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Lucy Carmichael Does Los Angeles: A Poll

Brock

Your favourite "California" season  

16 members have voted

  1. 1. Which of The Lucy Show's "California" seasons is your favourite?

    • Season 4
      2
    • Season 5
      4
    • Season 6
      10

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Brock Newbie

Brock

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We've had a bit of back and forth in the "reviews and first impressions" thread for Season Six, but I thought it would be fun to actually have a poll on the subject. Which of The Lucy Show's California seasons is your favourite? Vote for your favourite above and give us your reasons below! :lucythrill:

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Brock Newbie

Brock

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Season Six got my vote. In my opinion it is -- continuity aside -- the most consistent and even of TLS' three California seasons. Compared to the two seasons before it, there is not one episode here that I can honestly say I dislike. Season Four, on the other hand, is the most wildly inconsistent. Episodes there are either Excellent (Gun Moll, Music World, Horse Guest, Dean Martin) to Good (Undercover Agent, Bargain, Clint Walker) or terrible (Berle) with little in between. Season Five is like a live-action cartoon, with a few great episodes thrown into the mix.

 

The last season, as I said, is very consistent. Most of the episodes are pretty grounded in reality compared to 4 and 5, the humour is very even, there is character development between Lucy, Mooney, and Mary Jane -- not to mention the addition of Mr. Cheever, who is indispensable in deflating Mooney.

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C L A U D E Newbie

C L A U D E

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I voted for season six although all three years of her being the focal point of the show were my favorites of the entire series. She just owned it by this point, she was all over the tube, all the time, garnering Emmys again for her work, running Desilu, being given titles like Queen of Comedy, First Lady of Television, she was finally getting the respect she deserved. Soon getting back to movies in her biggest HIT yet and coming back in yet another series with her own kids. She was just at the top of her game by this point. She could have read the phone book and gotten an audience.

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C L A U D E Newbie

C L A U D E

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I'll have to watch them first to cast my judgement and I know how much you all love my thoughts on each series ;-) LOL!

No kidding, you'll probably say any show with animals or a man in a gorilla suit and you vote for that one, right? :lucythrill: No wait, you'd vote for any season that did not have Milton Berle or Danny Kaye as a guest star. :lucythrill:

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Annaleigh Newbie

Annaleigh

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I adore the first 3 seasons of TLS more than the last three I will give you that but after watching the six season I see why she won that Emmy twice in a row! I adored each episode, I laughed out loud. Season 4 was good to continue from the Danfield episodes I give it that. But I also understand season six jumps from one situation to the next but what 60s sitcom didn't? It also kept us entertained. The situations were so Lucy and she did great in each episode. Plus look how gorgeous she looked? This was a great way to wrap up 6 wonderful years of TLS.

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JoeySanJoaquin Newbie

JoeySanJoaquin

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In Order Of Favourite to Least Favourite (;)):

 

1. Season 1

2. Season 5

3. Season 6

4. Season 2

5. Season 4

6. Season 3

 

'Splains:

1. Season One was not only closest in "tone" and quality to ILL, IMHO it had so many hilarious "instant classics" it's easily the best season, particularly because it featured most of my faves of the series, including "Kangaroo"; "TV Antenna"; "Electric Mattress"; the Christmas Show; "Lucy's Sister"; "Shower"; "Tycoons"; "White House" and "Buy A Boat", among many, many more.

 

2. Season Five features most of my fave eps from "the California years"/post-format change, including

"Ring A Ding Ring"; "Carol Burnett (Part One)"; "London"; "John Wayne"; "Sheldon Leonard"; "Main Street USA (Part One)"; "Viv Visits" and one of the funniest episodes in this or any of her series, "Substitute Secretary", in which her entrance and scene as Margo the Mad Mod Decorator kills me every time. Classic!

 

3. Nearly as strong as the previous season, Season Six perhaps contains most of the rest of the Hollywood-set faves for me, chief among them "Berles"; "French Movie Star" (another classic "drunk" scene); "Stolen Stole"; "Mystery Guest" and "Lost Star".

 

4. Season Two as it's no secret I'm a huge Viv fan and I don't think the series was ever as good again without her; however by S2 Bob & Madelyn and Schiller & Weiskopf, who had contributed immeasurably to Season One's success with so many near-perfect classic scripts, seemed to start to run out of gas here, still though offering up some "semi-classics" like "Kiddie Parties"; the Ethel Merman eps; "Politics"; "Symphony"; "Art Class" and ""Loophole in the Lease" along the way.

 

5. Season Four is perhaps the most "erratic" Hollywood-era season, with several "clinkers" (e.g., "Superwoman"; "Golden Greek"; "Milton Berle"; the Ironman eps and perhaps the series' low, "Rain Goddess." Redeemed however for some of my personal faves, including the two Clint Walker eps, "Horse Guest" (always loved the Countess/Ann Southern popping in!); "Danny Thomas"; "Music World" and of course, one of the series' best, "Dean Martin."

 

6. Season Three, despite the arrival of marvelous Miss Southern as the Countess Framboise and VIv still around for most of the season -- and what a treat the time or two the three were together! -- with the absence of the veteran writers supplanted by "new" (for Lucy, anyway) staff and freelance writers made not only the show but the character suffer, IMHO. Very few "stellar" eps this season, yet still better than most efforts, including "Ceramic Cat': "Vegas"; the Countess eps and of course, "Arthur Godfrey."

