Mot Morenzi

How very sad! She was a lovely lady and quite talented. And only 70, my goodness. My condolences to her friends and family. This is obviously a terribly sad day for Betty. Her guest appearances on Hot in Cleveland were always highlights. She and Betty had an ease to their interplay that was clearly indicative of their long friendship. I'm glad she left behind a body of work that will be remembered.

...I was sort of kidding with the Florida thing, you know? Not that it's a bad idea, per se, but I'd like to see some Connecticut episodes as well.

Maybe they could celebrate Florida's importance to the election next year with the "I Love Lucy: Florida Frenzy" special, featuring the Florida set episodes.

I thought I saw a wombat crawling through the woods the other night, but I suppose it could've been...something else

With my original discs still back in the states, and missing having every episode at my disposal, I got the Australian DVD boxset for Christmas. I thought you might want to see what it looks like. This particular release was issued by a company called Shock Entertainment back in 2016. http://www.shock.com.au/product-details/dvd/i-love-lucy-collection/1/4091 They're similar to the likes of Mill Creek and Echo Bridge in that they only release content licensed from other studios, oftentimes at very affordable prices. Note that I did not pay the SRP suggested on their website. It was on sale and a very good deal. You'll see that Shock chose to use the key art used for the original CBS releases. The cardboard slipcover is rather flimsy but it looks nice. The bonus disc containing the movie is included in the comedy hour case. The overall design is very uniform and clean. If I had to quibble about anything, it'd be that the photo montages on the back don't match up to each individual season. Seasons 1, 2, 3 and 5 all use the same photos from season 1, while season 4 uses stills from season 6. Season 6 and the hour-long set, meanwhile, use comedy hour photos. It's a little slapdash feeling but not a huge issue. Sorry if it isn't really clear in these photos; I'll try to upload better ones later on. Additionally, the cases are very cheap plastic, like the kind you'd find on public domain or dollar store DVDs in the states. One thing this set does have going for it is the color artwork printed on the discs, rather than the flat grey motif most American companies now use. The theme matches the cover art for each individual season. As for the discs themselves, they're identical to the American CBS pressings. Same menu art and all. This surprised me, for the CBS logo appears nowhere on the packaging but is prominently displayed on the menus. I was a tad disappointed at this, as I was looking forward to seeing a new menu design after all these years. Being identical to the American release means the discs are NTSC standard (Australia primarily uses the PAL standard). This is actually a good thing, as it means no PAL speedup (PAL runs at 25 FPS, so anything shot at 24 FPS plays back slightly too fast, which raises the audio pitch). The only difference I've noticed is that these discs are region 4 instead of region 1, so they won't play back on a North American DVD player. Region locking isn't an issue here, as pretty much all DVD players released in Australia are region free, but I'm guessing it was done due to Shock's licensing agreement. When I got the set home, I found that the season 6 case included two copies of Disc 2 by mistake, omitting Disc 3. I contacted Shock about this and they very kindly sent out a replacement disc at no charge, so I'm impressed with their customer service. Their materials might be on the cheap side, but I'd gladly buy any other shows they may license.

It's true, other countries tend to be far more strict about advertising ratings. The Australian ones didn't used to be as intrusive, but then the government cracked down and implemented the color-coded scheme you see today. It is incredibly excessive and I think most people find it ridiculous. I know the American ratings system is subject to mockery for double standards and being too harsh at times, but it tends to be worse overseas. You can read more about Australian classifications here: http://www.classification.gov.au/Guidelines/Pages/Guidelines.aspx Yes, the American re-releases all have the grey labels. I, too, much prefer the color artwork and wish The Lucy Show could've gotten that treatment for its first releases. No, I Love Lucy does not have the same impact or legacy here that it did in the states. Television wasn't officially launched in Australia until 1956, so Oz didn't get to see I Love Lucy in its original run. Furthermore, colour television wasn't introduced until 1975. Here's Lucy is more popular in Australia than I Love Lucy, as it would've been their introduction to her. Here's Lucy has also been released on DVD here, licensed by MPI to a company called Madman. The Lucy Show, meanwhile, has never been released here and never seems to be acknowledged. Max greatly prefers Here's Lucy. He finds the characters more "realistic" and the stories less outlandish . No, I'm not kidding. Different hemisphere, different sensibilities, I guess.

