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Best season of Here's Lucy?


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Well, Lucie was only lip syncing in this episode. I wonder if he was the Justin Bieber of the 60s since he sounded like a woman back then. But I would much prefer Wayne Newton over the Biebs any day. Imagine if Lucy was around today, and she had Bieber guest star on her shows. What would the title be? :D

 

Lucy was in charge and it was a job. You were there to do work, and when it was fun it was fun. When it was professional, it was professional. I would take it very seriously. I think people were taken aback because she was a woman. Hey, on Dick Cavett, she confessed that when she had to fire people she would be very upset and cry and not be able to sleep, but a lot of times people DESERVE to get fired. I would actually want to LEARN from Lucy, how she made everything look so real and genuine. In that 1966 Robot episode, in that behind the scenes featurette, she spent a lot of time perfecting a rhythm for how she should walk.

 

I hear numerous sources of Ellen being a huge bitch on set and she's not that bubbly, happy, joke-telling person in real life. Again, it is a job and you have to be professional. She's not going to always be an upbeat, perky, dancing goofball, but are those sources true? I heard once she hissed "who writes this stuff?" and doesn't allow anyone to make eye contact with her during rehearsals, and gets p'oed if someone steps into the rehearsal space, and once even fired a girl for that and made sure she felt bad. I think that's all for good reason but is it all true? I can't imagine her being nasty to her staff if she's always playing pranks on them. I don't think I'd ever want to work for Ellen. I can't see her getting upset or firing people.

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However... we are aware she PLAYED a character from script. She did it so well many thought (including me at one point) that she was being herself. Lucy was direct, perhaps lacked diplomacy (I'm guilty of this at times) and knew she had little time to get the job done. Super sensitive people need to get a thicker skin... especially in show business and especially in TELEVISION.

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Agreed, Tripp. Same with Ellen. Some of those guys have been working for her for years, so why haven't they quit if she's so "nasty?" Probably can't find another job.

 

Was just watching Lucy the Matchmaker and Lucy the Fixer last night. I loved when Viv guest starred. How come in season 5 and 6 she didn't guest star anymore? Felt bad for Lucy when Viv stole her date, haha. I wish I could find a computer dating service like that! Eharmony and Match.com just don't do it.

 

Lucy the Fixer--the first episode I ever saw back on January 7th, 2005 when I bought the Best Of set. I'm only keeping that set just for the commentaries and behind the scenes. Are all the behind the scenes featurettes on the individual sets? I have to check.

Anyway, Lucie says Lucy and Gale had such great chemistry with the physical comedy and it shows. And with today's "HD" quality, you can totally tell Harry's sleeves were just velcroed on. And you can already see the marks in the wall before they even do anything. How did they build those kinds of walls? I remember Claude said something about how silly it was that there was a little baby kitten hiding in the wall. That thing was clearly scared to death because of his tail in between his legs. And I know I've seen that ep several times but I noticed the plug at the very beginning. How could anyone miss that? Lucy's lucky she didn't get fired.

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Which one is the best season? After Craig left something was missing. In season 4, nothing particularly exciting happened. In season 5, it dealt with Lucy's broken leg so that was a season long arc. Season 6 didn't feel too exciting either. I forgot which one had Kim move into the garage apartment. I feel like none of the seasons had arcs except for 5.

 

Season 2 had began with a four-episode arc where the family was traveling in an RV.

 

What were the most memorable episodes of season 4? TBH that one is the least memorable season. It has some gems but it's kind of forgettable. I like the one where Lucy and Kim try to raise money and Lucy is in the dunking booth at a carnival. I forgot which one that was. They end up living in the office. Oh it's Lucy Makes a Few Extra Dollars. It has the cascade of empty pop cans in the closet.

 

Isn't that the one where they are making counterfeit money in the office?  That one bugs me because of the sloppy way it was produced with no regard for logic.  For example, during that scene, Lucy calls Harry at home.  He's in bed or about to go to bed.  She hands up the phone and, literally, in a about 35 seconds he runs into the office.  They didn't do a time lapse effect but actually had him show up in real time, seconds after he got off the phone with Lucy.  How could he leave his house, drive to the office, and go up to whatever floor it was on within 35 seconds?

 

For the record, I hate S4.  I think it's the worst season of the series, by far, and the only worse season was S4 of TLS.

 

 

Was just watching Lucy the Matchmaker and Lucy the Fixer last night. I loved when Viv guest starred. How come in season 5 and 6 she didn't guest star anymore?

 

She had been diagnosed with cancer and was apparently dealing with that.  She wasn't doing any movies or TV during that period.

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I thought Viv's cancer happened when they were reunited doing Lucy calls the President.

