What episodes are you watching on "I Love Lucy"?

[Luvsbway]

Thanks for all the compliments. I am far from a writer, just a good observer that structures my thoughts well I guess. I enjoy writing these and I’m amazed I haven’t been taking notes, just keeping a running journal I update when I have thoughts.

 

When I set out on this project I knew there were specific things I wanted to pay attention to along with observing the general tone and themes as I progressed episode by episode. I’ve been plowing through these pretty quickly which helps. After watching these for the 8000th time I needed to look for the new and not yet discovered. Having them on beautifully restored, uncut DVD and watching them on a big HD TV is really helping. I’m going to do the following recaps as Hollywood episodes, at home after Hollywood through the end of Season 5 (returning home from Europe), and all of Season 6. I’m not doing LDCH as the less said about them the better.

 

[C L A U D E]

Thanks for all the compliments. I am far from a writer, just a good observer that structures my thoughts well I guess. I enjoy writing these and I’m amazed I haven’t been taking notes, just keeping a running journal I update when I have thoughts.

 

When I set out on this project I knew there were specific things I wanted to pay attention to along with observing the general tone and themes as I progressed episode by episode. I’ve been plowing through these pretty quickly which helps. After watching these for the 8000th time I needed to look for the new and not yet discovered. Having them on beautifully restored, uncut DVD and watching them on a big HD TV is really helping. I’m going to do the following recaps as Hollywood episodes, at home after Hollywood through the end of Season 5 (returning home from Europe), and all of Season 6. I’m not doing LDCH as the less said about them the better.

Now, now, there were SOME great moments in all the Lucy Desi comedy hours, i'll put up the Danny Thomas one against anything on the air today, as Danny once said to Lucie on one of those We Love Lucy specials. Did you ever think of doing a small Michael Karol type book listing all your observations for each episode.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Thanks for all the compliments. I am far from a writer, just a good observer that structures my thoughts well I guess. I enjoy writing these and I’m amazed I haven’t been taking notes, just keeping a running journal I update when I have thoughts.

 

When I set out on this project I knew there were specific things I wanted to pay attention to along with observing the general tone and themes as I progressed episode by episode. I’ve been plowing through these pretty quickly which helps. After watching these for the 8000th time I needed to look for the new and not yet discovered. Having them on beautifully restored, uncut DVD and watching them on a big HD TV is really helping. I’m going to do the following recaps as Hollywood episodes, at home after Hollywood through the end of Season 5 (returning home from Europe), and all of Season 6. I’m not doing LDCH as the less said about them the better.

Aside from your journal entries...that's all from memory??! Are you friggin' kidding me?? I've seen them 10,000 times apiece and have all I can do to remember -- oh crap, I forgot the exact line!! -- but the one where Ricky admits he saw the taping of the radio show before air and thats why he knew all the answers! (Something about so-and-so being President in 1776 or whatever! )

 

Yes, doesn't HD and a BIG screen ("Twenty inch!") make all the difference in the world?? I'm a little excited and more than a bit trepidatious (sp?) how this'll fare on Blu-Ray where the clarity can be both stunning ....and sometimes frightening (and not in a good way!)

 

Bravo and keep up the good work but I'm with Cuddles there's many memorable moments in the hour-longs well worth mentioning, cataloging, journaling, critiquing, etc. etc. etc. Thank you!!!

[Luvsbway]

I’m not doing a book. I think we have some great observations and wonderful references about the show in a number of books. I pulled the FAQ book off the shelf the other day as I came across Cederic Hartwick’s name mentioned in something I was reading about Lured and thought, was he that guy Ricky was asking Lucy was going to be in the Operatta. I know that it said he was in Lured with Lucy but never put 2 and 2 together to realize who he played in the movie.

 

As for the LDCH now that you guys are asking I think I’ll tackle this set. I’m a huge fast forwarder through many of these and can’t stand certain scenes (ex: I hate the horse race in the Betty and Harry one) so this will make me watch those parts I hate. I’ll approach these with some of those same things to look for. Tone and feel of the show over the 3 years, changes in appearances of the cast, how evident off-screen is affecting on screen, does an hour feel too long, do the gaps between filming of the episodes through off the feel. If you got anything else I should look for, shoot them my way. At my current rate I think I’ll get to this in about 2 months.

 

[C L A U D E]

I’m not doing a book. I think we have some great observations and wonderful references about the show in a number of books. I pulled the FAQ book off the shelf the other day as I came across Cederic Hartwick’s name mentioned in something I was reading about Lured and thought, was he that guy Ricky was asking Lucy was going to be in the Operatta. I know that it said he was in Lured with Lucy but never put 2 and 2 together to realize who he played in the movie.

 

As for the LDCH now that you guys are asking I think I’ll tackle this set. I’m a huge fast forwarder through many of these and can’t stand certain scenes (ex: I hate the horse race in the Betty and Harry one) so this will make me watch those parts I hate. I’ll approach these with some of those same things to look for. Tone and feel of the show over the 3 years, changes in appearances of the cast, how evident off-screen is affecting on screen, does an hour feel too long, do the gaps between filming of the episodes through off the feel. If you got anything else I should look for, shoot them my way. At my current rate I think I’ll get to this in about 2 months.

Well, the only one that bothers me in the whole slew of 13 shows is the one with the cereal all over the kitchen, including the refrigerator, so bloody stupid! Or the bloody fake snow in the Red Skelton one which has that great musical number and the hammock scene which saves the show. Or the pain I feel every time her head falls straight into the cereal bowl thereby having to hurt her in the Paul Douglas one. By the way, I think it's Sir Cedric Hardwicke.

