included in the marathon:

 

I Love Lucy - Job Switching

I Love Lucy - Lucy's Italian Movie

I Love Lucy - Lucy Does a TV Commercial

I Love Lucy - Lucy Goes to the Hospital

The Lucy Show - Lucy is a Kangaroo for a day

The Lucy Show - Lucy Puts Up a TV Antenna

The Lucy Show - Lucy and Viv are Volunteer Fireman

The Dick Cavett Show - Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Lucie Arnaz and Dr. Freddie Pacheco

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We just started getting "Decades" so I don't quite understand their schedule format. For instance, the other night they ran "Black Wig" which according to the on-screen hostess was originally shown on that day in 1954 (or whatever year it was shown). And tonight they are showing the only real dud of the The Lucy Show's first season (IMO) "Runaway Butterfly" which probably had its first airing in April of 1963.

I haven't yet watched any of their "Through the Decades" documentaries. Are they any good?

I applaud Decades for showing The Lucy Show and the three episodes below are pretty good selections, but if I were picking the top 3 of that season, I'd keep "Kangaroo" and substitute "Shower", "Electric Mattress" or "Music Lover" for the other two.

 

On April 26th, the Decades Network will be showing a mini-marathon of Lucy (which will run 4 times a day). The following shows will be included in the marathon:

 

I Love Lucy - Job Switching

I Love Lucy - Lucy's Italian Movie

I Love Lucy - Lucy Does a TV Commercial

I Love Lucy - Lucy Goes to the Hospital

The Lucy Show - Lucy is a Kangaroo for a day

The Lucy Show - Lucy Puts Up a TV Antenna

The Lucy Show - Lucy and Viv are Volunteer Fireman

The Dick Cavett Show - Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Lucie Arnaz and Dr. Freddie Pacheco

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I haven't watched 1st season Lucy Shows in a while, and these three certainly hold up well.   Somehow it slipped by me before that the Uniform rehearsal and subsequent alarm is so much like waiting for Lucy to go to the hospital.   Carole Cook's slide down the pole is cut.  Too bad.  Whenever I see a shot framed such that you KNOW what's going to happen next, I want to kick the director. In this one, the firetruck is shot so off-center, you know she's going to back up into the wall.  (EG's from other episodes, Lucy throwing Eva necklace to her in the hospital; Leonard tripping in Life with Lucy "Computer" show).  This episode gives us mayhem a-plenty and for the most part it works.  Giving Lucy a firemen's hat slightly too big is a nice touch.  (And I, for one, can overlook the premise that "since so many men commute to New York, our volunteers are going to made up strictly of women"...I mean: certainly there were SOME men left in Danfield during the day; and couldn't have the volunteers been co-ed?)

"TV Antenna" is another stellar episode, but it doesn't compare with the start to finish laughs generated by "Kangaroo".  There's barely a movement or facial expression that doesn't get a laugh. NO ONE NO ONE NO ONE could possibly do these bits but her.  It's easy to see why "The Lucy Show" was welcomed back with such open arms; and was TV's #1 show for most of the first part of the 62-63 season (to be surpassed by Beverly Hillbillies). 

Really a shame these were left out of many Lucy Show syndicated rotations. 

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Hi Neil,

 

 I like their Through the Decades show, which is on Mon - Friday and the highlight the events that happened on that date over the decades. Since they don't have airings on the weekend, any major events that happened on those days, is either reported on Friday or Monday's show. Sometimes I think they even report some things as to what happened this week in a particular year. Not sure what happened with the Black Wig episode and I didn't even get to see any of Decades yesterday.

We just started getting "Decades" so I don't quite understand their schedule format. For instance, the other night they ran "Black Wig" which according to the on-screen hostess was originally shown on that day in 1954 (or whatever year it was shown). And tonight they are showing the only real dud of the The Lucy Show's first season (IMO) "Runaway Butterfly" which probably had its first airing in April of 1963.
I haven't yet watched any of their "Through the Decades" documentaries. Are they any good?
I applaud Decades for showing The Lucy Show and the three episodes below are pretty good selections, but if I were picking the top 3 of that season, I'd keep "Kangaroo" and substitute "Shower", "Electric Mattress" or "Music Lover" for the other two.
 

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I haven't watched 1st season Lucy Shows in a while, and these three certainly hold up well.   Somehow it slipped by me before that the Uniform rehearsal and subsequent alarm is so much like waiting for Lucy to go to the hospital.   Carole Cook's slide down the pole is cut.  Too bad.  Whenever I see a shot framed such that you KNOW what's going to happen next, I want to kick the director. In this one, the firetruck is shot so off-center, you know she's going to back up into the wall.  (EG's from other episodes, Lucy throwing Eva necklace to her in the hospital; Leonard tripping in Life with Lucy "Computer" show).  This episode gives us mayhem a-plenty and for the most part it works.  Giving Lucy a firemen's hat slightly too big is a nice touch.  (And I, for one, can overlook the premise that "since so many men commute to New York, our volunteers are going to made up strictly of women"...I mean: certainly there were SOME men left in Danfield during the day; and couldn't have the volunteers been co-ed?)

"TV Antenna" is another stellar episode, but it doesn't compare with the start to finish laughs generated by "Kangaroo".  There's barely a movement or facial expression that doesn't get a laugh. NO ONE NO ONE NO ONE could possibly do these bits but her.  It's easy to see why "The Lucy Show" was welcomed back with such open arms; and was TV's #1 show for most of the first part of the 62-63 season (to be surpassed by Beverly Hillbillies). 

Really a shame these were left out of many Lucy Show syndicated rotations.

