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ME-TV is now streaming The Lucy Show


mickie
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I was just on ME-TV's web page and noticed they are starting to stream some episodes of The Lucy Show and some other TC shows. Only a handful of Lucy episodes so far. Here is a link: http://www.metv.com/shows/the_lucy_show/videos

Wow, it even lets me view them in Australia. I'm not used to seeing the syndicated versions with Viv's name spliced into the kaleidoscope opening.

 

Someone should inform the synopsis writer that it's Danfield, not Danville. I see that crop up a lot on the web.

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Wow, it even lets me view them in Australia. I'm not used to seeing the syndicated versions with Viv's name spliced into the kaleidoscope opening.

 

Someone should inform the synopsis writer that it's Danfield, not Danville. I see that crop up a lot on the web.

good catch.

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Wow, it even lets me view them in Australia. I'm not used to seeing the syndicated versions with Viv's name spliced into the kaleidoscope opening.

 

Someone should inform the synopsis writer that it's Danfield, not Danville. I see that crop up a lot on the web.

 

DanVILLe is where Rob Petrie (and Dick Van Dyke) comes from.  His DVDShow town New Rochelle is somewhere close to the fictional Danfield (reference the possibility of Viv's runaway mattress going half way to NR).  Interesting that they have "Ethel Merman Boy Scout Show" before "Teaching Ethel Merman to Sing".   By this late date, you wouldn't think Desilu would have tossed the footage of the original ending of "Teaching Ethel to Sing"  as described in the Fidelman book.  Stills reveal them in full make up and costumes.   Supposedly they were to do a version of "Anything You Can Do".  (Lucy (referencing Wildcat): "Any show you can close, I can close faster".??)  If they had kept the original footage, considering how much time they cut for syndication, they might have stretched these 2 episodes into a syndicated 3-parter. 

 

Fidelman has a keener eye than I do.  He notes that the new ending shot for "Teaches" when it was a one-off that everybody's hair and make up changes abruptly.  I never notice and even watched the episode recently with that in mind and still don't see it.   Does anyone else see it?  If so, where's the switch?

 

Has anyone got the script to the original episode as planned?   If they didn't "drop that Schmidlap routine" and crammed the Boy Scout show into a half hour, I would guess the singing lesson wasn't part of the original; or if it was, abbreviated.   A lot of the scene is recycled material from "Barbershop Quartet" with Lucy acting like Professor Gitterman. 

 

With Bob and Madelyn at the helm the 2nd season is still fairly grounded but more attention to continuity would have helped, which is really the producer's job, because I don't think B&M were ever given that power or "head-writers" status.   For instance, Is Merman doing a Talulah and renting a house in Danfield temporarily for an out of town play tryout?  I don't remember a reason is given for her moving there and Danfield resident Merman/Schmidlap is never mentioned again.  Nor is this Gary Stewart she's been seeing for 3 months, who declares his love for Lucy and never darkens her door again.   Ditto Umberto Fabriani and Keith Andes (Bill-something).   Is his character's name the same in each episode he appeared in during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons?  I don't think so.  

 

In the old days with Jess, "Opens a Restaurant" might have been stretched to a little story arc.  But then again, the LittleBitCub/BigHunkAmerica restaurant came and went in one episode.  

 

But the continuity, such as it was, of "The Lucy Show"'s  first 2 seasons is light years ahead of the California Lucy Shows and Here's Lucy...where Lucy's character meets returning guest celebrities for the first time.  

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DanVILLe is where Rob Petrie (and Dick Van Dyke) comes from.  His DVDShow town New Rochelle is somewhere close to the fictional Danfield (reference the possibility of Viv's runaway mattress going half way to NR).  Interesting that they have "Ethel Merman Boy Scout Show" before "Teaching Ethel Merman to Sing".   By this late date, you wouldn't think Desilu would have tossed the footage of the original ending of "Teaching Ethel to Sing"  as described in the Fidelman book.  Stills reveal them in full make up and costumes.   Supposedly they were to do a version of "Anything You Can Do".  (Lucy (referencing Wildcat): "Any show you can close, I can close faster".??)  If they had kept the original footage, considering how much time they cut for syndication, they might have stretched these 2 episodes into a syndicated 3-parter. 

 

Fidelman has a keener eye than I do.  He notes that the new ending shot for "Teaches" when it was a one-off that everybody's hair and make up changes abruptly.  I never notice and even watched the episode recently with that in mind and still don't see it.   Does anyone else see it?  If so, where's the switch?

 

Has anyone got the script to the original episode as planned?   If they didn't "drop that Schmidlap routine" and crammed the Boy Scout show into a half hour, I would guess the singing lesson wasn't part of the original; or if it was, abbreviated.   A lot of the scene is recycled material from "Barbershop Quartet" with Lucy acting like Professor Gitterman. 