[C L A U D E]

Well, here's a new one, for me anyway. Just watched the one where they are heading back to New York from Hollywood, selling the car and going by train, accident with the motorcycle. Well, when Lucy's massaging Fred's shoulder in the hotel room, the door of their room is on the right, but just a couple of shows ago, the John Wayne ones, Lucy got a visit from Ricky while sleeping on their divan with the cement bucket on her foot and Ricky came in through the door on the LEFT, not RIGHT. Geez, and I thought their continuity problems were bad BEFORE!

[HarryCarter]

Well, here's a new one, for me anyway. Just watched the one where they are heading back to New York from Hollywood, selling the car and going by train, accident with the motorcycle. Well, when Lucy's massaging Fred's shoulder in the hotel room, the door of their room is on the right, but just a couple of shows ago, the John Wayne ones, Lucy got a visit from Ricky while sleeping on their divan with the cement bucket on her foot and Ricky came in through the door on the LEFT, not RIGHT. Geez, and I thought their continuity problems were bad BEFORE!

 

It's not a continuity error. When the Mertzes thought they had their backseat shot out from under them, they checked out of the hotel and planned to take the motorcycle to New York. When that fell apart, they checked back into the hotel. They obviously did not get the same room back. The Mertzes' previous room was 317. This was 372. They did a good job with the continuity here.

[C L A U D E]

It's not a continuity error. When the Mertzes thought they had their backseat shot out from under them, they checked out of the hotel and planned to take the motorcycle to New York. When that fell apart, they checked back into the hotel. They obviously did not get the same room back. The Mertzes' previous room was 317. This was 372. They did a good job with the continuity here.

Thanks, had no idea. Watched the John Wayne one earlier this week and the motorcycle one tonight and none of it was SPLAINED on the show but your SPLANATION makes lots of sense, I should know, I worked four years in a hotel.

[Luvsbway]

I can't take credit for this one as I saw a pic posted on the internet.

 

In Bonus Bucks after Ricky get's done hiding the dollar bill in Lucy's purse he makes a second entrance into the bedroom and runs into groggy Lucy. He puts her back in bed, pulls the covers up and kisses her on the cheek. What I had never noticed was if you watch his hand gesture after he kisses her he makes a motion like he is going to smack her on the butt, but stops just short of doing it with a weird little hand wave over her and then goes into the other room. It's fairly obvious and what he was going to do and it's those little moments that you remember that these people were a much in love married couple. The physical interplay sometimes needs to be toned down for the family show.

[C L A U D E]

I can't take credit for this one as I saw a pic posted on the internet.

 

In Bonus Bucks after Ricky get's done hiding the dollar bill in Lucy's purse he makes a second entrance into the bedroom and runs into groggy Lucy. He puts her back in bed, pulls the covers up and kisses her on the cheek. What I had never noticed was if you watch his hand gesture after he kisses her he makes a motion like he is going to smack her on the butt, but stops just short of doing it with a weird little hand wave over her and then goes into the other room. It's fairly obvious and what he was going to do and it's those little moments that you remember that these people were a much in love married couple. The physical interplay sometimes needs to be toned down for the family show.

Thanks, now I have to dig out that one and watch it again looking for that scene.

[Luvsbway]

Starting with Ricky’s Movie Offer we can say that the Hollywood episodes have begun and will run into Season 5. Today if you had a series with this sort of arc it would be more like, hey you got a part in a movie, next episode we are in LA. What I like is that they devoted so many shows to the lead up to arriving in Hollywood. We have 3 shows involving how Ricky got the job, 3 planning the journey, and 3 episodes on the road. There are 2 episodes thrown in between the screen test and getting the contract that have nothing to do with Hollywood. It gives us a nice break but the continuity continues as we get passing references to waiting to hear back about the contract. The only part I thought we had a little too much setup was in California Here We Come. The second half of the episode is great, but I think the first half with Lucy’s mother tends to drag and it’s just a bunch of fighting. I know it sets up Mother coming to take care of Little Ricky but I wonder if it was like, hey we got a great back half of this episode but we need something to fill the front. You also could not put this back half on a previous episode as it rushes the comedy in the others and you needed more time to pass in the storyline.

 

We also get a nice lead out for the episodes as well. We go through another round of how are we getting home and a bad vehicle purchase and then a fun episode aboard the train. Once we get home we have a full episode with the hometown reaction too. You realize how thought out this whole arc was and how well it flows. Some criticism I heard is that Lucy meets too many Hollywood celebrities. My reaction to that is, why not? They had the power to get them on the show, you’re in Hollywood so use it to full advantage, and the stars are never the focus of the episode. Each one at most is only on for ½ the episode and we get full episodes without any celebrities in. We do not have a LS/HL problem with the entire showing being given to the celebrity. Even the movie plugs are done well compared to how some endorsements are worked into shows today.

 

I always wondered why the Hollywood arc was split between 2 seasons. Had we started the arc at the beginning of Season 4 it could have been contained into one season. The episodes that preceded it could have been easily put into the beginning of Season 5 and we would still end the Europe episodes with the ending of Season 5. Maybe it was for ratings purposes as they knew these were going to be big drawls.

