I Love Lucy Christmas Special 2019 -- Friday, December 20

[Brock 3,450]

The I Love Lucy Christmas Special returns to CBS on Friday, December 20, at 8 p.m.! 

Awaiting word on which episode will be featured after the Christmas episode, but it is NOT a repeat of Pioneer Women, as mentioned by some CBS affiliates. 

Possibly "The Freezer", after the sneak peek we got in the Colorization Documentary?

[Luvsbway 2,282]

I saw that press release. SERIOUSLY!  How hard is that to get correct? I'm waiting on Tom's official announcement as that I know I can trust. 

 

 

[nertz2mertz 63]

On 10/28/2019 at 2:37 PM, Brock said:

The I Love Lucy Christmas Special returns to CBS on Friday, December 20, at 8 p.m.! 

Awaiting word on which episode will be featured after the Christmas episode, but it is NOT a repeat of Pioneer Women, as mentioned by some CBS affiliates. 

Possibly "The Freezer", after the sneak peek we got in the Colorization Documentary?

And "Paris At Last"

[Harrison 131]

Crossing my fingers that it's The Freezer! That is a long overdue one!

[Mot Morenzi 1,740]

I hope they do The Audition at some stage. Not only do they have that color reference footage, but it'd be a nice addition since it's a remake of the pilot, and therefore represents Lucy and Desi's first filmed comedy routine.

[Luvsbway 2,282]

We got a surprise with this December's episode.

Paris at Last is the new colorized episode on Dec 20th. 

[Brock 3,450]

2 hours ago, Luvsbway said:

We got a surprise with this December's episode.

Paris at Last is the new colorized episode on Dec 20th. 

Well, at least we know they have colour episodes in the bank! 

Great choice!

[Harrison 131]

32 minutes ago, Brock said:

Well, at least we know they have colour episodes in the bank! 

Great choice!

Agreed about the choice. One of the finest episodes of the series.

But it's make me wonder ... could they possibly be saving The Freezer episode for next Spring? If so, I wonder what episode they will pair it with. Maybe Return Home From Europe (Lucy disguising the cheese as a baby) or Visitor From Italy (Lucy makes pizza)?

 

[Neil 1,512]

Unexpected but another good choice.

[Freddie2 972]

Of course they're going through the "Greatest Hits" for these specials, and it's cool that there are so many ILL episodes that have imagery and scenes that are so ingrained in the public conscious that they warrant recognition. Not everybody could tell you the plot of "Paris", but everybody certainly knows Lucy with the snail-eating mechanism on her nose, and to a lesser extent, the brilliant translation train in the bastille. 

Also- this news had me look up the episode on the wonderful "Paper Moon Loves Lucy" Tumblr account, where they point out that the wine Lucy gets at the restaurant is Paul Masson. If you haven't seen Orson Welles' outtakes during his campaign for the product, I highly recommend looking it up on YouTube. It's a real life Vitameatavegamin.

[Luvsbway 2,282]

And don't forget in the Paris episode we get to see Bob Carroll Jr. as he stalks Lucy across Europe. And a quick glimpse of Madelyn too.

[Luvsbway 2,282]

New interview with Keith.

https://nypost.com/2019/12/16/i-love-lucy-child-star-keith-thibodeaux-dishes-on-lucille-ball-desi-arnaz/amp/

[Brock 3,450]

So glad my audio came back into synch for this gorgeous Paris at Last! 

[Luvsbway 2,282]

I'm glad I don't have a 20min disruption for a tornado warning this time. Just 20 degrees outside. 

[Luvsbway 2,282]

Another fantastic job by CBS and the colorization team. A few observations.

Did the tree lights light up colored last year? I know they use to show up white.

Lucy's ornament with the tassels had little angles hanging off it. Never noticed that before.

Lucy's ( replacement) aqua ring was colorized yellow. It fit with her dress/coat look better than aqua which may have stood out.

In black and white it's harder to see Madelyn at the cafe. In yellow and with all the different colors you can really pick her out.

[Freddie2 972]

This time around I noticed that the pickup shot of Lucy’s escargot being revealed isn’t a still photo, but an actual piece of footage, which my brain didn’t expect it to be. I haven’t seen “Paris” in awhile so it was a lot of fun. This one feels just as engrained on my memory as the rest of the classics, but it wasn’t included on either of the “Best of I Love Lucy” VHS tapes I had growing up. Maybe we had it recorded off of TV somewhere; if memory serves, was the bastille scene featured in the 50th Anniversary Special? I also fondly remember having a Lucy calendar with a still from the café scene as the photo for one of the months.

Unfortunately the Christmas episode has diminishing returns for me every year. Don’t get me wrong, I’m beyond grateful that these specials have become a tradition, and the episode is a good fit with its holiday setting and flashbacks to a couple of classic scenes, but I find myself not paying much attention to it lately. That being said, the colors are fantastic and WOW, isn’t that “Enciente” scene just one of the most heartwarming in TV history?

[Neil 1,512]

Agree about Christmas episode.  Maybe in the future they should show it in the last half hour.  I noticed the audio was out of sync during at least part of the episode. 

