Justin

Hope you'll elaborate; never understood why he and his book were always dismissed. I remember something about he lied about how close he and Lucy actually were or that they weren't as friendly as he made it out to be or something...? I forget if people felt the same about Lee Tannen..?

I noticed Jim Brochu was interviewed---isn't he not liked in the Lucy world or something?

I just finished this. It was perfect. Between Lucy and Desi A Home Movie, Lucy and Desi documentary and the countless books, the podcast still manages to get into the nooks and crannies of this story we know backwards and forwards. Engaging, hard to peel away just a joy (and heartbreaking) to listen to.

Would have expected this to be posted here...unless I missed it? 100 Best Sitcoms of All Time

I'm looking forward to this although I expect this to be pretty flimsy as most direct to streaming projects have turned out to be mostly underwhelming. It'll satisfy typical joe public but I doubt it'll come close to Lucy and Desi A Home Movie. Very eager to be wrong.

That was great. "Cuidado!" lol

Thanks @Luvsbway for really coming through on this thread. I knew I'd get all the answers I needed by posting here.

Absolutely fascinating! Thanks so much for this. Any more pics? 😉 Those are presumably Lucy's notes written in the margins and post-it?

Very interesting, thanks for providing some info. I came across your other thread from 8 years back about the CD-rom. I never got that so never knew that excerpts of the audio was used there. Good to hear. Would be great to see images of the pages from the manuscript.

Started revisiting this book this week--twenty-four years after first reading it when it was published when I was very young. The book moves along smoothly as I remembered it. How does this book hold up today? I began to wonder now just how much Betty Hannah Hoffman truly had to work with on this project? How much material did Lucy truly leave behind? The introduction in the book details how the family discovered this forgotten manuscript left behind by Lucy. Hmm, a great story for sure but I do question it. In all the years since the book has been published we've never really seen any pictures of the said documents she left behind. Also I find it strange that the audio tapes Lucy supposedly made for this book were never subsequently used anywhere. I'd imagine they would provide some amazing insight to hear Lucy speak about some of these stories. I wonder now how much of the book truly is what it says it is--a book started by Lucy but completed by Hoffman--- or if it is your typical run of the mill celebrity biography where the collaborator does most if not all of the heavy lifting using interviews and other sources. I suspect this question--which I assure you means no ill intent--might be received negatively. How dare I question the estate? Am I accusing Lucie of lying? Not exactly. Just trying to reframe this book and re-look at it with fresh eyes. Hoping others are willing to do so as well.

haha oh Claude, please! She was obviously looking away because the LIGHTING was so bad! Hold on, I think I hear Ethel calling me...

Let's keep our fingers crossed then

That was a great piece written by Desi Jr. Thanks for posting!

EVERYTHING she's ever done? Optimistic, sure. Possible? Probably not. We're getting the major stuff released, yes. But all the little things along the way? Every single interview she's ever done? Considering they will be coming from various different sources from all ends of the earth...it seems like a whole lot of money spent on licensing and legal fees but with very little promise of a financial return to actually put out such a product. I'd be the first one to buy it--but I'm not expecting it in my lifetime.

We'd be lucky if we got "Life With Lucy" as a download only release.

Nice photos!

Huge bummer. Phyllis was one funny lady.

Only watched it once and remembered it as mostly rehash of everything we've already known. I suppose reading enough books about her didn't help. But also, when you have to go up againt "Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie"...no other documentary can really top that.

What's next then? Re-re-releasing them as .MOV or MPEG files? "These slim cases are waaaay too bulky to store...I need something more compact! These digital files will do me just fine!"

Good to know. It's kinda sad that the studio will rely on Lucy fans to just blindly repurchase anything that's put in front of them but I guess that's how it works. So now both editions of the same season will be available..the old ones and now these reissues? That seems confusing for anyone looking to start their ILL DVD collection. Should we also expect a new reissue of the "Complete Series" box set too? I love the way mine looks...can't imagine it being bettered.

Interesting. I'm sort of surprised by this. Why the need to reissue the old sets? Are the old ones going out of print? A contract issue? Artwork looks alright...just a little weird especially when zoomed in so closely. I can see people's frustrations with the complete series box set but these days, if I do watch ILL...I'm watching the entire series and not just episodes here and there. So I just remove the smaller DVD holder and leave it out until I finish the entire section that way I don't have to constantly put them back in the box etc...

Just finished "I Had A Ball"...things really didn't improve from my earlier review. It looks as though he and Lucy got close enough to be genuine friends but this wasn't necessarily something to devote an entire book to. Stern had scraps of stories that barely wove into one large narrative worthy of a book. A chapter about how Lucy yells at him for not buying enough bed sheets?? Please. He goes on and on about who's autograph he collects at whichever function as if the reader is really that interested to know. This book is really for the common autograph collector/stalker...not necessarily Lucy fans. Stern prides himself so much on who he's met, who he's befriended or who he's scored an autograph from that you wonder exactly what the focus of this book really is? Either Stern has a terrible memory to remember specific details about conversations he's had with Lucy or perhaps he wants to keep those conversations private---the book really didn't reveal too much in terms of what exactly Lucy shared with him. They spent hours playing backgammon together...what did they talk about? Did Lucy talk about her past often? When they looked at her scrapbook together---what did she say about her childhood? What did she say about Desi? Nada. All we get is that they hung out at her house, she said hello to him at the Oscars---as if all this is supposed to impress us. Anyway, not a hugely productive read. It's good enough to pass the time...nothing earth shattering here.

The couch is great, definitely. With that taken, I'd probably swipe the coffee table!

I'm happy everyone enjoyed the photos! I was a kid in a candy store when I was there and didn't want to leave. It's a shame that they never kept the exhibit fresh with new items switched in every so often. That would've made it a bit more dynamic but I guess it was better than nothing. Glady ou liked the pics! Honestly though, I do not believe any piece of the apartment display are originals. I doubt anyone kept any of the original sets or furniture after the show was over. Considering no one knew then how big the show was going to be in reruns (and it wasn't customary to save sets then) I highly doubt anyone kept anything.

YES! Fantastic! Thanks so much for posting these Justin...that's exactly what I was looking for. Great pics...I wish I can see that in person. Nice to know they lifted the no pictures rule. Seemed a little ridiculous.