I Love Lucy Christmas Special
During the TV Land Merry-Thon Weekend tune into a seldom seen I Love Lucy Christmas episode. Join the Ricardos as they travel back down memory lane to reminisce about some of the best moments of I Love Lucy. This special holiday treat will air Sunday, December 23 at 9:00pm repeating Tuesday, December 25 at 9:00pm E/P.

I thought Desi Arnaz banned this episode from airing and banned it from the ILL package. I recall hearing something about him not wanting this episode to be shown on the air (especially in July). I have also read that Lucy and Desi had a funny feeling about this episode- like it was cursed or something. Anyways, I am filled with joy and happiness that this rare episode will be shown on TV again. Other Lucy stuff I think would be great to see on TV Land is Lucy's series from the 60's called "The Lucy Show" where Lucy and Vivian Vance play single mothers looking for dates, getting into all kinds of sports, fixing their house, and getting new jobs here and there. After three seasons, Lucy finally gets a permanent job at the bank working for the hot-tempered Mr. Mooney. But I think that would be a great addition to TV Land as well as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. I am sorry if I am going off the topic but I am so excited over TV Land airing I Love Lucy and now the Christmas special. TV Land is like the best network.

Well, I don't want to seem morbid, but since Desi is dead now, that decision (if it was made) could be overruled by one person. Lucie Arnaz, being his next-of-kin, is given such power.

I recently saw this seldom seen episode after checking it out from the library. Aside from being rare I must admit that the episode has very little to offer; I can see why it was not part of the initial syndication package.

My first time seeing this episode occurred in December of 1989 when CBS aired it as a tribute to Lucy. Before that time only a portion of it was seen on the now defunct "Rona Barrett's Hollywood." I am glad that many people who have never viewed this episode will finally get the chance and can make up their own minds come December.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/eek2.gif

Well, Nick at Nite sure looks like crap now doesn't it? I own this in my tape collection, but it will be fun to see it on TV.

I'm guessing that Desi didn't put this in the syndication package because back then, the syndie market wasn't nearly what it is today and those people might just have shown it in July, whereas many syndie shows today skip over the holiday episodes. It could also be like what Gene Rayburn did with The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour. He hated it, so he banned it from ever being aired. Maybe L&D didn't like this.

According to a couple of "Lucy" books, Lucy and Desi withheld this from syndication because they didn't want a Christmas episode shown during the summer, and becaues it was mostly a flashback episode, and the episodes containing those flashbacks were going to be rerun, so what was the point of including the compilation episode. What a refreshing change from today, where there are how many clip shows from "Family Ties" in syndication? Lucy also felt that the ending, where they find a real Santa, was weird.

All of the "I Love Lucy" episodes are owned by Viacom, which can rerun them whenever they want. I'm impressed that they've continued to respect Lucy and Desi's wishes by not including the show in the regular syndication package. It was rerun twice by CBS in the early 90s (one time it was colorized!), and now it will be rerun again by TV Land, but that's pretty much it.

I don't know how this works, but I know that in game shows, EVERY celebrity that appears in an episode MUST be contacted by people who re-run the shows (mainly Game Show Network) in order for the show to be aired. So, I think it would be the same with sitcoms. If one of the stars (at least, one who signed a contract for that episode, not like an extra or a walk-on) doesn't want it aired, I think that TVLand is bound by law to not show it, then. Of course, though, as I mentioned, both Desi and Lucy are, unfortunately, not with us anymore, so it goes to the two's next of kin, which happens to be the same person, Lucie Arnaz.

I, personally, had just found out about this episode a few weeks ago, and had been wondering if N@N or TVLand ever re-ran it, which, I guess they didn't, so it's great to find out that it will be airing!

If I'm thinking right, they showed clips of this show in either Viv's or Desi's Mysteries & Scandals episode, and they insinuated that someone thought it was "weird" because Lucy and Desi weren't getting along during it. Now that I don't believe. Watch it and see what you think.

I do think it is better than most of the clip shows of today.

>>I don't know how this works, but I know that in game shows, EVERY celebrity that appears in an episode MUST be contacted by people who re-run the shows (mainly Game Show Network) in order for the show to be aired. So, I think it would be the same with sitcoms.<<

It all depends on what deals the actors had when the shows were originally made. In the case of game shows, no one ever imagined they'd be rerun so many years later, so in a lot of cases, no provisions were made in the original contracts for reruns. Same thing happened with musicians who performed on variety shows, or shows like "The Tonight Show". The full-length "Carol Burnett" shows were recently released on video, after a lot of effort to get the music royalties straight. You can buy clip compilations of the old "Tonight Show", but very few full-length episodes, because of the royalties issue.

With most sitcoms and dramas, residual provisions for reruns are in the contracts up front, because the whole intention of producing those shows is to rerun them eventually. In the last "Friends" contract negotiations a few years ago, the studio even had provisions stipulating how royalties work if/when the shows are distributed over the internet!

That said, because that Chrismas episode of ILL wasn't originally in the syndication package, maybe there isn't any royalty agreement in place. Viacom owns the negative, but who knows what kinds of hoops they have to jump through to get it rerun.

When Was This Aired Org?

Wow! I remember watching this episode when CBS aired it back in 1989 or 1990. It will be great to see it again, and get it on tape.

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Lucy: "Ever since we said 'I do' there are so many things we don't."

Lucy : "That must be my dear friend Ethel. I'll open the door, Fred."
Fred : "Open it?! I was going to lock it!"

Lucy : "Gee, did you hear that, honey? It's going to be called "Bitter Grapes." I wonder what part they want me for."
Fred : "Oh, you're probably going to be one of the bunch."

I cant wait to see it!

Originally posted by Sean Snow:
When Was This Aired Org?

December 24, 1956

I just purchased an unopened vhs copy of the ILL Christmas Spec. from ebay and I just loved it. I did not realize this episode had been released over 10 years ago. I came across it on ebay and was curious so I bid on it and won. It is so eerie to watch this episode since I have seen every ILL episode. It is actually a funny episode and it is so wonderful to see the Ricardo's & Mertz's sharing Christmas together. Fred even forks over $5.00 to buy the Tree. We get to see Little Ricky get up on Christmas morning to play with his new bike & drum set. I highly recommend this classic lost episode.

Originally posted by PPatters:
Well, I don't want to seem morbid, but since Desi is dead now, that decision (if it was made) could be overruled by one person. Lucie Arnaz, being his next-of-kin, is given such power.

There isn't anything to overrule. This show has been available to the public for about a dozen years now. It's been aired a couple times on CBS and has been available in video stores ever since. I think the only thing Desi was really opposed to was including it in syndication with the rest of the series because it was a seasonal show.

Originally posted by QueenOfTheGypsies:
Wow! I remember watching this episode when CBS aired it back in 1989 or 1990. It will be great to see it again, and get it on tape.



So you got to see the 1990 colorized version. I wonder if TVLand plans to air the colorized version. Probably not. They would probably have said something already if they were.

Originally posted by dawsongirl:
If I'm thinking right, they showed clips of this show in either Viv's or Desi's Mysteries & Scandals episode, and they insinuated that someone thought it was "weird" because Lucy and Desi weren't getting along during it. Now that I don't believe. Watch it and see what you think.

Maybe they thought it was weird because of that Santa thing at the end, which was weird.