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The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour: Quality Analysis


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Milton Bearle Hides Out at the Ricardos.

 

I had not watched this one in a long time and now I remember why.  This ranks as my least favorite.  I’d put this as bottom when you include all the ½ hours in with it.  Part of the reason is I am not a Milton fan so the shtick is a little tiresome.  

 

For the bucket scene I will give you the use of the doubles for the long shots, but the doubles are used too close up in some of the scenes.  TVs were not that bad back then to notice this.  When Ricky comes storming into the house it’s not funny mad, it’s mad and a little on the unsettling side.  Lucy does seem to take it all in stride though.    

The show at the end is just terrible.  The only saving grace is Viv’s part, but why was she dubbed?  She proved many years later in TLS with the Steam Boat Bessie number she could still pull this type of part off.  For a PTA show there was quite a lot of drinking and violence.  

 

In this episode I’ve noticed quite a bit of new camera angles.  Not just pickup shots, but having a camera in places where on a normal 3 camera sitcom you would not have those angles.  It doesn’t really bother me.  It’s sort of boarding on a single camera shot sitcom which we have so many of now.  If I am correct this is the first LDCH that Desi directed so I applaud him for trying some new stuff.

 

Random observations:  I like that there is some continuity when Ethel tells Milton to go upstairs and says we hid a horse up there once.  Viv looks like she cut her hair again.  It was really looking nice and made her look so much younger.

 

Japan

 

Interesting take on another country.  I like Bob Cummings on both HL episodes he has guested on but I’m not wowed by him in this episode.  I think it’s the material he is given and not his acting.  This is the first I have gone back and watched this one since discovering his HL appearances (which I really like).

 

Hair:  I spend a lot of time playing is this a wig or her own hair.  In this episode I’m not 100% sure.  Usually when Lucy get’s wet it’s her own hair but I’m not sure here when she falls into the pond.  Viv now has taken her hair and is wearing it all up, something we have not seen before.

 

Clothes.  Fred in all the kimonos is funny.  I really like Lucy’s suit she wears on the plane and in the first part of the episode.  I’ve also noticed that for causal wear they put both Lucy and Viv in mandarin collar shirts.

 

I was thinking that since this is the last one until the end that everyone would look really tired based on everything going on personally and professionally.  Lucy doesn’t look terrible but the close-ups don’t do her any favors but in the longer shots she looks fine.  It’s a big difference since the end of season 6 but not too bad.  Viv really needed to keep the longer hair as it did help with youthfulness.  The one that really looks tired in these last few episodes is Desi, which should be expected because he really was not well all around at this time and was incredibly busy.  I’ve noticed that the gray is starting to show up a lot more towards the end.  I think it was just getting harder to hide.   

 

Random Observations:  I laugh at Fred’s line that Japan is way ahead of America when it came to the free stuff.  Funny when you look back on it now since Japan is so very ahead of the US now in many respects.  I’m happy we got one last appearance by Lucy’s mother.

 

My observation at the end of Season 6 with this still feeling like the same show stands.  But when you take these comedy hours and compare then to the original series I feel like I am watching a whole different show.   Part of this is because of the way the shows are about the guest stars, part is location shooting, and part is the over inflated nature of some episodes.  The Danny Thomas one is the only one where we get the closest to what more ½ hours in the CT would have been like. 

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Dunno bout that, i'd love to see some pics of you though as Lucy. So, never been a grape stomper or chocolate wrapper then? Never been a drunk Vitameatavegamin salesgirl?

I'll definately post some! I wanna do Lucy every year honestly. Do a new costume every year. But I would need to get a bit better with sewing.
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Milton Bearle Hides Out at the Ricardos.

 

I had not watched this one in a long time and now I remember why.  This ranks as my least favorite.  I’d put this as bottom when you include all the ½ hours in with it.  Part of the reason is I am not a Milton fan so the shtick is a little tiresome.  

 

For the bucket scene I will give you the use of the doubles for the long shots, but the doubles are used too close up in some of the scenes.  TVs were not that bad back then to notice this.  When Ricky comes storming into the house it’s not funny mad, it’s mad and a little on the unsettling side.  Lucy does seem to take it all in stride though.    

