What is it and why?

I thought I'd get this discussion going again. Believe it or not, my least favorite episode is "Lucy's Italian Movie" where she goes grape stomping. I just don't like that episode. My second least favorite is the one with Harpo Marx. Another one that I just find really dumb.

The one and only episode that I have a hard time watching is the episode where Lucy dreams that she is in Scotland, and they have all those muscial numbers. I know Vivian Vance and William Frawley must have disliked that episode too seeing that they had to be in that dragon costume together. The episodes about the grape stomping and the mirror scene with Harpo are some of the most classic episodes how can a true Lucy fan not like them.

[This message has been edited by factsfanatic (edited 04-07-2001).]

I know they're classic scenes, but I don't think they're as funny as other scenes from other episodes. The Vitameatavegamin scene is the best in the whole series. The beginning of the Harpo Marx episode is what I don't like. How blind could Carolyn Appleby be? She was never that blind before! But hey, I happen to love that Scotland episode. Everyone has their favorites.

I, too, do not like the dream sequence in Scotland. I thought it was dumb and not a typical Lucy episode. I also don't like some of the episodes from the first season because the actors overacted and didn't have any character development yet.

Other than that, there's not an "I Love Lucy" episode that I don't love.

My least favorite episodes are those that go completely off-base with believability. I LOVE LUCY was a fantastic show which was entertaining and funny without being unbelievable. So I would put several of the first season eps on this list, especially where Lucy 'decorates' the apartment to look like a Cuban village, even with a burro. For a wife who always ran out of money for the household budget, how could she have paid for all that? For the same reason similar eps go on the list, such as Lucy pretending to be the worst housekeeper imaginable, and somehow getting 15 or more kids to play the role of her own. And how about the one with the bet, men v. women, who live as before the turn of the century? Lucy couldn't use automated transportation, but somethow she brought home all those antiques, including a bathttub? And then, when her dough rises, it somehow weighs more than it did before, and then that monstrous loaf of bread...that is a good candidate for the stupidest antic in all the series.

But after the first season, it appears they came to the realization that staying within believability can still work for a show with such good characterizations. And then, even when they stretched it, as in the 3 eps when they are driving to California, it was still funny, but more because we knew the characters than because they reverted to the style of old comedy shorts.

"The Ricardos Dedicate A Statue" was unfunny, stupid, mindless, and barely had any momentum throughout the episode. For god's sake, the plot was so bad and the result was a terrible final episode. I had more fun watching "Mooney The Monkey" from The Lucy Show then this.

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Andrew Carden

before i read any of these mesage i would have said i loved them all, but i remember the dreaming of scotland one and ihave to say that is my least favoite episode also, was kind of dumb

Originally posted by callmetootie:
"The Ricardos Dedicate A Statue" was unfunny, stupid, mindless, and barely had any momentum throughout the episode. For god's sake, the plot was so bad and the result was a terrible final episode. I had more fun watching "Mooney The Monkey" from The Lucy Show then this.



SO TRUE!!! It's episodes like that that ruined the last season for me.

My least favorite episode is "The Publicity Agent", episode #31 and "The Audition", episode #6. I just really didn't care for that episode. Others that I thought were OK or fair are the earlier episodes between episode #6 and #16.

My least favorite is probably "Lucy Is Enciente" only because I've seen it soo many times and really nothing much happens throughout the entire episode.

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-Shawn

I used to like the episode "Lucy and Ethel Buy The Same Dress" but I have seen it sooo many times that it is getting on my nerves kind of. Other then that I love watching every episode, I have seen just about all of them!

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Blair: I’m an adult

Jo: Oh sure, most adults I know stomp their feet when they don’t get Chinese food!
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Tootie: I'm finding out who I am, I'm black.
Jo: No kiddin'?
Blair: We thought you were Suzanne Somers!
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My least favorite episode is "Lucy Is Envious." It has such a dumb plotline. I'm also not too crazy about "Lucy In Scotland," as well as the last episode, "The Ricardos Dedicate A Statue." Yuck. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

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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."

The dang one with the freezer. Seemed far to far-fetched for me. I didn't even laugh the first time I saw it.

My first least favorite is "Lucy Goes To Scotland" and then "The Operetta". I think that one is SOOOOOOOOOO dumb and Lucy looked horrible.

My least favorite episodes are The one with Superman, and the last one. To me they don't seem like the classic I Love Lucy show.

