The Lucy Show Season 3: Reviews and First Impressions!

[mark bale]

Didnt the Doris Day Show change format and continuity each season

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Didnt the Doris Day Show change format and continuity each season

Pretty much! Widowed, two kids (sound familiar??), lived on a farm and by the time of Season 5, no mention of the kids or family and she was a swinging San Francisco single career gal, circa 1972!

[C L A U D E]

Where Lucy gets into Danny's TV special, and he keeps calling her "Red"

The one where she kicks her shoe off camera and he can't fire someone from their first job? What the heck was wrong with that show?

[C L A U D E]

Pretty much! Widowed, two kids (sound familiar??), lived on a farm and by the time of Season 5, no mention of the kids or family and she was a swinging San Francisco single career gal, circa 1972!

That's because when her husband Marty died, Doris found out he wasted all her money and she had even been signed to do this show on tv set on a farm for chrissakes, and she eventually changed it to something more suitable for her, something mroe sophisticated and to her liking. Lucy's going to Hollywood solved the problem of Viv leaving, gave her much higher ratings and a new format that could exploit Hollywood stars coming on in different situations than the ones she had been doing for years now, she had done the family BIT to death and needed something new, of course she repeated the pattern in her next series but this time introducing her own kids and one of them left Viv like after three seasons, LOL!

[mark bale]

I thought Doris Day changed the format EACH season which alienated viewers over the long term.

[C L A U D E]

I thought Doris Day changed the format EACH season which alienated viewers over the long term.

Not at all, she changed it to make it more sophisticated, she hated the family on a farm set up that was the original idea.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

I thought Doris Day changed the format EACH season which alienated viewers over the long term.

She very well may have but frankly, I haven't seen them as far as I can recall, since their original broadcasts, so I don't honestly remember since that was 100 years ago! It definitely changed formats at least 3 times though, which for a series that only ran 5 seasons, is a bit much!

 

Since the entire series is now out on DVD to check out if need be plus I'm sure there are Doris Day Show "experts" out there akin to the ginormous Lucy fans here on this board who could answer that question a lot better than I ever could, so there IS a way to find out just don't go entirely by me!

[C L A U D E]

She very well may have but frankly, I haven't seen them as far as I can recall, since their original broadcasts, so I don't honestly remember since that was 100 years ago! It definitely changed formats at least 3 times though, which for a series that only ran 5 seasons, is a bit much!

 

Since the entire series is now out on DVD to check out if need be plus I'm sure there are Doris Day Show "experts" out there akin to the ginormous Lucy fans here on this board who could answer that question a lot better than I ever could, so there IS a way to find out just don't go entirely by me!

I think it ran only FOUR seasons and only one format change was really noticeable, the first main one. But as much as i LOVE her, the show was no big deal and certainly not Lucy funny.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

I think it ran only FOUR seasons and only one format change was really noticeable, the first main one. But as much as i LOVE her, the show was no big deal and certainly not Lucy funny.

Nope, five THAT I remember distinctly and all five seasons are available on MPI Home video (same folks who are bringing us HL and TLBS), season by season OR an entire series collection box:

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062558/

 

http://www.imdb.com/...062558/episodes

 

http://www.mpihomevi...&value=DORISDAY

[C L A U D E]

Nope, five THAT I remember distinctly and all five seasons are available on MPI Home video (same folks who are bringing us HL and TLBS), season by season OR an entire series collection box:

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062558/

 

http://www.imdb.com/...062558/episodes

 

http://www.mpihomevi...&value=DORISDAY

Sorry but the box i saw downtown only had FOUR dvd boxes so i assumed it was FOUR seasons, did they combine two on one box? If she did five and therefore had over a hundred eps, why wasn't it BIG in syndication then? Oh yeah, cause it wasn't funny, that's why. LOL! I even bought one of her SPECIALS and it too was very dated but she's so friggin beautiful and sings like a dream, but i think her forte was sophisticated comedies on the big screen, those are timeless. Although with Doris, her musicals and dramas are just as great as her comedies, the woman can do anything.

[HarryCarter]

Sorry but the box i saw downtown only had FOUR dvd boxes so i assumed it was FOUR seasons, did they combine two on one box? If she did five and therefore had over a hundred eps, why wasn't it BIG in syndication then? Oh yeah, cause it wasn't funny, that's why. LOL! I even bought one of her SPECIALS and it too was very dated but she's so friggin beautiful and sings like a dream, but i think her forte was sophisticated comedies on the big screen, those are timeless. Although with Doris, her musicals and dramas are just as great as her comedies, the woman can do anything.