I think Dick Martin appeared in 10 episodes. I agree that writing him out wasn't necessarily the best move. I liked what he brought to the show, and "No More Double Dates" was a welcome change of pace. I wish more episodes had been like that. I'm not usually a fan of "dating" episodes, but they always worked well on Lucille Ball programs. I'd also be very interested in seeing the "Fight Over Harry" script. It's a shame logistics prevented it from being produced. I think "The Lucy Show" only pales in comparison to "I Love Lucy," but you're right that it's far more enjoyable than much of what was produced back then. I'm not exactly clamoring to revisit many shows from that era, but even Lucy's less-than-stellar episodes hold up well against a lot of her competition. I think we can all agree that the show could've handled certain things better (I so wish our alternate season 4 with Viv's wedding had been a reality), and some more story arcs would've been welcome, but all in all the show produced a lot of fun, memorable episodes.

I recall that Desi had wanted to transition to hour shows for some time before it ultimately happened. I read somewhere that his schedule as Desilu president basically precluded him playing Ricky full-time anymore, hence the guest-star driven focus of the comedy hours.

I know Lucille once said that whenever she caught I Love Lucy reruns, she couldn't take her eyes off Vivian. I find I'm doing that more and more as well. So many of the "little things" belonged to Vance. For some reason, I've had "Fred, for your information, May the third happens to be OUR wedding anniversary" running through my head and it always makes me chuckle.

Country Club Dance - What I like about this episode is the three couple dynamic: The Ramseys play and equal role to the Mertzes as the Ricardo's friends. Had the show continued, I would've liked to have seen more of this. The scene of the three women at the breakfast table is particularly well done. Mary Jane Croft fit in so well with Lucy and Vivian that it felt like she'd always been there. It's unfortunate the show ended before Betty got a chance to join in more of Lucy and Ethel's schemes. I wish the hour-longs had incorporated more established characters from the original series, but I guess there "just wasn't room for all of you" alongside the guest-stars.

LOVE IT!

"Lucy Waits Up For Christ"? I want a summary idea for that one!

Seeing the country house would be nice. "I Love Lucy: Chicken Capers Special"

Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Hope and Pray - Bob Hope plays a one-liner spouting priest at a highly dysfunctional church, where confessions turn into block comedy scenes. Featuring Ruth McDevitt as the absent minded organist. I’ve Got it Maid - Vanda Hopkins (Barra) and Eileen Franks (Brennan) are, respectively, the downstairs and upstairs maids of wealthy socialite Eleanor Blaisdel (Audley), who start off as rivals but eventually join forces to pull numerous pranks on their haughty boss. Also joining in the fun are the cook, Kathleen Baker (Freeman), and Eleanor’s less well-off sister Ruth (Perrott), who also live in the house. With guest appearances by Mickey Rooney and Lucille Ball as Ichirou and Toshi Yamaguchi, Eleanor’s Japanese gardeners. Blondells Have More Fun - Joan and Gloria play fictionalized versions of themselves who, upon seeing their showbiz careers drying up, resort to drastic measures to get attention. Wild parties, cheap booze, cheaper men, and talking smack about their least favorite costars to documentary filmmakers soon become their bread and butter. (Desilu President Lucille Ball, upon seeing the ratings, pulls an imaginary toilet chain and flushes the show away.) Faulty Towers - Herbert Rudley and Lou Krugman star as construction tycoon brothers Kent and Ron Grossman, whose lives and