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The Lucy Show -- Season Six -- Reviews and First Impressions!


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I don't think I LOVE LUCY ever jumped the shark. There were some minor duds sprinkled throughout, as we have discussed, and I think there might have been a slight decline in overall script quality in a few of the early Season Six episodes, but I think the series remained consistently funny. I LOVED the last half of Season Six.

 

Yes, in the Hollywood episodes of I LOVE LUCY there were a few guest stars, but in all of Season Five, the only two major guest stars that come to mind are John Wayne (in Hollywood) and Charles Boyer. Season Six only really only had Bob Hope, Orson Welles, and George Reeves, and I guess, Claude Akins, and Johnny Longden.

 

The first three years of THE LUCY SHOW had what?? Ethel Merman, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, and Arthur Godfrey.

 

The guest star syndrome definitely didn't become a real issue until '65/'66 with the move to L.A, which magnified in Season FIve--the most guest star heavy of THE LUCY SHOW.

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I don't think I LOVE LUCY ever jumped the shark. There were some minor duds sprinkled throughout, as we have discussed, and I think there might have been a slight decline in overall script quality in a few of the early Season Six episodes, but I think the series remained consistently funny. I LOVED the last half of Season Six.

 

Yes, in the Hollywood episodes of I LOVE LUCY there were a few guest stars, but in all of Season Five, the only two major guest stars that come to mind are John Wayne (in Hollywood) and Charles Boyer. Season Six only really only had Bob Hope, Orson Welles, and George Reeves, and I guess, Claude Akins, and Johnny Longden.

 

The first three years of THE LUCY SHOW had what?? Ethel Merman, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, and Arthur Godfrey.

 

The guest star syndrome definitely didn't become a real issue until '65/'66 with the move to L.A, which magnified in Season FIve--the most guest star heavy of THE LUCY SHOW.

 

You can never have too many guest stars..............can you? :marionstrong:

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I don't think I LOVE LUCY ever jumped the shark. There were some minor duds sprinkled throughout, as we have discussed, and I think there might have been a slight decline in overall script quality in a few of the early Season Six episodes, but I think the series remained consistently funny. I LOVED the last half of Season Six.

 

Yes, in the Hollywood episodes of I LOVE LUCY there were a few guest stars, but in all of Season Five, the only two major guest stars that come to mind are John Wayne (in Hollywood) and Charles Boyer. Season Six only really only had Bob Hope, Orson Welles, and George Reeves, and I guess, Claude Akins, and Johnny Longden.

 

The first three years of THE LUCY SHOW had what?? Ethel Merman, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, and Arthur Godfrey.

 

The guest star syndrome definitely didn't become a real issue until '65/'66 with the move to L.A, which magnified in Season FIve--the most guest star heavy of THE LUCY SHOW.

 

I absolutely love the "guest star" episodes of ILL, that whole Hollywood detour is very enjoyable. I remember Claude recently commented about why he loved The Beverly Hillbillies, that whole "open window" to life in Beverly Hills, the mansions, etc. never before seen and I think that's the appeal of the Hollywood episodes of ILL as well, it's like we all get to go to Hollywood for a couple months.

 

Certainly the "guest star" bit got ran in the ground though on TLS and HL and it was uninteresting mainly because as has been noted this was a low-tier of "stars" with rare exceptions like Elizabeth Taylor. If this had been Julie Andrews, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, Sidney Poitier, Liza Minnelli, Clint Eastwood, etc. like the ILL names were movie superstars of the 50's it would be quite a different matter.

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The first three years of THE LUCY SHOW had what?? Ethel Merman, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, and Arthur Godfrey.

