Jackie Gleason once threatened to sue Hanna Barbera for The Flintstones having been a take off of The Honeymooners.
Interestingly enough however,a lot of Honeymooners episodes are quite simular to episodes of I Love Lucy.And,at least to my knowledge,there was never any copyright related conflict between him and Lucille Ball.:confused:

Jackie Gleason once threatened to sue Hanna Barbera for The Flintstones having been a take off of The Honeymooners.
Interestingly enough however,a lot of Honeymooners episodes are quite simular to episodes of I Love Lucy.And,at least to my knowledge,there was never any copyright related conflict between him and Lucille Ball.:confused:

Who is going to sue who (Gleason is suing Lucy, Lucy is suing Gleason) and over what exactly? Give some examples where you think I Love Lucy was copying the Honeymooners or The Honeymooners was copying Lucy, I don't see it.

I Love Lucy:The Handcuffs:Lucy handcuffs herself to Ricky as a joke,and then discovers they have no key.

The Honeymooners:Unconventional Behaviour:While on a train to a convention,Ed handcuffs himself to Ralph and tells him there's no key.In order to break free,he has to say a magic word.But the magic word doesn't work.

I Love Lucy:Lucy Does A TV Commercial:There was an episode of The Honeymooners where Ralph did a TV commercial.

I Love Lucy:The Courtroom:The Ricardos give the Mertzes a new television set for their anniversary.But when Ricky's tuning blows it up,Fred retaliates by busting the Ricardos' TV set.And the four of them wind up in court.

In an early episode of The Honeymooners,Ed's movie ticket that Ralph had purhased wins him a new TV set.But Ralph claims his right to the set on account of he bought the ticket.And the Kramdens and the Nortons end up in court.

I Love Lucy:The Million Dollar Idea
The Honeymooners:Better Living Through TV

When I saw similarities to I Love Lucy on the main index page from the 50s board, I assumed it was about Burns and Allen. The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy are nothing alike...

I Love Lucy:The Handcuffs:Lucy handcuffs herself to Ricky as a joke,and then discovers they have no key.

The Honeymooners:Unconventional Behaviour:While on a train to a convention,Ed handcuffs himself to Ralph and tells him there's no key.In order to break free,he has to say a magic word.But the magic word doesn't work.

I Love Lucy:Lucy Does A TV Commercial:There was an episode of The Honeymooners where Ralph did a TV commercial.

I Love Lucy:The Courtroom:The Ricardos give the Mertzes a new television set for their anniversary.But when Ricky's tuning blows it up,Fred retaliates by busting the Ricardos' TV set.And the four of them wind up in court.

In an early episode of The Honeymooners,Ed's movie ticket that Ralph had purhased wins him a new TV set.But Ralph claims his right to the set on account of he bought the ticket.And the Kramdens and the Nortons end up in court.

I Love Lucy:The Million Dollar Idea
The Honeymooners:Better Living Through TV


Ok, I think I have the general drift here, you're contending The Honeymooners sketch/TVseries ripped off I Love Lucy in certain instances (all comparisons given were stories that appeared first on Lucy). Without taking time to review each episode sited there are more differences than things in common. However let me just cut to the chase and discuss copyright infringement. Let's start here:


"Copyright protects only the expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves. For example, two artists may paint the same scene but portray them in ways that are slightly different, without infringing each other’s copyright. At the same time, the fact that the series Lost is copyright protected does not prevent you from writing a story about a number of people who are forced to live on a remote island after a plane crash.

Taking inspiration from someone else’s work is therefore acceptable, but in order to have copyright in your work and avoid infringement you need to create something original by using your own skill, labor, judgement and effort".

Many TV series have shows with similar themes just like many songs about breaking up are similar.

As a sidenote, if Gleason had sued over The Flintstones he wouldn't have succeeded. The characterization and circumstances of The Flintstone universe is much different than The Honeymooners.

Ok, I think I have the general drift here, you're contending The Honeymooners sketch/TVseries ripped off I Love Lucy in certain instances (all comparisons given were stories that appeared first on Lucy). Without taking time to review each episode sited there are more differences than things in common. However let me just cut to the chase and discuss copyright infringement. Let's start here:


"Copyright protects only the expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves. For example, two artists may paint the same scene but portray them in ways that are slightly different, without infringing each other’s copyright. At the same time, the fact that the series Lost is copyright protected does not prevent you from writing a story about a number of people who are forced to live on a remote island after a plane crash.

Taking inspiration from someone else’s work is therefore acceptable, but in order to have copyright in your work and avoid infringement you need to create something original by using your own skill, labor, judgement and effort".

Many TV series have shows with similar themes just like many songs about breaking up are similar.

As a sidenote, if Gleason had sued over The Flintstones he wouldn't have succeeded. The characterization and circumstances of The Flintstone universe is much different than The Honeymooners.
You are correct.I may have gone overboard by suggesting one show copied the other.The reason for the slight simularities between both shows was probably because they were both tv sitcoms from the same era.The simularities were probably not intentional.The mood and tone of I Love Lucy is totally different from The Honeymooners.

One problem is that we assume A copied B, but then it turns out B copied C, and on and on. This website traces handcuff routines back into the silent movies:

https://anthonybalducci.blogspot.com/2013/10/stuck-on-you-handcuffs-routine.html?m=1

One interesting thing is that the I Love Lucy handcuff routine seems to have been drawn from Lucy's radio show, "My Favorite Husband." Interesting because handcuff routine would seem to be mainly a sight gag.

Both shows were set in New York.
Both were in black and white.
Both shows couples lived in the same building.
Both shows couples lived in apartments.
Lucy Ricardo and Alice Kramden both were redheads.
Ethel Mertz & Trixie Norton were both blondes.
Ricky Ricardo and Ralph Kramden both had jet black hair.
Both Ricky and Ralph had tempers.
On I Love Lucy, Lucy and Ethel once ended up wearing the same dress. In "The Safety Award", both Alice and Trixie had on the same exact dress too.
Fred and Ethel would often just go into the Ricardo apartment without knocking, same with the Nortons going into the Kramden apartment.
Ethel & Lucy once dressed up as aliens from another planet. In "The Man From Space" on the Honeymooners, Ralph's home made costume was supposed to be a man from space while Norton's sewer equipment was mistaken for being a man from space.
Lucy & Ricky were on a quiz show as was Ralph "The $99,000 Answer."
Lucy often roped Ethel into her crazy hair-brained schemes, same with Ralph with Norton.
You could find many similarities between both programs to be sure.