Is there anyone willing to admit preferring TLS and/or HL over ILL?

Come on...just on person:lol:

I'll admit that when I first discovered Lucy via "The Lucy Show," watching that and I Love Lucy, it just seemed that she was so much more funnier in TLS.

I remember seeing reruns of "The Lucy Show" when I was a little kid, and again when I was an adult, and I did really enjoy that show. It seemed that Vivian and Lucy had an even greater rapport with each other when the "men" (Desi and William Frawley) were not around. I can't remember that many episodes of it, but one that stands out is when Lucy is trying to fix her plumbing, I think, and she nearly drowns in the shower stall! That episode was really funny, I thought.

The order in which I like the various Lucy shows are the same order in which they aired:

1. I Love Lucy
2. The Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour
3. The Lucy Show
4. Here's Lucy

"The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy" are hardly ever seen anymore, unfortunately, and so maybe many fans of "I Love Lucy" have never seen them (or at least haven't seen them since they originally aired.) I was an elementary school kid when "Here's Lucy" aired, and I really enjoyed her interactions with Gale Gordon, and seeing her teenage kids on the show. (Wasn't Gale also her boss on The Lucy Show?)

It would be great if "TV Land" would play episodes from all four series back-to-back on at least one night a week, or for a special night. (Maybe they have done that before - I don't know, as I just recently started receiving "TV Land".)

I think each of the series had its own special qualities.

Diane

I became introduced to Lucy through The Lucy Show and it was my favorite show since I was a year old (it even beat out Barney as my favorite!). I'm now more familiar with I Love Lucy, as I don't clearly remember every episode of The Lucy Show, plus I have every episode of ILL on tape. I actually like all three shows the same, but ILL might be just a tad better because it had the perfect cast and crew, where as the last three season of TLS were pretty inconsistant and a few of the scripts were poor. I haven't seen enough of HL to really compare it, but from what I have seen it's great! This is tough, but I'll ty to put Lucy's shows in order from favorite to least favorite.

1. I Love Lucy
2. The Lucy Show (first three seasons)
3. Here's Lucy
4. TLS (last three seasons)
5. The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour

I know I split up The Lucy Show, but I like the first three seasons so much better than the last, lol. I didn't add LWL to that list, because I've only seen two episodes so I couldn't really make a fair comparison to the others. All of Lucy's shows were excellent though!

I Love Lucy is a milestone classic sitcom, no doubt about that. So having said that, why do the powers that be seek to keep the rest of Lucy's work away from the public?? I simply don't understand why it's ok to rerun ILL for 50 years straight, yet TLS & HL are barely ever seen. It makes no sense. I will always love "I Love Lucy" the best, but why can't we enjoy the rest of Lucy's work? I think it's a rip-off...

The Lucy Show was always my favorite Lucy show.:D

Always a tough question, but this is my thing, i know every I Love Lucy by heart and those specials keep showing the same scenes over and over until the whole world will be sick of them, so lately i have discovered Here's Lucy and it is such a joy to see her when she was Queen, the scripts might not be as good, but Lucy working with her kids, or her beloved Viv on teh Lucy show is preferable to seing the same things over and over. Don't get me wrong, I Love Lucy has been seen the world over, for 50 years so it is a classic that is timeless but i agree that they should let the world see her other work, it stands on it's own and is in some cases just as good. They are trying to milk every penny they can out of I Love Lucy before they tackle the other two shows to answer your question as to why we don't see those two series. I say put out all 500 plus of her shows and let US decide what we prefer, and they will do that eventually, i just hope i live to see it!:lol:

I watched "The Lucy Show" before I ever heard of "I Love Lucy". In fact, I think I was in college before I caught on that most of the world considered "I Love Lucy" to be Lucy's major show.

I was born in the mid-60's. So when I was 3 or 4, "The Lucy Show" was airing in reruns in a prime mid-morning slot, when I was likely to be watching. I don't remember if "I Love Lucy" was even showing in reruns in our area at that time. If it was, it was an off-peak time.

I have a hard time choosing between those two shows. "I Love Lucy" is such a classic, but "The Lucy Show" was my first.

I think they were both better than "Here's Lucy". I remember watching some "Here's Lucy" episodes in prime time.