 

Hollywood Suite layout vs apartment-The suite really does feel much bigger than the apartment but you have to remember there is no kitchen in the suite, just a small kitchette, so that extra space is incorporated into the living room section. The area between the living room and bedroom probably takes up about as much as the hallway in NYC and the bedroom in the suite gets a little bigger to. This also probably made up from not having Little Ricky’s room. The window and balcony are what really open that suite up and are used wonderfully throughout, including the best use ever in the Cornel Wilde episode. It’s like we gained this whole new area for comedy to happen. The Penthouse above has a smaller layout with the bed being in the same area as the living room. I would feel jipped if I asked for the Penthouse and got less room than 1 floor below. I think the décor has really been stepped up. The decorations have a much more modern feel and the whole place has clean lines. You feel that you are in classy hotel, well classy for the 50’s.

 

Ricky’s movie getting shelved- It never occurred to me that this happens more towards the beginning of the stay in Hollywood. It does open the story line up a bit so Ricky in later episodes would not be full time at the studio making the movie and could join the gang a little more.

 

Continuity-The best for a long run of episodes. There are only two things that bug me here. Ricky’s movie that he eventually gets, shoots really fast. From Ricky needing an agent which is about where he would get the movie offer, we get one episode with Widmark and then by the first John Wayne we are celebrating the movie being finished. It is never mentioned or implied that his new movie he gets is even a leading role. He may have just had a small supporting one but to friends and family it was celebrated as a staring lead.

 

My second continuity thing is we see the many celebrities Lucy runs into as the weeks pass in LA. The only story that she keeps repeating and heavily mentioning is Robert Taylor and his orange. It even gets repeated in the Homecoming episode. When I was in my early years of watching the show I always thought I had missed an episode. I wonder if this episode was planned and never written. For a story that keeps getting repeated so much it bugs me that we never got to see any of it.

 

Getting in the show-The theme is still used but it comments on itself now. Ricky has been wondering what took Lucy so long to bug him about getting into a movie in Lucy Gets Into Pictures. In Bull Fight Dance they even joke how long it will take from Lucy asking to Ricky saying no, best line “10 seconds, that’s the fastest we’ve ever done it.” I feel that this theme transforms more into Lucy not wanting to get into the show/pictures but what can she do to meet celebrities. This is the type of plot line that we can’t get in NYC and works well. It’s exactly the same premise. Lucy wants to meet a star, Lucy schemes here way in, Lucy makes a mess of the situation or the star, all is forgiven, episode over.

 

Grandma and LR- I’m starting to feel like Lucy is an absente parent during the whole Hollywood arc. Grandma seems to be always taking the baby somewhere and just plain taking care of him in general. Would it have been better served to leave LR at home with Grandma like in Europe? I always thought it was planned that Lucy’s mother got bored and that’s why she came out to Hollywood with LR. I guess it never was because in California Here We Come there is clearly a plan made for her to come out by plane later. I don’t know why I thought that all these years. Maybe I felt like there was too much of a gap until she showed up in Hollywood.

 

Marks- This is something I’ve noticed since Season 1 but you can see all the black tape marks on the floor where people and furniture are to be. I know this is something that probably was not seen for many years as the restored DVD’s and large TV screens are making this possible.

 

Charities- I like the real life charities that Lucy and Desi were involved with were used in the show as well. The fashion show was for Share, Bull Fight dance was for the Heart Fund.

 

Clothes- Pretty similar from Season 3/beginning of Season 4 for most all involved. We do have the robes for running to the pool on everyone at some point, so that’s new. The clothes in the Fashion Show are great, my gosh people use to dress formal. The best clothing departure we get of the gang is Fred’s clothes. He really gets to have a laugh with all his shirts and general overall relaxed look. Fun to see what getup he will be wearing next and it frequently gets a laugh from the audience.

 

Overall I think this was a good departure for the series and we got all kinds of new situations celebrity related and not. They still kept good domestic stuff like forgetting an anniversary, annoying habits of your spouse, fighting about the crazy mother-in-law. Show staples like Lucy wanting to get into the show and brand new things like all the preplanning and actual traveling along with having celebrities playing themselves for the first time. I also felt like we had a good amount of episodes too. I didn’t feel like I was bored with Hollywood at anytime.

 

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Starting with Ricky’s Movie Offer we can say that the Hollywood episodes have begun and will run into Season 5. Today if you had a series with this sort of arc it would be more like, hey you got a part in a movie, next episode we are in LA. What I like is that they devoted so many shows to the lead up to arriving in Hollywood. We have 3 shows involving how Ricky got the job, 3 planning the journey, and 3 episodes on the road. There are 2 episodes thrown in between the screen test and getting the contract that have nothing to do with Hollywood. It gives us a nice break but the continuity continues as we get passing references to waiting to hear back about the contract. The only part I thought we had a little too much setup was in California Here We Come. The second half of the episode is great, but I think the first half with Lucy’s mother tends to drag and it’s just a bunch of fighting. I know it sets up Mother coming to take care of Little Ricky but I wonder if it was like, hey we got a great back half of this episode but we need something to fill the front. You also could not put this back half on a previous episode as it rushes the comedy in the others and you needed more time to pass in the storyline.

 

We also get a nice lead out for the episodes as well. We go through another round of how are we getting home and a bad vehicle purchase and then a fun episode aboard the train. Once we get home we have a full episode with the hometown reaction too. You realize how thought out this whole arc was and how well it flows. Some criticism I heard is that Lucy meets too many Hollywood celebrities. My reaction to that is, why not? They had the power to get them on the show, you’re in Hollywood so use it to full advantage, and the stars are never the focus of the episode. Each one at most is only on for ½ the episode and we get full episodes without any celebrities in. We do not have a LS/HL problem with the entire showing being given to the celebrity. Even the movie plugs are done well compared to how some endorsements are worked into shows today.

