What episodes are you watching on "I Love Lucy"?

[JoeySanJoaquin]

_{We're in EUROPE on Comedy Gold, we just came back from Paris and are not in the Swiss Alps and then Little Ricky's birthday in Italy, MRS RICARDO, TELEPHONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!}

Where the hell's my magnifying glass???

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Where the hell's my magnifying glass???

I have one in every room in the house.

[Irene Kampen Tripp]

Ever room? Lol.... Just curious Lovesbway... Why do u think the bike riding episode is better than the grape stomping?

[Luvsbway]

The episodes called classic sometimes are not overall the best episodes, most are just that one moment, like this one with the wine vat. I’m not a big fan of all the other scenes in this episode. The train is funny, but the hotel room scene is pretty normal and just serves as the setup.

In the bike episode we get Lucy doing a funny pantomime and the cow milking is a good scene. The passport business at the border is engaging and is believable that Lucy would be that scatterbrained, especially on vacation. I just laugh way more with this episode than Italian Movie and find myself watching it more than the other one. I even like Lucy’s determination in the beginning to swim in the Mediterranean despite it’s cold temperature.

 

[C L A U D E]

The episodes called classic sometimes are not overall the best episodes, most are just that one moment, like this one with the wine vat. I’m not a big fan of all the other scenes in this episode. The train is funny, but the hotel room scene is pretty normal and just serves as the setup.

In the bike episode we get Lucy doing a funny pantomime and the cow milking is a good scene. The passport business at the border is engaging and is believable that Lucy would be that scatterbrained, especially on vacation. I just laugh way more with this episode than Italian Movie and find myself watching it more than the other one. I even like Lucy’s determination in the beginning to swim in the Mediterranean despite it’s cold temperature.

Good point.

[C L A U D E]

Man, did she ever looks incredible in that black dress and stole in the Monte Carlo episode tonight, watched it again at Midnight, just awesome.

[Luvsbway]

I love that dress. She wore it to an Emmy Awards too.

[C L A U D E]

I love that dress. She wore it to an Emmy Awards too.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. Do you know what color it was? Tonight we had the Bob Hope one and then Little Ricky driving everyone crazy with hid drumming, Lucy shone in both shows.

[Luvsbway]

Black and the underneath was a pinky purple.

[C L A U D E]

Black and the underneath was a pinky purple.

That's what surprised me about all her clothes, the colors were not what one would expect for the most part. On the show I mean.

[Irene Kampen Tripp]

She and Ethel look.good.stroling.through the casino.... When she flips.the.stole on.the bed and the.money goes.every.where...and.desis.eyes.when he finds it...and Fred...this is.Ethals.girdle....good.episode....thankyoo Aunt Evette

[Brock]

I've become mildly obsessed lately with Lucy Is A Matchmaker. It's funny, it has some great moments, but I don't think I can classify it as a particular favourite...and yet, there is just something about this episode that is different, making it stand out in the crowd, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Can anyone else? lol

[C L A U D E]

She and Ethel look.good.stroling.through the casino.... When she flips.the.stole on.the bed and the.money goes.every.where...and.desis.eyes.when he finds it...and Fred...this is.Ethals.girdle....good.episode....thankyoo Aunt Evette

I`m curious as to how much money she won anyway, they said like a million francs, what is that, like ten or twenty dollars.  LOL!

[C L A U D E]

I've become mildly obsessed lately with Lucy Is A Matchmaker. It's funny, it has some great moments, but I don't think I can classify it as a particular favourite...and yet, there is just something about this episode that is different, making it stand out in the crowd, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Can anyone else? lol

Depends on which one you`re talking about, the Mr Ritter and the old lady or the one where everything goes wrong when Lucy wants to get that couple together and they end up sending a telegram saying they`ve eloped.

[Brock]

Depends on which one you`re talking about, the Mr Ritter and the old lady or the one where everything goes wrong when Lucy wants to get that couple together and they end up sending a telegram saying they`ve eloped.

 

Neither. The one where Lucy and Ethel are trying to set that tramp Sylvia Collins up with negligee salesman Eddie Grant.

[C L A U D E]

Neither. The one where Lucy and Ethel are trying to set that tramp Sylvia Collins up with negligee salesman Eddie Grant.