It depends on which eps you saw. Some with big name stars were classics, but others with animals were horrible. Lucy was normal and a housewife with kids on The Lucy Show, but there's more Lucy The Queen of television on Here's Lucy, like that thing where the audience went nuts for everything Lucy did on Life with Lucy, she could get a laugh with a straight line, because she was an icon so beloved, the history of her being Queen played into it. Also, when Lucy loved working with someone, it showed, and on Here's Lucy she works with her kids and has a great time and when Lucy enjoyed herself, we, the audience enjoyed ourselves, sorta like when she did a musical number on a Hope special, she was in heaven and so were we!

I like The Lucy Show better. It was more funnier when it was just Vivian and Lucy imo.

That's true...in actuality, it was more just Lucy & Ricky on ILL, truthfully, Viv really didn't get that much darn screen time until TLS came along...

I can't choose which I'd prefer the most. I love all of her shows about the same to the point of anything that has Lucy in it has to be good. All 5 shows of hers are worthwhile to watch, IMO.

True, and very well said, as usual!

I break "The Lucy Show" into two different years-- The Vivian years, and the non-Vivian years.

I think the first season 1962-1963, was Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance's finest work -- they were truly the female Laurel and Hardy. Without Desi or Bill Frawley, Viv's part was beefed up and she was no longer a generation older than Lucy Ricardo.....she was Lucy Carmichael's comtemporary.

After the second season, Lucy lost her original writers, and the show started getting stale (actually some of the second year shows felt like they were missing something).



Ethel didn't start having a MAJOR part on I LOVE LUCY until the 3rd season, Lucy and Ethel Buy A Dress Shop, Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress, Charm School, Million Dollar Idea, the Golf Game.

At this point, Vivian began to replace Desi as Lucy's major "co-star", as Desi began to be overwhelmed with great responsibiities running DESILU and Ricky's part started to be reduced.

Now i really did not like the final three years of THE LUCY SHOW much at all. There were some funny moments, but Viv was gone, the kids were gone, the house was gone, the Volunteer Fire Department was gone. Lucy had nobody to play with but stuffy Mr.Mooney and occasionallyl loony Mary Jane.

Lucy was more than just a comedienne. She projected much warmth. HERE'S LUCY was a breath of fresh air with her getting to play a mother again.


So, these are my favorite LUCY's:

1. THE LUCY SHOW (the first season)
2. I LOVE LUCY
3. THE LUCY SHOW (the 2nd and 3rd seasons)
4. HERE'S LUCY (the first 3 seasons)
5. THE LUCY-DESI COMEDY HOUR
6. HERE'S LUCY (the final 3 seasons)
7. THE LUCY SHOW (the final 3 seasons).

Boy, are you ever good at this, you are a welcome addition to this board and i love reading your posts, keep it up! I like all 507 shows exactly the same, with only a few dogs in the whole lot which is a better record than Babe Ruth!:lol:

I will gladly admit to loving the Lucy Show just as much (and probably even more so) than I Love Lucy. The first couple of seasons with Viv were of course the best and the thrill I used to get watching those episodes when I was younger-- nothing can ever compare to it. I Love Lucy is certainly a huge classic, but The Lucy Show had a certain charm to it that made it extremely likeable. Lucy got into (what I consider) even wackier situations than on ILL, and the added bonus of seeing her and Viv in color made it even more enjoyable...

TLS and HL were good, but they can't compare to ILL.

Pat

I prefered Here's Lucy since that was more of my era, I remember the show on primetime. Here's Lucy had a great opening theme, loved the animated sequence too.

"Here's Lucy" has always been my favorite of Lucy's fives series. I liked how you get to see Lucy's own two children in the show, and all the '70s fads & things used in the show..."Here's Lucy" was just great.

"The Lucy Show" is my fourth favorite of Lucy's series. The first few seasons with Viv were fantastic. But the last few seasons when Lucy moved to California aren't very good (althougth some of my favorite "Lucy" episodes of all time were made in these seasons.) And I think those seasons really dampened the quality of the series in the long run, IMO.

Here are my favorite "Lucy" series in order:

1. "Here's Lucy"
2. "Life With Lucy"
3. "I Love Lucy"
4. "The Lucy Show"
5. "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour"

I like TLS, but I LOVE I Love Lucy. Nothing will EVER top that show, Lucy or not. However, I do enjoy "The Lucy Show", and "Here's Lucy" is OK.