 

I always wondered why the Hollywood arc was split between 2 seasons. Had we started the arc at the beginning of Season 4 it could have been contained into one season. The episodes that preceded it could have been easily put into the beginning of Season 5 and we would still end the Europe episodes with the ending of Season 5. Maybe it was for ratings purposes as they knew these were going to be big drawls.

 

Hollywood Suite layout vs apartment-The suite really does feel much bigger than the apartment but you have to remember there is no kitchen in the suite, just a small kitchette, so that extra space is incorporated into the living room section. The area between the living room and bedroom probably takes up about as much as the hallway in NYC and the bedroom in the suite gets a little bigger to. This also probably made up from not having Little Ricky’s room. The window and balcony are what really open that suite up and are used wonderfully throughout, including the best use ever in the Cornel Wilde episode. It’s like we gained this whole new area for comedy to happen. The Penthouse above has a smaller layout with the bed being in the same area as the living room. I would feel jipped if I asked for the Penthouse and got less room than 1 floor below. I think the décor has really been stepped up. The decorations have a much more modern feel and the whole place has clean lines. You feel that you are in classy hotel, well classy for the 50’s.

 

Ricky’s movie getting shelved- It never occurred to me that this happens more towards the beginning of the stay in Hollywood. It does open the story line up a bit so Ricky in later episodes would not be full time at the studio making the movie and could join the gang a little more.

 

Continuity-The best for a long run of episodes. There are only two things that bug me here. Ricky’s movie that he eventually gets, shoots really fast. From Ricky needing an agent which is about where he would get the movie offer, we get one episode with Widmark and then by the first John Wayne we are celebrating the movie being finished. It is never mentioned or implied that his new movie he gets is even a leading role. He may have just had a small supporting one but to friends and family it was celebrated as a staring lead.

 

My second continuity thing is we see the many celebrities Lucy runs into as the weeks pass in LA. The only story that she keeps repeating and heavily mentioning is Robert Taylor and his orange. It even gets repeated in the Homecoming episode. When I was in my early years of watching the show I always thought I had missed an episode. I wonder if this episode was planned and never written. For a story that keeps getting repeated so much it bugs me that we never got to see any of it.

 

Getting in the show-The theme is still used but it comments on itself now. Ricky has been wondering what took Lucy so long to bug him about getting into a movie in Lucy Gets Into Pictures. In Bull Fight Dance they even joke how long it will take from Lucy asking to Ricky saying no, best line “10 seconds, that’s the fastest we’ve ever done it.” I feel that this theme transforms more into Lucy not wanting to get into the show/pictures but what can she do to meet celebrities. This is the type of plot line that we can’t get in NYC and works well. It’s exactly the same premise. Lucy wants to meet a star, Lucy schemes here way in, Lucy makes a mess of the situation or the star, all is forgiven, episode over.

 

Grandma and LR- I’m starting to feel like Lucy is an absente parent during the whole Hollywood arc. Grandma seems to be always taking the baby somewhere and just plain taking care of him in general. Would it have been better served to leave LR at home with Grandma like in Europe? I always thought it was planned that Lucy’s mother got bored and that’s why she came out to Hollywood with LR. I guess it never was because in California Here We Come there is clearly a plan made for her to come out by plane later. I don’t know why I thought that all these years. Maybe I felt like there was too much of a gap until she showed up in Hollywood.

 

Marks- This is something I’ve noticed since Season 1 but you can see all the black tape marks on the floor where people and furniture are to be. I know this is something that probably was not seen for many years as the restored DVD’s and large TV screens are making this possible.

 

Charities- I like the real life charities that Lucy and Desi were involved with were used in the show as well. The fashion show was for Share, Bull Fight dance was for the Heart Fund.

 

Clothes- Pretty similar from Season 3/beginning of Season 4 for most all involved. We do have the robes for running to the pool on everyone at some point, so that’s new. The clothes in the Fashion Show are great, my gosh people use to dress formal. The best clothing departure we get of the gang is Fred’s clothes. He really gets to have a laugh with all his shirts and general overall relaxed look. Fun to see what getup he will be wearing next and it frequently gets a laugh from the audience.

 

Overall I think this was a good departure for the series and we got all kinds of new situations celebrity related and not. They still kept good domestic stuff like forgetting an anniversary, annoying habits of your spouse, fighting about the crazy mother-in-law. Show staples like Lucy wanting to get into the show and brand new things like all the preplanning and actual traveling along with having celebrities playing themselves for the first time. I also felt like we had a good amount of episodes too. I didn’t feel like I was bored with Hollywood at anytime.

Bravo! Ya did it again!

[C L A U D E]

Starting with Ricky’s Movie Offer we can say that the Hollywood episodes have begun and will run into Season 5. Today if you had a series with this sort of arc it would be more like, hey you got a part in a movie, next episode we are in LA. What I like is that they devoted so many shows to the lead up to arriving in Hollywood. We have 3 shows involving how Ricky got the job, 3 planning the journey, and 3 episodes on the road. There are 2 episodes thrown in between the screen test and getting the contract that have nothing to do with Hollywood. It gives us a nice break but the continuity continues as we get passing references to waiting to hear back about the contract. The only part I thought we had a little too much setup was in California Here We Come. The second half of the episode is great, but I think the first half with Lucy’s mother tends to drag and it’s just a bunch of fighting. I know it sets up Mother coming to take care of Little Ricky but I wonder if it was like, hey we got a great back half of this episode but we need something to fill the front. You also could not put this back half on a previous episode as it rushes the comedy in the others and you needed more time to pass in the storyline.

