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The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour: Quality Analysis

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Lucy Hunts Uranium- Not one of my favorite episodes as the car chase always seemed to bore me.  Watching this in full after a lot of years it really is pretty entertaining.  Lucy seems rather nutty/pushy/and star struck on the train but when she is doing the phone call bit with Fred she’s rather nice and normal.  

 

Hair- The artichoke cut has been introduced and I’ve said before this is the worst of all her haircuts.  Annaleigh can help with her post on this but I am pretty certain this is a wig based on how it comes around the ears.  What

I think we are not sure of is, is the harness thing being used yet.  I vote no as Lucy doesn’t look all that great in the face in this episode.  The makeup seems really heavy too.  My hunch is Lucy cut her hair short in real life but not artichoke hair cut short.  As we go on it does seem longer and little more fuller when we see her real hair.

 

On Location: The first of the on location shows and it’s used very well.  The car chase scene is the big finish and you can’t fake that one successfully inside.  The inside shots of the cars are sound staged though but for 1950’s technology not terrible.  The use of the doubles is my gripe.  But as we said before TV’s back then did not make this as obvious.  What I don’t like is the clear difference from the studio stuff shot of the uranium location and then the sun comes up and we are on location.  I think they should have done the whole thing on location

 

Random observations- I see Bobby the Bell Boy got a job in Vegas.  I think the dress Lucy wears in the phone call scene is the one at the beginning of Facts of Life.  No one can manage to drive on the road during the car chase scenes.  Ricky got top billing over Jerry Lewis.  Ha, serves him right.

 

 

Lucy Wins a Race Horse

Very few good moments in this one for me.  It just seems like a really shoehorned way to get the guest stars in.  Where the James’s really know for having horses or something?  Fred is my favorite in this episode with his fascination over Betty.  Love “home to write in my diary”.  Betty standing there in all her showgirlness next to Lucy in the kitchen scene is not fair to Lucy.  The hair and with the big coat on she looks so plain and she could give Betty a run for her money but not with that ensemble.

 

The race scene at the end is one of my least favorite things in this whole series run.  The use of the doubles and how it is shot annoy me.  I could care less about the stupid horse and it bores the crap out of me.  The musical number is rather good though. Amazing how much floor space that house had when you clear it out.  At least we get a believable setup as to why they are rehearsing at home.  I always wonder if the looks Desi gives Betty when they are dancing is not 100% acting as they were a couple for a brief time before he met Lucy (and apparently he got yelled out for taking her out, one night after Lucy was in the picture).

 

Random Observation- It’s not shown but I think I spotted Corny Crinkles in the wall oven too.  Lucy is really cute nuzzling the horse.  

 

 

Lucy Goes to Sun Valley

I really like the location shooting on this one, probably because I love snow and winter.  The doubles with the skiing and ice skating are a little on the corny side though.  The shower bit with Fernando is just too long.  Did we really need all 4 traipsing in there.  Seems like such time filler.

 

Lucy is rather a bitch in this episode.  Ok I’ll give her being upset Rick doesn’t remember the sentimental stuff, but when he does come out to see her in SV she gets all made it isn’t because of Lamas.  I guess we would have to have a whole different plot going if she wasn’t but she needed to tone it down a little.

 

Random Observations- The gray suit makes another LDCH appearance.  When Lucy is holding the wedding photo I have been trying to figure out if they did put in the frame their wedding photo from the 49’ wedding.

 

 

Lucy and Maurice Chevalier

I’m not a big fan of Maurice.  I think Boyer did a better job in his guest staring.  A little too much with his singing.  The little boy in Mexico drives me insane.  That kid is super annoying and such a pain in the butt.  This is one time when Lucy was not the start of all these problems.  And where did Maurice think he was going when he got in the car with Ricky and Fred?  I’m sure if he wanted to go someone would have mentioned where they were going.  I’m also not buying that every Mexican kids dream is to see an air craft carrier.

 

Random Observations- Lucy is a really terrible packer.  How many times did she hit something?  

 

Anger Level- In both the last two episodes the spats between Ricky and Lucy have been boarding on the mean side.  The overall theme was no matter what she did, he loved her in the end.  The hotel scene in Mexico was not the give me money to shop scene from London but a pretty good argument.  Maybe by this point Lucy was starting to loose the way she played the humor in the fights as it was all too often there were too many fights off screen and it became part of her nature.   It’s really hard to turn off everything you know about the off screen and objectively view these episodes.

 

I also think by these 2 episodes we are getting a different “Lucy”.  She is becoming more removed from the ½ hour episodes but we have not transitioned to a Lucy Carmichael yet.  She still does a pretty good cry in Sun Valley.

