Desi Arnaz to me was a poor actor and rather annoying singer although a decent musician . I just recently bought the I Love Lucy series and noticed this guy is rather annoying in the show. Lucille Ball brilliance saved this show being ordinary if it was anyone else it would never been a hit like it was also remember there were very little Sit Com at the time. The show has outstanding comedy with Lucy who was talented but Desi acting pull it down a bit . I can never see what they seen in him he was no Dean Martin who could sing and had that charisma that was so smooth Women would flock to him. The show title I love Lucy sounds like the show is about him first and Lucy second. Desi did he pull Lucy strings to get him to TV? I know CBS wanted someone else but Lucy wanted him as they were husband and Wife. I could not believe in the first few episode he started talking into a phone before placing it to his mouth and ear it was terrible acting. Richard Denning played Lucy husband on the Radio hit My Favorite Husband sound wise he sounded good and i really think would have been more successful. Vivian Vance and William Frawley were fine on this show. I have a friend who love the old Sit Com but will not watch this show basically because of him. What do others here think of him in I Love Lucy.

What??? :(

I think Desi was fantastic on I Love Lucy. He was the perfect straight man to her shenanigans.
Desi really shows off his comedic chops in the movie The Long Long Trailer where he showed he could do physical comedy, and had great comedic timing. His facial expressions when he's trying to back the trailer into his wife's relatives' driveway with everyone in the neighborhood yelling directions at him was pure comedy gold.

I think Desi was fantastic on I Love Lucy. He was the perfect straight man to her shenanigans.
Desi really shows off his comedic chops in the movie The Long Long Trailer where he showed he could do physical comedy, and had great comedic timing. His facial expressions when he's trying to back the trailer into his wife's relatives' driveway with everyone in the neighborhood yelling directions at him was pure comedy gold.


Yeah! Me too! I loved Desi on I love Lucy! :) His facial expressions when Lucy was doing something goofy were priceless!:D And his outbursts and yelling at her in Spanish! Hey it is SO TRUE!! ;) I have a Latino husband and HE goes into Spanish yelling at me mode a lot of times !!! :eek: :D

I also loved his singing and the Tropicana scenes!:) And it was so cool, they were like the first different culture marriage ever on TV, and the coolest part was they were really married! ;)

The best part is when he does get angry and speak Spanish and i do understand it. I still think Gale Gordon and Lucille Ball were the perfect team.

I think Desi is a great part of the show and all four main characters are magical together. All the actors can play their parts being serious and straight and also completely crazy and wacky - they're brilliant.

I've been watching lately and thinking that it might be a little odd that Lucy and Ricky are such great friends with a couple so much older than they are, but somehow it works, they convince me that they really could be friends with this older couple and they have things in common.

Desi Arnaz to me was a poor actor and rather annoying singer although a decent musician . I just recently bought the I Love Lucy series and noticed this guy is rather annoying in the show. Lucille Ball brilliance saved this show being ordinary if it was anyone else it would never been a hit like it was also remember there were very little Sit Com at the time. The show has outstanding comedy with Lucy who was talented but Desi acting pull it down a bit . I can never see what they seen in him he was no Dean Martin who could sing and had that charisma that was so smooth Women would flock to him. The show title I love Lucy sounds like the show is about him first and Lucy second. Desi did he pull Lucy strings to get him to TV? I know CBS wanted someone else but Lucy wanted him as they were husband and Wife. I could not believe in the first few episode he started talking into a phone before placing it to his mouth and ear it was terrible acting. Richard Denning played Lucy husband on the Radio hit My Favorite Husband sound wise he sounded good and i really think would have been more successful. Vivian Vance and William Frawley were fine on this show. I have a friend who love the old Sit Com but will not watch this show basically because of him. What do others here think of him in I Love Lucy.

Congratulations, this might win the prize for being the most wrongheaded post in the history of this site.

Desi Arnaz was brilliant in front of and behind the camera. There are several books about the making of the series, you should read one, you might learn something.

So, you've been a member of a site called 'sitcomsonline' for 10+ years, and you recently bought the entire series of the most famous and beloved sitcom in the history of the world, and you've just discovered that the creator and brains behind the show that revolutionized television had no talent..... Hmmm, I see. And you call yourself Rambo Stallone because obviously you know talent when you see it. :crazy:

Desi Arnaz to me was a poor actor and rather annoying singer although a decent musician . I just recently bought the I Love Lucy series and noticed this guy is rather annoying in the show. Lucille Ball brilliance saved this show being ordinary if it was anyone else it would never been a hit like it was also remember there were very little Sit Com at the time. The show has outstanding comedy with Lucy who was talented but Desi acting pull it down a bit . I can never see what they seen in him he was no Dean Martin who could sing and had that charisma that was so smooth Women would flock to him. The show title I love Lucy sounds like the show is about him first and Lucy second. Desi did he pull Lucy strings to get him to TV? I know CBS wanted someone else but Lucy wanted him as they were husband and Wife. I could not believe in the first few episode he started talking into a phone before placing it to his mouth and ear it was terrible acting. Richard Denning played Lucy husband on the Radio hit My Favorite Husband sound wise he sounded good and i really think would have been more successful. Vivian Vance and William Frawley were fine on this show. I have a friend who love the old Sit Com but will not watch this show basically because of him. What do others here think of him in I Love Lucy.