 

We also get a nice lead out for the episodes as well. We go through another round of how are we getting home and a bad vehicle purchase and then a fun episode aboard the train. Once we get home we have a full episode with the hometown reaction too. You realize how thought out this whole arc was and how well it flows. Some criticism I heard is that Lucy meets too many Hollywood celebrities. My reaction to that is, why not? They had the power to get them on the show, you’re in Hollywood so use it to full advantage, and the stars are never the focus of the episode. Each one at most is only on for ½ the episode and we get full episodes without any celebrities in. We do not have a LS/HL problem with the entire showing being given to the celebrity. Even the movie plugs are done well compared to how some endorsements are worked into shows today.

 

I always wondered why the Hollywood arc was split between 2 seasons. Had we started the arc at the beginning of Season 4 it could have been contained into one season. The episodes that preceded it could have been easily put into the beginning of Season 5 and we would still end the Europe episodes with the ending of Season 5. Maybe it was for ratings purposes as they knew these were going to be big drawls.

 

Hollywood Suite layout vs apartment-The suite really does feel much bigger than the apartment but you have to remember there is no kitchen in the suite, just a small kitchette, so that extra space is incorporated into the living room section. The area between the living room and bedroom probably takes up about as much as the hallway in NYC and the bedroom in the suite gets a little bigger to. This also probably made up from not having Little Ricky’s room. The window and balcony are what really open that suite up and are used wonderfully throughout, including the best use ever in the Cornel Wilde episode. It’s like we gained this whole new area for comedy to happen. The Penthouse above has a smaller layout with the bed being in the same area as the living room. I would feel jipped if I asked for the Penthouse and got less room than 1 floor below. I think the décor has really been stepped up. The decorations have a much more modern feel and the whole place has clean lines. You feel that you are in classy hotel, well classy for the 50’s.

 

Ricky’s movie getting shelved- It never occurred to me that this happens more towards the beginning of the stay in Hollywood. It does open the story line up a bit so Ricky in later episodes would not be full time at the studio making the movie and could join the gang a little more.

 

Continuity-The best for a long run of episodes. There are only two things that bug me here. Ricky’s movie that he eventually gets, shoots really fast. From Ricky needing an agent which is about where he would get the movie offer, we get one episode with Widmark and then by the first John Wayne we are celebrating the movie being finished. It is never mentioned or implied that his new movie he gets is even a leading role. He may have just had a small supporting one but to friends and family it was celebrated as a staring lead.

 

My second continuity thing is we see the many celebrities Lucy runs into as the weeks pass in LA. The only story that she keeps repeating and heavily mentioning is Robert Taylor and his orange. It even gets repeated in the Homecoming episode. When I was in my early years of watching the show I always thought I had missed an episode. I wonder if this episode was planned and never written. For a story that keeps getting repeated so much it bugs me that we never got to see any of it.

 

Getting in the show-The theme is still used but it comments on itself now. Ricky has been wondering what took Lucy so long to bug him about getting into a movie in Lucy Gets Into Pictures. In Bull Fight Dance they even joke how long it will take from Lucy asking to Ricky saying no, best line “10 seconds, that’s the fastest we’ve ever done it.” I feel that this theme transforms more into Lucy not wanting to get into the show/pictures but what can she do to meet celebrities. This is the type of plot line that we can’t get in NYC and works well. It’s exactly the same premise. Lucy wants to meet a star, Lucy schemes here way in, Lucy makes a mess of the situation or the star, all is forgiven, episode over.

 

Grandma and LR- I’m starting to feel like Lucy is an absente parent during the whole Hollywood arc. Grandma seems to be always taking the baby somewhere and just plain taking care of him in general. Would it have been better served to leave LR at home with Grandma like in Europe? I always thought it was planned that Lucy’s mother got bored and that’s why she came out to Hollywood with LR. I guess it never was because in California Here We Come there is clearly a plan made for her to come out by plane later. I don’t know why I thought that all these years. Maybe I felt like there was too much of a gap until she showed up in Hollywood.

 

Marks- This is something I’ve noticed since Season 1 but you can see all the black tape marks on the floor where people and furniture are to be. I know this is something that probably was not seen for many years as the restored DVD’s and large TV screens are making this possible.

 

Charities- I like the real life charities that Lucy and Desi were involved with were used in the show as well. The fashion show was for Share, Bull Fight dance was for the Heart Fund.

 

Clothes- Pretty similar from Season 3/beginning of Season 4 for most all involved. We do have the robes for running to the pool on everyone at some point, so that’s new. The clothes in the Fashion Show are great, my gosh people use to dress formal. The best clothing departure we get of the gang is Fred’s clothes. He really gets to have a laugh with all his shirts and general overall relaxed look. Fun to see what getup he will be wearing next and it frequently gets a laugh from the audience.