The show at the end is just terrible.  The only saving grace is Viv’s part, but why was she dubbed?  She proved many years later in TLS with the Steam Boat Bessie number she could still pull this type of part off.  For a PTA show there was quite a lot of drinking and violence.  

 

In this episode I’ve noticed quite a bit of new camera angles.  Not just pickup shots, but having a camera in places where on a normal 3 camera sitcom you would not have those angles.  It doesn’t really bother me.  It’s sort of boarding on a single camera shot sitcom which we have so many of now.  If I am correct this is the first LDCH that Desi directed so I applaud him for trying some new stuff.

 

Random observations:  I like that there is some continuity when Ethel tells Milton to go upstairs and says we hid a horse up there once.  Viv looks like she cut her hair again.  It was really looking nice and made her look so much younger.

 

Japan

 

Interesting take on another country.  I like Bob Cummings on both HL episodes he has guested on but I’m not wowed by him in this episode.  I think it’s the material he is given and not his acting.  This is the first I have gone back and watched this one since discovering his HL appearances (which I really like).

 

Hair:  I spend a lot of time playing is this a wig or her own hair.  In this episode I’m not 100% sure.  Usually when Lucy get’s wet it’s her own hair but I’m not sure here when she falls into the pond.  Viv now has taken her hair and is wearing it all up, something we have not seen before.

 

Clothes.  Fred in all the kimonos is funny.  I really like Lucy’s suit she wears on the plane and in the first part of the episode.  I’ve also noticed that for causal wear they put both Lucy and Viv in mandarin collar shirts.

 

I was thinking that since this is the last one until the end that everyone would look really tired based on everything going on personally and professionally.  Lucy doesn’t look terrible but the close-ups don’t do her any favors but in the longer shots she looks fine.  It’s a big difference since the end of season 6 but not too bad.  Viv really needed to keep the longer hair as it did help with youthfulness.  The one that really looks tired in these last few episodes is Desi, which should be expected because he really was not well all around at this time and was incredibly busy.  I’ve noticed that the gray is starting to show up a lot more towards the end.  I think it was just getting harder to hide.   

 

Random Observations:  I laugh at Fred’s line that Japan is way ahead of America when it came to the free stuff.  Funny when you look back on it now since Japan is so very ahead of the US now in many respects.  I’m happy we got one last appearance by Lucy’s mother.

 

My observation at the end of Season 6 with this still feeling like the same show stands.  But when you take these comedy hours and compare then to the original series I feel like I am watching a whole different show.   Part of this is because of the way the shows are about the guest stars, part is location shooting, and part is the over inflated nature of some episodes.  The Danny Thomas one is the only one where we get the closest to what more ½ hours in the CT would have been like. 

Luving your obs, Luv!  ;)

 

So much I could comment on but time constraints at the moment don't allow but I did want to say your observation about more camera angles was not only astute but to add that the fact there was no audience to concern itself with, these last few eps (except for the superior Lucy Wants A Career ep) were shot more like a movie where they could stop and start much more often and put the camera virtually anywhere as opposed to having the more familiar "static" setup to accommodate shooting with an audience.  One thing with these latter eps I've always wondered about was given the way they were filmed, was filming spread out over more than one day/evening? It would certainly allow for more time to shoot but the downside would be not only having the camera crew on set more but everyone would have to be in make-up, costumes, etc. longer too.  Hmmmmmmm....

 

Always wonderin'!  :vanda:

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Mustache-

I can never watch this one and not think about the off screen stories.   Trying to put that aside this is plot wise a rather depressing episode.  We’ve defiantly crossed the line from light hearted problems (or one that may have been bad but we knew would work out in the end) into what really seems like a more serious tone with Ricky being very depressed.  Of course we still get Lucy shenanigans with her trying to help.  This episode still hangs on to the overall premise of the entire series.  No matter what Lucy does Ricky loves in her in the end.  You get that at the end of the episode and it is very needed.  With this being the last episode you needed to know that this family would go on in life, struggle through a few bumps, but get through it together in the end and love each other.