Originally posted by oldiesgirl:
My least favorite episodes are The one with Superman, and the last one. To me they don't seem like the classic I Love Lucy show.

It does so seem like the classic I Love Lucy. Just because that one is not funny. Many are not funny and are dumb but that does not make them less like the classic I Love Lucy.

Do me a favor, huh? Disagree all you want, but don't tell someone their opinion is wrong; it just leads to fights. If that's the way oldiesgirl thinks, then don't tell her she's wrong just because that isn't your opinion. That goes for everyone. Thanks. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

I absolutly hate "Drafted".I think my next least fav. is the episode called: Be A Pal.


agsfan

Originally posted by Brett Ferino:
What is it and why?

The episodes with Tennessee Ernie Ford, because I disliked Tennessee Ernie Ford. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif I can watch the episodes and not even crack a smile once, except perhaps the scene where he finds it surprising that the bathroom is inside the house. Overall I just don't find him funny, so the antics were a bit over the top and farfetched in some really unfunny ways. I guess it can be said that I didn't like *him* so naturally that'll translate into me rolling my eyes rather than laughing at much of what he tried to pull off. Lucy and Desi playing supporting players to that just didn't work for me.

<p>Btw, isn't today - December 2nd - the 15th anniversary of Desi's death? I just heard today's date mentioned and think that's when Desi died, and having him pass away in 1986 means it's been exactly 15 years. What a sad day it must have been, especially for Lucy, all those years ago.</p>

Joy

Originally posted by agsfan:
I absolutly hate "Drafted".I think my next least fav. is the episode called: Be A Pal.

I absolutely agree. That is definitely my least favorite. I cannot sit through more than a minute or two of it.

Originally posted by onlyonelucy:
My first least favorite is "Lucy Goes To Scotland" and then "The Operetta". I think that one is SOOOOOOOOOO dumb and Lucy looked horrible.

I will never be able to understand how anyone cannot like "The Operetta." For the record, that is definitely my favorite episode of the entire series. I think it's absolutely brilliant. Lucy, Vivian, and Desi were all hilarious in it. Their performances, the wonderful lines, the hilarious (and catchy) tunes. I think it's a complete masterpiece. I just love it when Vivian starts innocently and sweetly singing that "I am Lily of the Valley" song, then abruptly starts belting out the lines like a bawdy barroom singer. That cracks me up all the time! And Lucy, when she trying to sing her "I Am the Queen of the Gypsies" but can't overcome the unexpected chorus behind her. And Desi, trying to sing so seriously those ridiculous lines "I am the good Prince Lancelot, I love to sing and dance a lot." That kills me! I actually laugh -- out loud, mind you -- all the way through this episode. Lucille Ball claimed it was her favorite. I'm most definitely in agreement with her on that.

Originally posted by Liza:
The dang one with the freezer. Seemed far to far-fetched for me. I didn't even laugh the first time I saw it.

I agree with you. In fact, there aren't too many episodes from the first season I like too much. The comedy that first year was too broad and not believable. Even that scene with the loaf of bread coming out of the oven, I've never understood what was funny about that. It's impossible for dough in the oven to just suddenly burst into a perfect loaf of bread like that. If I can't believe what I'm watching, it doesn't make me laugh. By the second season, the scripts improved dramatically. They were believable. The performances were no longer so over the top and were also believable. That's when I felt like the Ricardos and Mertzes became "real" people.

Originally posted by I Love Ethel Too:
My least favorite is probably "Lucy Is Enciente" only because I've seen it soo many times and really nothing much happens throughout the entire episode.

I LOVE that episode! There is no episode in the series that equals it in terms of its warmth and realism. I can't watch those last moments without getting tears in my eyes. My only gripe with that one is that Lucy was already so obviously pregnant. Even wearing that overcoat couldn't disguise the fact that she was showing.

Originally posted by Joicetti:
<p>Btw, isn't today - December 2nd - the 15th anniversary of Desi's death? I just heard today's date mentioned and think that's when Desi died, and having him pass away in 1986 means it's been exactly 15 years. What a sad day it must have been, especially for Lucy, all those years ago.</p>


I remember that day well. I was driving in the car when I found out. The radio station I was listening to announced his death, then played the radio version of "I Love Lucy" theme song where he sings those famous words "I love Lucy and she loves me . . . ." It was hard to hold back the tears when I heard that song just at the moment I had learned of his death.