careers come crashing down (literally) when their latest series of office towers all collapse due to structural failure. Each facing prison sentences due to negligence, the brothers must adjust to life behind bars and ingratiate themselves with both the warden (Gale Gordon) and their fellow inmates – Tubbs (Tim Conway), who was getting rid of some paper; Tiny (Alan Hale), who used to rough people up for a living; and Hard Head Hogan (Iris Adrian), a former bouncer so terrifying that no women’s prison would take her. Mildred Fierce! - Joan Crawford stars as gay icon Mildred Davis. Despite being past her prime and forgotten by Hollywood, her loyal following of fairies (Paul Lynde, William Lanteau, Charles Nelson Riley, R.G. Brown, Herbert Kenwith) remain as devoted as ever, and help her stay active in summer stock, drag reviews and bath houses. Private Ai Yai Yai - Desi Arnaz stars as Jose Romero, owner of a private detective agency, with a stable of oddball detectives who give him more headaches than results. Featuring Imogene Coca as Daisy Pickles, who gets into plenty of them; Robert Rockwell as Morty Matthews, who’s as hopeless as solving cases as he is at finding love; and Jody Gilbert as Harriet Hash, who tends to use her fists rather than her brain. Merriweather in Hell - After timid Mr. Merriweather dies in a freak accident (he went out with a yes on his lips on a no day), he finds himself at the pearly gates. Unable to bear the thought of spending the afterlife without his beloved Tilly, he gets permission from St. Peter (Paul Lynde) to venture into the depths of hell to recover her. Finding hell to be less fire and brimstone and more booze and liquor, he recovers Tilly (voiced by June Foray) and, death having loosened him up considerably, soon discovers why she might have wanted to come here in the first place. The party atmosphere is soon ruined by the reemergence of his late wife Adelaide (Mercedes McCambridge), who has become the Girl Friday of Lucifer (Gary Marshall). Lucifer and Adelaide decree that Merriweather cannot leave hell until he has completed a series of tasks for them, which he sets about doing with the assistance of Tilly. Serving as his earthly guide is Lucy Ricardo, who communicates with him via Ouija board and gives him zany ideas to thwart Lucifer and Adelaide at every turn. Akins and Pain - Claude Akins stars as a responsible small-town doctor in this workcom, who has to deal with a recurring series of wacky and difficult patients (including Carol Burnett as hypochondriac Persephone Glick) as well as the antics of his staff – Nurse Bertha Birch (Ruth Buzzi), a nymphomaniac who has the hots for the doc; ditzy receptionists Shirley and Myrtle (Lucie Arnaz and Sue Tolsky), who take more coffee breaks than phone calls; and bitter janitor Hubert McGuff (Parley Baer), who keeps more liquor stashed in his mop bucket than cleaning supplies. Bang for Your Buck - Eve Arden stars as professional Madam Eunice Quedens, who’s been in the biz for many, many years. As work has dried up for her friends and colleagues over the years, she launches a bordello aimed at those interested in “mature” or “curvy” women and moves the gals in. These ladies of the evening have been around the block and know more tricks to pleasing men than Cosmo, so word of mouth is strong and soon business is booming. But can the gals survive the random visits from the conniving inspector (Frank Nelson) and convince him they're actually just a boarding house? The Ladies: Vivian Vance, Jean Carson, Sandra Gould, Florence Halop, Reta Shaw, Estelle Winwood, Hope Emerson, Alice Pearce, Barbara Pepper, Totie Fields, Madge Blake, Iris Adrian Regular Customers: William Frawley, Richard Deacon, Gale Gordon, Jay Novello, Sid Gould, Gary Morton, Roger C. Carmel, Don Knotts, Alvin Hurwitz, Harvey Korman, Jim Nabors