 

Hair, etc…  This hair style Lucy wears is worn here for the first time.  It will show up again in Facts of Life and in her personal life around this time.  What I can’t figure out is if this whole thing is a wig.  The front looks like one, especially with how it is styled around the ears, but the back seems to blend into her hair line.    There are a fair share of close-ups in this episode and Lucy does not come off too bad.  This is what makes me think that she does have a wig to have the contraception thing pulling her skin.  Desi looks terrible in the close-up, especially in the eyes.  At the end when Lucy is playing Crandle she doesn’t have the lipstick on, thus it’s interesting to see her for what may be the only time on the series when she doesn’t have the full bow lips. 

 

Edie Adams has been interviewed a lot about this episode and always talks about the song she sang, not knowing what was going on.  I watched and listened to this song closely.  It’s a really pretty song.  It’s edited with very few cutaways from her.  There is one that is especially lovely.  Lucy is sitting on the arm of the couch watching and everyone else is behind her.  In the cutaway Ricky makes a comment to Ernie about how good the singing is.  Look at Lucy though.  She looks very pretty in the profile shot.  It’s almost sad to think if she is sitting there listening to that song and if it is affecting her.

 

I watch the interplay of Ricky and Lucy in this episode and I think there is one part that really may be because of what is going on off screen.   After the party Ricky goes up to bed.  In the ½ hours he at least would give Lucy a kiss on the cheek.  Here he just walks right past her.  He does say “goodnight sweetheart” on the way up the stairs, but it seems like such an afterthought.  There is not a whole lot of eye contact between them in this episode either until you get to the end.

 

The last scene and that all important kiss at the end.  But there are actually 3 kisses.  He kisses her once, but Ernie breaks it up, he kisses her again and breaks to take off the mustache, and then finally kisses her one more time.  From the moment that they turn to face each other both of their looks soften and there is something in their eyes and how they look at each other that is sad and heartwarming at the same time.  It’s almost like their eyes met for the first time in the shooting of the episode and all the thoughts of the end of the show and ultimately the end of the marriage hit them and they dropped any cold hatred at that point and just enjoyed the moment.  Each time they look at one another there is a smile, not just on their face, but in their eyes too.  It’s an unspoken I love you.  The second kiss is the one that actually is the longest kiss of the three.  I think that is what leads to how the third kiss is played.  The third one is shorter and this is where Desi presses his cheek to her’s twice and hides his head behind her’s as Lucy closes her eyes.  I think the previous two kisses are what lead to all the emotions being stirred up and thus why the last kiss was difficult for both.  According to what we all read and heard was that Desi was lost in the emotion and forgot to say cut, until Lucy reminded him.  Had it just been a quick kiss at the end it might have not been as emotional, but how it was scripted gave them the opportunity to get lost in the moment.        

 

Random Observations: Little Ricky really looks like he is growing up.  How did a car phone work in the 50’s?  It’s not like they had cell towers. 

 

Wedding Ring-From what I can tell Lucy is not wearing her wedding ring.  This was very uncommon in the whole run.  She wore other rings but almost always had those stacked on top of the wedding ring.  I think she has it on in Japan, but it’s hard to tell based on the style of the ring she is wearing on top.  In the scene with Edie in the kitchen Lucy is wearing some other style of gold band, but it is way too thick to be her ring.  The only other time I recalled no ring was a three episode run around the middle of the series where she doesn’t wear it.  

 

55.jpg

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Mustache-

I can never watch this one and not think about the off screen stories.   Trying to put that aside this is plot wise a rather depressing episode.  We’ve defiantly crossed the line from light hearted problems (or one that may have been bad but we knew would work out in the end) into what really seems like a more serious tone with Ricky being very depressed.  Of course we still get Lucy shenanigans with her trying to help.  This episode still hangs on to the overall premise of the entire series.  No matter what Lucy does Ricky loves in her in the end.  You get that at the end of the episode and it is very needed.  With this being the last episode you needed to know that this family would go on in life, struggle through a few bumps, but get through it together in the end and love each other.

