Mot Morenzi

Like RS, I wasn't bitching. I was just surprised, that's all. Obviously we'll be able to get it at most places for less than the SRP. So "Won't You Calm Down, JoeySoCal"

Hopefully the cast photo will appear on the back.

The cover art design has grown on me, which is a good thing, as it looks like they're sticking with it. I quite like the yellow background. If I could change anything, it'd be to use the actual title font and capitalize the W in with, and make it yellow like in the series. I would also choose a different picture. There's an alternate shot of Lucy and Gale in the bubbles that has both of them looking into the camera; that might be a bit more effective than the one currently chosen, with Gale staring off to the side. Speaking of bubbles - the foam coming down over the border is a clever idea, but the overlay is very obvious. That could use some better blending.

Agreed, but I somehow have a feeling that the price will drop markedly after the initial release.

What a well-written review. I'm glad the author got the 1909 birthdate right - so many nowadays still seem to think 1912 was her actual birth year.

I haven't yet had the chance to get this. Did earlier episodes modify Lucy's hair color to the deeper red of later episodes, or did it remain the same bright orange?

Oh, I'll be ordering it as well, but I might check and see if the price comes down any further first. I'm glad Amazon is discounting the SRP already, because $50.00 is a bit steep for a not-exactly-beloved series. Then again, CBS likely isn't anticipating I Love Lucy level sales and want a safeguard to recoup their costs. (Either that or the Eydie Gormé estate has high licensing fees.)

Surprisingly high SRP for such a short series. I'm sure it'll be discounted soon.

If the package is in good shape, it's a fine presentation. As long as it's packed well and not broken you don't need to worry. It's still a nice gift.

All 24 discs are housed in one giant DVD case made of rather flimsy plastic. Be cautious when ordering online, as they break easily in transit. You might be better off trying to find it at a store, or else be prepared for Amazon to replace it.

"You've gotta deal!"

In an interview, Mary Jane also said she used "It's a moo-moo" whenever she found something strange I like the Martian routine too. And it's not that crazy when you remember the kerfuffle War of the Worlds caused.

Though Cynthia Harcourt's gotten a fair amount of coverage on other threads, I don't see "Lucy is Envious" come up that often. It's not a standout episode, but I do enjoy it. The scenes with Mary Jane are definitely the best, but the Martian routine is funny. As an aside, when I was a kid, I didn't get the Wichita joke, as I didn't know it was a city. I assumed the lady was looking for some building in New York, not her hometown in Kansas! Several books mention this was Jess Oppenheimer's least favorite episode. I may not agree with him personally but I understand why he felt that way. Lucy and Ethel scaling the Empire State Building is definitely one of the more far fetched moments. Maybe a funnier angle would've been making the ascent the block comedy scene of the episode. There was a short-lived NBC sitcom in 2005 called Committed. One episode featured a scene set atop the Empire State Building, and I swear the set was identical to the I Love Lucy one.

In honor of the upcoming Life With Lucy release: One Bad Grandparent Deserves a Smother: Curtis and Lucy's resentment of one another is taken to a new level when a sleepwalking Lucy attempts to smother Curtis in his sleep. A series of bizarre "accidents" then unfold with near fatal consequences for Lucy, such as the vibrating chair run amok. This ends after a stern lecture from Ted and Margo, who tell their parents that they're "too old" to be getting up to the same kind of shenanigans they used to. Making Love Among the Two-by-Fours: Leonard and his new girlfriend (Mindy Cohn) start having numerous lunchtime trysts around the hardware store, unaware Curtis has installed new security cameras after the burglary. The family gets the shock of their life, and the kids a lesson on the birds and the bees, when Curtis and Lucy review the tapes on the living room VCR. Lucy Gets Her Pliers Lost: While rearranging the P's, Mrs. Barker somehow misplaces an entire box of pliers, and will have the cost taken out of her paycheck if they don't turn up. The shoe's on the other foot, however, when Lucy discovers the box in Curtis' car. Realizing he was setting her up in order to have an excuse to fire her, Lucy spikes his fried eggs with laxatives the day an important client pays a visit. Lucy is a Wax Symbol: Wanting to stay hip, Lucy goes to a salon to inquire about bikini waxes. A representative from a hair removal company overhears her, and offers her free treatments in exchange for publicizing the results, as they wants to start appealing to an older demographic. Unfortunately, nobody told Lucy how painful this would be, and the deal goes sour fast when her televised waxing gets the company shut down for elderly abuse. Lucy Makes Curtis Right the Bust: Curtis is enlisted by Lucy to help redesign her brassieres, as the girls don't sit as evenly as they used to. Mother of the Wide: Good ol' two-chair Flo's mother (Frances Bavier) stops by to teach Curtis a lesson about fat-shaming. Lucy & The Lard Caboose: Mrs. Barker's infatuation with health food comes to an abrupt end after the latest tonic she tries (something called Vitametavegamin) causes her to black out. A post-hangover pizza rekindles her love of junk food, and soon Lucy can give cousin Flo a run for her money. Lucy's Lean Bum: Part two of the above episode - Lucy's weight becomes such an issue that the family ships her off to a health spa. Lucy soon turns weight loss into a competition after the spa's permanent resident Ann Sothern cracks, "and they said I got big!" Cracking Up Is Easy to Do: Curtis finally snaps his twig after cousins Ted and Harry introduce him to their respective secretaries.