OH THAT WAS A GREAT ONE, SO AHEAD OF IT S TIME WITH THAT PLOT THAT SOUNDED LIKE IT CAME FROM NORMAN LEAR.

[Irene Kampen Tripp]

Ethel! YOU ..HERE..dressed like THAT... HE must be out of his mind.

[Irene Kampen Tripp]

Ya its a great one!

[C L A U D E]

Hello Sylvia . . .

[Luvsbway]

Last and Final Season

 

Guest Stars- This season we frontloaded the guest stars before we get to CT and then don’t have anymore for the remainder of the ½ hour show run.  Bob Hope starts us off with a good appearance and I’m sure a statistical planned ratings move at the time (along with the return the favor guest appearance).  Watching these in order made me realize that the Orson Wells episode did not come right after Bob’s but we had an episode in between.  I always thought they were back to back.  The third guest of the season is Claude Aikens in Florida, an okay guest but one of those older people that is not remembered much.  We then get Johnny Longdon in an episode remembered way more for the loving cup.  I bet the random ILL watcher would forget that Longdon was even in this episode as it really had nothing to do with him.  Finally we finish off with Superman.

 

Costumes-Eloise has now departed (does anyone remember why?) and we have Edward Stevenson doing Lucy’s wardrobe who will stay with her on through TLS.  I miss Eloise.  Lucy just doesn’t seem to have the same polish with her clothes this season. Even before we get to the country episodes Lucy is wearing a lot of pants, more than normal I feel.  I’m also seeing more knit dresses than we have seen before.  It’s a step up from the first 2 seasons but not to the level we had the past three.  Once we get to the country it is much more rare to see Lucy in a dress.  She looks great for running into NYC, going to the country club but it is a lot more pants for around the house than dresses.  I chalk this up to a much more casual lifestyle.  She also wears jeans a lot more than I’ve ever seen on the show before.

 

The new club-I like that throughout the series they steadily increased Ricky’s role in the club, going from performer to manager and eventually owner.  This helps in two ways.  First to make his stature in the music world higher to justify the Hollywood and Europe success. Second to help in the money department.  You still know the Ricardos are not loaded but feel that they have had a steady income increase over the series.  This all comes into play with Ricky now owning the club he would be able to afford to buy the house in the country.  Obviously with a mortgage but if this had happened right after the baby was born it would not have been as believable.  The new club looks nice but smaller. Since it is not used again I’m sure that this may have had to do with clearing space for the mansion of the country house.

 

Florida-Not a very needed departure from home life as it was not that long ago we got back from Europe, but I think the writers liked the travel plots as it gave them a lot more to work with and these are good episodes.  The thing that always bothered me was I always felt Lucy was going to Florida all along in the Orson Wells episode.  I know it was a ploy to get into the show but I always thought that when the trip actually came up later it was just an extension of this.  There are quite a few episodes in between here.  Lucy does get to go new clothes shopping twice though.  Again, very good use of second unit shots for the trip arc.  The Cuba episode is good for the family feel, especially the ending and I am glad they added this onto the Florida arc.

 

Little Ricky- This season gives us Keith’s debut and I like how they gave him the first scene in the first episode.  Good way to introduce him and he even gets a nice round of applause when he finishes the first scene.  I’m sure there was a big introduction for him in the warm-up.  The age increase was a good idea and opened the character up to being used a lot more in the show.  There are quite a bit of episodes before we move to the country that involve him: Stage Fright, Drums, Superman, Dog, School Pageant.   

 

I am still not a fan of the school pageant but that is probably because sitting through one of those is my own idea of hell.  Watching these in order I realized it had been a long time since I had seen Little Ricky Gets Stage Fright.  I was picture sorting recently and could not place an episode for one.  Finally figured it out when I watched this episode.  The scene where Ricky has the father son talk about being nervous has to be the single best father son moment in this whole series.  The warmth and tenderness is wonderful here and it’s not overly sappy the way sitcoms in the 80’s may have done a scene like this.  Keith was still new to the cast and had probably only started to become part of the off-screen family at this time but Desi had such a wonderful way of working with him.  Even in Keith’s first scene in Bob Hope he does a lot to help encourage him.  This is also evident in the final performance at the club in the Cuba episode.  The pride by both parents displayed at the end is one of those moments when it wasn’t just acting on-screen.