 

Hair, etc…  This hair style Lucy wears is worn here for the first time.  It will show up again in Facts of Life and in her personal life around this time.  What I can’t figure out is if this whole thing is a wig.  The front looks like one, especially with how it is styled around the ears, but the back seems to blend into her hair line.    There are a fair share of close-ups in this episode and Lucy does not come off too bad.  This is what makes me think that she does have a wig to have the contraception thing pulling her skin.  Desi looks terrible in the close-up, especially in the eyes.  At the end when Lucy is playing Crandle she doesn’t have the lipstick on, thus it’s interesting to see her for what may be the only time on the series when she doesn’t have the full bow lips. 

 

Edie Adams has been interviewed a lot about this episode and always talks about the song she sang, not knowing what was going on.  I watched and listened to this song closely.  It’s a really pretty song.  It’s edited with very few cutaways from her.  There is one that is especially lovely.  Lucy is sitting on the arm of the couch watching and everyone else is behind her.  In the cutaway Ricky makes a comment to Ernie about how good the singing is.  Look at Lucy though.  She looks very pretty in the profile shot.  It’s almost sad to think if she is sitting there listening to that song and if it is affecting her.

 

I watch the interplay of Ricky and Lucy in this episode and I think there is one part that really may be because of what is going on off screen.   After the party Ricky goes up to bed.  In the ½ hours he at least would give Lucy a kiss on the cheek.  Here he just walks right past her.  He does say “goodnight sweetheart” on the way up the stairs, but it seems like such an afterthought.  There is not a whole lot of eye contact between them in this episode either until you get to the end.

 

The last scene and that all important kiss at the end.  But there are actually 3 kisses.  He kisses her once, but Ernie breaks it up, he kisses her again and breaks to take off the mustache, and then finally kisses her one more time.  From the moment that they turn to face each other both of their looks soften and there is something in their eyes and how they look at each other that is sad and heartwarming at the same time.  It’s almost like their eyes met for the first time in the shooting of the episode and all the thoughts of the end of the show and ultimately the end of the marriage hit them and they dropped any cold hatred at that point and just enjoyed the moment.  Each time they look at one another there is a smile, not just on their face, but in their eyes too.  It’s an unspoken I love you.  The second kiss is the one that actually is the longest kiss of the three.  I think that is what leads to how the third kiss is played.  The third one is shorter and this is where Desi presses his cheek to her’s twice and hides his head behind her’s as Lucy closes her eyes.  I think the previous two kisses are what lead to all the emotions being stirred up and thus why the last kiss was difficult for both.  According to what we all read and heard was that Desi was lost in the emotion and forgot to say cut, until Lucy reminded him.  Had it just been a quick kiss at the end it might have not been as emotional, but how it was scripted gave them the opportunity to get lost in the moment.        

 

Random Observations: Little Ricky really looks like he is growing up.  How did a car phone work in the 50’s?  It’s not like they had cell towers. 

 

Wedding Ring-From what I can tell Lucy is not wearing her wedding ring.  This was very uncommon in the whole run.  She wore other rings but almost always had those stacked on top of the wedding ring.  I think she has it on in Japan, but it’s hard to tell based on the style of the ring she is wearing on top.  In the scene with Edie in the kitchen Lucy is wearing some other style of gold band, but it is way too thick to be her ring.  The only other time I recalled no ring was a three episode run around the middle of the series where she doesn’t wear it.  

 

55.jpg

Damn, you're good! So many on point observations, comments, etc. ...If I'd only known I'd need a kleenex after reading it!! ;)

 

Michael Buble does a lovely cover of "That's All" which closes out his 2003 self-titled album...and since this is one of the Lucy episodes I've seen or will watch the least, I've heard his version much more than Ms. Adams, even though it's just as poignant, especially given the circumstances....and the lyrics:

 

That's All

I can only give you love that lasts forever

And a promise to be near each time you call

And the only heart I own

For you and you alone

That's all

That's all

 

I can only give you country walks in springtime

And a hand to hold when leaves begin to fall

And a love whose burning light

Will warm the winter's night

That's all

That's all

 

There are those I am sure who have told you

They would give you the world for a toy

All I have are these arms to enfold you

And a love even time can never destroy

If you're wondering what I'm asking in return, dear

You'll be glad to know that my demands are small

Say it's me that you'll adore

For now and evermore

That's all

That's all

 

