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Paste's 20 Most Underrated I Love Lucy episodes


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My personal list of "under-rated".  By that I mean, the ones the general public never mentions. My titles sometimes vary from the actual.  Though it's a fine episode, if we're talking OVER rated, I pick "Job Switching"

 

"Diet"--the best of those early episodes 

"Gossip"--if that's the one with Bobbie as the milkman

First half of "Club Election"--before it gets to Ricky and Fred squiring Ruth Knickerbocker's mother around

"Ricky Wants a Raise"

"Anniversary/Pearls"

"Operetta"

"No Children Allowed"

"Lucy Hires a Maid"

"Charm School"

"Million Dollar Idea"

"The Sublease"

"Equal Rights"

"Matchmaker/Hal March"

"Business Manager"

"Mr. and Mrs. TV Show"

"Lucy's Mother In Law"

"Sam and Dorothy"

"Lucy Tells Truth"

"Ethel's Birthday"

"Lucy Learns to Drive"

"California, Here We Come"

"First Stop"

"Ethel's Home Town"

"Visit to Bent Fork" (Teensy&Weensy)

"Lucy Gets In Pictures"

"Hollywood Anniversary"

"Fashion Show/Don Loper"

"Ricky Sells Car"

"John Wayne 1 and 2"

"Great Train Robbery"

"Raffle/European Booking"

"Staten Island Ferry"

"Paris At Last"

"Europe Bicycle Trip"

"Returning Home from Europe"

"Lucy Wants to Move to Country"

"Housewarming"

"Buys New Furniture in Connecticut"

"Country Club Dance"

 

I got a little carried away because my list tally is 40, almost 25% of the entire series!

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My personal list of "under-rated". By that I mean, the ones the general public never mentions. My titles sometimes vary from the actual. Though it's a fine episode, if we're talking OVER rated, I pick "Job Switching"

 

"Diet"--the best of those early episodes

"Gossip"--if that's the one with Bobbie as the milkman

First half of "Club Election"--before it gets to Ricky and Fred squiring Ruth Knickerbocker's mother around

"Ricky Wants a Raise"

"Anniversary/Pearls"

"Operetta"

"No Children Allowed"

"Lucy Hires a Maid"

"Charm School"

"Million Dollar Idea"

"The Sublease"

"Equal Rights"

"Matchmaker/Hal March"

"Business Manager"

"Mr. and Mrs. TV Show"

"Lucy's Mother In Law"

"Sam and Dorothy"

"Lucy Tells Truth"

"Ethel's Birthday"

"Lucy Learns to Drive"

"California, Here We Come"

"First Stop"

"Ethel's Home Town"

"Visit to Bent Fork" (Teensy&Weensy)

"Lucy Gets In Pictures"

"Hollywood Anniversary"

"Fashion Show/Don Loper"

"Ricky Sells Car"

"John Wayne 1 and 2"

"Great Train Robbery"

"Raffle/European Booking"

"Staten Island Ferry"

"Paris At Last"

"Europe Bicycle Trip"

"Returning Home from Europe"

"Lucy Wants to Move to Country"

"Housewarming"

"Buys New Furniture in Connecticut"

"Country Club Dance"

 

I got a little carried away because my list tally is 40, almost 25% of the entire series!

I am with you all the way on this one!! And Job Switching is over rated and over used..its like the go to I Love Lucy moment...I guess I'm gonna have to accept it ...bet if it was rarely discussed it'd make your list lol.

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My vote for most overrated episode is TV Commercial. I don't think it's particularly good until Lucy's big comedy scene. The lack of Viv also is a disappointment. I think Job Switching gets all the praise it deserves.

Anyway, here are my twenty or so most underrated episodes:

The Diet

Lucy Writes A Play

Fred and Ethel Fight

Lucy Gets Ricky On The Radio

The Operetta

Lucy Hires an English Tutor

Lucy Hires A Maid

The Indian Show

Never Do Business With Friends

Lucy and Ethel Buy The Same Dress

Lucy is Envious

Ethel's Birthday

Ethel's Hometown

Lucy Gets Into Pictures

The Fashion Show

Ricky Needs an Agent

The Dancing Star

Lucy Goes To Monte Carlo

Off To Florida

Lucy and The Loving Cup

Lucy Gets Chummy With The Neighbors

Housewarming

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Agree about "TV Commercial" and "Job Switching".

 

I think part of the problem there is that, as the de facto "Top Two" episodes, they're the most talked about and over hyped, especially among casual fans. They were also the most readily available on videotape, so we saw them over and over and over again. I think the overexposure may have dampened the appeal to more hardcore fans, who appreciate the many other moments that equally, if not better, capture the heart of the series.

 

Though if we're talking overrated, I think "Italian Movie" takes the cake.