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C L A U D E Newbie

C L A U D E

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Lucy Hunts Uranium- Not one of my favorite episodes as the car chase always seemed to bore me.  Watching this in full after a lot of years it really is pretty entertaining.  Lucy seems rather nutty/pushy/and star struck on the train but when she is doing the phone call bit with Fred she’s rather nice and normal.  

 

Hair- The artichoke cut has been introduced and I’ve said before this is the worst of all her haircuts.  Annaleigh can help with her post on this but I am pretty certain this is a wig based on how it comes around the ears.  What

I think we are not sure of is, is the harness thing being used yet.  I vote no as Lucy doesn’t look all that great in the face in this episode.  The makeup seems really heavy too.  My hunch is Lucy cut her hair short in real life but not artichoke hair cut short.  As we go on it does seem longer and little more fuller when we see her real hair.

 

On Location: The first of the on location shows and it’s used very well.  The car chase scene is the big finish and you can’t fake that one successfully inside.  The inside shots of the cars are sound staged though but for 1950’s technology not terrible.  The use of the doubles is my gripe.  But as we said before TV’s back then did not make this as obvious.  What I don’t like is the clear difference from the studio stuff shot of the uranium location and then the sun comes up and we are on location.  I think they should have done the whole thing on location

 

Random observations- I see Bobby the Bell Boy got a job in Vegas.  I think the dress Lucy wears in the phone call scene is the one at the beginning of Facts of Life.  No one can manage to drive on the road during the car chase scenes.  Ricky got top billing over Jerry Lewis.  Ha, serves him right.

 

 

Lucy Wins a Race Horse

Very few good moments in this one for me.  It just seems like a really shoehorned way to get the guest stars in.  Where the James’s really know for having horses or something?  Fred is my favorite in this episode with his fascination over Betty.  Love “home to write in my diary”.  Betty standing there in all her showgirlness next to Lucy in the kitchen scene is not fair to Lucy.  The hair and with the big coat on she looks so plain and she could give Betty a run for her money but not with that ensemble.

 

The race scene at the end is one of my least favorite things in this whole series run.  The use of the doubles and how it is shot annoy me.  I could care less about the stupid horse and it bores the crap out of me.  The musical number is rather good though. Amazing how much floor space that house had when you clear it out.  At least we get a believable setup as to why they are rehearsing at home.  I always wonder if the looks Desi gives Betty when they are dancing is not 100% acting as they were a couple for a brief time before he met Lucy (and apparently he got yelled out for taking her out, one night after Lucy was in the picture).

 

Random Observation- It’s not shown but I think I spotted Corny Crinkles in the wall oven too.  Lucy is really cute nuzzling the horse.  

 

 

Lucy Goes to Sun Valley

I really like the location shooting on this one, probably because I love snow and winter.  The doubles with the skiing and ice skating are a little on the corny side though.  The shower bit with Fernando is just too long.  Did we really need all 4 traipsing in there.  Seems like such time filler.

 

Lucy is rather a bitch in this episode.  Ok I’ll give her being upset Rick doesn’t remember the sentimental stuff, but when he does come out to see her in SV she gets all made it isn’t because of Lamas.  I guess we would have to have a whole different plot going if she wasn’t but she needed to tone it down a little.

 

Random Observations- The gray suit makes another LDCH appearance.  When Lucy is holding the wedding photo I have been trying to figure out if they did put in the frame their wedding photo from the 49’ wedding.

 

 

Lucy and Maurice Chevalier

I’m not a big fan of Maurice.  I think Boyer did a better job in his guest staring.  A little too much with his singing.  The little boy in Mexico drives me insane.  That kid is super annoying and such a pain in the butt.  This is one time when Lucy was not the start of all these problems.  And where did Maurice think he was going when he got in the car with Ricky and Fred?  I’m sure if he wanted to go someone would have mentioned where they were going.  I’m also not buying that every Mexican kids dream is to see an air craft carrier.

 

Random Observations- Lucy is a really terrible packer.  How many times did she hit something?  

 

Anger Level- In both the last two episodes the spats between Ricky and Lucy have been boarding on the mean side.  The overall theme was no matter what she did, he loved her in the end.  The hotel scene in Mexico was not the give me money to shop scene from London but a pretty good argument.  Maybe by this point Lucy was starting to loose the way she played the humor in the fights as it was all too often there were too many fights off screen and it became part of her nature.   It’s really hard to turn off everything you know about the off screen and objectively view these episodes.

 

I also think by these 2 episodes we are getting a different “Lucy”.  She is becoming more removed from the ½ hour episodes but we have not transitioned to a Lucy Carmichael yet.  She still does a pretty good cry in Sun Valley.

The difference in Lucy I noticed in the Hollywood eps, especially the Bill Holden one, she is so much more sophisticated than she used to be.

