What episodes are you watching on "The Lucy Show"?

[Neil]

"Lucy Teaches Ethel Merman to Sing"---in the attached video, I tried to augment the Lucy Show soundtrack with the "I Got Rhythm" track from the actual album Ethel released around this same time.   I actually had a record-player that was very similar, if not identical to the one shown here.  Mine was a ("you can be SURE if it's) Westinghouse.  The volume knob Ethel turns down is not a volume knob at all.  It's that round Westinghouse brand logo. 

How many times has this similar plot been done with a celebrity in all 3 series?  Where Lucy tries to pass of the "lookalike" as the real thing?  Or the variation: where Lucy has a run-in with the real celebrity and there's a lookalike imposter out there, usually a crook trying to get money under the guise of being the real thing?  Seems like it was used a LOT, but right now I can't think of any.  (I've certainly known some everyday people that resemble celebrities but not enough to fool someone into cashing their checks).

"The Lucy Show" is sometimes referred to in books as being "just an excuse for Lucy to interact with the celebrity guest star of the week".  Ethel Merman was The Lucy Show's first REAL guest star, and the only one in the first 59 episodes (I'm not counting ROberta, Umberto, Gary Stewart or the golf pros) and "Ethel" was episode #48 (in the order aired).  The next celebrity was episode #60 with Jack Benny as the plumber.  (Wait! there's another with the above described celebrity lookalike premise!)   And if you don't count Ann Sothern's four 3rd season episodes as 'guest star' shows (I don't), that season had just Benny (plus Hope cameo), Danny Kaye and  Arthur Godfrey bringing the total to just 4 in the Danfield years, the first 84 episodes, over half (54%) of the total TLS output.   Just goes to show how far afield The Lucy Show eventually strayed from the original premise. 

 

 

[Luvsbway]

Me-Tv had  article on Marnie Nixon, who died earlier this month. I thought this was interesting. 

"Her television work flew under the radar, but sticks out in our memories. She choreographed three episodes of The Lucy Show, including a hilarious number in a Greek restaurant involving Lucille Ball."

So what are the other 2?

 

[Mot Morenzi]

1 hour ago, Luvsbway said:

Me-Tv had  article on Marnie Nixon, who died earlier this month. I thought this was interesting. 

"Her television work flew under the radar, but sticks out in our memories. She choreographed three episodes of The Lucy Show, including a hilarious number in a Greek restaurant involving Lucille Ball."

So what are the other 2?

 

I think you mean Miriam Nelson. 

She choreographed Lucy & The Golden Greek, Lucy Helps Danny Thomas and Lucy in the Music World.

[Luvsbway]

2 hours ago, Mot Morenzi said:

I think you mean Miriam Nelson. 

She choreographed Lucy & The Golden Greek, Lucy Helps Danny Thomas and Lucy in the Music World.

Yeah, I probably do. Thanks for those other 2.  Oh I love Music World.  

[Neil]

"Lucy and the Safe Cracker"

Decades is once again running 2 episodes of The Lucy Show right after 2 of I Love Lucy.  The first season alternated the original stick-figure opening credits with the black and white kaleidoscope.  One time, they ran the stick-figure video with the kaleidoscope audio, the first time I've seen that.   They're now into the 2nd season.  Even though, I've got those great prints on DVD, I still can't resist tuning it in.  Today I watched "Lucy and the Safe Cracker" (Lucy Meets Mooney part 2).  My favorite ILL changes from time to time as does my favorite TLS.  For a time, "Safe Cracker" was my favorite.  It's not one that makes anyone else's list for some reason.  But I think it's JAM-PACKED full of great comedy.  And great lines---one after another.  Character-driven funnies, not Milt Josefsburg "gags" (which often make me do the same).  A lot happens in this fast-paced episode.  Plus Jay Novello puts in a stellar performance.  Highlights: Lucy shoving gooey chocolates into Larry McAdoo's mouth so they can sing the jingle as promised.   Lucy being dunked in chocolates: I don't know how they rigged that up so the chocolates stuck to her eye sockets.  Could that have been an accident?  After that, Lucy does this great "chicken" bit as she's trying to see what's going on.  The audience is laughing so hard at Lucy that the others have trouble getting their lines out and heard.  Amazing that this is only Gale's 2nd episode and he fits right in as if he's always been there. 