 

I love all the underrated episodes mentioned here. They all make my list as well.

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Everyone always talks about the Hollywood episodes, but for me the real fun was the lead up to Hollywood. The writers did such a brilliant job building anticipation that you can feel the energy grow each passing week. "Getting Ready" and "Lucy Learns to Drive" is my favorite two parter of the whole series.

 

Considering how famous the publicity still of them in the car is, I'm amazed "California Here We Come" doesn't get more attention. That gets my vote for the best ever Lucy script. Perfectly paced, with standout moments for each character, not to mention the fantastic introduction to Mrs. McGillicuddy.

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Everyone always talks about the Hollywood episodes, but for me the real fun was the lead up to Hollywood. The writers did such a brilliant job building anticipation that you can feel the energy grow each passing week. "Getting Ready" and "Lucy Learns to Drive" is my favorite two parter of the whole series.

 

Considering how famous the publicity still of them in the car is, I'm amazed "California Here We Come" doesn't get more attention. That gets my vote for the best ever Lucy script. Perfectly paced, with standout moments for each character, not to mention the fantastic introduction to Mrs. McGillicuddy.

Honestly I couldn't tell you any specific moments from California, Here We Come save for the final scene. Those Hollywood build-ups, although expertly and brilliantly written, all kind of run together in my mind. I'll have to rewatch CHWC.
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California Here We Come seemed to me to be about 15 minutes of an episode stretched into 30 mins and yes all those lead up episodes run together. In my “watch everything in order” experiment it just seemed like a bit too much. Basically this episode is Act One-let’s fight about who is and isn’t going. Act Two-pack the car. I’m wondering if we cut some stuff down in a few of the other episodes could we fit the very funny packing the car scene in and the singing over the bridge and got rid of the 15 minutes worth of fighting.

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Huh, okay. I guess I've seen it enough that I have the entire script memorized. I just find it to be a non-stop series of laugh inducing moments:

 

Lucy's itinerary map

Ethel: "Oh, just wait 'til Mickey Richardson hears about this!"

Ricky: "No, I didn't even know that you could..." Lucy: "RICKY!"

Fred: "Nothing...nothing at all!"

The girls bringing all the stuff down to pack in the car, ending with Lucy throwing the box at Fred.

Ethel: "Honestly, I could've loaded it better with a pitchfork!"

 

I personally never found it padded. Yes, the lead-up shows do kind of run together, but considering how strongly the story-arc was developed I never minded that. It worked to build anticipation and excitement.

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I am with you all the way on this one!! And Job Switching is over rated and over used..its like the go to I Love Lucy moment...I guess I'm gonna have to accept it ...bet if it was rarely discussed it'd make your list lol.

ONG!

I forgot an episode on my list that has off and on been my #1 favorite episode "The Dancing Star"!!

There are so many Hollywood episodes that are great but I didn't want to be too Hollywood heavy.  It is definitely the longest stretch of great ILL episodes in its history. 

IMO, The only "fair" Hollywood episodes (and even these are good) are three in New York:  "Movie Offer" "Ricky's Contract" and "Screen Test" (the director was bad casting) but once we get to Hollywood, only one that falls short of excellent:  "Don Juan Gets Shelved" .  I might add "Lucy and the Dummy" even though her "I Get Ideas" routine is brilliant. 

I don't know what prompted them to return to New York because Hollywood had not run out of steam.  They didn't spend much  time back there before going off to Europe (only 3 episodes that had nothing to do with Hollywood or Europe).   I don't know why they didn't just settle the Ricardos and Mertzes in LA.  Could have moved them out to Chatsworth for the "country" episodes.  (I think the San Fernando Valley was still pretty countrified in 1955).   Ricky could have gotten a regular gig at Ciro's and Fred could have bought an LA apartment complex. 

There are a two episode of ILL that I did not see until many many years later.  "Dummy" is one and "The Ricardos Visit Cuba" is the other, the latter was not shown by CBS during the daytime stripping after Castro took over. (though they showed "Havana" as part of LDCH--maybe because it was depicting 1940 Cuba).   I don't know if I just missed "Dummy" when it was run or it was pulled for some reason.   I also don't remember "Night In Town" where they see "Most Happy Fella".   

An of course, the mysterious Christmas episode.  When Bart Andrews (GodBlessHIm) wrote that first book, he had nothing to go on for that episode.  No plot synopsis and nobody he interviewed remembered it.  He wrote something like "apparently is wasn't any good".   He wrote the book before VCRs, VHS tape releases and cable, so unless your local station still ran it, you didn't get to see it.   While it's great to have them all at my fingertips, there's that thrill of anticipation gone forever: tuning in and not knowing what episode it might be; or even recognizing the particular episode for quite some time into the show.    Until Bart's book came out, there wasn't an entire episode guide available anywhere.   Since most of TV had gone color-only, only the larger markets with more independent stations were running it at that time.  We in Portland were I Love Lucy-less from about 1970 to 1977 (certainly my formative years), when a station brought it back with some fanfare for the coveted 7pm weeknight time slot.  