 

And remember The Lucy Show ran 47 episodes, nearly a full third of its entire output, before there was a guest star in "Ethel Merman Hides Out At The Carmichaels". And unless you count the Four Alarms "Silvery Moon" or "Cleopatra" (which I don't) this is the first time they put on a show-within-a-show. And even this one is in keeping with the setting, a minimum of professional touches: certainly more than reality but not the sets and the out of character playing to the audience feel of say, "Speakeasy Days" or "Salute to Aviation". It wasn't until the DVD release that I knew the Lucy-Mooney-Viv-Merman act was only a part of the Evening of Vaudeville with Jerry emcee-ing and Sherman dancing which made Ethel's line make sense "I'll think of a number that everyone can be in--including Mr. Mooney". (And by the way, what happened to the "Red Red Robin" number that Lucy and Viv had to make 24 costumes for--8 robins a day!)

 

And just an Ethel Merman episode trivia note: the day the first part ran was the day Lucy had announced she was not going to continue The Lucy Show the next season, or at least when the news got to me. I was home from school that day for some reason (probably couldn't face the world after hearing the news) and that evening's TLS episode was heavily promoted with the local announcer chiming in on several station breaks: "Ethel Merman gets a singing lesson...tonight on The Lucy Show". I assumed that night's episode was going to be the LAST ONE which prompted me to write my poison-crayon letter, that I was sure would tip the scales and convinced Lucy to return for the third season. I filled a notebook sized paper with big block letters (written in different colored crayons so she could NOT miss is) "PLEASE DON'T TAKE THE LUCY SHOW OFF" and had my mother address it to the Portland CBS affiliate and and send it--she SAID she did, anyway. (I've told this before and know YOUNG COURVAL somehow takes credit)

When the show continued the next week with Ethel--part 2, I assumed my letter had had an immediate effect until my grandmother, a woman who did not follow show biz at all, told me it would last until mid-March. It wasn't until years later that I realized why she said this. She had heard the show would go off at the end of the 'season', which to her meant seasons of the year not TV seasons, so she took that to mean it would go off when winter became spring in March!

I was too young to have many memories of this time of my life (I was SIX if I was a day) but this one is vivid.

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I absolutely love the "guest star" episodes of ILL, that whole Hollywood detour is very enjoyable. I remember Claude recently commented about why he loved The Beverly Hillbillies, that whole "open window" to life in Beverly Hills, the mansions, etc. never before seen and I think that's the appeal of the Hollywood episodes of ILL as well, it's like we all get to go to Hollywood for a couple months.

 

Certainly the "guest star" bit got ran in the ground though on TLS and HL and it was uninteresting mainly because as has been noted this was a low-tier of "stars" with rare exceptions like Elizabeth Taylor. If this had been Julie Andrews, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, Sidney Poitier, Liza Minnelli, Clint Eastwood, etc. like the ILL names were movie superstars of the 50's it would be quite a different matter.

Funny, i just read that in a review of Hillbillies, saying it was immensely popular because it gave an insider's view into the whole Hollywood/Beverly Hills lifestyle. As for the names you mention, remember that movie stars or at least CURRENT ones, seldom did TV, old ones appeared on her show or Hope's specials or even Laugh In, but in cameos or small appearances, not THE WHOLE SHOW ABOUT THEM, i think many found their last hurrah on TV with Lucy, like Ginger Rogers for example. They were big stars but usually more so in Lucy's eyes. And her love for them was infectious. You felt like OLD Hollywood was still around and getting together, it was great. I agree that the Hollywood eps of ILL were some of the all time best. It wasn't just Holden's (Oscar Winner) either, the Cornel Wilde one is also excellent and Lucy at her best.

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And just an Ethel Merman episode trivia note: the day the first part ran was the day Lucy had announced she was not going to continue The Lucy Show the next season, or at least when the news got to me. I was home from school that day for some reason (probably couldn't face the world after hearing the news) and that evening's TLS episode was heavily promoted with the local announcer chiming in on several station breaks: "Ethel Merman gets a singing lesson...tonight on The Lucy Show". I assumed that night's episode was going to be the LAST ONE which prompted me to write my poison-crayon letter, that I was sure would tip the scales and convinced Lucy to return for the third season. I filled a notebook sized paper with big block letters (written in different colored crayons so she could NOT miss is) "PLEASE DON'T TAKE THE LUCY SHOW OFF" and had my mother address it to the Portland CBS affiliate and and send it--she SAID she did, anyway. (I've told this before and know YOUNG COURVAL somehow takes credit)

WHATCHEWTALKINBOUT WILLISNEIL? A leo taking credit for someone else's travails?