 

[Irene Kampen Tripp]

Saw Lucy and The Countess at the wine tasting today on Decades... Made my morning.

[Neil]

I cannot put my finger on it but there's something OFF about that third season--as compared to the 2nd.   The absence of Bob & Madelyn is an obvious factor, but......the premises are good, for the most part.  And the dialogue shows spark here and there.   So what is it?

It may be the absence of funny lines that seemed to flow naturally out of conversation*: a B&M specialty, along with unusual words they used to spruce up dialogue.  Lucy Carmichael in the third season just wasn't as "classy".   2nd season: I can't tell the difference between the shows written by "3 Bobs and a Babe" and those written with Fred Fox and Iz Elinson; or the other handful of writers brought in, which leads me to conclude the quality was up to Bob and Madelyn.  None of the 4 3rd season Schiller-Weiskopf episodes thrill me, though they contain some funny moments. 

*such as Viv (bemoaning Lucy economizing on meals) "Pretty soon I'll be nothing but skin and bone."  Lucy: "Face it, Viv. You could lose 30 pounds before your skin even gets near your bone."

 

[Mot Morenzi]

There are some very funny 3rd season episodes, but the atmosphere definitely has a different feel to it.

I think this was due in large part to the new writers ignoring much of the previously established continuity. All the recurring women from the first two seasons were dropped. No more Thelma, Audrey, Kathleen, Dorothy, etc. It no longer had that community feeling to it. Yes, we had new recurring characters such as Mrs. Valance, but they were never given the characterization or "friendliness" of the earlier characters. Had the new writers crafted some new Volunteer Firemen plots or something, it would've helped the series retain more of its old feeling. 

[Neil]

"Wingding", "Lucy and Joan" "Stuntman"---

Am I the only one who loves the "Wingding" episode?  Perhaps if you knew how similar it was to actual shows of the time ("Shindig", the most obvious), the parody might be more enjoyable.   Lucy without Viv is a little softer and sweeter this season (as compared with season 3).  A most hilarious aspect, albeit unintentionally, of Wingding is its host "Reb Foster" and his awkward movements trying to dance along with the ensemble.  In the closing credits "Reb" appears as "himself".  He must have had some sort of show like "The Lloyd Thaxton Show".  Lloyd was sort of square looking and much older than his audience and introduced rock groups who mostly lip-synced their latest hits while the teens took to the dance floor.     "LT" was a 5-day a week, half-hour syndicated series.   Despite being swamped by Desilu business, in these three episodes Lucy does NOT look at cue cards, which makes her performance all that much more genuine.  This season, she's still got that Lucy Ricardo sweetness, which (IMO) would ebb away during the last half of the 5th season. 

Decades showed an edited version of Wingding I've never seen before.  Much of the original dialogue remains intact (not the CBS morning/NickatNite edits) but when it comes to the Tear Ducts performance on Wingding, the scene opens as the dancers are finishing the title song, Reb introduces Lucy and Mel and then the scene skips the entire first verse, the slow-moving part, and cuts directly to the up-tempo rock verse.   And who don't we see the title lucy types out on the typewriter (earlier in the Pop Record company office) when she and "Tink" are trying to come up with something?   I suppose it's ridiculous to quibble about TLS continuity but Reb announces that Barney Miller is getting a record of the Tear Ducts song out the very next day---and by the next week, Lucy Carmichael's appearance on network TV and her recording career are never mentioned again. 

Re: the infamous Joan B.--toilet plunge incident.  We assume Lucy was making some comment about Joan's performance (as Joan "FU Lucille Ball" Blondell  interpreted it), but she may have been referring to how the scene was playing or some objection to the script....and not Joan herself.   When these stories emerge, the press-writers seem to be taking the other person's side, making Lucy look bad---without considering the other possibilities of what Lucy was trying to do.   I think Joan worked well with Lucy and would have made a passable Viv replacement.  This episodes gives us the only clue as to what happened to Chris.  She's going to college "up north".  