The hardware store was hardly the best idea, and was never executed that well. They ran out of ideas for that one fast. No wonder if figured less in the plots of later episodes. It would've made much more sense to have Lucy and Curtis retired and constantly finding new things to do. That would've given them much more leeway. I'm glad you mentioned Ruth Kobart's appearance in the first episode. She voiced the villain in the first ever computer game I played, so her distinctive voice has long been etched into my memory. Ruth Buzzi would've been a great casting choice as Lucy's daughter. I LOL'd at your concept of her and R.G. Brown as a married couple.

That's one of the saddest scenes in the whole series. And you're right, so well done. It's made all the more touching by Ethel's genuinely horrified reaction to the misunderstanding. I wish her later shows had had more scenes of emotional resonance like this. I know it wasn't necessarily fitting with the era or tone of the show, but Lucy Carmichael had plenty to be sad about. A Catherine Curtis-esque monologue in the final season could've packed a punch.

Oops. For some reason, I was thinking Sam was Curtis's brother, not business partner. Wouldn't THAT have made Ted and Margo's marriage more interesting! That's part of the problem with this series - the premise was both weak yet convoluted. I'm always having to redraw the family tree in my head to sort out all the connections. I personally don't think McGibbon was the best surname for the family. It doesn't roll off the tongue, and something with fewer syllables might've been easier for Gale and Lucy to say with more flow. I just rewatched the first episode and agree with you about Larry and Ann - they were given the thankless Suzie/Jerry roles. You can tell they were trying but just didn't have much to work with. As for the kids, they're about as generic as sitcom kids can get. Jenny Lewis was apparently pushed into being a child actor by her mother and never really enjoyed it. When an interviewer told her a few years back that he'd never seen her TV work, she responded, "You're not missing much."

These are great! I especially love Gary's warm-up act and CrummyVision! Candy Moore and Lucie Arnaz screentests for Margo Phil Vandervoort's Unauthorized Audience Home Movies ("Get outta here, you're divorced!") Omitted Sid Gould as "Sam Barker" cameo

Except in some cases broadcast order makes more sense / is intentional. "Harpo Marx" was shot before "The Dancing Star" but takes place afterwards story wise. You wouldn't want to watch those out of order.

In a departure from previous CBS Lucy releases, Tom Watson just confirmed that this set will present the episodes in production order, as opposed to broadcast (or intended broadcast) order.

That'd make a great legitimate supplement.

Some ideas for bonus features (purely satirical): Life Without Lucy: Lost pilot for the unrealized 1990 reboot No One Remembers: Ruta Lee disses the series "She Smoked A Lot!" - Jenny Lewis Remembers Life With Lucy Spelling Disaster: How Aaron Spelling f*cked everything up! Looking Puffy: The Lucy Book author Geoffery Mark Fidelman critiques each episode Cut Mary Jane Croft scenes, fresh from Gary Morton's vault "Every Day is Better Than Before" music video by Cardi B Lucille Ball cue card scans Gale Gordon hair and makeup tests 18 never-before-seen Bungle Abbey script outlines The Ellen Burstyn Show pilot Jaws II trailer