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Mot Morenzi Rookie

Mot Morenzi

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While I enjoyed many entries in the 2nd season, I think I would've liked it more had Gale not been incorporated so fast. His 2-part introduction was marvelous, but after that it immediately started playing as though he'd been a part of Lucy's life for years.Viv got shoved in the background much of the time while Gale took centre stage next to Lucy. It all moved too fast. I know Lucy loved working with him and he'd been intended to start off on the show (can you imagine how different season 1 would've been if Gale had been there?), but perhaps it would've been more successful, and believable, if he'd been more of a recurring character that year, only doing a few shows that season before being bumped up for season 3.

 

Here's my tentative ranking of each season:

 

1) Season 1 - Has the most number of episodes I re-watch regularly

2) Season 3 - While the quality may have suffered for some installments, this season possibly has the most LOL moments for me

3) Season 2 - The weakest of the Danfield years, IMO, but with numerous gems in there

4) Season 6 - The strongest of the California years, IMO...a bit more mature in tone than season 5, plus it has my fave retrospective episode

5) Season 5 - Cartoonish, yes, but with many funny shows. Really establishing itself as a very different series by this point with more of its own voice

6) Season 4 - Plenty of duds this year, sadly, but the many mentions of Danfield helped make this an appropriate bridge season, even if many shows are forgettable.

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Neil Newbie

Neil

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Season Six is -- continuity aside -- the most consistent and even of TLS' three California seasons.

 

As Fred said in response to Billy Hacket's "Ethel Mae, you were never prettier"......"Well I can't argue with THAT."*

 

You know I love my Lucy and when these and Here's Lucys were current I stuck by her--even when it was VERY hard to do so, but there's something about these 6th season shows that bug me. They're so....oh, what's the word?.....stodgy.

I hate to hold aging against Lucy, but this is the first season where I noticed she was no longer a young (ISH!) woman.

 

That said, these episodes are , as Brock so aptly said, "continuity aside" (and I think you have to send it to Oxnard with the female lemon pickers), better than I remember as is her performance.

And not that I demand physical comedy out of each and every episode but I always liked it when there was a chance. Other than the wonderful film-in the-face in Carol Burnett-part 1, she seems to have abandoned it. I can't remember another great physical bit in season 6. It's something we don't see with any regularity until Bob and Madelyn rejoin the fold 4 years later. Among so many other things was this gift that she could do so much better than anyone else.

And I'm not talking about concessions she must inevitably have to make to aging**. Perhaps she couldn't do the hammock routine anymore, but the miming and handling of props would not tax her physically.

 

*or the alternative:

Lucy: Mr. Mooney, the ad says 'no knowledge of banking required'. Mooney: "THERE you have me."

 

**although I'm now about her age when these were made and I can still do an H-12!"

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C L A U D E Newbie

C L A U D E

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As Fred said in response to Billy Hacket's "Ethel Mae, you were never prettier"......"Well I can't argue with THAT."*

 

You know I love my Lucy and when these and Here's Lucys were current I stuck by her--even when it was VERY hard to do so, but there's something about these 6th season shows that bug me. They're so....oh, what's the word?.....stodgy.

I hate to hold aging against Lucy, but this is the first season where I noticed she was no longer a young (ISH!) woman.

 

That said, these episodes are , as Brock so aptly said, "continuity aside" (and I think you have to send it to Oxnard with the female lemon pickers), better than I remember as is her performance.

And not that I demand physical comedy out of each and every episode but I always liked it when there was a chance. Other than the wonderful film-in the-face in Carol Burnett-part 1, she seems to have abandoned it. I can't remember another great physical bit in season 6. It's something we don't see with any regularity until Bob and Madelyn rejoin the fold 4 years later. Among so many other things was this gift that she could do so much better than anyone else.

And I'm not talking about concessions she must inevitably have to make to aging**. Perhaps she couldn't do the hammock routine anymore, but the miming and handling of props would not tax her physically.

 

*or the alternative:

Lucy: Mr. Mooney, the ad says 'no knowledge of banking required'. Mooney: "THERE you have me."

 

**although I'm now about her age when these were made and I can still do an H-12!"

Huh, did you stop to think that maybe the writers thought to themselves, if Lucy is no longer a young lady, we have to start making her behave like an older person, not a little old lady but a more mature lady at least, therefore no more exhausting physical comedy slapstick?
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mikidiki Newbie

mikidiki

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While I enjoyed many entries in the 2nd season, I think I would've liked it more had Gale not been incorporated so fast. His 2-part introduction was marvelous, but after that it immediately started playing as though he'd been a part of Lucy's life for years.Viv got shoved in the background much of the time while Gale took centre stage next to Lucy. It all moved too fast. I know Lucy loved working with him and he'd been intended to start off on the show (can you imagine how different season 1 would've been if Gale had been there?), but perhaps it would've been more successful, and believable, if he'd been more of a recurring character that year, only doing a few shows that season before being bumped up for season 3.

 

Here's my tentative ranking of each season:

 

1) Season 1 - Has the most number of episodes I re-watch regularly

2) Season 3 - While the quality may have suffered for some installments, this season possibly has the most LOL moments for me

3) Season 2 - The weakest of the Danfield years, IMO, but with numerous gems in there

4) Season 6 - The strongest of the California years, IMO...a bit more mature in tone than season 5, plus it has my fave retrospective episode

5) Season 5 - Cartoonish, yes, but with many funny shows. Really establishing itself as a very different series by this point with more of its own voice

6) Season 4 - Plenty of duds this year, sadly, but the many mentions of Danfield helped make this an appropriate bridge season, even if many shows are forgettable.

 

The only ones we agree on are Season 6 & Season 4. Does anyone else think that Season 5 is their favourite season or am I the only one?

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