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I Love Lucy DVD re-issue (Seasons 1-4 on Oct. 9) -- Cover Art!


Brock

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I said that I personally do see the need for colorization... (and I understand why other people do)...

 

Bottom line: I think it's going to happen because the industry as a whole did support the idea, and the companies that specialized in colorization have moved on to another specialty.

 

Personally, I have always loved colorization, even back in the old days when movie companies colorized the lobby cards for B&W movies... The cards always looked great and ... I'd much rather see a beautiful color print anyday...

I only edited your post for the humor, i only highlighted the positive to colorization and eliminated the negative, sorry, but i was only joking. You were giving both sides of the coin but i only accepted the correct side, LOL! :lucythrill:

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Although I like colourization, I am ultimately in favour of anything that gets ILL more airtime. That being said, they colourised the first two seasons of Bewitched and despite that effort, ILL still has much stronger legs in syndication.

But Bewitched is not one tenth the show I Love Lucy is or was. Color has nothing to do with it.

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I disagree. They didn't colour the first two seasons for the good of their health or because they were bored.

I never missed the show when it aired originally BUT, you couldn't pay me to watch it now. Maybe that was partly because i've had to sit through those dreadful Christmas episodes of the series that make Family Affair seem pornographic by comparison. Although i always loved Liz Montgommery and Marion Lorne and Agnes Moorehead and Paul Lynde . . .

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Bewitched and Jeannie were colorized at a time when the technology wasn't as strong as it is today. I certainly feel that the 2 Lucy episodes that have been done looked much better than Jeannie and Bewitched, but it's still very obviously colorization.

 

Whenever I see the Jeannie or Bewitched episodes in color, my mind is ALWAYS aware that I'm watching something colorized. And because of that, I can tell you very little about those two seasons because I was more preoccupied taking in the fake color than I was the story, and the same thing happened when watching Lucy. Even though I knew the stories like the back of my hand, my attention was completely diverted to the color. I just find the whole thing distracting, and even though some people don't, the technology will probably never reach a stage where it can perfectly mirror real colors.

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Although I do not like colourization, I am ultimately in favour of anything that gets ILL more airtime.

 

I agree. I would also like them to take a stab at season 1 TLS. We're lucky we got seasons 2 & 3 in glorious original color. The visual of Lucy emerging from a vat of green dye is just not the same in b/w.

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Bewitched and Jeannie were colorized at a time when the technology wasn't as strong as it is today. I certainly feel that the 2 Lucy episodes that have been done looked much better than Jeannie and Bewitched, but it's still very obviously colorization.

 

Whenever I see the Jeannie or Bewitched episodes in color, my mind is ALWAYS aware that I'm watching something colorized. And because of that, I can tell you very little about those two seasons because I was more preoccupied taking in the fake color than I was the story, and the same thing happened when watching Lucy. Even though I knew the stories like the back of my hand, my attention was completely diverted to the color. I just find the whole thing distracting, and even though some people don't, the technology will probably never reach a stage where it can perfectly mirror real colors.

 

Funny story: fifteen years or so ago when we were doing our Lucy Conventions out here in Burbank, Stuart Shostak cut together a reel of rare Lucy moments that would be screened at one of our opening night ceremonies... He previewed it one afternoon for Lucy's secretary, Wanda Clark... Leading off the reel was the colorized scene of Lucy and the Mertzes at the Brown Derby... When the montage was over, Stuart said, "Do you think people will gasp?" "Gasp at what?" Wanda asked... "The Brown Derby scene..."

 

She had been so caught up in the scene that it never dawned on her that the scene was in color...

 

 

So you get both sides of the coin... (And that particular scene had been colorized back in 1989 when CBS did the Christmas Show, and colorization was in its crude infancy!)

 

So be it...

 

PS: Yes, the audience that night did gasp!

 

PPS: CBS' official opinion on all this is -- if they colorize a show, and the fans don't like it, the fans can always turn off the color control button on their sets and watch it in B&W... Which, I guess is a happy compromise...

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PS: Yes, the audience that night did gasp!

 

PPS: CBS' official opinion on all this is -- if they colorize a show, and the fans don't like it, the fans can always turn off the color control button on their sets and watch it in B&W... Which, I guess is a happy compromise...

Well, there ya go! How come the Scotland episode is so out of this world gloriously colorful where nobody but nobody couldn't say it is absolutely perfect in color?

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And in MY case, maybe the age thing plays into it a bit. We had to watch EVERYTHING in black and white for so long back then, we so looked forward to seeing that Disney opening IN COLOR, seeing Lucy's RED hair, seeing the Ponderosa in color, ladies wanted to see the stars' gowns in color, then when we finally got the first color tv, nobody wanted to watch anything on the black and white back up set. Eventually all the tvs were color and if you recall, even Lucy stated in that early fifties interview that she hoped TV could aquire color. You young kids have no idea what we went through adn how important it was for us to see these shows IN COLOR. It was all about being natural, up to date and modern, seeing those old shows in a new light etc . . .