 

The reason typically given for the lack of success of "The Doris Day Show" in syndication is the format changes.In the first season, Doris lived on the farm with her father and two sons. In the second season, she got a job at "Today's World" magazine as an executive assistant alongside Rose Marie's character with McLean Stevenson as her boss. In the third season, she still worked at the magazine with the same people, but no longer lived on the farm. She had an apartment in San Francisco over an Italian restaurant owned by Kaye Ballard and Bernie Koppell. In the fourth season, she worked as a reporter for the magazine and Rose Marie and McLean Stevenson were gone with Jackie Joseph and John Denher replacing them. The biggest change here was that were her children no longer existed and she was "Miss Doris Martin." In the fifth season, Kaye and Bernie were gone and the apartment was now owned by Mr. Jarvis, played by Billy DeWolf.

Although I don't think the show is a laugh riot, I find it very enjoyable. With people like Doris, Rose Marie, and Kaye there's something good there.

[C L A U D E]

The reason typically given for the lack of success of "The Doris Day Show" in syndication is the format changes.In the first season, Doris lived on the farm with her father and two sons. In the second season, she got a job at "Today's World" magazine as an executive assistant alongside Rose Marie's character with McLean Stevenson as her boss. In the third season, she still worked at the magazine with the same people, but no longer lived on the farm. She had an apartment in San Francisco over an Italian restaurant owned by Kaye Ballard and Bernie Koppell. In the fourth season, she worked as a reporter for the magazine and Rose Marie and McLean Stevenson were gone with Jackie Joseph and John Denher replacing them. The biggest change here was that were her children no longer existed and she was "Miss Doris Martin." In the fifth season, Kaye and Bernie were gone and the apartment was now owned by Mr. Jarvis, played by Billy DeWolf.

Although I don't think the show is a laugh riot, I find it very enjoyable. With people like Doris, Rose Marie, and Kaye there's something good there.

Wow, that's a whole lot of format changes, did not remember all that as the show just wasn't that memorable. You know, seeing as you have all the answers, what was the reason The Danny Thomas shows did not do better than it did in syndication, i mean it ran forever but never had the tv success in syndication that other shows like The Brady Bunch or Gilligan's Island had with much shorter runs.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Wow, that's a whole lot of format changes, did not remember all that as the show just wasn't that memorable. You know, seeing as you have all the answers, what was the reason The Danny Thomas shows did not do better than it did in syndication, i mean it ran forever but never had the tv success in syndication that other shows like The Brady Bunch or Gilligan's Island had with much shorter runs.

I'll take a stab at it: there's no accounting for taste??

 

But serially.... Funny you coincidentally or not picked Sherwood Schwartz's (who with brother Lloyd has a new book out about the Brady Bunch phenomenon) two biggest shows of all time, despite other attempts... but my guess in BB's case would be it's kid friendly and came out at a time when family sitcoms were popular, for one thing.

 

As for GI well, I don't think anyone's ever figured out why that became an evergreen. I certainly can't explain it!

 

 

[C L A U D E]

I'll take a stab at it: there's no accounting for taste??

 

But serially.... Funny you coincidentally or not picked Sherwood Schwartz's (who with brother Lloyd has a new book out about the Brady Bunch phenomenon) two biggest shows of all time, despite other attempts... but my guess in BB's case would be it's kid friendly and came out at a time when family sitcoms were popular, for one thing.

 

As for GI well, I don't think anyone's ever figured out why that became an evergreen. I certainly can't explain it!

I watched Gilligan but thought it infantile, i never watched Brady Bunch as it was too sacharine for me, saw a few eps in reruns over the decades though. I also wonder if the reason there is NO Lucy mention in Marlo Thomas' book on fellow comedians who used to visit her dad's house is because Lucy beat her out of an Emmy nod or because her shows did so much better than her dad's shows in syndication. He might not have made as many millions off his own show as he did all the other ones he produced and syndicated with Sheldon Leonard.

[mark bale]

I wonder if Lucy's guest spot on THE PRACTICE will turn up on s5 or s6 of HERES LUCY???