 

Lucy Wants in the Show- It really seems that we are at a point where Lucy doesn’t want to be in the show unless it is to meet or be in it with someone famous.  Orson Wells and Bob Hope are the only two where she wants in the show.  The last episode where she had no other reason than her neurotic need to be in the spotlight was back in the Rodeo episode in the beginning of season 5 and wanting to be in Fred’s lodge show.  For the episodes in the country (and the pageant one) it’s always the PTA show that Lucy is in along with most everyone else.  She never wheedles her way into them though.  Ragtime band she is only in because she couldn’t get Ricky to agree at first to do the show. 

 

The CT move-I like that the move is hinted at in Little Ricky Wants a Dog by Lucy saying that it would be nice if Little Ricky had a lot of room for all the animals he wanted.  Lucy and Ethel share a moment where they discuss that they don’t know what they would do without each other if they moved.  It sets up the reality of the situation for the next episode so it is not so out of the blue.  As with the travel episodes we get the house setting up episodes here.  Buying the house moving out, moving in, getting furniture, getting the Mertz’s out to the country.  It’s right at the end of the run we get everyone settled in and are back to the wacky hijinks.  I don’t know if there really was enough for the series to continue for a whole lot longer.  I know I wanted to see more of the house, but you are going to hit a point where you run out of ideas.  Better to go out on top and I think the right decision was made to stop the ½ hours.  You still have about ½ the hour long episodes taking place in the CT house.

 

Furniture- The last round of furniture has come.  I’m with Lucy, they did not have nearly enough furniture for that big house.  The beds look small, there is just that tiny little table in the dining room area.  Not to mention that the kitchen and den had to be empty.  When Lucy is doing her little walk around and hinting at how bad the old furniture looks, it’s the same exact thing she does in Season 2 when she wants new furniture, complete with kicking the coffee table.  After the new furniture arrives the 2 couches in the living room are shorter than the ones that show up in the next episode.  I wonder if they realized you could not lay down on the original ones.  It looks like they may have been moved to the den and Mertz’s.  I liked the back to back couches as it worked well to have 2 people talk to each other over them. 

 

Random Observations- I’ve mentioned this on another thread but there are quite a lot of pickup shots this season.  I think we came to the conclusion before that it had to do with a new director.  They are much better than what was going on in Season 1.  In Country Club Dance one of the women in the background dancing (could be Hazel) is wearing the dress from the end of Homecoming.  Lucy is really pretty in her Juliet dress.  Lucy shows off all her acting training with the lemonade and gas canisters on the boat.  Watch anyone else pick them up and they don’t seem all that heavy.  Lucy really shows the weight they would really be if they were full.  Little Ricky was born sometime at night, not at 11:00am in the morning, unless Ricky’s show really ran long.            

[Luvsbway]

Overall observations of the series when viewed as a whole.

 

Lovey Dovey feel-We’ve all agreed that in the first season Lucy and Ricky are very lovey dovey towards each other.  I’ve seen critics say that this greatly diminishes over the run of the series and it is often sited the reason being the off-screen issues.  I disagree with this.  This was something I consciously watched over the whole series.  The first season felt like 2 newlyweds even though they were married 11 years.  Once the baby episodes are over the level that was present in the first season diminishes but it never fades.  I never once in all 6 seasons feel that anything off screen manifests onscreen.  Ricky almost always kisses Lucy when he is leaving or coming home.  There are still some really sweet moments in the run, both anniversary episodes and endings to Homecoming and Lucy and The Dummy.  There are also many small moments throughout the run that show the tenderness between these 2 people.  One I recently found in Season 6.  Ricky and Lucy are kissing by the fireplace and Ethel and Fred walk in and comment on it.  It goes on for quite a while and you can tell it’s got a lot of passion behind it.  I’m disappointed they cut away, I could watch that all day.  The way I feel is that there is still a great love but that the honeymoon feel from the first season has now settled into a more realistic couple with a child but they are not complacent with each other.  The Camping Trip, Golf Game, Second Honeymoon, Ricky Minds the Baby show that Lucy still loves her husband and wants to spend time with him.  Yes she nags, wheedles, pleads and sometimes is a little mean to him to get her way, but this is no different than the stuff she pulled in the first season.  Once we get settled in the country we tend to get a little less affection.  The BBQ episode it returns along with Ricky consoling Lucy in Housewarming.  I think some of this had to do with the type of situations that we were seeing, and it seemed like Lucy was more busy and wasn’t just the housewife at home anymore.  It may also have had to do with the huge set.  People were so much more spread out that we lost the intimacy factor of the apartment.     