 

I hadn't really thought about it before but you're right, some shots are very obvious in revealing a sight gag is about to happen. What do you think would've been a more effective way of handling it?

 

Does Decades also air Here's Lucy?

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:P

 

We'll convert you yet.

 

Can't happen at this point. Trust me, I've tried! I was around when this show was originally broadcast, long before you were even born young man.  I will admit that there are some very funny moments here and there, and a few funny episodes (I've seen all of them many times), but all too often this show is painful to watch.  I think Ms. Ball should have ended her sitcom career in 1968 and focused the rest of her career on occasional movies and specials.

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Can't happen at this point. Trust me, I've tried! I was around when this show was originally broadcast, long before you were even born young man.  I will admit that there are some very funny moments here and there, and a few funny episodes (I've seen all of them many times), but all too often this show is painful to watch.  I think Ms. Ball should have ended her sitcom career in 1968 and focused the rest of her career on occasional movies and specials.

I can understand your thinking on this. I was very excited for Here's Lucy when it was first released on DVD because it was brand new to me. There are a handful of episodes I really enjoy, but most episodes do not do it for me. Many I've seen only once and never would care to see again.

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I hadn't really thought about it before but you're right, some shots are very obvious in revealing a sight gag is about to happen. What do you think would've been a more effective way of handling it?

 

I think this would work.  Keep on a naturally composed shot; then change to the wide shot the instant the action is happening.....or in the case of the firetruck, pan right as the truck backs up.

Can't happen at this point. Trust me, I've tried! I was around when this show was originally broadcast, long before you were even born young man.  I will admit that there are some very funny moments here and there, and a few funny episodes (I've seen all of them many times), but all too often this show is painful to watch.  I think Ms. Ball should have ended her sitcom career in 1968 and focused the rest of her career on occasional movies and specials.

Have to agree with "the baby" here.  Though I wouldn't have had it any other way (a new Lucy show each week), there are only about a dozen HL's that I think are great---and that's on the Here's Lucy scale.   Had the tide not turned so quickly in movies, she might have had a bit of a movie career post-1968 since Yours Mine and Ours was such a huge hit.  1967 into 1968 was the watershed year for Hollywood movie output, when the code was relaxed and we went very quickly from Doris Day to "Midnight Cowboy".  The only thing "Here's Lucy" added to her career was the longevity record (as it did with Janos Prohaska's)   "23 years", they would say when she went off in 1974, when in actuality, it was 21 and that's only if you count the last Lucy-Desi season of 3 episodes as one of those years.  What is amazing is that "HL" did NOT hurt her professional standing as the undisputed First Lady of TV.   I doubt Here's Lucy would have survived 6 years had it not been for the public's loyalty to Lucy based on her previous series. 

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I can understand your thinking on this. I was very excited for Here's Lucy when it was first released on DVD because it was brand new to me. There are a handful of episodes I really enjoy, but most episodes do not do it for me. Many I've seen only once and never would care to see again.

 

That's exactly how I feel.  The really good episodes worth repeated viewing are like the proverbial needle in a haystack.  They are few and far between.

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Have to agree with "the baby" here.  Though I wouldn't have had it any other way (a new Lucy show each week), there are only about a dozen HL's that I think are great---and that's on the Here's Lucy scale.   Had the tide not turned so quickly in movies, she might have had a bit of a movie career post-1968 since Yours Mine and Ours was such a huge hit.  1967 into 1968 was the watershed year for Hollywood movie output, when the code was relaxed and we went very quickly from Doris Day to "Midnight Cowboy".  The only thing "Here's Lucy" added to her career was the longevity record (as it did with Janos Prohaska's)   "23 years", they would say when she went off in 1974, when in actuality, it was 21 and that's only if you count the last Lucy-Desi season of 3 episodes as one of those years.  What is amazing is that "HL" did NOT hurt her professional standing as the undisputed First Lady of TV.   I doubt Here's Lucy would have survived 6 years had it not been for the public's loyalty to Lucy based on her previous series. 

 

No, HL definitely would not have survived 6 years without the momentum of her previous series, and viewer loyalty.  I read a comment on imdb where someone described HL as "the worst hit television show in history."  I won't go that far; I think Gilligan's Island wins that prize.   I think of Archie Bunker's Place in a similar fashion to HL: Like HL, ABP succeeded one of the greatest shows in history and got high ratings year after year.  But it was a lousy show.  All the elements that made All in the Family stellar -- other than Carroll O'Connor himself -- were gone, just as all the elements that made I Love Lucy great -- other than Lucille Ball -- were gone by the time of HL.  And another common thread between Here's Lucy and Archie Bunker's Place is Milt Josefsburg, who had nothing to do with either I Love Lucy, or All in the Family in its great years.  He didn't come on board until the last season or two before the show transitioned to ABP.

 

Back to Lucille Ball.  No, there weren't going to be a ton of movie roles available to her at her age, at least not starring roles.  But she could certainly afford to be picky.  She didn't have to be working constantly.  So what if she wasn't working all the time?  Many great, established actresses of a certain age don't work regularly, and only take on a part when a really good role surfaces.  The  work IMO was her way of burying emotional issues left over from her divorce from Desi -- stuff she could have worked out in therapy, which she never sought.  So instead she dealt with her issues (or rather avoided her issues) by working all the time.  That's the only reason I can find for her doing a show like Here's Lucy year after year.  Everyone around her knew the show was subpar.  I find it hard to believe that she didn't recognize it herself.  Just the fact that she was doing the show in front of a studio audience and not getting the same audience feedback she got in her I Love Lucy days (there was a whole lot of canned laughter "sweetening" done on the HL audio track) would have been a huge clue.

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