[HarryCarter]

I watched Gilligan but thought it infantile, i never watched Brady Bunch as it was too sacharine for me, saw a few eps in reruns over the decades though. I also wonder if the reason there is NO Lucy mention in Marlo Thomas' book on fellow comedians who used to visit her dad's house is because Lucy beat her out of an Emmy nod or because her shows did so much better than her dad's shows in syndication. He might not have made as many millions off his own show as he did all the other ones he produced and syndicated with Sheldon Leonard.

 

 

Marlo always speaks very highly of Lucy. She frequently mentions in interviews how men on the Desilu lot would make jokes about Lucy and her because they were the bosses of their respective shows (and Lucy, the studio). The big joke was "Marlo's in the men's room having a meeting with Lucy."

 

I think the reason The Danny Thomas Show isn't syndicated is because of legal reasons. Danny was not happy when Jean Hagen quit the show after the third season and, suppposedly, prevented the episodes featuring her from being syndicated because she owned a part of them. The fourth season had Danny as a widower and think that one was aired very rarely since the storyline was different from the subsequent seasons. It was also the final season aired on ABC. The rest were on CBS. Seasons five through nine part of Nick at Nite's line up early on in the late '80s. I believe Marjorie Lord has a percentage in the last two seasons. I don't know if that has anything to do with why they weren't included in the Nick at Nite package. There are over 350 episodes of the series and stations do not usually like that many episodes of a particular show. The fifth and sixth seasons have been released on DVD.

[HarryCarter]

I wonder if Lucy's guest spot on THE PRACTICE will turn up on s5 or s6 of HERES LUCY???

 

I have no idea if it will be included, but if it is, I'm sure it would be in season six since Danny Thomas guest starred during that season.

[C L A U D E]

Marlo always speaks very highly of Lucy. She frequently mentions in interviews how men on the Desilu lot would make jokes about Lucy and her because they were the bosses of their respective shows (and Lucy, the studio). The big joke was "Marlo's in the men's room having a meeting with Lucy."

 

I think the reason The Danny Thomas Show isn't syndicated is because of legal reasons. Danny was not happy when Jean Hagen quit the show after the third season and, suppposedly, prevented the episodes featuring her from being syndicated because she owned a part of them. The fourth season had Danny as a widower and think that one was aired very rarely since the storyline was different from the subsequent seasons. It was also the final season aired on ABC. The rest were on CBS. Seasons five through nine part of Nick at Nite's line up early on in the late '80s. I believe Marjorie Lord has a percentage in the last two seasons. I don't know if that has anything to do with why they weren't included in the Nick at Nite package. There are over 350 episodes of the series and stations do not usually like that many episodes of a particular show. The fifth and sixth seasons have been released on DVD.

Oh i know Marlo's been very kind to Lucy in her comments but i just dun't get why no Lucy mention in a new book about comic actors. LOved your story about Marlo and Lucy in the men's room, had never heard that one before. And i also LOVE your thorough info on Danny's long running series. You are a wealth of knowledge my boy!

[Neil]

 

I think the reason The Danny Thomas Show isn't syndicated is because of legal reasons. Danny was not happy when Jean Hagen quit the show after the third season and, suppposedly, prevented the episodes featuring her from being syndicated because she owned a part of them. The fourth season had Danny as a widower and think that one was aired very rarely since the storyline was different from the subsequent seasons. It was also the final season aired on ABC. The rest were on CBS. Seasons five through nine part of Nick at Nite's line up early on in the late '80s. I believe Marjorie Lord has a percentage in the last two seasons. I don't know if that has anything to do with why they weren't included in the Nick at Nite package. There are over 350 episodes of the series and stations do not usually like that many episodes of a particular show,

 

I'm not aware of "The Danny Thomas Show" having ANY syndication after it left the air in 1964 which I always thought very strange since half-hour sitcom reruns were in such high demand that even single season shows in the days of 39 episodes a season (such as Desilu's "Guestward Ho") go some play. In '64, the catalog of these shows was so small that it was common to air ten-year old series in the early evening. Among them: "Our Miss Brooks" "Private Secretary" and with only 2 seasons of original episodes "Topper". So with 350 episodes and an exit from network TV still in the top 10, why no "DT"? You'd think the ownership issue could have been worked out. It is one of just a few series to air on all three networks with daytime reruns (with the "Make Room" title) running of all places on NBC (!) for 5 years concurrent to the CBS originals and continuing even after the CBS run was over for a year. I'm pretty sure the NBC shows were the Hagen years only. And I'm not aware of NBC stripping any other sitcom at the same time. Not only did it air on NBC 5 days a week in the afternoon, they scheduled is for THREE full years as part of their Saturday morning line up in the middle of cartoons, a baffling scheduling decision since it's a show with virtually NO kid appeal. The ratings must have been OK to run that long.

