This is a cross-posted message from the TLS message board to make sure everyone gets the message that, at the current time, CBS is planning not to release Lucy in London on DVD. We can possibly change that if we take action. The people making these decisions at CBS are the business folks who just look at numbers. They're not here reading our chat room messages. So if you want to see this special get released, it's extremely important to go directly do them. Here is the contact information:

CBS Home Entertainment
ATTN: Ken Ross, Exec. VP & General Manager
1700 Broadway, 33rd Floor
New York, NY 10019

I've already written my letter and will be putting it in the mail in the morning. I hope you will all do the same. And please be sure to spread this message. Remember, CBS had no intention of releasing any of The Lucy Show on DVD. It was only because of a forceful letter-writing campaign by fans that it happened at all. So our letters do make an impact. Please take a few minutes and write a letter to Mr. Ross to let him know how important it is for this special to be released. Thanks.

...because there are so many legal and music clearance rights that have to be settled before releasing this officially on DVD, CBS might have decided it just isn't worth spending all that money to release just 52 minutes [minus the original commercials] of one special (even if it does feature Lucy). Anyway, here's hoping they do release it in the near future....

:tv:

It really seems you both would have extreme knowledge on this subject, so please elaborate further as it was my belief (which I guess is incorrect)....

Last I heard, MPI was releasing all "Lucy" specials, what does CBS have to do with it besides licensing it to MPI? MPI would have to clear the music, etc....I actually thought "The Arnaz Family" owned the specials, but not sure on that one, it's funny, because in previous MPI Lucy releases all music has been cleared or just ignored, like the difficult and expensive song "Sweet Georgia Brown" which appears in "Lucy & The President", as Lucy & her co-horts think of a way to impress the "Georgia" born President Carter. Was CBS/Paramount at any time considering a release of "Lucy In London"?

BTW..."Sweet Georgia Brown" a uptempo version of the song "The Harlem Globetrotters" use, was one of the stalling points in releasing a boxset of all three "Gilligan's Island" Reunion TV Movies because the last movie "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island", the song was deemed too expensive and appeared several times throughout the movie, hence no release.

It really seems you both would have extreme knowledge on this subject, so please elaborate further as it was my belief (which I guess is incorrect)....

Last I heard, MPI was releasing all "Lucy" specials, what does CBS have to do with it besides licensing it to MPI? MPI would have to clear the music, etc....I actually thought "The Arnaz Family" owned the specials, but not sure on that one, it's funny, because in previous MPI Lucy releases all music has been cleared or just ignored, like the difficult and expensive song "Sweet Georgia Brown" which appears in "Lucy & The President", as Lucy & her co-horts think of a way to impress the "Georgia" born President Carter. Was CBS/Paramount at any time considering a release of "Lucy In London"?

The Ball/Arnaz estate only owns the properties produced by Desi Arnaz Productions and Lucille Ball Productions, not Desilu Productions. Lucy in London was produced by Desilu Productions, which she sold to Gulf & Western in 1967 (owner of Paramount Pictures), and eventually fell under the ownership of CBS, now called CBS/Paramount. I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, the 1964 special The Lucille Ball Comedy Hour and Lucy in London are all owned by CBS/Paramount. The holdings of the Ball/Arnaz estate are limited to The Mothers-in-Law, Here's Lucy, Lucille Ball's 1970s and 1980s specials, and Life with Lucy (co-owned with the Aaron Spelling estate). In other words, the only Lucille Ball properties owned by the Arnaz family are those that Lucille owned and produced after she sold Desilu. They have absolutely no control over anything prior. And MPI has no licensing agreement with CBS/Paramount, only with the Arnaz family.

...because there are so many legal and music clearance rights that have to be settled before releasing this officially on DVD, CBS might have decided it just isn't worth spending all that money to release just 52 minutes [minus the original commercials] of one special (even if it does feature Lucy). Anyway, here's hoping they do release it in the near future....

:tv:

Please let's not just hope, let's take action. Our letters worked before, they can work again. We just need to be very vigorous and make our voices heard.

The Ball/Arnaz estate only owns the properties produced by Desi Arnaz Productions and Lucille Ball Productions, not Desilu Productions. Lucy in London was produced by Desilu Productions, which she sold to Gulf & Western in 1967 (owner of Paramount Pictures), and eventually fell under the ownership of CBS, now called CBS/Paramount. I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, the 1964 special The Lucille Ball Comedy Hour and Lucy in London are all owned by CBS/Paramount. The holdings of the Ball/Arnaz estate are limited to The Mothers-in-Law, Here's Lucy, Lucille Ball's 1970s and 1980s specials, and Life with Lucy (co-owned with the Aaron Spelling estate). In other words, the only Lucille Ball properties owned by the Arnaz family are those that Lucille owned and produced after she sold Desilu. They have absolutely no control over anything prior. And MPI has no licensing agreement with CBS/Paramount, only with the Arnaz family.

Got it! Thanks...but did CBS/Paramount ever even hint at a "Lucy In London" release? Yes it would be a perfect pairing as a extra on a "Lucy Show" season, like "The Lucille Ball Comedy Hour" was. I know CBS/Paramount had once said they had no intention of releasing "The Lucy Show", and thanked fans for the swamped emails of support, but they always planned on releasing it, anything Lucy is too much of a money maker for them, plus the care they seem to only do with Lucy releases, (which of course she deserves!) but for their other releases CBS/Paramount is "The Butcher" of DVD releases...so yes it must be music issues, like I said, if CBS/Paramount released "Lucy & The President", we would have never gotten them rehearsing "Sweet Georgia Brown"...but MPI pulled it off. Just lets be thankful that so much Lucy has and is being released, MPI isn't done with their releases of "Here's Lucy" or the remaining specials under their control.

Got it! Thanks...but did CBS/Paramount ever even hint at a "Lucy In London" release?
Nope.

I know CBS/Paramount had once said they had no intention of releasing "The Lucy Show", and thanked fans for the swamped emails of support, but they always planned on releasing it,
Actually, there was a lot of inside arm twisting, plus letters, that convinced them to release The Lucy Show. They didn't even have any intention of releasing the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours, either. There was a lot of insider campaigning that made that happen. The success of that and the letter writing convinced them to release The Lucy Show. And decisions on the release of that series have been one season at a time.

The site below, which was instrumental in the letter-writing campaign that got CBS interested in putting The Lucy Show on DVD has now been updated with a new campaign to get Lucy in London and Lucille Ball's Greatest Show on Earth guest shot released:

www.TheLucyShowDVD.com

Check it out and get busy writing your letters.