 

With Bob and Madelyn at the helm the 2nd season is still fairly grounded but more attention to continuity would have helped, which is really the producer's job, because I don't think B&M were ever given that power or "head-writers" status.   For instance, Is Merman doing a Talulah and renting a house in Danfield temporarily for an out of town play tryout?  I don't remember a reason is given for her moving there and Danfield resident Merman/Schmidlap is never mentioned again.  Nor is this Gary Stewart she's been seeing for 3 months, who declares his love for Lucy and never darkens her door again.   Ditto Umberto Fabriani and Keith Andes (Bill-something).   Is his character's name the same in each episode he appeared in during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons?  I don't think so.  

 

In the old days with Jess, "Opens a Restaurant" might have been stretched to a little story arc.  But then again, the LittleBitCub/BigHunkAmerica restaurant came and went in one episode.  

 

But the continuity, such as it was, of "The Lucy Show"'s  first 2 seasons is light years ahead of the California Lucy Shows and Here's Lucy...where Lucy's character meets returning guest celebrities for the first time.  

 

I hope the footage is still out there somewhere, although I'm sure the DVD producers search high and low for it. The Lucy Show blooper reels don't start until the fourth season (really the fifth), so I guess Desilu wasn't saving footage until 1965. 
 

The switch to the new footage is immediately after Lucy says, "Agnes, why didn't you tell me you were Ethel Merman?" The DVD notes point out that the stone in Ethel's necklace changes from the first filming to the second. This makes it easy to spot the switch. I don't think it is that noticeable. Vivian's hair is slightly different. She actually looks better in the first filming footage. I don't know how long the scene was supposed to run beyond this, but this left them about two and a half minutes to do the musical finale. 

 
I think it's believable that Merman would rent a house in Danfield. It's only a short train ride away from Manhattan. Keith Andes played Bill King in both Lucy Goes Duck Hunting and Lucy Tries Winter Sports. He played a different character in LA in Lucy and Joan. 
 
I'll post this too. 
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I hope the footage is still out there somewhere, although I'm sure the DVD producers search high and low for it. The Lucy Show blooper reels don't start until the fourth season (really the fifth), so I guess Desilu wasn't saving footage until 1965. 

 

The switch to the new footage is immediately after Lucy says, "Agnes, why didn't you tell me you were Ethel Merman?" The DVD notes point out that the stone in Ethel's necklace changes from the first filming to the second. This makes it easy to spot the switch. I don't think it is that noticeable. Vivian's hair is slightly different. She actually looks better in the first filming footage. I don't know how long the scene was supposed to run beyond this, but this left them about two and a half minutes to do the musical finale. [/size]

 

I think it's believable that Merman would rent a house in Danfield. It's only a short train ride away from Manhattan. Keith Andes played Bill King in both Lucy Goes Duck Hunting and Lucy Tries Winter Sports. He played a different character in LA in Lucy and Joan. 

 

I'll post this too.

 

Yes, the stone in Ethel's necklace is the biggest giveaway. The hairstyles are slightly different, but not drastically so. Fidelman's description of how mismatched the footage is appears to be greatly exaggerated, in my opinion. He made a big deal about Vivian having gone on holiday and gotten a tan in the interrum, but I don't see it personally. Regarding the length, I would suppose earlier scenes in the episode would've been shortened had they gone with the original musical finale.

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But the continuity, such as it was, of "The Lucy Show"'s  first 2 seasons is light years ahead of the California Lucy Shows and Here's Lucy...where Lucy's character meets returning guest celebrities for the first time.  

True, how many times did she meet Jack Benny for the first time?

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True, how many times did she meet Jack Benny for the first time?

 

On "The Lucy Show", I think only once  (unless there's a cameo I'm not remembering).   If TLS had ANY continuity, Lucy might have said "I once had a plumber who looked exactly like you".   Lucy Carter met Jack Benny several times.  There were many cameos mixed in with the guest shots as himself, with no mention of their previous encounters.   Lucy Carmichael met Milton Berle twice.  3 times with his John Wayne cameo--though she doesn't actually meet him in this one.

 

In a very rare Here's Lucy previous-episode reference in "Wayne Newton Location Show", Lucy does re-introduce the group as the (banjo-playing) Carters from their nightclub act with him.  

 

What other celebrities, playing themselves,did the 2 Lucys meet more than once with no acknowledgement of the previous meeting?  (Not counting celebrities met by Carter previously met by Carmichael).   

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Did Eva Gabor play herself both times on Here's Lucy? If so no mention was made during hospital room sharing.

 

No. In the season 1 episode, she was Eva Von Gronyitz, the Jacqueline Suzanne-like author of the steamy "Valley of the Puppets"  .   She was herself as Lucy's hospital roommate in season 5, a much better episode.  

Each time I watch  "Lucy and Eva Gabor are Hospital Roomies", I appreciate it more.  A lot of great lines, some throwaways:

"Apparently there's been a niece population explosion",

"No Harry, happy days are not here again".  

"You're something of a Budapest bungler yourself". 

And Lucy is so CUTE when she's trying to tell Harry over the phone who her roommate is without mentioning Eva's name.  For all her other qualities, Lucy hadn't mastered "cute" in quite a while. 

And then there's "Valter".  

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