Other than the extended supermarket scene (which, while amusing, seems like filler), "Lucy and Joan" is a solid episode.  And I don't care what anyone says, Lucy as Ironman is hilarious----despite the fact the her director and fellow stuntmen don't notice her long lashes, colorful eye-shadow and ruby-red lipstick!   Let's see the other Emmy nominees that season pull this off: MTM or Liz M.!   The great Lou Krugman appeared in both Wingding and Ironman.  I can't think of an episode after that in which he appeared which is a shame because he and Lucy worked well together.  

[Luvsbway]

I love the Wingding part of this episode. Recently clipped it for my Instagram and it got a great reaction. I personally love how Lucy wraps her legs around each other on the stool.

I know TVs and quality were smaller and poorer back then, but those lines stuck to the record are so obvious they had to have been seen back then.

[Neil]

Just now, Luvsbway said:

I love the Wingding part of this episode. Recently clipped it for my Instagram and it got a great reaction. I personally love how Lucy wraps her legs around each other on the stool.

I know TVs and quality were smaller and poorer back then, but those lines stuck to the record are so obvious they had to have been seen back then.

What do you mean: "lines stuck to the record"?   RE: "Stuntwoman".  Lucy/Ironman's pay for her H-12 adjusted for inflation would be $800 in 2018. 

[Luvsbway]

25 minutes ago, Neil said:

What do you mean: "lines stuck to the record"?   RE: "Stuntwoman".  Lucy/Ironman's pay for her H-12 adjusted for inflation would be $800 in 2018. 

In the office scene Lucy's lines are taped to the back of one of the record albums.

[Neil]

What else but  'LUCY THE CHOIRMASTER"?

I have always thought this one was a delight.  The main reason is Lucy herself.  She's still got that innocent charm that I loved so much.  Had not acquired the harshness her character had in many of the  Here's Lucy;s.   Just imagine 1965's Choirmaster being done in 1970 on Here's Lucy.  (The 1970 "Christmas episode"---the one shown closest to Xmas was "Ma Parker"----need I say MORE?)    In 1965, she has such a sweetness about her.  This season she is even more appealing in her innocence than in the previous, 64-65 the last Danfield season.  Lucy's on top of all of her lines and she has a lot of them.--no cue card glancing.   Mooney's reaction to Lucy acting out the 12 Days of Christmas is a scream.  Especially when he forgets his line and Lucy cues him twice before he blurts it out an octave higher than his previous singing.  

It's a little moment but I love it when during the performance, the kids screw up the lyrics and Lucy apologizes to the audience, then positions her hands to restart them but pauses for one more apology "I'm terribly sorry.  Do forgive us." to audience. 

Episode has a real nostalgic quality for me because when I was a kid,  CBS would take this episode out of the general rotation and save it for Christmas morning every year from 1968 to 1971.  The script is by Bob O'Brien, but two other writers are listed under his name:  Lila Garrett and Bernie Kahn, two  I've never heard of, their one and only Lucy script.   After Madelyn left the fold, I believe Lila is the ONLY female writer associated with any Lucy script form 1964 to 1974.  Unless you count 1968's "IDEA by HILDA Josefsburg" for the flashback episode.   "Choirmaster" vs. "Together for Christmas": I can't pick a favorite of those two. 

A couple of questions: since Lucy knows few people in Hollywood, WHO were all those gifts under her tree for?   Certainly not Joan Brenner (unless she got her something in the "plumbing supply" department).   Is this the LAST reference to Danfield?   And Chris?  Though not by name.  As in "besides "the children" (Chris: "that's us..."), I'm not giving gifts this year."  And Lucy's  $20 tree expenditure would be $160 today!!

 

[Mot Morenzi]

3 hours ago, Neil said:

Certainly not Joan Brenner (unless she got her something in the "plumbing supply" department).

!!!!