If you're wondering what I'm asking in return, dear

You'll be glad to know that my demands are small

Say it's me that you'll adore

For now and evermore

That's all

That's all

 

Songwriters

HAYMES, BOB / BRANDT, ALAN

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Mustache-

I can never watch this one and not think about the off screen stories.   Trying to put that aside this is plot wise a rather depressing episode.  We’ve defiantly crossed the line from light hearted problems (or one that may have been bad but we knew would work out in the end) into what really seems like a more serious tone with Ricky being very depressed.  Of course we still get Lucy shenanigans with her trying to help.  This episode still hangs on to the overall premise of the entire series.  No matter what Lucy does Ricky loves in her in the end.  You get that at the end of the episode and it is very needed.  With this being the last episode you needed to know that this family would go on in life, struggle through a few bumps, but get through it together in the end and love each other.

 

Hair, etc…  This hair style Lucy wears is worn here for the first time.  It will show up again in Facts of Life and in her personal life around this time.  What I can’t figure out is if this whole thing is a wig.  The front looks like one, especially with how it is styled around the ears, but the back seems to blend into her hair line.    There are a fair share of close-ups in this episode and Lucy does not come off too bad.  This is what makes me think that she does have a wig to have the contraception thing pulling her skin.  Desi looks terrible in the close-up, especially in the eyes.  At the end when Lucy is playing Crandle she doesn’t have the lipstick on, thus it’s interesting to see her for what may be the only time on the series when she doesn’t have the full bow lips. 

 

Edie Adams has been interviewed a lot about this episode and always talks about the song she sang, not knowing what was going on.  I watched and listened to this song closely.  It’s a really pretty song.  It’s edited with very few cutaways from her.  There is one that is especially lovely.  Lucy is sitting on the arm of the couch watching and everyone else is behind her.  In the cutaway Ricky makes a comment to Ernie about how good the singing is.  Look at Lucy though.  She looks very pretty in the profile shot.  It’s almost sad to think if she is sitting there listening to that song and if it is affecting her.

 

I watch the interplay of Ricky and Lucy in this episode and I think there is one part that really may be because of what is going on off screen.   After the party Ricky goes up to bed.  In the ½ hours he at least would give Lucy a kiss on the cheek.  Here he just walks right past her.  He does say “goodnight sweetheart” on the way up the stairs, but it seems like such an afterthought.  There is not a whole lot of eye contact between them in this episode either until you get to the end.

 

The last scene and that all important kiss at the end.  But there are actually 3 kisses.  He kisses her once, but Ernie breaks it up, he kisses her again and breaks to take off the mustache, and then finally kisses her one more time.  From the moment that they turn to face each other both of their looks soften and there is something in their eyes and how they look at each other that is sad and heartwarming at the same time.  It’s almost like their eyes met for the first time in the shooting of the episode and all the thoughts of the end of the show and ultimately the end of the marriage hit them and they dropped any cold hatred at that point and just enjoyed the moment.  Each time they look at one another there is a smile, not just on their face, but in their eyes too.  It’s an unspoken I love you.  The second kiss is the one that actually is the longest kiss of the three.  I think that is what leads to how the third kiss is played.  The third one is shorter and this is where Desi presses his cheek to her’s twice and hides his head behind her’s as Lucy closes her eyes.  I think the previous two kisses are what lead to all the emotions being stirred up and thus why the last kiss was difficult for both.  According to what we all read and heard was that Desi was lost in the emotion and forgot to say cut, until Lucy reminded him.  Had it just been a quick kiss at the end it might have not been as emotional, but how it was scripted gave them the opportunity to get lost in the moment.        

 

Random Observations: Little Ricky really looks like he is growing up.  How did a car phone work in the 50’s?  It’s not like they had cell towers. 

 

Wedding Ring-From what I can tell Lucy is not wearing her wedding ring.  This was very uncommon in the whole run.  She wore other rings but almost always had those stacked on top of the wedding ring.  I think she has it on in Japan, but it’s hard to tell based on the style of the ring she is wearing on top.  In the scene with Edie in the kitchen Lucy is wearing some other style of gold band, but it is way too thick to be her ring.  The only other time I recalled no ring was a three episode run around the middle of the series where she doesn’t wear it.  