 

Overall I think this was a good departure for the series and we got all kinds of new situations celebrity related and not. They still kept good domestic stuff like forgetting an anniversary, annoying habits of your spouse, fighting about the crazy mother-in-law. Show staples like Lucy wanting to get into the show and brand new things like all the preplanning and actual traveling along with having celebrities playing themselves for the first time. I also felt like we had a good amount of episodes too. I didn’t feel like I was bored with Hollywood at anytime.

Brilliantly said and elaborated on, as usual.

[C L A U D E]

We`re off t o Europe with today`s two shows. She gets locked in a trunk and then misses her boat. Yesterday was Viv`s all time best line, IS SHE GOING WITH US from the raffle drawing.

[Luvsbway]

Ah, were are on the same episodes right now. I binge watch so I'll be plowing through.

[C L A U D E]

were are on the same episodes .

YOUR ARE????? LOL! But Joy TV is still back in the days of them burning all their old clothes

[Luvsbway]

Joy TV at my house is called DVD's.

[C L A U D E]

Joy TV at my house is called DVD's.

Yeah, at MY house too, Joy TV cuts every ep and shows bad looking copies. Whereas OURS are clear, soon even clearer on Blu Ray and eventually, dare I say it, in C O L O R too! LOL! I have to say today's two pre Europe eps were showcases for Lucy. The one with the trunk is a riot, SKIP TO MA LOO MY DARLINNNNNNNNNNNNN, and the next one at the PA SA PORT office and her slugging Desi when he slaps her awake, did you notice he actually breaks up before he regains his composure and finishes the scene? PS: I dunno how the hell she was able to stay trapped in that small trunk, I would have died in there and I get uncomfortable for HER every time I watch that one.

[Luvsbway]

I always think the same thing with the trunk. She was a trooper.

 

That scene with Doc Peterson singing and dancing, Ricky walking in and Lucy yelling from the trunk is one of my most favorite moments.

[C L A U D E]

I always think the same thing with the trunk. She was a trooper.

 

That scene with Doc Peterson singing and dancing, Ricky walking in and Lucy yelling from the trunk is one of my most favorite moments.

That's what I mean, she was funny even when not seen. As for the trunk, I keep hoping the back opened up and she could get some air or even that the other side with the drawers was fake and she could open that up and stretch out a little. And we were told Lucy was a mite claustrophobic too, can't see how she did that.

[Irene Kampen Tripp]

Doesnt Lucy sport a beautymark in PICTURES? I think she has a beauty mark in another ep but i.cant remember....

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_{Every time I watch that terrific episode about Lucy missing her boat and reaching it by helicopter, I am stunned by that whack job who, on the deck, saying goodbye, hogs the camera to make sure every family member sees him starring as an extra on the biggest hit on television. Know the BIG GUY I mean, with the overcoat and hat, who keeps staring at the camera behind the fearless foursome?}

[Luvsbway]

On to Europe

 

2 Filler Episodes- Hollywood concludes for me with Homecoming. After that we get Rodeo and Nursery School. The time that passes is about a month here. I hate the Rodeo episode but love that Lucy is now begging Fred to be in the show. We still have this theme going. Nursery School is good and we get a LR themed episode after him being neglected for a while in Hollywood. With this short passage of time needed I think we are okay with 2 episodes for the gap, but I would maybe have done a third.

 

Ricky’s European Booking kicks of the Europe run and like for Hollywood we get nice lead up episodes. The booking and getting money to get there, getting the passports (over 2 episodes no less) and then eventually leaving. Hollywood was mentioned to be a month they were there. Europe is 3 weeks. In the Charles Boyer episode though Fred mentions that they are going to be in Europe a lot longer than planned but we never find out how long.

 

We get the bookend transportation episodes as well. Of course the boat is a good setting for adventures, but I like that they made the plane home an entire episode itself and it wasn’t shoe horned onto something, or just an “oh they flew home” passing.

 

Little Ricky- Lucy seemed a lot more sad to leave him than she did when she left for Hollywood. It’s about the same time frame though. The trip west I think was 2 weeks and about a week or so until he arrived in Hollywood vs the 3 weeks they are said to be in Europe. Of course we have to have Lucy give one last goodbye or she would not have missed the boat. Lucy does seem rather cute playing with him in the stateroom. I like that with the inclusion of LR being in Nursery School we have a better idea of who is looking after him. There is a passing reference in Staten Island Ferry about leaving him at nursery school all day.

 

LR is not really mentioned too much on this trip, so it seems a little surprising that Lucy seems so upset when she gets to Italy and misses him. I chalk this up to 2 things. You have to remember that in TV we are not seeing all of someone’s life so maybe she did talk about him, but the action was on screen was more important. Also the point where she really misses him is not random, it’s his birthday.

 

Lucy in the Show Theme- This happens twice. She wants to get into the show to meet the Queen so we have the celebrity meeting being the driving factor, not her neurotic need to be in the spot light. The other time is in Lucy’s Italian Movie but this was not Lucy’s idea, she was asked by Victorio to do the movie, Lucy just took it to extremes. The Scotland musical number in my mind does not count as being in the show.

 

Celebrities-I count 2 celebrities for the Europe arc. The first is the Queen, even though she is not seen, we have the same obsessed fandom over her as to anyone in Hollywood. I think it is funny that 60 years later we are still talking about that same Queen, now we are just more obsessed over the offspring. Our other celeb is Charles Boyer and Ricky even brings up what went on with people in Hollywood. Why he mentions Van as being part of her screw ups with celebrities always bugged me. Did he forget how wonderful she was in that number?