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Well, there ya go! How come the Scotland episode is so out of this world gloriously colorful where nobody but nobody couldn't say it is absolutely perfect in color?

 

Sure, if you like your Desis and Bills served up with a tinge of green...it's perfection!

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Funny story: fifteen years or so ago when we were doing our Lucy Conventions out here in Burbank, Stuart Shostak cut together a reel of rare Lucy moments that would be screened at one of our opening night ceremonies... He previewed it one afternoon for Lucy's secretary, Wanda Clark... Leading off the reel was the colorized scene of Lucy and the Mertzes at the Brown Derby... When the montage was over, Stuart said, "Do you think people will gasp?" "Gasp at what?" Wanda asked... "The Brown Derby scene..."

 

Brown who? Derby what? Colorized which?

Who colorized LA at Last?.....I don't remember this at a convention. Perhaps my gasping muscles were too tired to attend this screening. I missed only one of the 6 conventions: 1998.

 

Speaking of which, in my memorabilia box was a brochure for the first Lucy convention in 1996....16 years ago (and I thought I was old THEN...). When I looked at the guest roster, my only thought was : I guess Lassie couldn't make it.

 

Madelyn Davis, Bob Carroll, Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf, Dann Cahn, Mary Jane Croft, Shirley Mitchell, Keith Thibodeaux, Larry Anderson, Suzanne LaRusch and Adrian Israel (Lucy and Desi impersonators) , The Bordon Twins, authors Tom Gilbert, Steve Sanders, Ric Wyman and our own sparkling tuxedo-vested impresario Thomas Watson.

 

Plus there were usually some surprise visitors not on the roster. Those were the days, my friend!

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Brown who? Derby what? Colorized which?

Who colorized LA at Last?.....I don't remember this at a convention. Perhaps my gasping muscles were too tired to attend this screening. I missed only one of the 6 conventions: 1998.

 

Speaking of which, in my memorabilia box was a brochure for the first Lucy convention in 1996....16 years ago (and I thought I was old THEN...). When I looked at the guest roster, my only thought was : I guess Lassie couldn't make it.

 

Madelyn Davis, Bob Carroll, Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf, Dann Cahn, Mary Jane Croft, Shirley Mitchell, Keith Thibodeaux, Larry Anderson, Suzanne LaRusch and Adrian Israel (Lucy and Desi impersonators) , The Bordon Twins, authors Tom Gilbert, Steve Sanders, Ric Wyman and our own sparkling tuxedo-vested impresario Thomas Watson.

 

Plus there were usually some surprise visitors not on the roster. Those were the days, my friend!

 

It breaks my heart to think of how many of those people we have lost the past few years!

 

Am not sure if the entire episode of "LA at Last" was colorized or just that Brown Derby scene... But this was a "pilot" done in 1989 by a company that wanted to get CBS's contract to colorize the entire series. It was going to cost a pretty penny, and the network ultimately decided NOT to do it... They did, however, colorize the Christmas episode because they wanted to air it in primetime and thought the color would make it seem a little more modern...

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It breaks my heart to think of how many of those people we have lost the past few years!

 

Am not sure if the entire episode of "LA at Last" was colorized or just that Brown Derby scene... But this was a "pilot" done in 1989 by a company that wanted to get CBS's contract to colorize the entire series. It was going to cost a pretty penny, and the network ultimately decided NOT to do it... They did, however, colorize the Christmas episode because they wanted to air it in primetime and thought the color would make it seem a little more modern...

 

Have just heard that Dann Cahn may have passed away... Will keep you posted if I hear more...

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I've been reading reviews of the new "Dick Van Dyke Show" blu-ray release and it appears to be spectacular. The 35mm B&W film re-scanned is a revelation of clarity and detail. Surely Lucy will benefit from such treatment down the line...in beautiful B&W :D

 

Definitely. Here's a review with lots of screenshots: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Dick-Van-Dyke-Show-The-Complete-Series-Blu-ray/49650/#Review

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Incidentally, has anyone purchased any of the new sets yet? If so, is the disc artwork different or the same as previous releases? I know the contents of the discs are the same, just didn't know if the labels were updated to match the new artwork on the cover.

 

The disks are the same silver on grey as the TLS DVDs, a bit of a disappointment.

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The disks are the same silver on grey as the TLS DVDs, a bit of a disappointment.

 

Oh of course! I'd forgotten CBS isn't using artwork on their labels anymore. Should've figured.

 

On a somewhat related note, Disney's done the same thing as of late, for both their DVDs and Blu-ray releases. I was disappointed to see that not even their new Diamond Editions have artwork, just the same basic blue background that even their standard releases get. I understand it's a cost-saving measure, but come on. Those films aren't issued under the Diamond label for nothing, at least splurge on your top notch ones for heaven's sake!

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