 

It came back.  Vivian was considering joining Here's Lucy as a regular in the 5th season.  Lucie Arnaz was possibly going to be spun off into her own series, so Lucy was interested in having Vivian back.  But then Lucie Arnaz's series was not picked up, and Vivian got her cancer diagnosis, so it didn't happen.

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Love the special features of Season 1, including the Lucy Hunts Uranium/Lucy Goes to Sun Valley home movies, and that 1965 Lucy/Gary home movie. And the Lucy @ LAX outtakes. Why didn't any of the outtakes have sound? I could tell during the opening sequence taping that she was singing "la de daa de da" or something. I know the opening shots didn't really require sound but the airport outtakes could've had it.

 

Why did it take them a whole month to tape the LAX episode? I think I was at that airport in 2005, lol. Unless it's been completely remodeled. I don't really remember what it looked like back then, but it was obviously different than what it looked like in 1968. Anyway, it took 2 months to shoot. On the clapboard for the first part it says July 29th-30th, then the 2nd part is August 29th. The blue screen of Lucy and Harry in the scooter was obviously done later in October, in post prod. The airport episode is super out there, but it's kind of funny nonetheless, especially when they're on the baggage conveyer belt and they get on the window washer's thing. I wonder if Bob & Madelyn were at an airport and figured Lucy could get into all sorts of trouble in an airport with the baggage carts and the carts that taxi the planes down the runway (?? didn't know that's how it worked, lol)

 

I was also trying to figure out where the driving instructor took Craig in the drivers license episode. I could sort of make out Lexington avenue but that's all I could see. It was clearly blue screened, I know. lol.

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Bob and Madelyn were nowhere around for this episode and hadn't been for the last 5 years.  It sprang from the mind of producer Tommy Thompson who was stuck at the LA airport one day. Observing the goings-on, he pictured Lucy and Gale.  Don't know who wrote the episode but I think Thompson took co-writer credit, if not a solo credit.  I applaud them for getting out of the studio, but something of a cohesive plot would have been nice thing to frame the endless chase scenes around.  Some funny bits, but Lucie and Desi suddenly appearing with chef hats and a cart full of pies was a bit too much.  Even the 3 Stooges would have set this up better!

 


-----The airport episode is super out there, but it's kind of funny nonetheless, especially when they're on the baggage conveyer belt and they get on the window washer's thing. I wonder if Bob & Madelyn were at an airport and figured Lucy could get into all sorts of trouble in an airport with the baggage carts and the carts that taxi the planes down the runway (?? didn't know that's how it worked, lol)------

 

 

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The first three years are very broad and quite in keeping with programming of the late '60s. Season One suffers from the kids' lack of experience, but like The Lucy Show, the writers give Lucy time to do some astounding bits. So the year boasts several classic episodes mostly because of her performance. Seasons Two and Three are very inconsistent. Too many forgettable installments with unbelievably trite scripts (especially in Season Three). 

 

As I've stated elsewhere, Bob and Madelyn singlehandedly reintroduced logic into the stories and warmth into the relationships. Season Four is an odd jumble of the inane and the smart, making for a very uneven year. Things improve with Season Five, which is perhaps the most consistent of the lot. But for hilarity, I must give the edge to Season Six, which, though not without its duds, has a handful of truly superb excursions with big laughs that don't come at the expense of the characters. 

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Isn't this the review that cites the Lucy Show episode "Mechanical Man" which had been rerun shortly before HL debuted as an amusing episode of HL?  Seems to me the critic was TRYING to find something good to say about HL but admitted he "can't make friends with this show".   These reviews are usually based on seeing only one or two episodes.  This one pointed out some aspects of "Impossible Mission" saying the suspended animation spray was funny but an overused bit. 

In the 1963 of "the Lucy Show", the reviewer cited "NY Eve" and "Viv Sues".  BTW, he loved "The Lucy Show" saying something like "I Love Lucy showed only about a fifth of Lucy's talents.  More of them are visible on The Lucy Show."

Its the same old Lucy alright.. and she does her zany darndest to make you give a damn.. The trouble is, you don't. - TV critic at the time Here's Lucy was on the air.

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Nor would I.  Have no idea what this reviewer was thinking; or how he came up with the fraction: "a fifth".  It appears from his review that he had only seen "Viv Sues" and "New Years Eve", the latter he refers to as "the best of the lot so far".  

He does point out one of those small moments in NYEve that made Lucy so great.  The pride Lucy shows when Jerry gentlemanly pulls her chair out for her.  So brief, but so real and memorable.

I love everything about "NYEve", but it's got a lot of competition as the best of the14 episodes shown in 1962: "Kangaroo" "Music Lover" "Lose $2000" "TV Antenna" and  "Lucy and Her Electric Mattress". 

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