Life with Lucy: Why it Failed

[TMC]

Most people don't know that Lucy had a comeback series in 1986 called Life With Lucy. Sadly, it didn't go well. Find out what happened.

[king of comedy]

She could have also played a supporting role in a drama.

[Duster76]

This presentation covers the issue pretty well although I don't agree with the assessment of Gale Gordon. He hadn't worked in years and at age 80 seemed much less effective working off Lucy's antics than he had been in her prior efforts. This had trainwreck written all over it, her last series (Here's Lucy) was so dated when it was being done that anything that looked remotely like it was going to be an embarrassment for all involved.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

Life With Lucy (1986) - What went wrong?

1. Lucy had too much control - She'd been out of the game for 12 years at that point, and no longer had any idea what the public wanted.

2. She hired her old writers - Bob Carroll and Madeleine Pugh were brought in as producers. Big mistake. Lucy was a fan of The Golden Girls, but she thought "That's not what the public wants from me." She was likely right. But neither did writers pushing 70 really know.

3. The children - They were smart to do away with Lucy and Viv's kids on The Lucy Show. Somehow, the little kids on Life with Lucy presence it too goodie goodie. Seriously, Life with Lucy made Here's Lucy seem edgy by comparison.

4. The supporting cast - It's like they cast two giant pieces of Wonder Bread to play Lucy's son and daughter in law. Two less memorable actors I can't fathom. And don't get me started on a mugging, 75 year old Gale Gordon.

[Duster76]

In all of this there is no mention of Mr. Lucille Ball, Gary Morton. A second rate journeyman comic with a razor thin resume outside of Ball related projects, exactly what did he bring to the table. He was a producer for the last wo seasons of The Lucy Show creatively the worse two seasons of the series, all six seasons of Here's Lucy, a show dated before its time, and an Executive Producer of Life With Lucy. Every facet of this was ill-conceived, the casting, the writers, the premise, couldn't he as a producer go to Lucy and tell her the truth. Did he even know how bad the show looked as it started to come together.

Lucy was inspired to come back because of the The Golden Girls, the TV audience loved that series, couldn't Lucy or Gary as the "talent" putting the series together see why Lucy liked The Golden Girls, why it was a hit, how could you turn something out as bad as Life With Lucy.

[CJMD03]

It was just a rotten show. Terrible in every way.

[CJMD03]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

That would have been a great lineup. And here's an irony about Who's the Boss? and that time slot. In the 1990-91 season, Who's the Boss? was ranked #19 in the ratings. Pretty solid. Then for the 1991-92 season, ABC moved Who's the Boss? to Life with Lucy's old time slot where, like every other show ABC put in that time slot, it dropped like a rock to 76th place. That time slot was obviously death row for any show on ABC.

Yes, I've seen that Joan Rivers interview you mention (it's on Youtube). When Lucy talked about the reviews making her cry, I'm sure this one by some Bill Anderson guy must have been one of the ones she was referring to, which was published a month-and-a-half before the debut of Life with Lucy. I can remember reading this at the time and was shocked anyone would write such a thing, much less publish it. This was before anyone had even seen the show. It was just downright cruel.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...pathetic&hl=en

But the reporter was right.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Duster76

This presentation covers the issue pretty well although I don't agree with the assessment of Gale Gordon. He hadn't worked in years and at age 80 seemed much less effective working off Lucy's antics than he had been in her prior efforts. This had trainwreck written all over it, her last series (Here's Lucy) was so dated when it was being done that anything that looked remotely like it was going to be an embarrassment for all involved.

Somebody on r/television even pointed out that all of Lucille Ball's sitcoms that came after I Love Lucy, including Life with Lucy, felt like they were stuck in the 1950s. Here's Lucy was running on CBS the same time that The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family, and even Good Times. So what Lucille Ball was doing back in 1974, already felt a bit out of step and behind the times with where American sitcoms were otherwise going.

[TMC]

This Rick Nineg video analyzes six reasons why "Life with Lucy" failed. It explores the challenges of adapting Lucille Ball's comedic style for a new era, including the use of cue cards and physical comedy at an advanced age. The show's production faced internal conflicts and formulaic struggles.