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The first three years of THE LUCY SHOW had what?? Ethel Merman, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye, and Arthur Godfrey.

 

And technically the 2nd season Ethel Merman 2-parter was not a 'let's get a guest star' move. The ulterior motive was to sell CBS on Maggie Brown. Ethel may have been a bit too large a presence for television, but while no A production, Maggie Brown had a little more class than what some of the shows the "Tiffany Network" chose for over it for the following season: such low-brow sitcoms as My Living Doll, surprise hit Gilligan Island, and three that may have had potential on paper "Baileys of Balboa" "Many Happy Returns" and "the Cara Williams Show". Don't know about the CW Show, but Maggie was certainly as good as the others.

 

You'd think that the woman who was arguably the network's #1 asset would have had more pull in getting her pilots scheduled. Her resignation at the end of season 2 may have been a ploy to scare CBS. If it was, it didn't seem to have worked because two more seasons would pass before Desilu produced shows were optioned, none of them sitcoms. "I couldn't sell anything but me" was Lucy's lament.

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And technically the 2nd season Ethel Merman 2-parter was not a 'let's get a guest star' move. The ulterior motive was to sell CBS on Maggie Brown. Ethel may have been a bit too large a presence for television, but while no A production, Maggie Brown had a little more class than what some of the shows the "Tiffany Network" chose for over it for the following season: such low-brow sitcoms as My Living Doll, surprise hit Gilligan Island, and three that may have had potential on paper "Baileys of Balboa" "Many Happy Returns" and "the Cara Williams Show". Don't know about the CW Show, but Maggie was certainly as good as the others.

 

You'd think that the woman who was arguably the network's #1 asset would have had more pull in getting her pilots scheduled. Her resignation at the end of season 2 may have been a ploy to scare CBS. If it was, it didn't seem to have worked because two more seasons would pass before Desilu produced shows were optioned, none of them sitcoms. "I couldn't sell anything but me" was Lucy's lament.

Lucy used to say that she could not sell anything during the Jim Aubrey regime, and i think the same applied for the Mike Dann one. Wasn't he the one who said all of them at CBS thought Lucy could never make it with her second series, The Lucy Show, but she sure proved them wrong. Cara Williams was a gorgeous redhead who was a great actress and funny too. I think Bob and Madelyn worked for her and Lucy once chided them for giving a lot of great plots to THAT OTHER REDHEAD. Loved that show but apparently she was a real bitch to work with. I think i read that somewhere. It splained why she had disapeared from tv and only did a Rhoda or something like that later on, secretary on a show.

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I think Bob and Madelyn worked for her and Lucy once chided them for giving a lot of great plots to THAT OTHER REDHEAD. Loved that show but apparently she was a real bitch to work with. I think i read that somewhere. It splained why she had disapeared from tv and only did a Rhoda or something like that later on, secretary on a show.

 

Bobs S. and W. worked for Cara and Mr. Schiller adored every minute of it. (That, dear friends, is the end of weekly sarcasm quota.)

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Bobs S. and W. worked for Cara and Mr. Schiller adored every minute of it. (That, dear friends, is the end of weekly sarcasm quota.)

Oh, so it was the other two Bobs who worked with Cara and were later kiddingly chided by Lucy? So, if what i read is true, could it be that Mr Schiller was one of the few not to suffer Cara's wrath? If it's not true, i'm thrilled as i loved that actress so.