You need to watch beyond the first few episodes. Much of the first season is relatively weak overall. The series took some time to find its grounding, then in the second season it took off and was top notch. And so did Desi. He came in to this show with limited acting experience. That's apparent in the early episodes. But once he found his groove, he became indispensable to Lucille Ball in making her comedy work. Yes, she was brilliant. But certain routines required a great straight man for her comedy to be most effective. And Desi Arnaz was the best when it came to that. He was also known, according to the writers on the show, as a great script doctor who knew how to take a good script, punch it up and make it a superb script.

I agree he wasn't a great singer (although his daughter is), but he was a great bandleader. And he was a great executive producer for this show, and a great business executive who quickly turned Desilu into a powerhouse in Hollywood. And this once little-known bandleader rose to become one of the biggest power players in the entertainment business.

All I have to say is that even when Lucy was at her bitterest re dissing his infidelity and drinking, she always praised her one-time husband's talents and innovations as a producer& performer and was upset when virtually no one from the industry attended his funeral.

Yes been a Member for a long time The series just got released here down under. I bought it for $56 after 20% off. The US Prices were over priced years ago and packaging useless a bit like Obama and the Democrats and left wings that do not understand a Democracy. The Abbott and Costello Show, The Honeymooners and Sergeant Bilko were the 3 from the 50 everyone should get and I Love Lucy after it . I would definitely get Amos 'n' Andy if it come out proper that a gem and possibly I Married Joan and The Bob Cummings Show.The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show would be interesting but it probably never see the light again complete . The Ann Sothern Show and Private Secretary would need too see more. I Love Lucy was one of the last of the 50 and 60 I had a Interest getting as well as The Andy Griffith Show and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. I am about too Watch Season 2 Of I Love Lucy and The Series picked up a bit even Desi improved. I am usually against cuts on any DVD but at some scene it may have been better if they had cuts when Desi start badly trying to sing like Dean Martin. I enjoyed Gomer Pyle a lot more when his music was cut out on the DVD set. I still prefer The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy over I love Lucy I got those series years back before this. Lucille Ball and Gale Gordorn what a duo. I will be watching the rest of the boxset Season 2-6 and the 7-9 along with C.P.O. Sharkey starring Don Rickles now that show been making me laugh out loud Don Rickles should have been a super star. How on earth M*A*S*H last longer than C.P.O. Sharkey.

Thanks for the award maybe Milo Yiannopoulos will send a copy along with his book.

Desi Arnaz to me was a poor actor and rather annoying singer although a decent musician . I just recently bought the I Love Lucy series and noticed this guy is rather annoying in the show.

OMG!

The show has outstanding comedy with Lucy who was talented but Desi acting pull it down a bit .

OMG! OMG!

The US Prices were over priced years ago and packaging useless a bit like Obama and the Democrats and left wings that do not understand a Democracy.

Seriously? You had to go there on a message board about I Love Lucy?!!! You don't even want to get me started on that nonsense. I'll take you to the woodshed.

I still prefer The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy over I love Lucy

OMG! OMG! OMG! Here's Lucy, really? Here's Lucy is so much better. Yeah right. That's why it's rarely seen versus I Love Lucy, which has never been off the air.

The above statements show a lack of judgment and credibility. These statements are automatically disqualifying from any serious consideration.

OMG!



OMG! OMG!



Seriously? You had to go there on a message board about I Love Lucy?!!! You don't even want to get me started on that nonsense. I'll take you to the woodshed.



OMG! OMG! OMG! Here's Lucy, really? Here's Lucy is so much better. Yeah right. That's why it's rarely seen versus I Love Lucy, which has never been off the air.

The above statements show a lack of judgment and credibility. These statements are automatically disqualifying from any serious consideration.

Everybody's got a right to their opinion, and here's mine: Desi was brilliant as well, maybe Lucy brighter BUT the man was a true genius off the set with marketing and negotiating the show.

I LOVE LUCY!!! Every single ep, every single series, on & off stage---Someone doesn't like her or Desi-THEIR LOSS. I have the entire ILL series and damn proud of it! The show's still revered nearly 70 years later

The only negative thing I can say about Desi is that he wasn't the greatest singer. Aside from that, he played a funny character in I Love Lucy and contributed to the episodes with his style of humor.

One of my favorite movies is The Long Long Trailer. When watching the movie, I have the feeling that Lucy and Desi were most in love with each other during this time, their chemistry together in the movie is outstanding. But the love didn't last and in 1960 their marriage would end in divorce.