 

Establishing Shots-Watching all these episodes uncut and in order I forgot how many establishing shots we got for each location. These are always the first thing to go when the syndication edits happen. I even like the one with Lucy looking around in Paris as all the sights go by.

 

Continuity and Itinerary- When Lucy details what languages they are learning she mentions they are going to Germany and Spain, yet we never go there and it is never mentioned that they were there (ie. an episode we did not get). Would it have been better served to get an episode with one of those countries in place of Switzerland or Scotland? I would make the Germany episode Fred themed. I think the order they do this trip makes sense. I’ve never traveled Europe but they did not back track. I don’t know why I always thought they were in a new location when they left to fly home. Guess I never put it together they were still in Nice.

 

Hotel Rooms- Those are some great places they are staying at. Paris and Rome seemed like an apartment, London was odd with the way the beds were and Nice seemed a little smaller. Switzerland was probably the smallest but I don’t think they were there all that long. I find it funny that they had that walk up in the first Italy stop because Fred was trying to save money. I guess he wasn’t trying to save money with all the other places.

 

England- Was Ricky that well known that he was mobbed at the hotel? Fox Hunt seems like a weird episode to me. I guess it was just a premise to have a fox hunt but the whole party and meeting the British guy was too contrived. I don’t like how much Angela was really going after Ricky and I’m with Lucy on her attitude towards her. I’ll lump Scotland in here as it does actually take place in England. I think that some people don’t like this episode as it is the episode, not a show in the episode but most of the episode. I look at LS and we have almost full episodes of a show. Main Street USA being a big one that is musical show, not a show within a show.

 

France- Double stop in this country with Paris and Nice. Nice gave them the nice option of being able to work in Monte Carol too. Glad we got 3 Paris episodes. All were top notch, especially the jail scene and Lucy hiding food.

 

Switzerland-Not a bad episode and like Scotland gives us a trip to a smaller European country.

 

Italy- Another double stop for this country too. I think this country was a 10 day stop. Not sure on all the others. In Italian Movie this is the only other time I can recall that subtitles were used. First season had Ricky do a whole line of Spanish complaining about Lucy and it was subtitled “she’s nuts”. I prefer the bike episode to Italian Movie, I think it is a better overall episode. Some observations from these 2 episodes. You can see Lucy wiping off the honey (used to lure the goat) from her neck while they are checking out Fred. Lucy mentioned that she had to cut her nails to milk the cow, which you can see. She also mentioned in an interview once that she got so good with the milking she could shoot the stream across the barn, but you could not see it. Well with restored prints and big TV’s you can see it really well. Technology had to catch up to make that joke finnier. On the train they had all that floor room. Why didn’t they just make Fred sleep on the floor?

 

I think the Europe episodes had more action than the Hollywood ones, but Hollywood was more like they were living and working there, while Europe has that vacation feel. There are less episodes of this run and I was surprised how quickly I got through them. I think they may have been trying to squeeze these all into Season 5 and that is why we had less.

 

Observations- Why was Mrs. Trumble seeing the gang off at the port? Ethel’s bag she bought in Paris was surprisingly just like Lucy’s she took to see Helen Kiser. It’s funny how long it took to make a long distance call back then. Now days some countries are even free to call from the US depending on what carrier you are using. Just think if they had Skype back then. During Lucy’s hunger strike it is mentioned she did not go in or out for 3 days. Such conviction for a dress to not tour the city she really wanted to go to. I always love on the train in Italy Lucy does the Katherine Hepburn line from a movie she was in. We don’t often get a meta reference like that in a Lucy show. HL Ginger Rogers is similar with naming all the movies. If I were Lucy I would think I may might want to check up on the guy who seems to be following her across Europe. Bob Carroll Jr. has cameo’s on the ship deck, in the Paris café, and in the Monte Carlo casino. In Second Anniversary there is a tag scene on the deck with Ricky and Lucy where Forever Darling is played over the sound system. The look and kiss they share while it plays is just so sweet.

 

 

 

 

 

[C L A U D E]

On to Europe

 

2 Filler Episodes- Hollywood concludes for me with Homecoming. After that we get Rodeo and Nursery School. The time that passes is about a month here. I hate the Rodeo episode but love that Lucy is now begging Fred to be in the show. We still have this theme going. Nursery School is good and we get a LR themed episode after him being neglected for a while in Hollywood. With this short passage of time needed I think we are okay with 2 episodes for the gap, but I would maybe have done a third.

 

Ricky’s European Booking kicks of the Europe run and like for Hollywood we get nice lead up episodes. The booking and getting money to get there, getting the passports (over 2 episodes no less) and then eventually leaving. Hollywood was mentioned to be a month they were there. Europe is 3 weeks. In the Charles Boyer episode though Fred mentions that they are going to be in Europe a lot longer than planned but we never find out how long.

 

We get the bookend transportation episodes as well. Of course the boat is a good setting for adventures, but I like that they made the plane home an entire episode itself and it wasn’t shoe horned onto something, or just an “oh they flew home” passing.

 

Little Ricky- Lucy seemed a lot more sad to leave him than she did when she left for Hollywood. It’s about the same time frame though. The trip west I think was 2 weeks and about a week or so until he arrived in Hollywood vs the 3 weeks they are said to be in Europe. Of course we have to have Lucy give one last goodbye or she would not have missed the boat. Lucy does seem rather cute playing with him in the stateroom. I like that with the inclusion of LR being in Nursery School we have a better idea of who is looking after him. There is a passing reference in Staten Island Ferry about leaving him at nursery school all day.

