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They Love Lucy: Celebrity Lucy Fans


Brock
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  • 1 month later...
Just now, Freddie2 said:

I read a recent interview where Lindsay Mendez, this year's Tony winner for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, cites Lucy's work (including her MGM stuff!) as a great inspiration. 

 

Random Lindsay Mendez-related anecdote that I just remembered:

Mendez won the Tony for her great performance in the revival of Carousel (she was certainly the best actress of the bunch). When I saw the revival, the great Renee Fleming made her entrance to thunderous applause and started to sing "June Is Bustin' Out All Over". My brain immediately froze, and I thought "Oh my gosh! Renee Fleming forgot the lyrics and she's ad-libbing!" But that wasn't the case. I only thought she was singing the wrong lyrics because I'm more familiar with Leslie Uggams' stellar rendition than I am with the actual, correct words. When "rum and river rishes" didn't pass through my ear, I thought something had gone very wrong.

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  • 1 month later...

I can't believe this quick clip is making the rounds like it is. If you listen to what Ricki says, she never even talked to Lucy. Geez, give the lady a break. And who cares if she was smoking, that's what she did. Ricki makes it sound like Lucy came in, acted like some diva and yelled at all of them. 

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18 hours ago, Brock said:

How interesting.   The Lucy Show, one of the biggest hits of the 60s,  doesn't get much respect, but WHICH Lucy Show is Laura talking about?  It was almost a different show every season.   The first 2 years were consistently funny and intelligently written, but year one was more Lucy and Viv; year 2:  more Lucy and Mooney.  Year 3: Too many freelance writers to make for a consistent tone, so I don't count it as one of the "Danfield years" seasons, at least on a par with the first 2.   Year 4: Move to California, but Lucy still retained that sweetness we love her for; Year 5: started out well but by the end, plots were being stretched and more musical episodes appeared  (e.g. "Tennessee Ernie" "Mainstreet") and that carried over into year 6.   Season 6 is unrecognizable as the same series as season 1.  To illustrate, imagine "Lucy and Carol in Stewardess's Graduation Musical" plunked down in the middle of season 1.  Only "The Doris Day Show" went through more format changes, but TDDS was never a hit.  As Candy Moore said upon learning of the season 4 change of format "We were a hit show!!"

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On ‎1‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 3:32 PM, Neil said:

How interesting.   The Lucy Show, one of the biggest hits of the 60s,  doesn't get much respect, but WHICH Lucy Show is Laura talking about?  It was almost a different show every season.   The first 2 years were consistently funny and intelligently written, but year one was more Lucy and Viv; year 2:  more Lucy and Mooney.  Year 3: Too many freelance writers to make for a consistent tone, so I don't count it as one of the "Danfield years" seasons, at least on a par with the first 2.   Year 4: Move to California, but Lucy still retained that sweetness we love her for; Year 5: started out well but by the end, plots were being stretched and more musical episodes appeared  (e.g. "Tennessee Ernie" "Mainstreet") and that carried over into year 6.   Season 6 is unrecognizable as the same series as season 1.  To illustrate, imagine "Lucy and Carol in Stewardess's Graduation Musical" plunked down in the middle of season 1.  Only "The Doris Day Show" went through more format changes, but TDDS was never a hit.  As Candy Moore said upon learning of the season 4 change of format "We were a hit show!!"

I find it interesting and a testament to Lucille Ball that her 60s sitcom (especially in its later seasons) consistently managed to top so many contemporary sitcoms when they were in their prime such as Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, That Girl, Green Acres, Hogan's Heroes, F Troop, Get Smart, The Munsters, The Addams Family, My Favorite Martian, Petticoat Junction, The Monkees, ect. The only ones that I can think of that consistently managed to garner the same ratings (more or less) as her show were The Andy Griffith Show and its spin-off, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. In fact, those two and her show were the three highest-rated of the 1967-1968 season (the finale season of both TLS & TAGS). Its just amazing that Lucille Ball managed to still rule the airwaves given the so many changes that took place with her show.

The changes that took place within The Lucy Show kept things fresh, that's for sure. I tend to think of The Lucy Show of having two different formats and within those formats, two groupings. Season 1 being by itself as it was the only season filmed in black and white and with Vivian Vance and thus could easily be perceived as another season of I Love Lucy sans the boys; Seasons 2-3 together as it showcased Lucy with her two main series co-stars (Vivian Vance and Gale Gordon) and retained the I Love Lucy feel despite being filmed in color. Season 4 by itself with Lucy (sans Viv and no kids) going to Hollywood, meeting celebrities and getting settled in a different setting. It is also the season that changed the relationship between Lucy and Mooney as it established them as boss and employee. That particular relationship would be the driving force from here and on out, thus giving off a different feel to the series. Seasons 5-6 together as the scripts were titled towards Lucy working at the bank and featured guest stars and musical numbers shown more frequently. And I 100% agree that if you compare to season 1 to 6 and visa versa that one might come to conclusion that one was watching two different shows (instead of just one). It's that drastic. The earlier Lucy Carmichael was so much like Lucy Ricardo only to be morphed into a pre-Lucy Carter seasons later.

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On 2/19/2019 at 5:52 AM, Freddie2 said:

In a recent New Yorker interview, Jane Curtin talks about growing up and seeing trailblazing women in comedy on television including Lucy, Eve Arden, Betty White (Life With Elizabeth gets a mention) and Cara Williams

And I say HERE HERE!  The few "Elizabeth"'s I've seen don't hold up, but no one can touch Betty's Sue Ann Nivens.  (I wasn't as wild about GG's Rose as most people).

But I say the great Cara Williams is the most underrated, forgotten TV sitcom actress to ever grace the TV screen.  There was only ONE Lucy, but Cara was the only who came close to replicating her style and appeal.  She brought more comic talent and heart to Pete and Gladys than it really deserved.  A pedestrian effort, wild and non-sensical, but undeniably funny, occasionally hilarious. But as series: a few too many "Drafted"-like episodes.  The loosest "spin-off" sitcom of all.   Emmy doesn't recognize shows like Pete & Gladys but the Academy honored Cara with a nomination (lost to Hazel's Shirley Booth).  And I know I've sung Cara's praises before, but by this time, I've run out of new things to post!

Someone on Youtube has colorized some P&Gs along with a few Cara Williams Shows, the latter was a disappointment.  A little too dull and not worthy of Cara's talent.  It disappeared after one season along with Cara's career as a star.  And she was only 40, the same age as Lucy when ILL started. 

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  • 4 months later...

Don't know if we have Patricia Clarkson, but this comes from 2014.

“I didn’t think about being a movie star when I was a young girl but my father and I had a huge love of Peter Sellers and Lucille Ball. Those are the people I remember from my childhood, of imprinting on me or having an effect on me. I was obsessed with Lucille Ball, I watched her all the time. I just loved her, and still, I have these beautiful neighbours who live across the hall from me, these twins who I’m quite close to who are now 13, and they have this incredible love for her too. We just sit and talk about our favourite episodes and relive the candy factory or the Martian. I could never pick a favourite episode; that would be sacrilegious. You can dissect it and pull apart what made her great but she was just fucking funny. And it just remains so, it never wavers, it never lessens, the impact of her comedic ability – it just remains great.”

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