Lucy-Like sitcoms

[drewfussclass101]

Hey guys,

i was just thinking....we all know that ILL paved the way for many shows to follow....Which is your fav?

I think mine (not including lucille balls other shows) is THAT GIRL. The crazy situations she gets her self into. LOL

Let me hear back

[OH Nuts!]

Carol Burnett spoofs

Some Bewitched eps

Gilda Radner sketches on SNL

And yes, That Girl, did do a lot of Lucy-like take offs. They say imitation is the best form of flattery; however a zircon can never be a diamond. There will never be another Lucy--Gilda did come somewhat close though.

[PolarCub75@aol.com]

Does anybody have any clips of Gilda Radner as Lucy Ricardo from Saturday Night Live?

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by PolarCub75@aol.com

Does anybody have any clips of Gilda Radner as Lucy Ricardo from Saturday Night Live?

Will a picture do? Gilda did Lucy (or Lucille Ball) several times. That show where they did a take-off on the chocolate factory scene (except they made it a bomb factory) is a classic.

[mrs.gingerhinkley]

Television owes SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much to "I Love Lucy"

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by mrs.gingerhinkley

Television owes SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much to "I Love Lucy"

YES IT DOES...LUCY WAS A GENIUS!!!!

[PolarCub75@aol.com]

Thanks, Irene!

It's nice to at least see a picture.

And, yes Mrs. Ginger Hinkley, I Love Lucy and Lucille ball paved the way for so many celebrities.

[SPLAIN]

This is pretty involved. Some shows share characteristics like they have a ditzy dame or a cheap person a la Fred, or a person that eats a lot, they've become staple characters for easy laughs. Some shows back then even ripped off the name and lead, like I Married Joan, or even the Cara Williams show where it was a beautiful redhead doing crazy things, Lucy even chastized her writers for giving Cara some of her material, LOL! But there was this one problem, nobody but nobody could match Lucy, her timing, her beauty, her inhabiting that character so thoroughly that when you see some stars doing Lucy bits, you just cringe, like when you watch the leads in the two Lucy movies or even the great Carol Burnett doing the chocolate factory conveyor belt, NOBODY can do it as well as Lucy and it's always a poor imitation, even the great Suzanne recently doing a take off on Vitameatavegamin. All right, maybe some of that is the images have been ingrained in our bone marrow as we've seen them thousands of times over the decades and there's just noone who can duplicate the magic she created.

[tv star collector]

Carol Burnett's comedy sketches, the slapstick humor of LAVERNE & SHIRLEY,
and Reba McEntire on her sitcom REBA are the ones that first come to mind.

[SPLAIN]

Originally Posted by tv star collector

Carol Burnett's comedy sketches, the slapstick humor of LAVERNE & SHIRLEY,
and Reba McEntire on her sitcom REBA are the ones that first come to mind.

Oh yeah, i've always thought that Laverne and Shirley were a working class Lucy and Ethel. Same as Kate and Allie were a quieter more subdued version of them. Or the wacky British dames in Absolutely Fabulous were like Lucy and Ethel on booze and drugs, LOL!

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by SPLAIN

This is pretty involved. Some shows share characteristics like they have a ditzy dame or a cheap person a la Fred, or a person that eats a lot, they've become staple characters for easy laughs. Some shows back then even ripped off the name and lead, like I Married Joan, or even the Cara Williams show where it was a beautiful redhead doing crazy things, Lucy even chastized her writers for giving Cara some of her material, LOL! But there was this one problem, nobody but nobody could match Lucy, her timing, her beauty, her inhabiting that character so thoroughly that when you see some stars doing Lucy bits, you just cringe, like when you watch the leads in the two Lucy movies or even the great Carol Burnett doing the chocolate factory conveyor belt, NOBODY can do it as well as Lucy and it's always a poor imitation, even the great Suzanne recently doing a take off on Vitameatavegamin. All right, maybe some of that is the images have been ingrained in our bone marrow as we've seen them thousands of times over the decades and there's just noone who can duplicate the magic she created.

