The Lucy Show: Two Channels at the Same Time

[LittleRickyII]

How often does that happen?  Well I turned on Decades at 6:30 AM this morning and they were running TLS episode, "Mooney's Other Wife." Then I switched over to MeTV and TLS episode "Lucy and Viv Take up Chemistry" was on.  Well, the latter was no surprise as TLS is on MeTV's regular lineup lately.  But on Decades, they're running two episodes of TLS ("Lucy Sues Mooney" and "Mooney's Other Wife"), along with an episode of Our Miss Brooks ("Mad Man Munsey").  It's all in honor of Gale Gordon, who passed away on this date 21 years ago.  The programming on Decades is all about things that happened on the current day's date in past years.

 

In case you missed them and get Decades, these episodes are being repeated several times throughout the day today, and into the night.

[Neil]

I love "Decades"!   I was hoping Gale would get a segment on the "Through the Decades" daily hour-long retrospective documentary but he did not.

 

I'm sure Decades programmers were looking for Lucy Show's with Mooney in the title so I'm glad they didn't unearth "....,The Monkey".  The 6th season is by far my least favorite.  I just don't like that barren claustrophobic bank set.  But "Sues..." is actually pretty good.  Don't remember much about "Other Wife".   The "Our Miss Brooks" episode is from the last season when they shifted the locale to "Mrs. Nestor's Private School" with Izabel Randolph as Nestor.   Gale is employed by the school is some capacity and his future "The Brothers" co-star Bob Sweeny is a faculty member. (the "Munsey" in the episode title).  They've run an episode or two of "Our Miss Brooks' other times and the prints look great!  I wonder if these are new transfers made for a possible DVD release.  I haven't seen many "Brooks" episodes but it looks entertaining, if not hilarious.   A relatively short run (4 seasons) for a well-remembered show. 

 

21 years ago NickatNite attempted a Gale Gordon tribute.  I don't remember what other shows they ran but in picking their selection from The Lucy Show, they obvious looked through plot outlines and picked "Lucy and Danny Thomas", I'm sure because the synopsis read: "This is the first episode where Lucy Carmichael starts working as Mr. Mooney's secretary".   But the print they ran was the CBS morning edit-version in which all the opening scenes at the bank are cut, so Nick's tribute to Gale was an episode of TLS in which he doesn't appear!

[LittleRickyII]

I love "Decades"!   I was hoping Gale would get a segment on the "Through the Decades" daily hour-long retrospective documentary but he did not.

 

I'm sure Decades programmers were looking for Lucy Show's with Mooney in the title so I'm glad they didn't unearth "....,The Monkey".  The 6th season is by far my least favorite.  I just don't like that barren claustrophobic bank set.  But "Sues..." is actually pretty good.  Don't remember much about "Other Wife".   The "Our Miss Brooks" episode is from the last season when they shifted the locale to "Mrs. Nestor's Private School" with Izabel Randolph as Nestor.   Gale is employed by the school is some capacity and his future "The Brothers" co-star Bob Sweeny is a faculty member. (the "Munsey" in the episode title).  They've run an episode or two of "Our Miss Brooks' other times and the prints look great!  I wonder if these are new transfers made for a possible DVD release.  I haven't seen many "Brooks" episodes but it looks entertaining, if not hilarious.   A relatively short run (4 seasons) for a well-remembered show. 

 

21 years ago NickatNite attempted a Gale Gordon tribute.  I don't remember what other shows they ran but in picking their selection from The Lucy Show, they obvious looked through plot outlines and picked "Lucy and Danny Thomas", I'm sure because the synopsis read: "This is the first episode where Lucy Carmichael starts working as Mr. Mooney's secretary".   But the print they ran was the CBS morning edit-version in which all the opening scenes at the bank are cut, so Nick's tribute to Gale was an episode of TLS in which he doesn't appear!

 

 

Re: Nick@Nite, Oops!

 

"Mooney's Other Wife" had Edie Adams as a guest star, playing a blonde bimbo who met Mr. Mooney at a convention and is infatuated with him.  She comes to town to see him and Mooney's worried about his wife finding out, so he enlists Lucy to pretend to be his wife -- his abused wife -- to try to scare the woman away.  It's no classic, but an entertaining enough episode, although some folks today might be offended by some of the humor: making light of spousal abuse.  Although it's only Lucy pretending to be an abused wife, and Mooney pretending to be a tyrannical husband.

 

You are probably correct about how these particular episodes got selected.  There are very few TLS episodes with "Mooney" in the title.

 

Unfortunately, I don't get Decades all the time.  I'm about 140 miles from the station, which is up in L.A., so It tends to come and go.  The last few weeks it's been coming in most of the time, so I take advantage, particularly when Cavett is on.

 

I caught bits and pieces of the OMB episode, and I agree it looked great.  I never found the show compelling enough to keep my attention for very long, but it's enjoyable enough.  I will certainly watch it over TMIL!

[chedderchester]

They're probably edited beyond oblivion, but at least they'd be edits that aren't that obvious, like on TV Land or Hallmark when they air Golden Girls. I remember watching Lucy Buys a Boat on Me TV and the edits weren't that obvious, like cutting to another scene in the middle of a sentence. 

[Neil]

I watched "Mooney's Other Wife" back to back with an episode from 1st season I had DVR'd a few days ago "Lucy Visits the White House".

 

The contrast is amazing.  You'd hardly know if was the same series.  And I'm not talking about the fact the Lucy is the only character the casts have in common.

 

There's nothing particularly wrong with "Other Wife".  The script is actually pretty funny at times.  But the big differences are:

1) There's very little 1st season Lucy Carmichael in the 6th season character

and

2) In "Other Wife", everything's so LOUD and the acting is so broad.  It must have been gradual because I can't pinpoint when the actors started projecting like they were in an outdoor amphitheater, ignoring the fact that microphones could pick up a whisper. 

 

I'm sure Edie Adams was just doing it the way she was told, but her style here is great for those who thought Paula Stewart as the nurse in "Harry's Tonsils" was too subtle.  Edie had gone through a lot in the 8 years since the LDCH "Meets the Moustache"  (widowhood, financial difficulty, child custody battles....) and it shows.  She's a young ingenue in 1960 and by 1968, she was looking much more like Ann Sothern as the Countess. 

 

Like a lot of 6th season shows, "Mooney's Other Wife" is OK but it's instantly forgettable and one viewing in a lifetime is enough.  There's nothing compelling me to watch it again, whereas the first 58 Lucy Shows, I can watch over and over. 

 

One oddity about the ending: how would Irma even notice the bite marks on Mooney's calf?  Evidently the Mooneys have a more active sex life than "Tedsy" lets on about.