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I was just thinking recently about how Cheers and Friends are considered to be the first shows with lots of small story arcs, but really, ILL did it first. Originally out of necessity (the baby) and afterwards in order to keep things fresh and interesting.

True. The first three seasons mainly consisted of standalone episodes (apart from the baby arc) but come season 4 there was a lot of emphasis on continuity. Even Lucy's Don Loper original got a shoutout in Europe.

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This sort of thinking might have helped people warm up to "The Lucy Show".  IMO, 2/3rds of the third season is a waste of time and talent.  They could have centered at least half  the season's worth of plots  around the build up to the format change, including Mooney getting transferred to LA and Lucy getting the idea from him.   By this time, we accept anything from TLS, but the idea that Mooney and Lucy would both moved to LA at the same time without the other knowing in a town the size of Danfield is preposterous---let alone being involved with the same bank--especially when the weekly adventures of Lucy in Danfield somehow involved Mooney on a weekly basis. 

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This sort of thinking might have helped people warm up to "The Lucy Show".  IMO, 2/3rds of the third season is a waste of time and talent.  They could have centered at least half  the season's worth of plots  around the build up to the format change, including Mooney getting transferred to LA and Lucy getting the idea from him.   By this time, we accept anything from TLS, but the idea that Mooney and Lucy would both moved to LA at the same time without the other knowing in a town the size of Danfield is preposterous---let alone being involved with the same bank--especially when the weekly adventures of Lucy in Danfield somehow involved Mooney on a weekly basis. 

 

Definitely. The Lucy Show was lacking in the continuity and story arc department. Lots of funny individual moments but no greater purpose, no overall sense it had a reason to be. That might sound harsh, but a lot of it felt kind of pointless. Here's Lucy tried to rectify this by introducing her kids, but the even sillier storylines didn't help the cause.

 

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy her later shows for what they are, but my interest in them tends to dwindle easily, whereas I'm always up for I Love Lucy.

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  • 10 months later...

Some very interesting -- if not unusual, but reasoned -- choices here! In any event, it is refreshing!

 

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/01/the-20-most-underrated-i-love-lucy-episodes.html

 

Some of the episodes on this list should have not been included like "Lucy Raises Chickens"/"Lucy Does the Tango" 2-parter, "Lucy Tells the Truth", "The Ballet", "Ethel's Hometown", and "The First Stop" and maybe even "Lucy and the Loving Cup", "Building a Barbecue" and "Ethel's Birthday". The said episodes have consistently been regarded as some of the best and featured in marathons that highlight the best of I Love Lucy.

 

The one episode that I definitely agree as underrated is "The Tour". That one is definitely a classic. I remember reading an article that mentions Lucy telling the story of a big fan trying to get into her backyard by hopping over her fence just like how Lucy Ricardo did with Richard Widmark's.

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Some of the episodes on this list should have not been included like "Lucy Raises Chickens"/"Lucy Does the Tango" 2-parter, "Lucy Tells the Truth", "The Ballet", "Ethel's Hometown", and "The First Stop" and maybe even "Lucy and the Loving Cup", "Building a Barbecue" and "Ethel's Birthday". The said episodes have consistently been regarded as some of the best and featured in marathons that highlight the best of I Love Lucy.

 

The one episode that I definitely agree as underrated is "The Tour". That one is definitely a classic. I remember reading an article that mentions Lucy telling the story of a big fan trying to get into her backyard by hopping over her fence just like how Lucy Ricardo did with Richard Widmark's.

I can't be sure but I think they were speaking in terms of the casual viewer unfamiliar with each and every episode by name as us diehards would be; I never agree with these type of "Top whatever" lists because it's so subjective -- at this point, most of us know these episodes inside and out, miming lines by heart perhaps without even realizing it half the time....and while this particular list gets a lot of it "right", there's almost as many I can't agree with, first and foremost -- and starting it out with, at #1! -- my likely pick for all-time worst ILL, and that's "Drafted".  Not sure what they saw in this early 1st season episode -- when the show was still finding it's bearings -- to include it in this otherwise mostly on-point list, but this choice I'll never agree with.  Also others I would never include -- though they all have their "charms": "Cupid", "Visitor from Italy", "Gets a Dog", "Nursery School" and "Old Girlfriend", none of which IMHO are "worthy" to be included in a "best" list; but otherwise they got so many right, chief among them for me "Ethel's Birthday", "Fashion Show" and "Courtroom", which all feature our fearless foursome to such good effect and I never get tired of viewing!

 

But then....to each his own! :peachonthebeach:

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