Okay, this is gonna be long. My first I Love Lucy videotape was one my mother recorded off TV. She taped a marathon of the Hollywood episodes that TNT broadcast either in the late '80s or early '90s. The Hollywood arc has always been her favorite, so naturally she wanted to capture it. They just popped in the tape and let it run, so all the commercials were included (there's one Clorox Bleach jingle in there I'll never forget). It started at Lucy Learns to Drive and ended with Ricky Needs an Agent, with the only one missing in between being Don Juan is Shelved (apart from a few seconds; she must've accidentally stopped it). Years later, when I got the DVD sets, I marvelled at how severely edited the episodes were, but that tape got a lot of use because it was my only source of on-demand episodes for years. Eventually, I started seeing the official tapes pop up at Wal-Mart. The first one I bought was from the six volume "Classics" line. It was Volume 3, which contained Lucy Does a TV Commercial and Lucy & The Loving Cup. I eventually got all six of those, and later moved on to the larger I Love Lucy Collection label from CBS/FOX. I never had all of them but I did snag a lot. I sold most of them at a garage sale after I got the DVDs, but I did keep a few. Looking back, I kind of wish I hadn't, as there was a lot of sentiment attached to those tapes (I'm kind of a hoarder). The only Comedy Hour I ever owned on VHS was The Ricardos Go to Japan. Later on, I also got the "Best Of" sets Freddie mentioned as gifts. I didn't care that they had repeats, because there were a few on there I was missing. I still own those. My first exposure to The Lucy Show came about by accident, through one of the Goodtimes boxsets. It had their usual public domain fare, including Lucy's Barbershop Quartet and Lucy & Viv Put in a Shower. The cover for that tape had a picture of Lucy and Desi on it, so I naturally assumed (as I'm sure Goodtimes were hoping) that it contained two episodes of I Love Lucy. At the time, I was too young to know anything about the public domain or anything like that. You can imagine my shock after popping in the tape to see little cartoon Lucy and Viv running around with those letters. I remember thinking, "WTF is this!?" - although probably not in those words, as I was only ten or so. However, I was most delighted by what I saw, as now I got to see Lucy and "Ethel" without Ricky and Fred getting in the way of the fun! The quartet episode was great, but man did I love the shower one. It became then, and remains, my personal favorite of the whole bunch. After my initial confusion, I watched another tape in the set, their Funny World of Lucy documentary. That was actually my first exposure to the life of Lucille Ball, as prior to that I'd only known her from the show and nothing about her personal life. Anyway, the second part explained about her later TV career, something I'd been unaware of prior to that moment. I couldn't believe she'd done other sitcoms! Eventually, I did see other Goodtimes boxsets in Wal-Mart containing just episodes from The Lucy Show, but I refused to get them because they only contained Hollywood offerings, and I wasn't interested in the non-Viv episodes back then (when I learned from the documentary that she'd left the show, I was crushed). It wasn't until I was in Texas while my grandmother was receiving cancer treatment that I stumbled on some of the Laserlight DVDs with those PD episodes. That rekindled my interest in the show, and prompted me to track down the Columbia House tapes so I could see more of Viv. It was also while in Texas that those individual I Love Lucy Season One volumes started being released, so I got the first four of those as well. Funnily enough, I actually saw episodes of Life With Lucy before seeing Here's Lucy. My dad found a tape on eBay containing four of the unaired episodes, the only missing one being World's Greatest Grandma. Therefore, Lucy & The Guard Goose became the first LWL show I ever saw - not exactly a stellar introduction to an uneven series! Nevertheless, it was exciting knowing that I was watching something with Lucy that not many others would've seen at the time. Not much to say about Here's Lucy except I had a bitch of a time finding that original Shout! Factory boxset. Practically no store in Bangor bothered to stock it, and it wasn't until I went to Borders (last on the list) that I struck it lucky. That's probably my all-time favorite Lucy package - not for the episodes, per se, but simply for the treasure trove of bonus features that were included. It really was a commendable effort.

The Westinghouse special was a sales presentation. They all use their real names but basically play their I Love Lucy characters. (I mean, would Viv and Bill really be going to lunch together?) Desi has forbidden Lucy from buying their sponsor's products but she goes behind his back anyway. At the end, he finds all her purchases stashed in her dressing room, and she's hiding in the dryer because there's no room for her to stand. It's on the official Comedy Hour DVD set, plus Legend Films colorized it for their "Lucy's Really Lost Moments" DVD. Jimmy and Timmy Hudson rubbed off on you at a young age!

I saw Tina Arena in the original Prince staging of Evita at the Opera House last October. I could tell that in the right hands it would be a great show, but this particular cast was a bit lackluster on the energy side, which made Prince's stylized, neo-Brechtian staging come across amateurish rather than innovative. Many have said he was great at creating stage pictures but was not an actor's director; he wasn't adept at helping them come up with characterizations. Tina Arena is primarily a singer, not an actress, and it showed in her performance. None of this is to bash Prince (may he rest in peace), but merely to highlight how collaborative theatre truly is. If one piece doesn't quite work, it can throw the whole show off balance. I hope others in the future will better be able to serve his "stage pictures" and bring them to life more fully.