 

55.jpg

Wow, pass the Kleenex is right!

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---The Danny Thomas one is the only one where we get the closest to what more ½ hours in the CT would have been like. ---

 

and Talullah. You're right.

Those of us who spent summers watching LDCH have a sentimental attachment to it. Even the worst ones were better and funnier than 90% of the other comedies on the air. Depending on when LDCH started (June or July) and when the new season started (they kept inching it up to right after Labor Day--and no that's not sometime in November), not all 13 were shown every year. They were not run in any particular order and it seems Berle, Kovacs , Lupino/Duff were not always shown. And I don't remember seeing "Career/Douglas" very often. Both Douglas and Kovacs had died by the time LDCH was its own series.

I find it interesting that by the late 50s, Desi had abandoned his own innovation: filming in front of an audience. For some episodes, location shots (like Sun Valley) were pre-shot and shown to the audience while the set pieces were done the usual way. The only reason I can think of that they got rid of the audience was that the hour show took too long (but I'm sure nothing compared to today). Madelyn once told me that they served the audience box lunches during an 'intermission' (didn't mention what episode).

I think all three of the last season suffer from Desi's inexperience as a director. The Milton/Mildred scene would have been much funnier without the manufactured look. Same with "Japan" a show that has grown on me. The laugh track is just too much, especially in Milton. And my big gripe about Milton today is the fact the cement bucket operator has to be signaled or he won't help them out.

I'm surprised people don't seem to like one of my favorites "Sun Valley" which has a lot going for it. Funny lines and situations. Yes, all 4 of them visiting Fernando in the shower seems drawn out but every interaction is funny in its own way. And the thing that amazes me is that Lucy brings something new to her patented CRY. Especially her wail after Ricky postpones the date, but then remembers he has to do a TV show that week.

The timing of "Japan" is interesting considering a mere 14 years previous, we had demonized those "lousy nips" in WW2. Would almost be the equivalent of "Lucy Goes to Iraq" today.

I don't know if Alaska was a state when the episode aired, but it may have been in that brief period before Hawaii was also, The topicality of Fred's line dated the show very early. Fred's strings of mutterings here are hilarious especially "I'm going to write my congressman about this and (this line is practically thrown away)....what's his name?"

Every LDCH had SOMETHING that I liked even if the whole hour wasn't satisfying, with the exception of "Moustache". Lucy looks and sounds NOTHING like Crandall, so the bit falls flat for me. (Probably the inspiration for lucy thinking she could pull off her Mrs. Winkler imitation in "Substitute Secretary").

In these summers, we had I Love Lucy in the morning...and for a brief period before TLS went off for the summer, we had all three which was HEAVEN (Claude, Joey: am I RIGHT?) One thing I did notice is that when compared with ILL episodes, especially early ones, Ricky is much more menacing when angry and yelling at Lucy in these hour shows, particularly when he catches her coming down the stairs after her, rather risque for the time, bedroom scene with Danny. There are fewer tender scenes between them. Funny that their real-life marriage interaction seemed to have spilled over.

I've never figured out the writing credits. The writers of record are Schiller and Weiskopf with Bob and Madelyn as "script consultants". B&M did not work on "Mexico".

I don't know if our set was any better or worse than others, but we did NOT notice the use of doubles so evident now. Nor did the rear-screen stuff stand out. And had it not been for all the discussion about the wig/Irma contraption, I might not know about that even today.

And by the way, Viv isn't dubbed in the Berle/Western musical but she's pre-recorded for some reason, but maybe that's what you meant. Pre-recording and lipping: BLEH!---they seemed to think we couldn't tell.

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---The Danny Thomas one is the only one where we get the closest to what more ½ hours in the CT would have been like. ---

 

and Talullah. You're right.