Originally posted by NCVARick:
I remember that day well. I was driving in the car when I found out. The radio station I was listening to announced his death, then played the radio version of "I Love Lucy" theme song where he sings those famous words "I love Lucy and she loves me . . . ." It was hard to hold back the tears when I heard that song just at the moment I had learned of his death.

Oh, yeah! Little dummy here forgot all about it. It must have been sad. I was only 7 at the time and didn't even know who Desi Arnaz was.

my least favorite episode has to be.. hands down.. Lucy goes to Scotland. I hated that whole plotidea period. I also didnt like the ones with Ernie Ford, he annoyed me with those sayings. Blah. But, other than that I LOVE every other episode of I love Lucy http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Ashley :)

< In fact, there aren't too many episodes from the first season I like too much. The comedy that first year was too broad and not believable. >

It's nice to read someone else's post to that effect. I have not gotten much agreement the several times I have said it.

Originally posted by tdr:
< In fact, there aren't too many episodes from the first season I like too much. The comedy that first year was too broad and not believable. >

It's nice to read someone else's post to that effect. I have not gotten much agreement the several times I have said it.

That's surprising. To me, there is no comparison between the first season and the five that followed. As long as I can remember, I've felt this way. For me, except for a small handful of episodes here and there, the series doesn't really begin until "The Operetta."

In practically every episode that first season there was something that was done way over the top and really far-fetched. Even in the famous "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" episode, that first act where Lucy is in the TV set then Ricky tries to electrocute her. Give me a break. And the way they they played their characters in those early episodes, there was just a certain sense of phoniness. They didn't seem like real people and didn't behave the way people really would. Remember how Lucy and Ethel reacted towards that French guy when they thought he had killed Ricky? A normal person would be running for help and calling the police, but all they could think to do was call the guy a crepe suzette? How could Lucy talk to the guy so calmly if she thought he had just murdered her husband. And how about Ricky shooting a gun at his bedroom ceiling. This just to teach Lucy a lesson? Anyway, I digress.

I don't mean to come down too hard on their work that first season. After all, nothing they were doing had been done before. They were at the beginning of a huge learning process. The fact that they turned the show into such a wonderfully and believably acted and written piece of art just a year after it went on the air, given that nobody was there to tell them how to do it, is actually quite amazing. And when you compare it to other sitcoms of that era, and even today, well there is no comparison.

Originally posted by dawsongirl:
Oh, yeah! Little dummy here forgot all about it. It must have been sad. I was only 7 at the time and didn't even know who Desi Arnaz was.

Yikes! If you're trying to make me feel old, Dawsongirl . . . well, you've succeeded!

Originally posted by NCVARick:
Yikes! If you're trying to make me feel old, Dawsongirl . . . well, you've succeeded!

Sorry! That wasn't my intention, I assure you! http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

Originally posted by NCVARick:
In practically every episode that first season there was something that was done way over the top and really far-fetched. Even in the famous "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" episode, that first act where Lucy is in the TV set then Ricky tries to electrocute her. Give me a break. And the way they they played their characters in those early episodes, there was just a certain sense of phoniness. They didn't seem like real people and didn't behave the way people really would.

I totally agree with every word of this. I remember their reactions - especially those of surprise - in many of the episodes, where they'd just bug their eyes out into the camera rather than play the moment naturally as they'd do later on. It seemed to me that they really played *at* the camera early on, so they'd do every facial expression and what not at twice the emphasis so they were sure it'd be communicated on camera. In the later episodes I think they toned down their speaking, their expressions, their reactions, etc. and it worked a hundred times better.

Joy

As for the first season, I think its that way with most TV shows. Another one I like is the Golden Girls, but the 1st season was pretty boring. But these shows must've attracted a lot of 1st season attention to keep going. Anyway, the only two eps I really don't like are first, Lucy Goes to Scotland (anyone on here like that one?) and second the one where Lucy sets up that old gray haired lady with the old man grocer, and the grocer thinks Lucy wants him. Other than that, I LOVE every episode!

Originally posted by Osh:
As for the first season, I think its that way with most TV shows.

I like the first season the best!

Anyway, the only two eps I really don't like are first, Lucy Goes to Scotland (anyone on here like that one?)

Me. It's one of my favorites. Really!

If someone's favorite season is the first, and favorite ep is the 'Lucy goes to Scotland' dream, that probably shows one thinks "the sillier, the funnier-- the better!"