"I LOVE LUCY" is the "evergreen"....."THE LUCY SHOW" is the "also-ran" (it had its moments, but when things began to fall apart at Desilu, the show suffered), and "HERE'S LUCY" is "merely okay" (it started to pick up a little after Bob & Madelyn started contributing scripts again). But Lucy was venerable, no matter what series she starred in. However, "LIFE WITH LUCY"....never should have been a series.

"I LOVE LUCY" is the "evergreen"....."THE LUCY SHOW" is the "also-ran" (it had its moments, but when things began to fall apart at Desilu, the show suffered), and "HERE'S LUCY" is "merely okay" (it started to pick up a little after Bob & Madelyn started contributing scripts again). But Lucy was venerable, no matter what series she starred in. However, "LIFE WITH LUCY"....never should have been a series.
I must have been one of the very few that liked Life With Lucy. :lol:

I must have been one of the very few that liked Life With Lucy. :lol:
Me, too...I loved the show...it's my second favorite "Lucy" series!! :lol:

I have seen every Lucy show made and have ranked them in the following order:

1. "I Love Lucy" (Seasons 2-6)
2. "The Lucy Show" (Seasons 1-3)
3. "I Love Lucy" (Season 1)
4. "The Lucy Show" (Seasons 4-6)
5. "Here's Lucy" (Seasons 1-5)
6. "Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour"
7. "Here's Lucy" (Season 6)
8. "Life With Lucy"
:wave:

"I LOVE LUCY" is the "evergreen"....."THE LUCY SHOW" is the "also-ran" (it had its moments, but when things began to fall apart at Desilu, the show suffered), and "HERE'S LUCY" is "merely okay" (it started to pick up a little after Bob & Madelyn started contributing scripts again). But Lucy was venerable, no matter what series she starred in. However, "LIFE WITH LUCY"....never should have been a series.
I just pretend that "LIFE WITH LUCY" never even happened and do my best to just ignore it.

Is there anyone willing to admit preferring TLS and/or HL over ILL?

Come on...just on person:lol:

I'll admit that when I first discovered Lucy via "The Lucy Show," watching that and I Love Lucy, it just seemed that she was so much more funnier in TLS.Absolutely! Not only do I prefer "the Lucy show" over "I Love Lucy", but I do believe that the first season of the Lucy show is actually my favorite show of all time! There's no better couple then Lucy and Viv! The chemistry was enormous between them! I can't say the same of Lucy and her own two children though, I think they completely lacked chemistry.

The first season of "the Lucy show" out shines so much of what was on "I Love Lucy". And that speaks well of the quality of the Lucy show, because I Love Lucy is no slouch. But, the fact is that the best part of "I Love Lucy" was not Lucy herself, but was the relationship between Lucy and Ethel. Well, the Lucy show just took that relationship to a whole new level of awesomeness!

I wish that either the season one formula would've been continued throughout the whole series, or that the show only lasted for one season, as originally planned, so that I could call the Lucy show my favorite show, without having to make so many specifications (like that I preferred the first season over the last ones).

Season one of the Lucy show really stands on its own, apart from the rest of the series, it might as well be a series of its own, because so much about it is different:

1] it's in black and white
2] it begins with an animated opening sequence
3] it has been next-door neighbor in a prominent part
4] some of the funny episodes of that season rival the quality of the funniest most well-known episodes of I Love Lucy.

It really is remarkable that this show got off on such a good foot from the get-go. It usually takes shows at least a few episodes before it finds its footing. This is even true of I Love Lucy, the earlier episodes are nowhere near the quality of the later ones. But with the Lucy show, it's the opposite. Barely episodes of the best, and those are the ones I love, overall of Lucille Ball's other work.

I'll admit to preferring The Lucy Show, at least Seasons 1-3, over I Love Lucy. My earliest Lucy memories are of the CBS daytime reruns of The Lucy Show, as well as sometimes catching parts of Here's Lucy on CBS primetime. I don't think I saw I Love Lucy until later. My preference for the later shows also appears in my DVD purchases, at least the order of my purchases. I first bought the Here's Lucy "Best-of" set around 2004, then I bought Seasons 1-4 (4 only because it was on sale) of The Lucy Show and Seasons 1 & 2 of Here's Lucy. I also bought a few PD copies of The Lucy Show for 99 cents or so.