Like "The Lucy Show", "DT" was subjected to a summer replacement (including the first series run of "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" in the summer of '62) which means that the bulk of the original episodes were broadcast only ONCE.

"Lucy Makes Room for Danny" fooled me into thinking "The Danny Thomas Show" was of the same quality. I've only seen a handful of them and those have not aged well. I've never heard of "DT" having standout episodes like "Vita" or "Grape Stomping" that everyone remembers.

And since we have veered off topic, I say "Stand by for another troop movement!"

[C L A U D E]

I'm not aware of "The Danny Thomas Show" having ANY syndication after it left the air in 1964 which I always thought very strange since half-hour sitcom reruns were in such high demand that even single season shows in the days of 39 episodes a season (such as Desilu's "Guestward Ho") go some play. In '64, the catalog of these shows was so small that it was common to air ten-year old series in the early evening. Among them: "Our Miss Brooks" "Private Secretary" and with only 2 seasons of original episodes "Topper". So with 350 episodes and an exit from network TV still in the top 10, why no "DT"? You'd think the ownership issue could have been worked out. It is one of just a few series to air on all three networks with daytime reruns (with the "Make Room" title) running of all places on NBC (!) for 5 years concurrent to the CBS originals and continuing even after the CBS run was over for a year. I'm pretty sure the NBC shows were the Hagen years only. And I'm not aware of NBC stripping any other sitcom at the same time. Not only did it air on NBC 5 days a week in the afternoon, they scheduled is for THREE full years as part of their Saturday morning line up in the middle of cartoons, a baffling scheduling decision since it's a show with virtually NO kid appeal. The ratings must have been OK to run that long.

Like "The Lucy Show", "DT" was subjected to a summer replacement (including the first series run of "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" in the summer of '62) which means that the bulk of the original episodes were broadcast only ONCE.

"Lucy Makes Room for Danny" fooled me into thinking "The Danny Thomas Show" was of the same quality. I've only seen a handful of them and those have not aged well. I've never heard of "DT" having standout episodes like "Vita" or "Grape Stomping" that everyone remembers.

And since we have veered off topic, I say "Stand by for another troop movement!"

I dun't agree with the show not having any KID appeal, it was after all a family comedy, Danny had kids, Angela Cartwright and Rusty Hamer were two of the best KIDDIES on tv in those days, both could deliver lines like pros and Rusty sometimes had the biggest laughs in the show as he proved on his guest stint on the Lucy/Desi comedy hour. BUT, i do agree with you that none of the shows were ever memorable in any way and certainly no laugh riots. But why the hell did it run so long then? It was classic situation comedy based on real life events and well developed characters, one was even in show biz like Ricky Ricardo and his wife was gorgeous like Lucy and they had warmth galore in most shows. I cannot understand for the life of me why a man who produced and syndicated so many other shows, ie Gomer Pyle and Andy Griffith among many others, couldn't get his own show all over the tube.

[Will]

That's because when her husband Marty died, Doris found out he wasted all her money and she had even been signed to do this show on tv set on a farm for chrissakes, and she eventually changed it to something more suitable for her, something mroe sophisticated and to her liking. Lucy's going to Hollywood solved the problem of Viv leaving, gave her much higher ratings and a new format that could exploit Hollywood stars coming on in different situations than the ones she had been doing for years now, she had done the family BIT to death and needed something new, of course she repeated the pattern in her next series but this time introducing her own kids and one of them left Viv like after three seasons, LOL!

 

I think that The Lucy Show lasted as long and got to be a partial success in syndication because of the Hollywood eposides from seasons 4-6. I think that Lucy was smart in changing formats. I find many of my favorite post I Love Lucy moments in these later seasons: Lucy the Gun Moll, Lucy Gets a Roomate, Lucy and Milton Berle, Lucy and the Ring, Main Street U.S.A, Lucy and Phil Silvers, Lucy's Substitute Secretary, etc... had great comedy bits and were new and exciting. I think the change kept the show going and gave Lucy her 2 emmys. The Show even got a Best Comedy nomination. Here's Lucy returned to the family format and I don't like it as much as I Love LUcy and the Lucy Show. The first 2 were laugh out loud funny but Here's Lucy had its moments but was not the same. If The LUcy Show kept the family format going I think Lucy's ratings would have dropped and not gone to #1 (later 1967) and possibly could have effected her chance of getting here's Lucy on air.