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Oh, so it was the other two Bobs who worked with Cara and were later kiddingly chided by Lucy? So, if what i read is true, could it be that Mr Schiller was one of the few not to suffer Cara's wrath? If it's not true, i'm thrilled as i loved that actress so.

 

Things overheard in during Jamestown Festivals #156:

 

Lucy Fan: I'm also a really big fan of Cara Williams. :D

Bob: Oh, well you're the only one! :D

 

:marionstrong:

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Bobs S. and W. worked for Cara and Mr. Schiller adored every minute of it. (That, dear friends, is the end of weekly sarcasm quota.)

 

I don't know if it's just coincidence but P&G ran in the two years Lucy was absent from series TV: 1960-62. In a rather odd move considering there were only 72 episodes, CBS commissioned it for a morning run that followed I Love Lucy and "The McCoys" and it ran for another two years. If my math is correct, each episode was shown another SEVEN times in addition to its nighttime run. I don't know of any market that ran P&G in syndication. (Ours did not).

 

I have a few P&Gs and while they're not stellar comedy, she is really wonderful. Had the producers taken a little care to round out the premise with believability (or even at an attmept at it!), it would be better remembered. Cara was nominated for an Emmy the 1st season which is saying a lot about her, because shows of this caliber don't normally get Emmy consideration.

 

I'll say it again. P&G has my FAVORITE THEME of all time.....Very ILL-like but BETTER.

 

I've never heard a good word said about Cara Williams from those who worked with her, but it didn't show on camera. She rises about the pedestrian material she was given. I did not see "The Cara Williams Show" a one-season sitcom she did two years after P&G ended. It was scheduled after top rated Bev Hillbillies and Dick Van Dyke, and somehow it didn't work. Cara virtually disappeared, her career over at age 40.

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I don't know if it's just coincidence but P&G ran in the two years Lucy was absent from series TV: 1960-62. In a rather odd move considering there were only 72 episodes, CBS commissioned it for a morning run that followed I Love Lucy and "The McCoys" and it ran for another two years. If my math is correct, each episode was shown another SEVEN times in addition to its nighttime run. I don't know of any market that ran P&G in syndication. (Ours did not).

 

I have a few P&Gs and while they're not stellar comedy, she is really wonderful. Had the producers taken a little care to round out the premise with believability (or even at an attmept at it!), it would be better remembered. Cara was nominated for an Emmy the 1st season which is saying a lot about her, because shows of this caliber don't normally get Emmy consideration.

 

I'll say it again. P&G has my FAVORITE THEME of all time.....Very ILL-like but BETTER.

 

I've never heard a good word said about Cara Williams from those who worked with her, but it didn't show on camera. She rises about the pedestrian material she was given. I did not see "The Cara Williams Show" a one-season sitcom she did two years after P&G ended. It was scheduled after top rated Bev Hillbillies and Dick Van Dyke, and somehow it didn't work. Cara virtually disappeared, her career over at age 40.

 

Neil, I enjoyed PETE AND GLADYS very much, too... It even had Gale Gordon as Pete's "Uncle Paul," doing his Mr. Mooney/Uncle Harry shenanigans years before he became a regular with yet another Redhead... I love an episode -- I think it was Gale's first show -- in which Gladys gets a bowling ball stuck on her hand, but needs to make a good impression when Uncle Paul comes to dinner...

 

In another episode, Gladys decides to paint the floor of a room, and does a damned good job, except she unwittingly paints herself into a corner and has trouble getting out...

 

It may have been a coincidence about this show being on the two years that LUCY was off CBS... but I doubt that it was a coincidence that the show left when LUCY came back in 1962. Somehow, I cannot see there being room for both of these, especially on the same night!

 

PETE AND GLADYS was a "spin-off" of DECEMBER BRIDE, and it ended in 1959... so the producers (Parke Levy, etc.) were anxious to get another project going... They took the Pete Porter character and developed a show around it...

 

CBS owned all or most of DECEMBER BRIDE, so it may have also owned the lion's share of PETE AND GLADYS, too... Which would explain why it repeated them over and over again in the morning...

