I see that Tv Show PR Firms, Media Types, & even Actresses ALWAYS try to say they are "The Next Lucy".. HOW MANY Next Lucy's have we had..???? and everyone who says that.. is usually gone within a year or two?? (lately)

Jenny Mc Carthy
Penny Marshall
Cindy Williams
Will & Grace chick
many more...

*** John Ritter WAS & IS the ONLY "Next Lucy"..Lucy came on the show..(she never did this for anyone else).. and SAID This is the Man!!

I LOVE LUCY was a great show, and basically every show TRIES to rip it off.. in its set up and or 1950's feel and everything is perfect..

BUT Three's Company IS THE ONLY show EVER to bring it to the NEXT LEVEL...as in content.. & John Ritter is the ONLY guy to bring a FRESH NEW spin to the "lucy" type character.. WITHOUT Ripping her off or being some sorta clone of her..

and Lucy Saw this.. and actually went on the 3's Company Show...and passed the torch to John!!

* To be honest NO ONE of TV has come close to Jack Tripper.. he still owns the Torch.. and NO ONE has brought it to the NEXT Level Yet..

Well, I'd say John Ritter is the Male Eqivalent to Lucy....but I've always thought Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, and Suzanne Somers were as close as you could get to a Female Lucy, so I'd agree with them being Lucy(s), but John Ritter is the male version IMO, I just don't think people want to compare a guy with a gal these days! :D

penny & cindy are not lucy's.. they are direct rip offs.. of lucy.. they brought nothing new to the "character".. they did the same type of "lucy stunts"..

so to me they are fakes!

I really could careless of a person gender.. male or female.. it is their talent and what they bring to the comedy table.. and John is the ONLY one to bring her stuff.. of "visional comedy".. to what John brought was "physical comedy"..

I love lucy... invented the 3 camera shoot.. & 3's company used that format to the next level in which was FILM FAST and ALL 3 cameras running at once so the acting/comedy was fresh!! and very spontanious!!!


*I feel were many people go wrong in ripping off lucy is.. trying to take her personality... and whole being and that makes then "FAKES"..

just like when Boxers try to talk fast and be funny like Ali

or when Local Radio guys try to be shocking like Howard Stern

YOU can't steal someones personality...!!!

and John Ritter didn't make that mistake.. he embrace many performers and made it his own.. & thats why Lucy embraced what he was doing..

NOT Cindy & Penny... or suzanne NOT anyone else BUT John Ritter:D :wave: :cool:

Well that sort of hurt......and that was a little rough. First of all, I hate how EVERYONE has to make a big deal about "I Love Lucy"...personally, I've seen funnier. Just because it has a wacko lady who called Desi Arnaz a stupid person during interviews makes it sooo special.....and the fact that Fred and Ethel hated each other in real life doesn't make it any better.

And It Sure Ain't Nice Making Fun of My three FAVORITE actresses! Sometimes I wish that Lucy wasn't always so big about things. She was such a hypocrit at times. She made fun of "All in the Family" because it was too controversial, but "Three's Company" was okay because some episodes had Jack tripping over things.

Excuse me while I go talk to my pictures of Cindy Williams...

I agree and disagree with you both on this issue.

I feel that Lucille Ball is the only Lucy there ever was. She was a great impact to Television and she will always be remembered. I think John Ritter is a good equivalet to Lucy of a male version. Penny, Cindy, and Suzanne I think were the closest female performes to be "the next Lucy". Did you know the Penny's brother, Garry Marshall, was once a writer for Lucy's third series "The Lucy Show". From that experience he learned Lucy's type of comedy and taught to his sister, Penny and his friend, Cindy. From what Penny & Cindy learned from Penny's brother about Lucy's type of comedy, they proved to be successful at it because their show, "Laverne & Shirley", was a smash hit. I think Penny & Cindy have the right to claim to be "the next Lucy".

I agree with Lucille Ball about "All In the Family". I think the show is too controversial and I don't find at all funny. In deed, their were some great moments on the show, but it never topped Lucy's comedy at all. Lucy is far more funnier than Archie will ever be. Lucy was the original one and Archie was the fake one. Take it or leave it.

Personally, I absolutely love it when people make a "big deal" about "I Love Lucy". Do you know why? Because "I Love Lucy" serves/served as role model for past, present, & future sitcoms and it was the ONE sitcom to have so many of television's "firsts".

In a way, I am glad and not glad that this issue was posted. In some ways I was annoyed, but in other ways I was proud.

Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams are nothing like Lucy whatsoever, although Penny played somewhat of a Lucy-type as Myrna Turner on The Odd Couple. Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman are great examples of someone like Lucy...even Mary Tyler Moore or Vivian Vance can relate. In a way, so can Jean Stapleton also.

I didn't mean all of those things I said about Lucy, though the AitF and TC thing I'm still standing by. I'm just a little upset today.

Because Austin Tripper is stomping on people's opinion. Personally, Jack wasn't my favorite on the show (I liked Chrissy and Cindy better), but I don't think Jack had as many dimensions as the Lucy character. Lucy was able to work with only one person (Evident in the 'I Love Lucy' Pilot), Jack wasn't. (Those 'Two's Company' episodes just don't click with me) You just couldn't have Jack 'trip' over things. The same way is with the Blonde Thing. You've got to respect peoples opinions.

Now, this is JMHO:
Sometimes 'Lucy' is made TO Much of a deal. I mean, some TV specials on the History of Television have a majority of their time spent on Lucy. Though Lucy did great Physical and Comedic Talent, it just isn't my favorite. On some message boards, you can be hit, murdered, and burned for saying that. But Lucy did help TV even more then her 4 main series (Excluding 'Life') did, through Desilu. W/o Desilu, we wouldn't have shows such as 'Dick Van Dyke'...and that would've affected "Three's Company"....if MTM never got her own show, John Ritter may not have been in the spotlight during casting searchs, since his appearence on The MTM Show showed much of his comedic talent.

Originally posted by callmetootie
Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams are nothing like Lucy whatsoever, although Penny played somewhat of a Lucy-type as Myrna Turner on The Odd Couple. Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman are great examples of someone like Lucy...even Mary Tyler Moore or Vivian Vance can relate. In a way, so can Jean Stapleton also.

Yeah, Laverne/Shirley were as different from Lucy Ricardo (And the later incarnations of Lucy) as possible. Laverne was a guy hungry and open sort of person, Lucy would cover up a lot of things and was happy with one guy. Shirley was also very different.

Originally posted by Sean Snow


Yeah, Laverne/Shirley were as different from Lucy Ricardo (And the later incarnations of Lucy) as possible. Laverne was a guy hungry and open sort of person, Lucy would cover up a lot of things and was happy with one guy. Shirley was also very different.

Laverne and Shirley were in different circumstances than Lucy Ricardo was. Lucy Ricardo was married and had a child and she was basically dependent on Ricky; Laverne and Shirley on the other hand were working girls that were independent who often had dates. Laverne and Shirley are more like the characters (in a younger version) of Lucy Carmichael and Vivian Bagley on "The Lucy Show". Some of the situations Laverne & Shirley got into were the same situations Lucy Carmichael and Vivian Bagley got into. I remember this one episode where Lucy & Viv babysit Mr. Mooney's pet bird. The bird escapes from the house and Lucy & Viv look all over for it and they eventually go to a pet store to buy another bird just like Mr. Mooney's. Well that same situation happened with Laverne & Shirley in one episode where Shirley
buys a bird and the bird gets lost outside. Shirley & gang look all over for the bird and finally they give up. To cheer Shirley up, Carmine buys a bird that looked like Shirley's bird and gave it to her. Garry Marshall, a writer of "The Lucy Show" wrote "Lucy Gets the Bird" and later on he served as the creator/producer of "Laverne & Shirley" which the same plot came up in L&S.

Laverne and Shirley are exact rip off of Lucy & Ethal..... or you ba even say hey "2 Lucy's"... they brought nothing new to the table..

the plots are different as in a married couple ... to a couple of friends living together..

but it is that same show.. as in the "lucy type stunts":wave:

Lucy picked John Ritter..

ALL these people we are talking about were on at the sametime.. on the same network ABC..

she could have gone to the Laverne and Shirley set just as easy as the 3's company set... IF gary marshell did know her.. he could have made a call.. if this was just "hype"..

she picked john .. because she saw the same energy in his work, like hers...


* BUT im my opinon: Lusy was first and thats all she has goign with her.. Dezi invented everything.. about the show, not her.. plus he was a great straight man... which she needs.. (we see how all her other shows bombed without dezi)... I think lucy was waaaaaaaaaaay to much of a "ham" to the audience & and camera..
she is very over-rated,, but she came first & had her husbaned inventing everything she gets credit for.. all the techical stuff..

John has waaaaaaaaaay more realism , depth,pathos,laugh out loud funny side,serious side,and a waaaaay better actor..

John is better.. but no one will say it because he didn't do his show in the 1950's......like lucy did