Here's Lucy: Kim Finally Cuts You-Know-Who's Apron Strings

[HarryCarter]

Here is "Kim Finally Cuts You-Know-Who's Apron Strings," a pilot for a Kim Carter spin-off series. Lucy and Gale only appear in the first scene.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLQGLpk0ETQ

 

I love seeing the end credits to these episodes. PAX cut them out when they ran them.

[Neil]

A "grey-market" seller of CDs and DVDs has this for sale with the following description.  Has anyone ever heard the information I've put in bold font?

 

The Lucie Arnaz Show (Pilot)    2/28/72 ~ CBS-TV      Lucie Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Gale Gordon, Alan Oppenheimer, Susan Tolsky, Lloyd Battista.  This originally aired as an episode of Here’s Lucy entitled “Kim Finally Cut’s You-Know-Who’s Apron Strings”, and was a pilot for Lucie Arnaz’s own series. During the fourth season of Here’s Lucy, the producers proposed a spin-off of the show for Kim, titled The Lucie Arnaz Show. The show would have Kim and her friend, Sue (Susan Tolsky) live in their own apartment in a building run by Lucy's brother, Herb Hinkley (Alan Oppenheimer), who was very over protective of Kim. The episode was a back-door pilot, airing as the season four finale, and the anticipated first episode of The Lucy Arnaz Show. The show was expected to be picked up for the Fall of 1972.  Even Vivian Vance had agreed to be on the show weekly (she had moved back to California by this time). Her character was a busy-body neighbor who kept an eye out for Kim, and was introduced as Lucy's friend in the episode the week before.  The premise would have had Vance reporting back to Lucy, giving Lucy cameo appearances every week. However, complications arose when Vance was diagnosed with breast cancer, (that early?) and without her, CBS wasn’t interested in the show.  They tried to sell the show to the other networks, but a clause in Ball’s contract prevented her from appearing in a sitcom on another network and the series just died.  30 minutes.   A.

[Mot Morenzi]

1 hour ago, Neil said:

A "grey-market" seller of CDs and DVDs has this for sale with the following description.  Has anyone ever heard the information I've put in bold font?

 

The Lucie Arnaz Show (Pilot)    2/28/72 ~ CBS-TV      Lucie Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Gale Gordon, Alan Oppenheimer, Susan Tolsky, Lloyd Battista.  This originally aired as an episode of Here’s Lucy entitled “Kim Finally Cut’s You-Know-Who’s Apron Strings”, and was a pilot for Lucie Arnaz’s own series. During the fourth season of Here’s Lucy, the producers proposed a spin-off of the show for Kim, titled The Lucie Arnaz Show. The show would have Kim and her friend, Sue (Susan Tolsky) live in their own apartment in a building run by Lucy's brother, Herb Hinkley (Alan Oppenheimer), who was very over protective of Kim. The episode was a back-door pilot, airing as the season four finale, and the anticipated first episode of The Lucy Arnaz Show. The show was expected to be picked up for the Fall of 1972.  Even Vivian Vance had agreed to be on the show weekly (she had moved back to California by this time). Her character was a busy-body neighbor who kept an eye out for Kim, and was introduced as Lucy's friend in the episode the week before.  The premise would have had Vance reporting back to Lucy, giving Lucy cameo appearances every week. However, complications arose when Vance was diagnosed with breast cancer, (that early?) and without her, CBS wasn’t interested in the show.  They tried to sell the show to the other networks, but a clause in Ball’s contract prevented her from appearing in a sitcom on another network and the series just died.  30 minutes.   A.

It was my understanding that Vivian was to join Here's Lucy to fill Lucie's absence, but her cancer diagnosis and the pilot not getting picked up ended that idea. I've never heard that Viv was to be a regular on Lucie's show before. 

[Neil]

1 hour ago, Mot Morenzi said:

It was my understanding that Vivian was to join Here's Lucy to fill Lucie's absence, but her cancer diagnosis and the pilot not getting picked up ended that idea. I've never heard that Viv was to be a regular on Lucie's show before. 

I'd never heard that one either!

Perhaps Viv backed out when she read the stipulation that she remain 20 pounds overweight

[Mot Morenzi]

According to The Lucy Book, nothing was ever made official but discussions took place about Viv joining as a regular. However, it was just talk, and Viv's cancer diagnosis and Lucie's pilot not selling ended it fast.

Viv's stroke a few months later also explained why she never guest-starred on the show again, as it took her some time to regain the movement of her mouth. 

[JoeySanJoaquin]

I think the inclusion of the description "gray market seller" says a lot; he's either well intentioned and just got his facts mixed up or, more likely, "embellished" what has already been put out there about this pilot to help make his sale.  Of course he makes no mention that one could acquire this same episode on either the single-season or complete series set of "Here's Lucy" on DVD...plus, it's also currently streaming on one of the many avenues I'm hooked up to (so I don't recall exactly which one at the moment)....

What makes more sense is what I recall reading (probably somewhere here!) that if the pilot had sold, to fill the gap Lucie would have left, they had talked about having Viv back as a regular or at least recurring character, but as far as I could tell, "talking" was as far as they got and since it didn't sell, there was ultimately no point in proceeding any further...although it would have been nice to have Viv on more often than her annual visit (until she was too ill to do so, that is.).