You are so right. Another Lucy imitator who made me cringe was Linda Lavin on Alice. When Bob and Madelyn took over as executive producers of that show, I guess doing Lucy was all the knew. And somehow "Lucy" bits wound up in the scripts for that show. And they would have Linda doing the Lucy stuff. And it fell very flat. I felt very embarrassed for her.

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by SPLAIN

Oh yeah, i've always thought that Laverne and Shirley were a working class Lucy and Ethel. Same as Kate and Allie were a quieter more subdued version of them. Or the wacky British dames in Absolutely Fabulous were like Lucy and Ethel on booze and drugs, LOL!

I think it was really Lucy Carmichael and Vivian Bagley that Garry Marshall had in mind with Laverne and Shirley. The format was much more similar to the first format of The Lucy Show than I Love Lucy, as it dealt with two unmarried women living together going through life's struggles together. And this is not surprising given that The Lucy Show was one of the shows where Garry Marshall was first cutting his teeth in the sitcom business. He joined TLS during the third season, and was still with the show when it transitioned to the Los Angeles format in the fourth season. Laverne & Shirley went this direction as well with the principle characters moving to Los Angeles in the sixth season. Even the pilot episode of Laverne & Shirley is a virtual rip-off of an episode Garry Marshall had previously written for The Lucy Show -- an episode in which Lucy and Ann Sothern did a take-off on My Fair Lady.

I really never had a stomach for L&S. They were like a cheap version of Lucy and Ethel/Viv. There was so much subtlety in the performances of Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance, in their body language and vocal inflections, that made their comedy so rich. Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams were completely missing all that subtlety. It was nothing but over-the-top mugging and screaming, which would grate on my nerves. I was not impressed.

[comedyfreak]

Lucy like Shows:
Pete & Gladys
The Mothers-In-Law
Some Bewitched eps
That Girl
Lavern & Shirley

[SPLAIN]

Originally Posted by NOVARick

I think it was really Lucy Carmichael and Vivian Bagley that Garry Marshall had in mind with Laverne and Shirley. The format was much more similar to the first format of The Lucy Show than I Love Lucy, as it dealt with two unmarried women living together going through life's struggles together. And this is not surprising given that The Lucy Show was one of the shows where Garry Marshall was first cutting his teeth in the sitcom business. He joined TLS during the third season, and was still with the show when it transitioned to the Los Angeles format in the fourth season. Laverne & Shirley went this direction as well with the principle characters moving to Los Angeles in the sixth season. Even the pilot episode of Laverne & Shirley is a virtual rip-off of an episode Garry Marshall had previously written for The Lucy Show -- an episode in which Lucy and Ann Sothern did a take-off on My Fair Lady.

I really never had a stomach for L&S. They were like a cheap version of Lucy and Ethel/Viv. There was so much subtlety in the performances of Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance, in their body language and vocal inflections, that made their comedy so rich. Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams were completely missing all that subtlety. It was nothing but over-the-top mugging and screaming, which would grate on my nerves. I was not impressed.

So true, Laverne and Shirley lacked CLASS, they were funny, but . . . . Ever see that one where Laverne is hanging on a wall and attempting to run away, Lucy would have made that so much funnier. I think John Ritter on Three's Company came closer to Lucy than any of these women, LOL! And Dick Van Dyke had many of her qualities also in the men.

[NOVARick]

Originally Posted by SPLAIN

So true, Laverne and Shirley lacked CLASS, they were funny, but . . . . Ever see that one where Laverne is hanging on a wall and attempting to run away, Lucy would have made that so much funnier. I think John Ritter on Three's Company came closer to Lucy than any of these women, LOL! And Dick Van Dyke had many of her qualities also in the men.

Yes, I've seen that L&S episode. And I agree that John Ritter and Dick Van Dyke were far superior in their craft than anything that was every done on L&S. L&S is too loud and over-the-top for my tastes. If Lucy and Viv were a bottle of fine wine, Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams would be a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.