LittleRickyII
05-08-2011, 06:30 PM
Somebody please convince me there's a reason I should like this episode. For me, it has to rank as possibly the stupidest episode Lucille Ball ever did. It starts with a horrendous script. One of the problems with the fourth season of TLS is the seemingly endless string of writers, names I don't recognize in the writing credits, and they appear to be people who didn't have a clue how to write for Lucille Ball. In this case, the writers are Edmund Beloin and Henry Garson, who leave you almost pleading for the return of Bob and Madelyn. This episode is totally unbelievable and plays like nothing but a cartoon. Here are some of the problems (SPOILER warning, in case you haven't seen this):
1) Lucy Ricardo's fascination with celebrities could be endearing: stealing a Richard Widmark grapefruit or loose John Wayne footprints is almost understandable and the viewer can relate. But Lucy Carmichael's excessive obsession in this episode, that drives her to collect tons of movie magazines and paraphernalia and get two jobs in the same day for the sole purpose of trying to see movie stars, makes her seem like the most shallow person on the planet.
2) At job #1, selling maps to movie star homes on a street corner in Beverly Hills, Mr. Mooney just happens to ride by that very spot on his bicycle. Unbelievable coincidence.
3) At job #2 as a theater usher at a Hollywood premiere, Mr. Mooney just happens to show up as someone's guest at that same premiere. Yet another unbelievable coincidence, and in the same episode no less!
4) Lucy gets the second job by pretending to be a young man, but her only disguise is a uniform: she's still in full makeup (lipstick, mascara, false eyelashes, eye shadow), yet everyone seems convinced she's a young man.
5) All the theater ushers are required to do military drills. Since when is that part of the job of a theater usher?
6) Mr. Mooney is six inches from Lucy's face and doesn't even recognize her. He calls her "boy."
7) A movie actress brings a gorilla as her escort to the premiere!
8) Lucy suddenly isn't afraid of huge beasts and goes chasing after the gorilla because it stole her autograph book. Please.
It boggles my mind that Lucille Ball would accept scripts like this. She let Bob and Madelyn go a couple years earlier for "Lucy Enters a Baking Contest" which, frankly, was a wonderful script and very funny and believable. Yet she kept accepting garbage scripts like this one from other writers after they left. This one was particularly pitiful.
1) Lucy Ricardo's fascination with celebrities could be endearing: stealing a Richard Widmark grapefruit or loose John Wayne footprints is almost understandable and the viewer can relate. But Lucy Carmichael's excessive obsession in this episode, that drives her to collect tons of movie magazines and paraphernalia and get two jobs in the same day for the sole purpose of trying to see movie stars, makes her seem like the most shallow person on the planet.
2) At job #1, selling maps to movie star homes on a street corner in Beverly Hills, Mr. Mooney just happens to ride by that very spot on his bicycle. Unbelievable coincidence.
3) At job #2 as a theater usher at a Hollywood premiere, Mr. Mooney just happens to show up as someone's guest at that same premiere. Yet another unbelievable coincidence, and in the same episode no less!
4) Lucy gets the second job by pretending to be a young man, but her only disguise is a uniform: she's still in full makeup (lipstick, mascara, false eyelashes, eye shadow), yet everyone seems convinced she's a young man.
5) All the theater ushers are required to do military drills. Since when is that part of the job of a theater usher?
6) Mr. Mooney is six inches from Lucy's face and doesn't even recognize her. He calls her "boy."
7) A movie actress brings a gorilla as her escort to the premiere!
8) Lucy suddenly isn't afraid of huge beasts and goes chasing after the gorilla because it stole her autograph book. Please.
It boggles my mind that Lucille Ball would accept scripts like this. She let Bob and Madelyn go a couple years earlier for "Lucy Enters a Baking Contest" which, frankly, was a wonderful script and very funny and believable. Yet she kept accepting garbage scripts like this one from other writers after they left. This one was particularly pitiful.