 

I always called it THE LUCY-LESS LUCY SHOW...

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Neil, I enjoyed PETE AND GLADYS very much, too... It even had Gale Gordon as Pete's "Uncle Paul," doing his Mr. Mooney/Uncle Harry shenanigans years before he became a regular with yet another Redhead... I love an episode -- I think it was Gale's first show -- in which Gladys gets a bowling ball stuck on her hand, but needs to make a good impression when Uncle Paul comes to dinner...

 

In another episode, Gladys decides to paint the floor of a room, and does a damned good job, except she unwittingly paints herself into a corner and has trouble getting out...

 

It may have been a coincidence about this show being on the two years that LUCY was off CBS... but I doubt that it was a coincidence that the show left when LUCY came back in 1962. Somehow, I cannot see there being room for both of these, especially on the same night!

 

PETE AND GLADYS was a "spin-off" of DECEMBER BRIDE, and it ended in 1959... so the producers (Parke Levy, etc.) were anxious to get another project going... They took the Pete Porter character and developed a show around it...

 

CBS owned all or most of DECEMBER BRIDE, so it may have also owned the lion's share of PETE AND GLADYS, too... Which would explain why it repeated them over and over again in the morning...

 

I always called it THE LUCY-LESS LUCY SHOW...

I was going to mention what you just did about December Bride featuring Harry Morgan and his never seen wife, they later got their own show and we finally got to see Gladys, played by the beautiful and competent Cara Williams. Let it not be said that Lucy was the only attractive actress to play comedy on tv, Cara was surely the second. Bowling ball stuck on her finger huh? How Lucy writer obvious, LOL!

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In another episode, Gladys decides to paint the floor of a room, and does a damned good job, except she unwittingly paints herself into a corner and has trouble getting out...

 

(I suppose this should be a separate thread but I'm too lazy)

 

I bought a collection of P&Gs about a year ago but it did not contain episodes I remember being hilarious. I only retain dim memories of just episode highlights.

 

The painting episode you describe: What I remember about this: in order to get out of the room she (somehow) has a shoe on her hand dripping with paint, props a ladder up to a high window and in order to get out, she braces her climb by putting the shoe on the wall as she climbs the ladder. The next scene has Pete (and Uncle Paul?) looking at the room in amazement because of the footprints up the wall heading towards the window! I don't remember anything else about this episode.

 

There are several others I'm dying to see---and again I have vague memories of specific scenes.

 

-Gladys puts a face cream on. It hardens. She tries to crack it using a sliding closet door.

-Gladys has to stay completely quiet for some reason. Pete and Uncle Paul (Gale) try to crack her with a telephone call from a quiz show. If she answers the question , she wins a fur coat. Gladys comes in and confronts them with the answer printed on a big card, then turns it over and it says "Where's my mink?"

-Gladys and her best friend (of the week) buy a car. One of those foreign jobs with the engine in the rear and trunk up front. It's a 2-seater. Gladys is driving and the friend (Barbra Stuart?) is sitting up front in the trunk giving directions, because the trunk is stuck open. (and I guess there was a reason they couldn't just stop the car.)

-Pop is dating Fifi D'Orsay but Gladys hasn't met her yet. Fifi goes to Glady's beauty parlor and is bragging about having had 7 husbands and Gladys overhears. She refers to her rings as her 7 "shishkabobs". Gladys tells the story to Pete when she gets home. Then Pop brings Fifi to their house to meet Gladys.

Gladys to Pete: It's HER.

Pete: WHO?

Gladys: The Shishkabob KID!

I don't know why that tickled me so much, but when i heard this line as a 6 or 7 year old (in the morning run) I laughed the ENTIRE day. And I mean LITERALLY. My parents were actually started to get annoyed with me.