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I'm still working on this wig information. I have notes but as I was watching I started noticing her look slowly changing also. So it will be about that too. I mostly just need to take screen shots of her looks.

 

But as watching these I've noticed a lot of doubles in the comedy stunts. They seem to try to top what they did in ILL but some of the stunts are completely overboard.

 

Also for the Sun Valley episode I always try to pause the DVD when she pulls out the wedding photo. But it's impossible to get a clear picture. You see it better at full speed. To what I see it looks like a photo from the second wedding. But of course, this is will more than likely remain a mystery.

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Lucy Hunts Uranium- Not one of my favorite episodes as the car chase always seemed to bore me.  Watching this in full after a lot of years it really is pretty entertaining.  Lucy seems rather nutty/pushy/and star struck on the train but when she is doing the phone call bit with Fred she’s rather nice and normal.  

 

Hair- The artichoke cut has been introduced and I’ve said before this is the worst of all her haircuts.  Annaleigh can help with her post on this but I am pretty certain this is a wig based on how it comes around the ears.  What

I think we are not sure of is, is the harness thing being used yet.  I vote no as Lucy doesn’t look all that great in the face in this episode.  The makeup seems really heavy too.  My hunch is Lucy cut her hair short in real life but not artichoke hair cut short.  As we go on it does seem longer and little more fuller when we see her real hair.

 

On Location: The first of the on location shows and it’s used very well.  The car chase scene is the big finish and you can’t fake that one successfully inside.  The inside shots of the cars are sound staged though but for 1950’s technology not terrible.  The use of the doubles is my gripe.  But as we said before TV’s back then did not make this as obvious.  What I don’t like is the clear difference from the studio stuff shot of the uranium location and then the sun comes up and we are on location.  I think they should have done the whole thing on location

 

Random observations- I see Bobby the Bell Boy got a job in Vegas.  I think the dress Lucy wears in the phone call scene is the one at the beginning of Facts of Life.  No one can manage to drive on the road during the car chase scenes.  Ricky got top billing over Jerry Lewis.  Ha, serves him right.

 

 

Lucy Wins a Race Horse

Very few good moments in this one for me.  It just seems like a really shoehorned way to get the guest stars in.  Where the James’s really know for having horses or something?  Fred is my favorite in this episode with his fascination over Betty.  Love “home to write in my diary”.  Betty standing there in all her showgirlness next to Lucy in the kitchen scene is not fair to Lucy.  The hair and with the big coat on she looks so plain and she could give Betty a run for her money but not with that ensemble.

 

The race scene at the end is one of my least favorite things in this whole series run.  The use of the doubles and how it is shot annoy me.  I could care less about the stupid horse and it bores the crap out of me.  The musical number is rather good though. Amazing how much floor space that house had when you clear it out.  At least we get a believable setup as to why they are rehearsing at home.  I always wonder if the looks Desi gives Betty when they are dancing is not 100% acting as they were a couple for a brief time before he met Lucy (and apparently he got yelled out for taking her out, one night after Lucy was in the picture).

 

Random Observation- It’s not shown but I think I spotted Corny Crinkles in the wall oven too.  Lucy is really cute nuzzling the horse.  

 

 

Lucy Goes to Sun Valley

I really like the location shooting on this one, probably because I love snow and winter.  The doubles with the skiing and ice skating are a little on the corny side though.  The shower bit with Fernando is just too long.  Did we really need all 4 traipsing in there.  Seems like such time filler.

 

Lucy is rather a bitch in this episode.  Ok I’ll give her being upset Rick doesn’t remember the sentimental stuff, but when he does come out to see her in SV she gets all made it isn’t because of Lamas.  I guess we would have to have a whole different plot going if she wasn’t but she needed to tone it down a little.

 

Random Observations- The gray suit makes another LDCH appearance.  When Lucy is holding the wedding photo I have been trying to figure out if they did put in the frame their wedding photo from the 49’ wedding.

 

 

Lucy and Maurice Chevalier

I’m not a big fan of Maurice.  I think Boyer did a better job in his guest staring.  A little too much with his singing.  The little boy in Mexico drives me insane.  That kid is super annoying and such a pain in the butt.  This is one time when Lucy was not the start of all these problems.  And where did Maurice think he was going when he got in the car with Ricky and Fred?  I’m sure if he wanted to go someone would have mentioned where they were going.  I’m also not buying that every Mexican kids dream is to see an air craft carrier.

 

Random Observations- Lucy is a really terrible packer.  How many times did she hit something?  