 

LR is not really mentioned too much on this trip, so it seems a little surprising that Lucy seems so upset when she gets to Italy and misses him. I chalk this up to 2 things. You have to remember that in TV we are not seeing all of someone’s life so maybe she did talk about him, but the action was on screen was more important. Also the point where she really misses him is not random, it’s his birthday.

 

Lucy in the Show Theme- This happens twice. She wants to get into the show to meet the Queen so we have the celebrity meeting being the driving factor, not her neurotic need to be in the spot light. The other time is in Lucy’s Italian Movie but this was not Lucy’s idea, she was asked by Victorio to do the movie, Lucy just took it to extremes. The Scotland musical number in my mind does not count as being in the show.

 

Celebrities-I count 2 celebrities for the Europe arc. The first is the Queen, even though she is not seen, we have the same obsessed fandom over her as to anyone in Hollywood. I think it is funny that 60 years later we are still talking about that same Queen, now we are just more obsessed over the offspring. Our other celeb is Charles Boyer and Ricky even brings up what went on with people in Hollywood. Why he mentions Van as being part of her screw ups with celebrities always bugged me. Did he forget how wonderful she was in that number?

 

Establishing Shots-Watching all these episodes uncut and in order I forgot how many establishing shots we got for each location. These are always the first thing to go when the syndication edits happen. I even like the one with Lucy looking around in Paris as all the sights go by.

 

Continuity and Itinerary- When Lucy details what languages they are learning she mentions they are going to Germany and Spain, yet we never go there and it is never mentioned that they were there (ie. an episode we did not get). Would it have been better served to get an episode with one of those countries in place of Switzerland or Scotland? I would make the Germany episode Fred themed. I think the order they do this trip makes sense. I’ve never traveled Europe but they did not back track. I don’t know why I always thought they were in a new location when they left to fly home. Guess I never put it together they were still in Nice.

 

Hotel Rooms- Those are some great places they are staying at. Paris and Rome seemed like an apartment, London was odd with the way the beds were and Nice seemed a little smaller. Switzerland was probably the smallest but I don’t think they were there all that long. I find it funny that they had that walk up in the first Italy stop because Fred was trying to save money. I guess he wasn’t trying to save money with all the other places.

 

England- Was Ricky that well known that he was mobbed at the hotel? Fox Hunt seems like a weird episode to me. I guess it was just a premise to have a fox hunt but the whole party and meeting the British guy was too contrived. I don’t like how much Angela was really going after Ricky and I’m with Lucy on her attitude towards her. I’ll lump Scotland in here as it does actually take place in England. I think that some people don’t like this episode as it is the episode, not a show in the episode but most of the episode. I look at LS and we have almost full episodes of a show. Main Street USA being a big one that is musical show, not a show within a show.

 

France- Double stop in this country with Paris and Nice. Nice gave them the nice option of being able to work in Monte Carol too. Glad we got 3 Paris episodes. All were top notch, especially the jail scene and Lucy hiding food.

 

Switzerland-Not a bad episode and like Scotland gives us a trip to a smaller European country.

 

Italy- Another double stop for this country too. I think this country was a 10 day stop. Not sure on all the others. In Italian Movie this is the only other time I can recall that subtitles were used. First season had Ricky do a whole line of Spanish complaining about Lucy and it was subtitled “she’s nuts”. I prefer the bike episode to Italian Movie, I think it is a better overall episode. Some observations from these 2 episodes. You can see Lucy wiping off the honey (used to lure the goat) from her neck while they are checking out Fred. Lucy mentioned that she had to cut her nails to milk the cow, which you can see. She also mentioned in an interview once that she got so good with the milking she could shoot the stream across the barn, but you could not see it. Well with restored prints and big TV’s you can see it really well. Technology had to catch up to make that joke finnier. On the train they had all that floor room. Why didn’t they just make Fred sleep on the floor?

 

I think the Europe episodes had more action than the Hollywood ones, but Hollywood was more like they were living and working there, while Europe has that vacation feel. There are less episodes of this run and I was surprised how quickly I got through them. I think they may have been trying to squeeze these all into Season 5 and that is why we had less.

 

Observations- Why was Mrs. Trumble seeing the gang off at the port? Ethel’s bag she bought in Paris was surprisingly just like Lucy’s she took to see Helen Kiser. It’s funny how long it took to make a long distance call back then. Now days some countries are even free to call from the US depending on what carrier you are using. Just think if they had Skype back then. During Lucy’s hunger strike it is mentioned she did not go in or out for 3 days. Such conviction for a dress to not tour the city she really wanted to go to. I always love on the train in Italy Lucy does the Katherine Hepburn line from a movie she was in. We don’t often get a meta reference like that in a Lucy show. HL Ginger Rogers is similar with naming all the movies. If I were Lucy I would think I may might want to check up on the guy who seems to be following her across Europe. Bob Carroll Jr. has cameo’s on the ship deck, in the Paris café, and in the Monte Carlo casino. In Second Anniversary there is a tag scene on the deck with Ricky and Lucy where Forever Darling is played over the sound system. The look and kiss they share while it plays is just so sweet.

I wish you'd stop making your reports so short, go into detail please, LOL!

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_{We're in EUROPE on Comedy Gold, we just came back from Paris and are not in the Swiss Alps and then Little Ricky's birthday in Italy, MRS RICARDO, TELEPHONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!}