Those of us who spent summers watching LDCH have a sentimental attachment to it. Even the worst ones were better and funnier than 90% of the other comedies on the air. Depending on when LDCH started (June or July) and when the new season started (they kept inching it up to right after Labor Day--and no that's not sometime in November), not all 13 were shown every year. They were not run in any particular order and it seems Berle, Kovacs , Lupino/Duff were not always shown. And I don't remember seeing "Career/Douglas" very often. Both Douglas and Kovacs had died by the time LDCH was its own series.

I find it interesting that by the late 50s, Desi had abandoned his own innovation: filming in front of an audience. For some episodes, location shots (like Sun Valley) were pre-shot and shown to the audience while the set pieces were done the usual way. The only reason I can think of that they got rid of the audience was that the hour show took too long (but I'm sure nothing compared to today). Madelyn once told me that they served the audience box lunches during an 'intermission' (didn't mention what episode).

I think all three of the last season suffer from Desi's inexperience as a director. The Milton/Mildred scene would have been much funnier without the manufactured look. Same with "Japan" a show that has grown on me. The laugh track is just too much, especially in Milton. And my big gripe about Milton today is the fact the cement bucket operator has to be signaled or he won't help them out.

I'm surprised people don't seem to like one of my favorites "Sun Valley" which has a lot going for it. Funny lines and situations. Yes, all 4 of them visiting Fernando in the shower seems drawn out but every interaction is funny in its own way. And the thing that amazes me is that Lucy brings something new to her patented CRY. Especially her wail after Ricky postpones the date, but then remembers he has to do a TV show that week.

The timing of "Japan" is interesting considering a mere 14 years previous, we had demonized those "lousy nips" in WW2. Would almost be the equivalent of "Lucy Goes to Iraq" today.

I don't know if Alaska was a state when the episode aired, but it may have been in that brief period before Hawaii was also, The topicality of Fred's line dated the show very early. Fred's strings of mutterings here are hilarious especially "I'm going to write my congressman about this and (this line is practically thrown away)....what's his name?"

Every LDCH had SOMETHING that I liked even if the whole hour wasn't satisfying, with the exception of "Moustache". Lucy looks and sounds NOTHING like Crandall, so the bit falls flat for me. (Probably the inspiration for lucy thinking she could pull off her Mrs. Winkler imitation in "Substitute Secretary").

In these summers, we had I Love Lucy in the morning...and for a brief period before TLS went off for the summer, we had all three which was HEAVEN (Claude, Joey: am I RIGHT?) One thing I did notice is that when compared with ILL episodes, especially early ones, Ricky is much more menacing when angry and yelling at Lucy in these hour shows, particularly when he catches her coming down the stairs after her, rather risque for the time, bedroom scene with Danny. There are fewer tender scenes between them. Funny that their real-life marriage interaction seemed to have spilled over.

I've never figured out the writing credits. The writers of record are Schiller and Weiskopf with Bob and Madelyn as "script consultants". B&M did not work on "Mexico".

I don't know if our set was any better or worse than others, but we did NOT notice the use of doubles so evident now. Nor did the rear-screen stuff stand out. And had it not been for all the discussion about the wig/Irma contraption, I might not know about that even today.

And by the way, Viv isn't dubbed in the Berle/Western musical but she's pre-recorded for some reason, but maybe that's what you meant. Pre-recording and lipping: BLEH!---they seemed to think we couldn't tell.

 

Wonderful observations. I personally feel the hour shows, as a whole, would've been more successful if they'd kept to the more intimate feel of the half hour shows. The uranium episode is the only one where location footage added something truly exciting, IMO. I know they wanted to keep trying new things, and I commend them for that, but the result was that some of them feel overblown.

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Wonderful observations. I personally feel the hour shows, as a whole, would've been more successful if they'd kept to the more intimate feel of the half hour shows. The uranium episode is the only one where location footage added something truly exciting, IMO. I know they wanted to keep trying new things, and I commend them for that, but the result was that some of them feel overblown.

As Lucy once said about SPECIALS, YOU ONLY DO ONE A YEAR AND THEY THINK YOU SPENT THE WHOLE YEAR WORKING ON IT AND ARE INVARIABLY DISAPOINTED.  Same goes for the hour shows, only 13 spread out over three years so they had a hard time making them hilarious over an hour each time.  But you are right about them trying different things though. 

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