[C L A U D E]

I think that The Lucy Show lasted as long and got to be a partial success in syndication because of the Hollywood eposides from seasons 4-6. I think that Lucy was smart in changing formats. I find many of my favorite post I Love Lucy moments in these later seasons: Lucy the Gun Moll, Lucy Gets a Roomate, Lucy and Milton Berle, Lucy and the Ring, Main Street U.S.A, Lucy and Phil Silvers, Lucy's Substitute Secretary, etc... had great comedy bits and were new and exciting. I think the change kept the show going and gave Lucy her 2 emmys. The Show even got a Best Comedy nomination. Here's Lucy returned to the family format and I don't like it as much as I Love LUcy and the Lucy Show. The first 2 were laugh out loud funny but Here's Lucy had its moments but was not the same. If The LUcy Show kept the family format going I think Lucy's ratings would have dropped and not gone to #1 (later 1967) and possibly could have effected her chance of getting here's Lucy on air.

And does GRACE feel the same way Will? Finally, someone who agrees with me that the last three seasons were better and funnier than the first three, LOL! It was called The Lucy Show and the last three seasons were all about L U C Y. As for her Emmys, i would love to know which eps she submitted and therefore won her those two Emmys. I still say her talents really shone in those last three seasons and she was then the undisputed Queen of Television, First Lady and all that and she was the BIGGEST star on television and one of the biggest stars in the world AND she owned and ran Desilu from '62 to '67 so maybe Hollywood just decided to reward her and finally looked at her as the superstar she had become, a powerhouse in entertainment who could do anything including leading the ratings, and we all know usually, the biggest HITS do NOT get awards, the not seen by anybody shows are the ones that win big, it's rare that a number one hit gets awards, even today GLEE is not the norm, the usual winners like 30 Rock and The Office don't have that much of an audience.

[mikidiki]

And does GRACE feel the same way Will? Finally, someone who agrees with me that the last three seasons were better and funnier than the first three, LOL! It was called The Lucy Show and the last three seasons were all about L U C Y. As for her Emmys, i would love to know which eps she submitted and therefore won her those two Emmys. I still say her talents really shone in those last three seasons and she was then the undisputed Queen of Television, First Lady and all that and she was the BIGGEST star on television and one of the biggest stars in the world AND she owned and ran Desilu from '62 to '67 so maybe Hollywood just decided to reward her and finally looked at her as the superstar she had become, a powerhouse in entertainment who could do anything including leading the ratings, and we all know usually, the biggest HITS do NOT get awards, the not seen by anybody shows are the ones that win big, it's rare that a number one hit gets awards, even today GLEE is not the norm, the usual winners like 30 Rock and The Office don't have that much of an audience.

 

Um.........If you haven't forgotten Claude, I HAVE ALWAYS AGREED WITH YOU AS WELL that the last 3 seasons were better and funnier than the first three!! And, I also completely agree with what Will has to say.

[JoeySanJoaquin]

Um.........If you haven't forgotten Claude, I HAVE ALWAYS AGREED WITH YOU AS WELL that the last 3 seasons were better and funnier than the first three!! And, I also completely agree with what Will has to say.

Thank goodness we're all entitled to our opinions and like what we like so forgive me when I say I don't know how anyone can say that when Season One was nearly on an I Love Lucy level of writing and performance and with so many truly classic episodes, which you can't say about the Hollywood eps, much as I enjoy them as well.

 

Plus, I don't like how it seemed they "dumbed down" the Lucy character the longer it went on, especially when she started out so strong in Season One. To me it wasn't just the loss of Viv and the change in locale that made it seem like almost two different, separate shows: the early Lucy Carmichael was much more sophisticated and clever than Hollywood Lucy, sadly. I don't think the addition of prominent guest stars of the day means they had to have her act like an idiot. Pity.

 

 

[C L A U D E]

Um.........If you haven't forgotten Claude, I HAVE ALWAYS AGREED WITH YOU AS WELL that the last 3 seasons were better and funnier than the first three!! And, I also completely agree with what Will has to say.

Sorry babe, i do not keep track of these things and my memory gave up on the scorecard long ago.