There are those who prefer The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy over I Love Lucy, include me in that group. Part of the reason is that Lucy and Gale Gordon worked great together, I think overall that Lucy had better on screen chemistry with Gale Gordon compared to Desi. This might be because Lucy and Gale didn't have the added pressure and tension of being a real life married couple.

The only negative thing I can say about Desi is that he wasn't the greatest singer. Aside from that, he played a funny character in I Love Lucy and contributed to the episodes with his style of humor.

One of my favorite movies is The Long Long Trailer. When watching the movie, I have the feeling that Lucy and Desi were most in love with each other during this time, their chemistry together in the movie is outstanding. But the love didn't last and in 1960 their marriage would end in divorce.

There are those who prefer The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy over I Love Lucy, include me in that group. Part of the reason is that Lucy and Gale Gordon worked great together, I think overall that Lucy had better on screen chemistry with Gale Gordon compared to Desi. This might be because Lucy and Gale didn't have the added pressure and tension of being a real life married couple.

His singing wasn't bad but he was no Frank Sinatra. But his business pizazz was hard to beat.

Re Lucy's shows, they were all to die for, and yes, I totally agree her and Gale had a fantastic chemistry. But ILL is the most special to me; because nobody, AND I MEAN NOBODY took on physical comedy with such gusto as Lucy. She opened up a whole new world and doors to many future comediennes.

His singing wasn't bad but he was no Frank Sinatra. But his business pizazz was hard to beat.

Re Lucy's shows, they were all to die for, and yes, I totally agree her and Gale had a fantastic chemistry. But ILL is the most special to me; because nobody, AND I MEAN NOBODY took on physical comedy with such gusto as Lucy. She opened up a whole new world and doors to many future comediennes.

Didn't Lucy get her inspiration for visual/physical comedy from the old, silent movie two reel comedies? I believe I read somewhere that much of her comedy drew inspiration from many of the silent movie comics from back in the day like Buster Keaton.

Didn't Lucy get her inspiration for visual/physical comedy from the old, silent movie two reel comedies? I believe I read somewhere that much of her comedy drew inspiration from many of the silent movie comics from back in the day like Buster Keaton.

Perhaps-but I really think she took it to a whole new level. And somehow you got the impression SHE REALLY LOVED doing outrageous physical comedy. God I love that woman and her talent.

Didn't Lucy get her inspiration for visual/physical comedy from the old, silent movie two reel comedies? I believe I read somewhere that much of her comedy drew inspiration from many of the silent movie comics from back in the day like Buster Keaton.

Yes, she credited Buster Keaton as a mentor. They were working at the same studio -- RKO, I believe -- and she spent a lot of time with him learning to work with props -- something that is a must for a silent movie comedian.

Perhaps-but I really think she took it to a whole new level. And somehow you got the impression SHE REALLY LOVED doing outrageous physical comedy. God I love that woman and her talent.

Yes, she did take it to a whole new level. Besides the time she spent with Buster Keaton learning the techniques of a silent comedian, when she was doing "My Favorite Husband," her producer, Jess Oppenheimer, sent her on an assignment to watch Jack Benny perform his radio show. There she learned the techniques of performing comedy with sound, but not sight -- the opposite scenario of what she learned from Buster Keaton. So in this way, she was able to excel in both physical and verbal comedy.

Besides learning from Buster Keaton (visual comedy) and Jack Benny (verbal comedy), she worked with many other legends of comedy, as well as serious actors. It has often been said that during those early years, Lucille Ball was like a sponge, dedicated to learning her craft and soaking up every bit of knowledge of the performing arts wherever she could. (She reportedly also spent hundreds looking in the mirror developing all those comic facial expressions.) She plunged head first into every role she was given. And it's worth noting that many of these roles were hard dramas. Carol Burnett has noted that Lucy's success on television benefited greatly from her prior dramatic roles because it allowed for a depth and believability in her television characters that elevated her performances above simple slapstick. This dramatic basis enabled her to take the viewer along for the ride and believe her every step of the way.

There were these different layers to her performance. She took the comedy skills she learned from Keaton and Benny and a whole host of other comedic performers (the Marx Brothers, Harold Lloyd, the Three Stooges, etc.) and rooted that in a foundation of realistic acting, no doubt influenced from working with the likes of A-listers such as Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda and others, and prestigious directors like Dorothy Arzner. This is what distinguishes her from performers like Joan Davis. Lucille Ball developed all these disparate skills, excelled in each individually, then merged them all together on TV in a way no one else could.

When I was growing up in the 70's, I Love Lucy is on one of first TV shows I ever saw. I vaguely remember the Lucy Show.
As for Desi, it was his son I saw on TV first. He was one of my earliest crushes.

As for Lucille Ball's physical comedy on ILL what I notice is that is was not until the later years (Year 5 especially), that is was done more regularly.