 

Most of the episodes on my DVDs are just so-so but one episode is fantastic, in that it is SOOO Lucy. Gladys must return a gown to a department store without them knowing it. (Pop works there and "borrowed" it for her). The gown department has a rotating stage with mannequins. It rotates behind a curtain. Pete and Gladys are arguing as the thing is spinning. They have to stop and freeze every time the display goes in front of the curtain.

Cara Williams does an excellent job in this episode. Not quite up to par with Lucy---but, to be fair NOBODY is. NOBODY.

 

Schiller and Weiskopf wrote several but were just part of a pool of writers.

 

Of all the Lucy wannabes, Cara Williams came closest. Cara is still alive at 87. I wonder if she has fond memories of the show. I'd love to know "The Cara Williams Story".

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(I suppose this should be a separate thread but I'm too lazy)

 

I bought a collection of P&Gs about a year ago but it did not contain episodes I remember being hilarious. I only retain dim memories of just episode highlights.

 

The painting episode you describe: What I remember about this: in order to get out of the room she (somehow) has a shoe on her hand dripping with paint, props a ladder up to a high window and in order to get out, she braces her climb by putting the shoe on the wall as she climbs the ladder. The next scene has Pete (and Uncle Paul?) looking at the room in amazement because of the footprints up the wall heading towards the window! I don't remember anything else about this episode.

 

There are several others I'm dying to see---and again I have vague memories of specific scenes.

 

-Gladys puts a face cream on. It hardens. She tries to crack it using a sliding closet door.

-Gladys has to stay completely quiet for some reason. Pete and Uncle Paul (Gale) try to crack her with a telephone call from a quiz show. If she answers the question , she wins a fur coat. Gladys comes in and confronts them with the answer printed on a big card, then turns it over and it says "Where's my mink?"

-Gladys and her best friend (of the week) buy a car. One of those foreign jobs with the engine in the rear and trunk up front. It's a 2-seater. Gladys is driving and the friend (Barbra Stuart?) is sitting up front in the trunk giving directions, because the trunk is stuck open. (and I guess there was a reason they couldn't just stop the car.)

-Pop is dating Fifi D'Orsay but Gladys hasn't met her yet. Fifi goes to Glady's beauty parlor and is bragging about having had 7 husbands and Gladys overhears. She refers to her rings as her 7 "shishkabobs". Gladys tells the story to Pete when she gets home. Then Pop brings Fifi to their house to meet Gladys.

Gladys to Pete: It's HER.

Pete: WHO?

Gladys: The Shishkabob KID!

I don't know why that tickled me so much, but when i heard this line as a 6 or 7 year old (in the morning run) I laughed the ENTIRE day. And I mean LITERALLY. My parents were actually started to get annoyed with me.

 

Most of the episodes on my DVDs are just so-so but one episode is fantastic, in that it is SOOO Lucy. Gladys must return a gown to a department store without them knowing it. (Pop works there and "borrowed" it for her). The gown department has a rotating stage with mannequins. It rotates behind a curtain. Pete and Gladys are arguing as the thing is spinning. They have to stop and freeze every time the display goes in front of the curtain.

Cara Williams does an excellent job in this episode. Not quite up to par with Lucy---but, to be fair NOBODY is. NOBODY.

 

Schiller and Weiskopf wrote several but were just part of a pool of writers.

 

Of all the Lucy wannabes, Cara Williams came closest. Cara is still alive at 87. I wonder if she has fond memories of the show. I'd love to know "The Cara Williams Story".

 

 

I think the only thing "wrong" with PETE AND GLADYS for me was the fact that it was not filmed in front of an audience. While this allowed them the luxury of filming scenes outside -- such as the scene Neil describes in a car -- FOR ME, filming in front of an audience adds a certain element of intimacy... It brings the audience somehow "into the action." (I feel this way about Lucy's non-audience episodes, too.)

 

But would love to see PETE AND GLADYS again... It's been close to 50 years since I've seen them, and there's always the chance that they do not hold up at all, but still...

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