Joey, in a nutshell, Ann was very rude to Barbara when the latter made a guest appearance on Private Secretary. Forced her hair and makeup to be made less flattering and was overall cold and dismissive. Barbara was shaken by the incident and was initially terrified to do Lucy's show because of it. Of course, Miss Ball's behaviour was the complete opposite. Eden talks about the Sothern incident a lot but usually does not refer to her by name. Her book is the only place she's included more detail on the subject.

What an interesting theme, and nice to see some more non-Hollywood selections.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Rowan-Martins-Laugh-In-The-Complete-Series/23278 Before there was Saturday Night Live, there was Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" - The New York Times IN TIME FOR ITS LANDMARK 50TH ANNIVERSARY, COMMEMORATE A GROUNDBREAKING VARIETY SHOW WITH A DELUXE COMPLETE SERIES COLLECTOR'S SET AVAILABLE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION Time Life Brings Together All Six Seasons (1968-1973) of This Emmy and Golden Globe-Winning, Star-Laden, Genre-Busting Series in One Stunning DVD Set Featuring 140 Complete Episodes Remastered from Original Broadcast Masters - 63% of Which Have NEVER Been Available Before on Any Format - Hours of Specially-Produced Extras, a 2-Page Collector's Book and More! Available Exclusively Online at TimeLife.com/LaughIn; Pre-Order Begins May 9, 2017 FAIRFAX, VA (May 9, 2017) - Named by TV Guide as one of the "50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time," Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was also one of the most groundbreaking. A fast-moving barrage of rapid-fire one-liners, on-going sketches, musical numbers, and hilarious social and political satire, it was an instant hit following its NBC prime-time debut in 1968. Hosted by Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, the unique variety series - a psychedelic take-off of a '60s-style happening - perfectly captured the spirit of an era, launched the careers of many a comic actor and writer, and fed a new generation's conversations with hip catchphrases like "Sock it to me!," "You bet your sweet bippy!," and "Here come da judge!" Laugh In would go on to become one of the most popular shows in the history of television. Never before available in its entirety on any format, beginning May 9, ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION will be offered as a deluxe 38-disc collector's set from Time Life and Proven Entertainment with David DiVona. Featuring all 140 original broadcast episodes plus the pilot, hours of specially-produced extras and featurettes, a bonus disc featuring hours of specially-produced extras, a 32-page collectible memory book featuring "liner notes" from producer/creator George Schlatter and more, ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION will be available to pre-order exclusively at TimeLife.com/LaughIn for $249.95. "Laugh-In was a free fall of television without a net. It was dangerous. It was controversial. It was totally unpredictable and always funny." - George Schlatter Laugh-In originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967, and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Mondays at 8pm. With seasoned comedy team Rowan and Martin presiding over the zippy hour-long variety show, which capably mixed sketch comedy and sight gags with trenchant political commentary, the comic regulars resonated loudly and hilariously - Goldie Hawn's giggly blonde, Lily Tomlin's snorting telephone operator, Judy Carne's "Sock-It-To-Me" girl, JoAnne Worley's anti-chicken-joke militant, Ruth Buzzi's perpetually-frustrated spinster, and Arte Johnson's "verrry interesting" German soldier, to name a few. And over the next six seasons, from 1968-1973, the off-the-wall NBC staple would become a pop culture phenomenon and the #1 rated show during the 1968-69 and 1969-70 television seasons. The pioneering series - which would go onto to capture 6 Emmy Awards (for Outstanding Variety Series, 1971) and 31 nominations, as well as 2 Golden Globe Awards, including "Best TV Show" (1969) - can also be remembered by the seemingly endless parade of guest stars who flocked to the red-hot variety show for memorable appearances and cameos...including Tim Conway, Bob Newhart, Debbie Reynolds, Liberace, Raquel Welch, Sammy Davis, Jr., Jonathan Winters, Carol Channing, The Monkees, Sonny and Cher, Barbara Feldon, Bobby Darin, Andy Griffith, Diana Ross, James Garner, Michael Landon, Buddy Hackett, Steve Lawrence, Jack Lemmon, Kirk Douglas, Robert Goulet, Flip Wilson, Don Rickles, John Wayne, a ukulele-strumming Tiny Tim, and many more. The series' most famous single moment, however, came in 1968 when presidential candidate Richard Nixon surprised viewers with a brief appearance in which he deadpanned "Sock it to me?," before capturing the White House. Initially, exclusively available online at TimeLife.com/LaughIn, ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION commemorates the influential program's landmark 50th anniversary with a handsomely-packaged DVD set from the TV-DVD archivists at Time Life. Across 38 discs and 150+ hours of transformative entertainment, fans of classic TV, comedy and variety will be treated to the series in its entirety for the very first time: all 140 episodes, complete and uncut and remastered from the original broadcast elements for optimal viewing. 89 of the episodes (63%) have never before been released on any format, making this eagerly-anticipated completist's set a valuable - and highly entertaining - collection. Also included in the collection is the rare pilot episode, a collectible 32-page memory book loaded with archival photos, show images, classic jokes and one-liners, "liner notes" from creator/producer George Schlatter, and an exclusive bonus DVD. The collection includes more than 6 hours of exclusive bonus features including the complete 25th Anniversary Cast Reunion and interviews with Lily Tomlin and George Schlatter that are only available in this complete collection. Other exclusive bonus features include: Interviews with Dick Martin, Ruth Buzzi, Gary Owens, Arte Johnson, Alan Sues The Laugh-In Pilot Episode Still Laugh-In: A Tribute to George Schlatter Laugh-In Bloopers How We Won the Emmys ...and more! With the combined efforts and input from one of the most talented ensemble casts and the largest, most creative groups of writers, editors, composers, directors, scenic and costume designers ever assembled, Laugh-In became an instant classic, transforming pop culture and the medium of television. And today, 50 years after the show first aired, it remains one of the most memorable and beloved shows in TV history.

In the opening scene of "The Fashion Show," I love Ethel's blasé reaction to Fred's coughing fit. The resigned look on her face as if to say "what else is new?" is so well done. Nobody could do the long-suffering wife facial expressions like Vivian.

Though you could explain away Little Ricky's switch from toddler to child over the course of one season as a continuity error, I think a more believable approach is that several years have passed between seasons 5 and 6. Lucy and Ricky's older looking appearance helps support that theory. Maybe that final half-hour season was closer to 1960 than 1957.

I know. She's very diplomatic, and usually never refers to Sothern by name when discussing the incident. Her book is really the only place where she's gone into any detail about it.

That sparkly dress story has had more performances than South Pacific.

Time wrote about the doodle not long ago, and referred to Arnaz playing Ricky "Riccardo". Such stellar research.

Thanks for sharing this. This didn't appear on Australian Google so I wouldn't have known about it otherwise.