I'd never bought any of I Love Lucy on DVD before this past weekend, when I bought the whole series, including The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, from Walmart for about $45. I bought the full set, including all the extras, more to say that I had the series for historical reasons than to go about actually watching the disks, though I certainly intend to watch the discs at some time. I may start with the premiere of LDCH just to see how it looked in its full 75-minute format. I watched every episode of LDCH a few summers ago when Me-TV was running it weekly. Now I can say that I've seen every episode of a Lucy series, but I would certainly like to see the first one completely, especially since the ending of the hour-long version seemed so abrupt, as though a lot of it was cut at the very end.

To me I Love Lucy is far superior to the other two Lucy series. It’s truly one of the best sitcoms ever made, while The Lucy Show and Here’s Lucy are both simply good shows. However, my grandma always said she preferred The Lucy Show because she didn’t like Desi Arnaz. She made it seem like I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show were the same show because when Nick at Nite would run the original show, she’d complain and say “Oh, it’s one of the episodes with Desi. I like the ones without him better!”

I prefer I Love Lucy, but considering how much it's been on TV, I'm just about getting sick of I Love Lucy. I Love Lucy is ran constantly everyday and on at least 3 channels. While the The Lucy-Desi comedy hour, The Lucy Show And Here's Lucy are barely seen in syndication. I'd rather see these shows more often than I Love Lucy

I prefer I Love Lucy, but considering how much it's been on TV, I'm just about getting sick of I Love Lucy. I Love Lucy is ran constantly everyday and on at least 3 channels. While the The Lucy-Desi comedy hour, The Lucy Show And Here's Lucy are barely seen in syndication. I'd rather see these shows more often than I Love Lucy

I love "I Love Lucy" the best. It was ground-breaking, iconic and a true classic. It's still just as outrageously entertaining 60+ years later. But I really am fond of her other shows too, but IMO they're not in the same class as ILL.

Basically, you can give me anything with Lucille Ball in it and I will eat it up. Lucy can do no wrong. I love Lucy! Pun intended!

My ranking:
3=Worst
1=Best

3) The Lucy Show
2) Here's Lucy
1) I Love Lucy

My ranking:
3=Worst
1=Best

3) The Lucy Show
2) Here's Lucy
1) I Love Lucy

I'm guessing you haven't seen a lot of Here's Lucy or The Lucy Show? While TLS got weak towards the end, the wonderful early seasons of TLS put it far ahead of HL, which was never anything to write home about.

For me, The Lucy Show had significantly more episodes I found to be memorable than Here's Lucy.

I will say that both of those series seemed to me to "hit the ground running," in other words the characters and settings were firmly established from Episode 1 in each case. Of course having a superstar like Lucy would've ensured their success anyway.

I would still go with I Love Lucy as the best of the three. Great impact on sitcom history, and it would be difficult to overstate its impact on TV in general.

I Love Lucy is the best.

My first introduction to Lucille Ball was via The Lucy Show. When I was a kid in the 1970s, it aired in reruns in the afternoon for many years on a local station. I loved it. I had never seen an episode of ILL until I was in college. Frankly, I never thought it was that great, and never cared for Ricky and Fred. Here's Lucy was, honestly, a horrible series. Life with Lucy was funnier than that.

In terms of overall greatness, I Love Lucy most certainly wins. But in My opinion, I think Here's Lucy is the best. Sure I Love Lucy, but I have seen it so many times I am getting a little tired of it. Anyway, Here's Lucy is great, Gale Gordon as Harrison Carter was always a treat to see, Lucy And her kids were good to watch, etc... The scripts may not have been as good as I Love Lucy, but I don't care. I love Here's Lucy And I think it is better than I Love Lucy.

Here's how I'd rank all of Lucy's series:

Here's Lucy
I Love Lucy
The Lucy Show

Folks, there is a reason I Love Lucy has never been off the air and continues even to show up on CBS in prime time, still with great ratings. And there is a reason Here's Lucy mostly just faded away.

Yeah, everyone was hoarse by the time Here's Lucy yelled it's way to the finish.