 

Anger Level- In both the last two episodes the spats between Ricky and Lucy have been boarding on the mean side.  The overall theme was no matter what she did, he loved her in the end.  The hotel scene in Mexico was not the give me money to shop scene from London but a pretty good argument.  Maybe by this point Lucy was starting to loose the way she played the humor in the fights as it was all too often there were too many fights off screen and it became part of her nature.   It’s really hard to turn off everything you know about the off screen and objectively view these episodes.

 

I also think by these 2 episodes we are getting a different “Lucy”.  She is becoming more removed from the ½ hour episodes but we have not transitioned to a Lucy Carmichael yet.  She still does a pretty good cry in Sun Valley.

In ILL, they have a bread that's too long coming out of a tiny oven so it must have been cooked on the rear balcony.  On THIS series, the stupidest stunt was having her cereal in the cupboards, the fridge, everywhere, so bloody stupid.  Where was she keeping her regular food if not in the fridge?

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Lucy Makes Room For Danny

This episode works because it is a return to domestic situations that have been lacking in many of the other bloated episodes.   I think it works because the guests stars are not playing guest stars but rather characters.  It makes sense Ricky would know Danny.  I think this ranks as my 2nd favorite episode.  The courtroom is good with Lucy’s charades but Gale is what makes this scene a stand out.  

Random Observations: Marjorie Lord and Viv did a play together in the 40’s in Saratoga Springs NY and roomed togerther then so this was a mini reunion for them.

 

Lucy Goes to Alaska

This could have been a ½ hour episode, it seems so padded.  Red is a good guest star but other than the Freddie the Freeloader sketch I think it lets us down on what he could do.  The hammock bit is good but I think goes on too long and doesn’t give me too many laughs.  I don’t like the airplane scene as it’s so implausible.

When I watch the Freeloader sketch I very much feel that I am not watching “Lucy”.  I think if you took this sketch and showed it to someone and didn’t tell them in was part of ILL they would think it was Lucille guest staring on Red’s show.  It’s a good number though and Lucy is very good in it, I just don’t believe Lucy Ricardo had this much talent to learn it so fast and be so good at it.

I never thought of this before but the whole sleeping arrangement thing is dumb.  It works for comedic effect but makes no sense.  The bed is big enough for 2 people so why didn’t one couple take it?  I know the thing about sharing a bed, but First Stop it apparently was ok to do.  By 1950’s standards it is ok to have 2 people of the same sex share a bed and then have Lucy practically crawl on top of Ricky but the couples couldn’t share a bed?  

Random Observations:  The floor is padded under Lucy so she won’t hurt herself when she falls out of the hammock.  The snow shots of Lucy driving the jeep don’t match.  One direction the snow doesn’t seem to impair her vision, the other way it does.

 

Lucy Wants a Career

I like this one because we are yet again most in a domestic situation here.  Is the grass greener on the other side type of story.  I also liked the working in of the real life situation from the early part of Lucy’s and Desi’s marriage where they would meet coming and going to work.  How Lucy ever got the morning show gig in the first place after screwing up so much and looking awkward on camera is beyond me.  I do like all the girls coming in and Lucy trying to imitate their looks.  That haircut was doing her no favors because she really could have given some of these girls a run for their money, except Joy Lansing, my god that woman had a fabulous rack and I want her hair.    

 

Random Observations:  Lucy must go back and forth between a wig and her own hair for this one.  Those were some really powerful sleeping pills, did someone give her a roofie or something?

 

Lucy’s Summer Vacation

I know some people really hate this one but I don’t think it’s so bad.  It does suffer from lack of Mertz’s though.  Too bad we had to have a guest star because it would have worked just as well with the Mertz’s.  

Random observations:  Lucy’s lashes disappear right before the boat starts to sink.

 

Multi episode observations:  Since Lucy introduces the new short haircut it goes through some changes in volume.  I’m always playing is it or isn’t it a wig and in the last 2 episodes it does go back and forth.  I’m also not sure if she has started the harness thing yet.  I’m not seeing a huge improvement in skin tightness from wig to no wig.

Starting with Cavalier and until we hit Career there is not one kiss or hug between Lucy and Ricky.  It’s not that noticeable unless you are looking for it but when you watch them as a group and are looking for it you do notice it.  I don’t know if it’s off screen issues or just the way the shows are written, but there is opportunity.  There was always a quick kiss on the cheek hello or goodbye but none in these.  Career it picks up again and by the end of the Summer Vacation they do share a nice kiss on the couch before the Mertz’s come in to break it up.

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Oh there's worse.  The bucket in Milton Bearle, the skiing in Sun Valley.

Not to me, if I had bought hundreds of boxes of that cereal, they'd be in my cupboards but not in my fridge.  I know you guys find the bucket sequence nonsensical in the Milton B E R L E one, but what was wrong about the Skiing one?

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