 

 

Stature- As stated before the Ricardos have moved up the income ladder from the little apartment to the big house.  From being a 2 person married couple to having a child in school.  They have traveled to Europe, Hollywood, Florida, Cuba, across the country, and a few vacation places not seen as well.  Lucy got better clothes.  Ricky kept moving up the ladder at the club and overall in his profession. 

 

 

Character Tone over the seasons:  Lucy’s childlikeness got toned down after the first season which I think had a lot to do with having a baby.  Ethel got a little brasher especially in the 6^th season and Fred got a little softer, mostly seen with his interaction with Little Ricky.  I feel the friendship among all 4 got stronger.  Once Lucy gets to the country she seems to get a little more on the shrill side.  It doesn’t really start coming out until we get established in the country but she gets to be a nag and not in a nice way but more of a “do this now” way.  I think this goes back to Lucy all of a sudden got a lot more to do and as a character was responsible for more.  She was involved with the PTA, the Historical Society, she was planting a garden, had country club involvement.  She went from a housewife with the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League that didn’t seem to take up too much time to now has a kid in school, school friends and a large amount of volunteer work.  

 

Does it still feel like the same show from first season to last?- Sometimes with long running shows the show it started off as doesn’t resemble much of what it ends up being by the time it signs off.  ILL does maintain this overall feel.  Every adventure, house move, cast addition is wonderfully setup and not far fetched.  It comes out of reality.  Now if you take the first season and compare it to the last, yes you see a lot of change, but there was a lot of production value newness in that first season and everyone was really still trying to figure out the characters.  Second compared to last is more consistent on a whole.    

 

Continuity-On an overall ILL was never good at detail continuity (ie, Ethel’s 3 middle names, the Mertz’s years married).  We’ve heard the writers say they never would have imaged that the show would carry on and be viewed over and over like it has.  But there is continuity in tighter time frames.  When Lucy is moving they talk about stuff that happened in the apartment and some of that stuff we did see.  The Europe episodes refer back to Hollywood quite a bit.  Even Bob Hope makes reference to Lucy’s antics in Hollywood. 

 

Cast appearance changes- Bill is the one that probably changes the least.  Maybe once you hit old you don’t have that much farther to go.  Viv really starts to look great by Season 6.  I think a lot had to do with the fact she was growing her hair longer and she starts to look younger.  Could be the hair change.  She did get better clothes after the 1/2^nd seasons but they pretty much stayed the same the rest of the run.  Lucy once said on a Merv Griffin show that she laughs when she looks at herself on those shows, the hair, the skirts, and that she looked eternally pregnant as she was either getting over one or having one.  She does still have a bit of baby weight left in the beginning of the first season, but by the time she comes back in No Children Allowed I think she did a better job at getting the weight off this time.  I’ve always been a fan of longer hair Lucy in later life as it made her look younger. I find the opposite to be true in ILL.  It’s rarely down but when it is it matures her which is not necessarily what you want for a childlike character.  I’ve noticed in the 6^th season her bun seems to get tighter.  I thought maybe she had cut her hair shorter again, but pics around that time and the first LDCH prove that wrong.  Her age is starting to show by Season 6 but it’s not drastic, some more lines in her face here and there.  I think Desi is the one who really ages throughout the series.  He’s still looking good in the sixth season but not the youthful look he had in Season 1. You can tell he has put on weight, but this was a gradual thing throughout the series, not so much from 1 to another.  Some of the stress is starting to show.  I’m going to being looking more at this aging factor as I move through the LDCHs because I think it really gets drastic there.

 

Next up the Comedy Hours.

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I'll read yours later, have to go now, but my Comedy Gold shows are hard to watch lately, we've gone back to the very beginning so . . . can't wait for The Fur Coat though.

[C L A U D E]

Think I spotted another flub, on Lucy is jealous of girl singer, when the torn material is put by Rosemary in Ricky's coat pocket, it was in the right pocket, but when Lucy notices and reaches for it, it seems to be in the left pocket.

[MONALISAISMONALUCY]

Charles Boyer, Paris gowns and climbing the Swiss alps!!!

[C L A U D E]

Charles Boyer,

Augrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh LOOCEE,  . . .