3 hours ago, Neil said:

Is this the LAST reference to Danfield?   And Chris?  Though not by name.  As in "besides "the children" (Chris: "that's us..."), I'm not giving gifts this year." 

Danfield was referenced again in "Viv Visits Lucy" when the girls confront Herbie Walton. "Mrs. Bunson? From Danfield!?" Then Viv reminds Herbie that Lucy used to live there.

I don't think Chris was ever referred to by name after season 3, but "the children" were brought up again in "Lucy the Babysitter" when Lucy listed her qualifications for the job.

 "I raised two children. They're away at school now."

Which I suppose sounds better than "I had two child actors. I dumped them because they got in the way of my shtick."

[Luvsbway]

23 minutes ago, Mot Morenzi said:

Which I suppose sounds better than "I had two child actors. I dumped them because they got in the way of my shtick."

HA!! Sometimes in these later seasons you forget she even had children.

[Neil]

2 hours ago, Luvsbway said:

HA!! Sometimes in these later seasons you forget she even had children.

Not unlike her future Monday night cohort "Doris Martin" who by the 5th season of the show was being referred to as "MISS Martin."  

Wasn't that military academy already filled to the brim with California widows wishing to ditch their kids and move on from parenting??  Even more mysterious was the disappearance of "Buck" (Denver Pyle) , who after threatening to reveal he was only 2 years older than "daughter" Doris, was never heard from again.   That first season of "Doris Day Show": I don't know WHY they put her on a farm.  How many plots could they come up with?  Evidently not too many, because the next season she commuted to San Francisco for a magazine job, then moved to SF with her kids, then got rid of the kids.  Had Doris had Mary Tyler Moore's writers, her show might have been a memorable success.  The 2nd season, TDDS was moved to Monday at 9:30 and was helped in the ratings by Here's Lucy and Mayberry RFD, peaking at #10 in the ratings for 69-70, a banner year for CBS's Monday night lineup.  All 5 shows made the top 13!

 

[Freddie2]

5 hours ago, Neil said:

Not unlike her future Monday night cohort "Doris Martin" who by the 5th season of the show was being referred to as "MISS Martin."  

Wasn't that military academy already filled to the brim with California widows wishing to ditch their kids and move on from parenting??  Even more mysterious was the disappearance of "Buck" (Denver Pyle) , who after threatening to reveal he was only 2 years older than "daughter" Doris, was never heard from again.   That first season of "Doris Day Show": I don't know WHY they put her on a farm.  How many plots could they come up with?  Evidently not too many, because the next season she commuted to San Francisco for a magazine job, then moved to SF with her kids, then got rid of the kids.  Had Doris had Mary Tyler Moore's writers, her show might have been a memorable success.  The 2nd season, TDDS was moved to Monday at 9:30 and was helped in the ratings by Here's Lucy and Mayberry RFD, peaking at #10 in the ratings for 69-70, a banner year for CBS's Monday night lineup.  All 5 shows made the top 13!

 

The idea of Doris Day in an MTM-style show is fascinating, but I can't imagine image-concious Doris being okay with playing a character as flawed as Mary Richards. It would have been a career move on par with the brilliance of Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People (playing against her public image to great effect), and the thought of her performing MTM writing is absolutely enticing. Unfortunately, Miss Day's upholding of her public image seems to be one of her greatest strengths and her greatest weaknesses. 

[HarryCarter]

On 12/25/2018 at 1:29 AM, Freddie2 said:

The idea of Doris Day in an MTM-style show is fascinating, but I can't imagine image-concious Doris being okay with playing a character as flawed as Mary Richards. It would have been a career move on par with the brilliance of Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People (playing against her public image to great effect), and the thought of her performing MTM writing is absolutely enticing. Unfortunately, Miss Day's upholding of her public image seems to be one of her greatest strengths and her greatest weaknesses. 

