I think the first year of THE LUCY SHOW was excellent and featured some of Lucy and Viv's best work. It rivaled anything they did together on I LOVE LUCY, plus I think they were both at their performing PEAK. They were a real Laurel and Hardy.

The next two seasons were good, but not great, because their were some mediocre episodes splattered in, and the series shifted away from Lucy at home and more on Lucy and Mr.Mooney, which I think was a mistake.

The last three seasons, for the most part, I think were awful. Lucille was still great, but without kids or a best friend, there was no outlet for her to show warmth. Having her get yelled at by Mr.Mooney show after show was not appealing to me at all.

I liked Here's Lucy much better than the last three seasons of the LUCY SHOW. Lucie and Desi Jr helped revigorate the show.

IF I was a station manager, I would re-run the three Vivian years of THE LUCY SHOW, then tack on maybe the top 15 episodes of the final three years, end the series with Lucy and Viv reminisce, then start back at the beginning again.

I think this would be a much stronger series.

I LOVE season six! If it were up to me, I'd leave the first three seasons, and then season 6, and then get rid of season four EXCEPT for the following episodes:

Lucy In The Music World
Lucy and the Countess Have A Horse Guest
Lucy Helps the Countess
Lucy and the Sleeping Beauty
Lucy The Undercover Agent
Lucy The Choir Master
Lucy Discovers Wayne Newton
Lucy Dates Dean Martin
Lucy the Gun Moll

I would get rid of the following eps from season five:

Lucy and the Submarine
Mooney The Monkey (!!!)
Lucy The Babysitter

I would just leave the show as it is. The true Lucy fans would want to see all of the episodes, not just the selected ones chosen by one fan. Skipping over episodes is not fair to the fans who haven't seen them. I ask, who are you trying to please: the fans or the viewers?

I am a TRUE Lucy fan.

I posted my own opinion on what I would think make the show stronger.

I think there is a reason why LUCY SHOW does not do real well in re-runs, and I think the biggest reason is the weaker episodes in the final three years.

Again, this was my opinion. I wouldn't worry about anybody taking me up on it.

Originally posted by LucyFan
I would just leave the show as it is. The true Lucy fans would want to see all of the episodes, not just the selected ones chosen by one fan. Skipping over episodes is not fair to the fans who haven't seen them. I ask, who are you trying to please: the fans or the viewers?

I PERSONALLY would never skip an episode, but if I was forced to make a "leaner, meaner" Lucy Show, that would be what I would do. ;)

I think there is a reason why LUCY SHOW does not do real well in re-runs, and I think the biggest reason is the weaker episodes in the final three years.

There are shows of weaker quality that have done and continue to do VERY well in syndication (I won't name these show for fear of causing a war,lol).

"The Lucy Show" simply can't compete with "I Love Lucy." ILL has a larger audience, not necessarily because of quality, but because of nostalgia and the great LEGEND surrounding it. This show will always do better in the ratings, therefore station managers/network programmers opt for ILL. It's about money, not quality.

IMO, TLS is a novelty to the general public. It's interesting to see Lucy (and Vivian, if the episode is from the first three seasons) in something other than ILL, but unless your a fan it won't hold your attention. Not because of quality, but because the common television viewer identifies Lucille Ball (unfortunately) with the "I Love Lucy" show solely.

I dont think I have ever heard anyone say they liked the last few years of "The Lucy Show" better than the first two or three with Viv. Color or not, the first 3 years seem to be everyone's favorites. I dont understand why networks are so "out-of the loop" when they come to running Lucy and just run the "color" episodes.

I totally agree! I've thought the same thing about re-running the first three seasons with a handful of best episodes from the final three seasons. This would be a much stronger series with the garbage taken out.

I think the first year of THE LUCY SHOW was excellent and featured some of Lucy and Viv's best work. It rivaled anything they did together on I LOVE LUCY, plus I think they were both at their performing PEAK. They were a real Laurel and Hardy.

The next two seasons were good, but not great, because their were some mediocre episodes splattered in, and the series shifted away from Lucy at home and more on Lucy and Mr.Mooney, which I think was a mistake.

The last three seasons, for the most part, I think were awful. Lucille was still great, but without kids or a best friend, there was no outlet for her to show warmth. Having her get yelled at by Mr.Mooney show after show was not appealing to me at all.

I liked Here's Lucy much better than the last three seasons of the LUCY SHOW. Lucie and Desi Jr helped revigorate the show.

IF I was a station manager, I would re-run the three Vivian years of THE LUCY SHOW, then tack on maybe the top 15 episodes of the final three years, end the series with Lucy and Viv reminisce, then start back at the beginning again.

I think this would be a much stronger series.

I think if a station is going to rerun a series then they should rerun all episodes. Good and bad..

I would just leave the show as it is. The true Lucy fans would want to see all of the episodes, not just the selected ones chosen by one fan. Skipping over episodes is not fair to the fans who haven't seen them. I ask, who are you trying to please: the fans or the viewers?

The problem is most television viewers would not fit your definition of "true Lucy fans." Television programmers need a bigger audience than one that would be composed only of "true Lucy fans." The vast majority of viewers aren't going to sit through those California episodes. And they don't. That's why we barely ever get to see this show on the air anymore. It's about ratings. Most of the episodes in the last three seasons are horrid. There are so many choices in things to watch on television these days, the casual viewer isn't going to settle for bad comedy, even if it's Lucy. And plots that have Lucy chasing after a gorilla that stole her autograph book; or being shot out of a cannon; or pretending she's a man (even though she's wearing lipstick and mascara); or that have bank employees and customers suddenly breaking into song and dance in the middle of the work day; etc., etc., are not just bad, they're embarrassing. You have to be a rare, super die-hard Lucy fan to want to sit through garbage like that.

The television audience isn't going to sit through a TLS episode period. No matter what season. It's novelty to the regular viewer. It's interesting to see Lucy outside of ILL and in a "different" format, but that novelty wears off after a while, meaning it doesn't sustain a audience. The reason it doesn't get picked up (besides the fact that many programmers most likely don't believe the show would find a audience). Exclude the last three seasons. Burn the film, video, dvd of any episodes from those seasons so no human being will ever see them again and it won't matter. It simply can't compete with the viewers attention for ILL.

From my previous post in this thread.

"The Lucy Show" simply can't compete with "I Love Lucy." ILL has a larger audience, not necessarily because of quality, but because of nostalgia and the great LEGEND surrounding it. This show will always do better in the ratings, therefore station managers/network programmers opt for ILL. It's about money, not quality.

IMO, TLS is a novelty to the general public. It's interesting to see Lucy (and Vivian, if the episode is from the first three seasons) in something other than ILL, but unless your a fan it won't hold your attention. Not because of quality, but because the common television viewer identifies Lucille Ball (unfortunately) with the "I Love Lucy" show solely.

The fact is that The Lucy Show was at one time heavily syndicated( I'm talking in the 70's) but like most of the shows from the 60's it isn't syndicated much any more. I saw it on a local channel in DC a few years ago so it pops up every so often. TLS does seem to be shown more then Here's Lucy. Except for TV Land most of the shows from that era aren't seen that much only on a few local channels ( usually independent ones).

I get a PBS station that airs a Lucy Show episode every Sunday evening at 7:00. I don't think anybody else shows this program on my cable service.