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Lucy Flies to London


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What do you think of this episode? Yesterday, Me-TV aired it along with Lucy and Carol in Palm Springs. They COULD'VE aired Lucy Is a Chaperone, Lucy Goes to Vegas, or Lucy In Marineland, but noooooooo, it's only PD episodes, and probably the only time we'll see TLS on our Me-TV station. They listed them as I LOVE LUCY episodes. I watched it on dvd and I was surprised that not much was cut out when compared to Me-TV. Only the exterior shot of the airport and Lucy adjusting herself in her seat trying to sleep, and "it's nearly midnight in London."

 

Anyway, on the plane, Lucy says she's never flown before, but how did she get to Las Vegas? Did they go by bus? What about when she moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 1965? Did she end up selling most of her stuff, or rent a moving van and drive? And how did Mr. Mooney wreck the luggage rack? I love how there's a world map on the wall in the background, when in reality, there really is no wall on a plane--only for the windows. Must have been an incredibly huge plane for there to be enough room for the world map on the wall, and all that leg room in front of Lucy's seat, with 4 rows behind them. Even the plane in "Home From Europe" was more realistic looking. I never noticed how much of a ding-a-ling Lucy Carmichael was, especially when she lived in California, and in this episode. Lucy Carter was much more mature.

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"The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy" aren't not known for maintaining ANY continuity.

 

I'm OK with the set. They did include the authentic-sounding plane noise in the background.

This and "Substitute Secretary" are my favorites of the season.

What's remarkable about this episode is that it is ALL Lucy. The camera is always on her as she goes from bit to bit. She performs brilliantly. Her Emmy for this season is well-earned.

Noticed that ME put up a graphic saying "Flies" was the prelude to the London special which aired the following week. Except they put it up during the Carol/Palm Springs episode. That one is better than I remember, if rather plot-less. What other actress could pull off that "There are rivers and rivers..." monologue, whose punchlines stretch the limit of acceptable corn. Love that they cut to Mooney wincing after the 'jokes'. Lucy carried her own in the singing department; always prefer a 'live' performance as opposed to a pre-record.

And speaking of lack of continuity. Carol is Lucy's roommate, but of course the next week (when Lucy gets drafted) Carol is gone and never mentioned again. They could have so easily made some reference in this episode of Carol getting a gig touring with "The Vagabonds" as an explanation of why she vacates the Carmichael apartment.

Next weekend they're running the 2nd season "Redecorate" so it's not just public domain. "Redecorate" is pretty good, but only fair in comparison to the rest of the season. One thing I've never figured out about this episode: did people ever actually spray paint their furniture??

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"The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy" aren't not known for maintaining ANY continuity.

 

I'm OK with the set. They did include the authentic-sounding plane noise in the background.

This and "Substitute Secretary" are my favorites of the season.

What's remarkable about this episode is that it is ALL Lucy. The camera is always on her as she goes from bit to bit. She performs brilliantly. Her Emmy for this season is well-earned.

Noticed that ME put up a graphic saying "Flies" was the prelude to the London special which aired the following week. Except they put it up during the Carol/Palm Springs episode. That one is better than I remember, if rather plot-less. What other actress could pull off that "There are rivers and rivers..." monologue, whose punchlines stretch the limit of acceptable corn. Love that they cut to Mooney wincing after the 'jokes'. Lucy carried her own in the singing department; always prefer a 'live' performance as opposed to a pre-record.

And speaking of lack of continuity. Carol is Lucy's roommate, but of course the next week (when Lucy gets drafted) Carol is gone and never mentioned again. They could have so easily made some reference in this episode of Carol getting a gig touring with "The Vagabonds" as an explanation of why she vacates the Carmichael apartment.

Next weekend they're running the 2nd season "Redecorate" so it's not just public domain. "Redecorate" is pretty good, but only fair in comparison to the rest of the season. One thing I've never figured out about this episode: did people ever actually spray paint their furniture??

Yeah i thought we established long ago that continuity was NEVER a consideration by any Lucy writer.
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Which was really said - did they think the audience were stupid and forgot what happened the week before?

 

Yep, they probably did think that. This was before Google, YouTube, or Hulu, or even VCRs, so the audience couldn't go back later to refresh their memories and say, "Hey, wait a minute...". Or the writers just didn't give a crap and were phoning it in. They were getting big fat paychecks anyway. lol

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I don't think continuity was a BIG factor back then... it is much more now.. but even now some bits slip through the cracks.. these continuity issues are distacting but don't really ruin the fun... ... it just seems that the longer her tv career went on.. the more continuity issues arrose!!!... so I guess we should be thankful she was on as long as she was.. isn't that a record?? I mean HER tv career??? Has anyone else had as much exposure on tv as Miss Ball?

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Yep, they probably did think that. This was before Google, YouTube, or Hulu, or even VCRs, so the audience couldn't go back later to refresh their memories and say, "Hey, wait a minute...". Or the writers just didn't give a crap and were phoning it in. They were getting big fat paychecks anyway. lol

I don't think that's it at all. It was a totally different time back then, nobody knew (at least at first) what a "rerun" was nor did it ever occur to them that MILLIONS of people would not only be watching these weekly escapades SIXTY PLUS years later but moreover, that we'd have a way then unimagined to stop and start and freeze and zoom etc., etc. in on the most minute moment of action to scrutinize the action down to every eyebrow raise like we do without a second thought! :D I recall Madelyn addressing this continuity "issue" once at some point -- much more eloquently than I ever could -- and paraphrasing that if things we consider now to be "boo boos" and what not with continuity more often than not happened because they were so busy trying to keep up with cranking out scripts that something had to give! Remember: back then it was only 3 of them producing 35+ scripts a season as compared to today when the production schedule is much shorter 18 - 24, 25 scripts churned out by an entire staff (10, 12 or more) of writers who more often than not, now receive producer credit as well ($$$). ;)
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