I’m surprised that I’ve never seen written anywhere how surprisingly adult the final season of The Doris Day Show was. There are occasional “hells” and “damns” in the script, Doris’ next door neighbors are a gay couple, and Doris is clearly intimate with love interests Peter Lawford and Patrick O’Neal. There’s one episode where Doris has a relationship with a younger rock star that plays more like a straight romantic drama. I think the two Rose Marie seasons (two and three) are far and away better than any other period of the series, but I do give Doris a bit of credit for going in an unexpected, modern direction for the last year. 

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Well, not that surprising when you consider the last season was 1972-73 and by then, we'd heard plenty of hells & damns thanks to Archie Bunker & "family", "Maude", "Sanford and Son" and perhaps a few even from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", as by that point in the early seventies, sitcoms were no longer the pristine, G-rated fare of even a few seasons prior with stalwarts such as "The Brady Bunch", "Andy Griffith Show", "The Partridge Family" and many many others.

As for the gay couple, I don't even remember that (was Kaye Ballard still the landlady?? Oy! That's a spicy meatball!) and now have to do a little more "homework" about them; the series was set in San Francisco so it actually makes sense given how The City has been a welcoming place for decades for those of us with a "twist"

Thanks for the info about this, it's very interesting.  I'm gonna hit my local library this weekend now and see if they stock the show, since now I want to see a few but am not quite ready to "invest" in adding her to my DVD/Blu-ray collection but speaking of which...

Since there's so many easily accessible "complete series" boxes out there now at very reasonable prices, I've been trying to "catch up"/complete my "library" with long-favorite shows that as yet were not part of my collection, most recently adding "Laverne & Shirley" (you can imagine why), "Reba" (sooo funny, so underrated), "Mama's Family", "Maude" (where is the complete box for "Golden Girls"???) and most recently "Medium", which for those who like well done drama/Sci-fi-ish material sort of in the vein of the also-excellent "X-Files", I highly recommend it.

Good sources for these affordable box sets are Walmart, Target and of course, Amazon.com  Go get 'em!

[HarryCarter]

If you have Amazon Prime, every episode The Doris Day Show is available for streaming there. 

Yes, the final season of The Doris Day Show was not particularly adult compared to most of the television landscape of that year, but it was compared to the first season of the series with the cute kids on the farm or its 1972-3 lead-in, Here’s Lucy.

Kaye was no longer on the show in the last season. Billy DeWolfe was now the landlord. 

[Freddie2]

2 hours ago, JoeySoCal said:

Well, not that surprising when you consider the last season was 1972-73 and by then, we'd heard plenty of hells & damns thanks to Archie Bunker & "family", "Maude", "Sanford and Son" and perhaps a few even from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", as by that point in the early seventies, sitcoms were no longer the pristine, G-rated fare of even a few seasons prior with stalwarts such as "The Brady Bunch", "Andy Griffith Show", "The Partridge Family" and many many others.

As for the gay couple, I don't even remember that (was Kaye Ballard still the landlady?? Oy! That's a spicy meatball!) and now have to do a little more "homework" about them; the series was set in San Francisco so it actually makes sense given how The City has been a welcoming place for decades for those of us with a "twist"

Thanks for the info about this, it's very interesting.  I'm gonna hit my local library this weekend now and see if they stock the show, since now I want to see a few but am not quite ready to "invest" in adding her to my DVD/Blu-ray collection but speaking of which...

Since there's so many easily accessible "complete series" boxes out there now at very reasonable prices, I've been trying to "catch up"/complete my "library" with long-favorite shows that as yet were not part of my collection, most recently adding "Laverne & Shirley" (you can imagine why), "Reba" (sooo funny, so underrated), "Mama's Family", "Maude" (where is the complete box for "Golden Girls"???) and most recently "Medium", which for those who like well done drama/Sci-fi-ish material sort of in the vein of the also-excellent "X-Files", I highly recommend it.

Good sources for these affordable box sets are Walmart, Target and of course, Amazon.com  Go get 'em!