I've always loved Paris, but it's one that i think fits in better within the flow of the Europe trip than a stand-alone.  I know they have to leave something out for commercial time.  They eliminated the opening jail scene with the German-Spanish drunk, which cuts in just slightly to the set up of the great translation scene. 

When Bart first wrote his I Love Lucy book in the 70s, he couldn't find anyone who remembered Christmas episode.  Bart wrote "it must have been pretty bad" or something like that.  The only info he could find on it was the name of the actor who played Santa. 

[Luvsbway 2,282]

Here's what was cut out.

https://papermoonloveslucy.tumblr.com/post/189792465903/colorful-paris-cuts

[nertz2mertz 63]

18 hours ago, Freddie2 said:

This time around I noticed that the pickup shot of Lucy’s escargot being revealed isn’t a still photo, but an actual piece of footage, which my brain didn’t expect it to be. I haven’t seen “Paris” in awhile so it was a lot of fun. This one feels just as engrained on my memory as the rest of the classics, but it wasn’t included on either of the “Best of I Love Lucy” VHS tapes I had growing up. Maybe we had it recorded off of TV somewhere; if memory serves, was the bastille scene featured in the 50th Anniversary Special? I also fondly remember having a Lucy calendar with a still from the café scene as the photo for one of the months.

Unfortunately the Christmas episode has diminishing returns for me every year. Don’t get me wrong, I’m beyond grateful that these specials have become a tradition, and the episode is a good fit with its holiday setting and flashbacks to a couple of classic scenes, but I find myself not paying much attention to it lately. That being said, the colors are fantastic and WOW, isn’t that “Enciente” scene just one of the most heartwarming in TV history?

I noticed in the Christmas episode that they changed the color of the sofa from yellow to pink in the Lucy goes to the hospital unless I'm mistaken.

[nertz2mertz 63]

7 hours ago, Neil said:

Agree about Christmas episode.  Maybe in the future they should show it in the last half hour.  I noticed the audio was out of sync during at least part of the episode. 

I've always loved Paris, but it's one that i think fits in better within the flow of the Europe trip than a stand-alone.  I know they have to leave something out for commercial time.  They eliminated the opening jail scene with the German-Spanish drunk, which cuts in just slightly to the set up of the great translation scene. 

When Bart first wrote his I Love Lucy book in the 70s, he couldn't find anyone who remembered Christmas episode.  Bart wrote "it must have been pretty bad" or something like that.  The only info he could find on it was the name of the actor who played Santa. 

I am also tired of the Christmas episode. The colors make it watchable for me but I would love to see CBS colorize "Together For Christmas" and "Chris' New Years Eve Party". Now that I'm at it, I would like to see "Lucy's Last Birthday" for Lucy's actual birthday. Hopefully I could see these before I kick the bucket.

[Harrison 131]

Enjoyed this year's special. It was nice seeing the flashbacks in color as well as the Paris At Last episode. Looking forward to next year's one.

[HarryCarter 1,232]

The most watched program of the night!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/deadline.com/2019/12/i-love-lucy-christmas-special-tv-ratings-wwe-smackdown-friday-1202815623/amp/

[Mot Morenzi 1,740]

Looking forward to seeing the Paris episode once I'm able to get it Down Under.

Speaking of themes for specials, it recently occurred to me that "Sentimental Anniversary" and "Hollywood Anniversary" could make a good double feature for an I Love Lucy Anniversary Special which could be broadcast on October 15th.

Nertz, I concur that those two Lucy Show episodes would make a nice change of pace. The colorized DVD set included the Jingle Bells tag scene, beautifully restored. Maybe they could start airing that instead of the I Love Lucy Christmas episode each year? It's gone from being one of the rarest episodes to one of the most over-exposed. 

[nertz2mertz 63]

On 12/23/2019 at 6:46 AM, Mot Morenzi said:

Looking forward to seeing the Paris episode once I'm able to get it Down Under.

Speaking of themes for specials, it recently occurred to me that "Sentimental Anniversary" and "Hollywood Anniversary" could make a good double feature for an I Love Lucy Anniversary Special which could be broadcast on October 15th.

Nertz, I concur that those two Lucy Show episodes would make a nice change of pace. The colorized DVD set included the Jingle Bells tag scene, beautifully restored. Maybe they could start airing that instead of the I Love Lucy Christmas episode each year? It's gone from being one of the rarest episodes to one of the most over-exposed. 

Aside from the popular episodes, I think that some episodes that have some sort of significance should be colorized like Lucy's Last Birthday for the month of August and Lucy thinks Ricky is trying to murder her for their 70th anniversary being it was their first episode or The girls want to go to a nightclub, etc.

[Mot Morenzi 1,740]

1 hour ago, nertz2mertz said:

Aside from the popular episodes, I think that some episodes that have some sort of significance should be colorized like Lucy's Last Birthday for the month of August and Lucy thinks Ricky is trying to murder her for their 70th anniversary being it was their first episode or The girls want to go to a nightclub, etc.

Having episodes of significance rebroadcast on notable days would be a nice idea.