Sometimes I do like silly comedy, but my liking for I Love Lucy is that it was believable *character* comedy that didn't have to be outrageously silly to be funny. And that's why the first season eps to me are not the best. It's just way overboard to decorate the apartment as a Cuban villa-- with a burro, of all things-- and how did Lucy get a burro in NY, at least without a lot of money? And he probably could climb the steps to the apartment, but it wouldn't be easy to get him to do it! And the 15 kids that were supposed to have been hers to dissuade the old man who thought Lucy was in love with him... going hunting in the apartment with the overalls hanging on a line and chickens around... the 8-foot loaf of bread coming out of the 2-foot oven.....

It was all better when they were funny and entertaining to us simply because we knew them and their idiosyncracies. Then they could stay within believability-- at least most of the time-- and we could actually relate to many of the situations they got into.

You want to know why I like the first season the best? I think Lucy and Ricky were a sweeter, more romantic couple in those early episodes. I'm a sticky romantic sometimes.

Originally posted by Joicetti


I totally agree with every word of this. I remember their reactions - especially those of surprise - in many of the episodes, where they'd just bug their eyes out into the camera rather than play the moment naturally as they'd do later on. It seemed to me that they really played *at* the camera early on, so they'd do every facial expression and what not at twice the emphasis so they were sure it'd be communicated on camera. In the later episodes I think they toned down their speaking, their expressions, their reactions, etc. and it worked a hundred times better.

Joy

Yes, I know what you mean. Like in the first episode the moment when Lucy finds out that Ricky has a date with "Theodore" (a dog). She looks directly into the camera and slightly cocks her head with that wide-eyed Gee-I'm-such-a-confused-bimbo look. Of course, the Lucy we would come to love was not a bimbo at all, but shrewd, clever, daring, and perhaps a bit excentric. But she was not stupid and was not a bimbo. But in these very early episodes, that's they way she sometimes came across.

Originally posted by dawsongirl
You want to know why I like the first season the best? I think Lucy and Ricky were a sweeter, more romantic couple in those early episodes. I'm a sticky romantic sometimes.

If you're talking about the relatively lengthy kissing they displayed on camera in those early episodes, you certainly do have a point. I find it pretty amazing they were able to get away with that in those days. And to think they were also doing that in front of an audience of 300 people, they were pretty uninhibited. I wonder if because of Lucy's pregnancy the next season, the censors decided they should cool it off a bit? After all, beginning with her pregnancy, they started separating those twin beds in their bedroom, and kept them separated for the remainder of the series. A married couple with separate beds. How romantic.

Originally posted by tdr
If someone's favorite season is the first, and favorite ep is the 'Lucy goes to Scotland' dream, that probably shows one thinks "the sillier, the funnier-- the better!"

Sometimes I do like silly comedy, but my liking for I Love Lucy is that it was believable *character* comedy that didn't have to be outrageously silly to be funny. And that's why the first season eps to me are not the best.

I totally agree here. We could probably go on and on with examples of silly and unbelievable occurences during the first season. One instance that *really* bugs me is "Lucy Writes a Play." When Lucy and Ethel are first on stage, they are performing that British version of Lucy's play. Then Ricky suddenly shows up doing the Cuban version. If Lucy and Ethel were doing a different version and speaking different lines, how they heck would Ricky know his cue to come on stage? Then when they stop the play suddenly and reorganize, when the play resumes, Lucy and Ethel are now doing the Cuban version. How did they just happen to have Cuban costumes available right there so they could do this? And when Ricky returns, how did he just happen to come up with a British costume? And how could it be possible for this confusion to happen again. Surely they would have consulted one another before resuming the play. And again, because Lucy and Ethel are now speaking dialogue for the Cuban version, how did Ricky, doing the British version, know when it was his cue to come on stage? This episode makes absolutely no sense to me.

Originally posted by NCVARick


Yes, I know what you mean. Like in the first episode the moment when Lucy finds out that Ricky has a date with "Theodore" (a dog). She looks directly into the camera and slightly cocks her head with that wide-eyed Gee-I'm-such-a-confused-bimbo look. Of course, the Lucy we would come to love was not a bimbo at all, but shrewd, clever, daring, and perhaps a bit excentric.

Look who's being the bimbo: me! Unless I'm even more tired than I think, that should be "eccentric," not excentric.