The recent spate of classic TV shows available at big box stores for so little money has been such a tempting time for me. The only real downside I've noticed is that a lot of these box sets are really cheaply made. With the Mill Creek releases I own in particular (Mad About You and NewsRadio), I constantly worry that I'm going to damage the disc just by taking it out of the case! I've also found it odd that there hasn't been a re-release of Golden Girls, particularly considering how it's still remarkably popular, even with people of "my generation". Maybe syndication and Hulu are cash cows enough for the show. (And ditto about Reba being underrated! McEntire and Melissa Peterman make an excellent second-rate Lucy and Ethel!)

[JoeySanJoaquin]

8 hours ago, Freddie2 said:

The recent spate of classic TV shows available at big box stores for so little money has been such a tempting time for me. The only real downside I've noticed is that a lot of these box sets are really cheaply made. With the Mill Creek releases I own in particular (Mad About You and NewsRadio), I constantly worry that I'm going to damage the disc just by taking it out of the case! I've also found it odd that there hasn't been a re-release of Golden Girls, particularly considering how it's still remarkably popular, even with people of "my generation". Maybe syndication and Hulu are cash cows enough for the show. (And ditto about Reba being underrated! McEntire and Melissa Peterman make an excellent second-rate Lucy and Ethel!)

For whatever reason, Mill Creek bought/acquired Sony's previous catalog, which is why you see so many re-releases of previously released sets, both single season ("Bewitched", "Partridge Family" etc.) and "complete series boxes" (again, "Bewitched," "Partridge", as well as your referenced "Mad About You", "Party of Five", etc.); however the newer, cheaper MC versions invariably utilize "cheaper"(looking) bare bones packaging and utilize fewer discs as they cram more episodes per than Sony originally did. What little I know & understand about the tech downside of this, to be honest I've never done an "A/B" comparison but the gist as I understand it is that putting more episodes per disc means the video information is more compressed which results in lesser picture quality.  Makes sense to me.

Given that I'm a "collector" and would eventually likely bought both versions anyway (at least those titles that were duped, not all were), I'm still glad and prefer to watch the original, less eps on a disc releases put out by Sony (where it applies, by title).

CBS Paramount however at least in the case of those titles with which I'm familiar, seems to have simply taken the same discs per season from their single season sets and collected them in new (albeit rather simple) packaging, as witnessed in the complete series box sets of "I Love Lucy/TLBDAS", "THe Lucy Show", "Medium" and from 20th Century Fox, "Reba" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".  Thus, I would stick with the original studios' version of releases (instead of Mills Creek), single-season or complete series box, whenever possible.

But then I'm a geek what do I know?

[mickie]

It seems the Lucy Show has quietly joined the prime time line up for JLTV (Jewish Life Television) on Wednesday nights at 8pm and 11pm. Although its not listed as one of their shows on the web site, they aired "Lucy & Viv Put a Shower" last week and "Lucy's Barbershop Quartet" last night. Next week, the George Burns episode is scheduled to air, so these are the public domain episodes and not sure how long it will last. The Beverly Hillbillies (also public domain episodes) airs after the Lucy Show. I just found this out last week when i went to watch Joan Rivers's 60's morning talk show "That Show", which JLTV has been airing for a while now. The episode with Vivian aired about two months ago. Joan has now moved to Thursday nights.

[Freddie2]

Today I had a random hankering to watch "Lucy and The Lost Star", specifically the non-musical sequences. I have no idea why, but I was particularly in the mood for that opening scene at the Crawford estate, which I find hilarious on many levels. This is the last time we ever see Vivian Bagley-Bunson! "Reminisce" would have made for a much better swan song to her character, but I don't think there was too much concern in that department. It's unique that the show had a proper series finale as it is. TLS Viv is, particularly by this point, very dry and sarcastic- even pessimistic. IMO when Vivian Jones shows up just a year later, she's a very different character- much sweeter. 

Also, today happens to be Joan Crawford's birthday I guess I'll continue to celebrate by sitting on a stool drinking lemonade while constantly telling my agent that "I don't want to work!"

[RodMcK1]

“Lucy and Paul Winchell” on “Get It Infomercial” channel 263 on DirecTV with the original jack-in-the-box opening.  

Usually, when these channels pay public domain episodes, it’s from horrible old prints.  I guess this channel ripped it from a consumer dvd.