It was on this past weekend. It was really the Lucy Desi Comedy Hour episodes. Some really good episodes. Lots of movie stars as guests.

I have mixed feelings about the show. On one level, it jst isn't the same as ILL. Part of the charm of the original was Lucy as a star-struck housewife, who would do anything to become a star or meet someone famous. On the Comedy Hour, she was meeting someone famous every week. Plus, the more intricate location shoots often worked against the show, taking away that intimate feel that ILL had.
On the other hand, when they kept Lucy closer to reality (and out of Star-Ville or bullrings), the show was good. One of my favorites was the Danny Thomas episode...maybe because she was dealing with Danny WILLIAMS, not another star, like Danny Thomas. I still can hear Lucy reacting to Marjorie Lord trying to calm everyone down..."You and your sickening sweetness...don't you ever get mad?"

I agree with Scrapple's assessment. The hour long shows were, to me, a bit forced at times. Some of the more successful shows are the ones where the series was filmed in front of an audience and not any "movie" techniques used. The "Havana" episode is a favorite because it still feels like some form of reality, telling the story how two people met. "The Celebrity Next Door" I have always enjoyed because to me the cast and the audience just give it perfect timing. The Danny Thomas hour is classic TV, and "Lucy Wants A Career" has always been a favorite as it falls back on the old ILL premise, and Lucy finally suceeds in show business only to find out that she does not like it at all (also filmed in front of an audience).

The location filmings, I feel, hurt the timing and overall look of the shows. Not to mention the lack of an audience does not help, with the laughter being added as the film is shown to a studio audience. And the final 4 episodes of the series ("Vacation," the Milton Berle episode, Japan, and the Ernie Kovacs episodes) with the lack of an audience, and actors on the verge of divorce (not to mention a tired format by that time) just provides medicore episodes. In fact, out of all of these four shows the only scenes worth seeing are in the final episode when Edie Adams sings a great version of "That's All" and the very final scene with Lucy and Ricky's last onscreen kiss. Beyond that I don't watch these episodes very often.