Joan & Lucy

[daffodil]

Was I Married Joan intended to be so similar to I Love Lucy? I think Joan is hysterical, but I always thought it was odd that the two were so much alike.

[Tom Munster]

Yes indeed.
"I Married Joan" was intended to be similar to "I Love Lucy".
The reason was simple: NBC wanted a hit comedy that generated the ratings that "I Love Lucy" was doing on CBS.
"I Married Joan" did well on NBC for 3 seasons.
Joan Davis was another pioneer in TV, with a hand in the writing and directing of her show, much like Donna Reed did on her show a few years later.
I think Ms. Davis' untimely death in 1961 was a reason the show never endured the way "I Love Lucy" did.
For my money, it was as just as good, if not better than Lucy.

[NCVARick]

Originally posted by Tom Munster
I think Ms. Davis' untimely death in 1961 was a reason the show never endured the way "I Love Lucy" did.
For my money, it was as just as good, if not better than Lucy.

Sorry, but no way! I watched about 40 episodes of this show earlier this year. I kept waiting for it to get funny but it never did. What I kept seeing on this show was that the comedy was really forced and the situations contrived and never the least bit believable. For example, I remember a scene where Joan is trying to steal a picnic basket from some people in a park. Rather than simply sneaking quietly up to the basket retrieving it (the obvious thing to do), she decides to get on a swing and swing back and forth trying to grab it from the swing. What's more, she sits backwards (for no known reason), so she's trying to grab it from behind, which is even more difficult. Why? I guess, apparently, the writers thought it would be funny to see Joan trying to grab something backwards from a swing. Forget whether it makes sense for her to do that.

The routines were usually like this; it's as if the writers just concocted some situation for Joan to do physical comedy, whether it made sense or not. If it doesn't make sense, it's not funny. And honestly, after watching all these episodes, I laughed maybe once.

Another problem with this show was that Jim Bakus's character was not a strong, charismatic character like Ricky Ricardo who could confront his wife in the midst of her antics and create a sincere reaction. In fact, his character, which always seemed lost in space and completely oblivious to any of Joan's doings, was rather cartoonish. And Joan also didn't have any great cohorts like Lucy had in Fred and Ethel.

The situations on this show were not believable, the characters were not believable. When you sum it up, it amounts to a lot of silliness. And the obvious laugh track can also get pretty annoying.

To the extent this show resembles any part of "I Love Lucy" (which it did try to emulate) it perhaps resembles some of the first season episodes of "I Love Lucy" ("I Married Joan" premiered one year after "I Love Lucy"). "I Love Lucy"'s first season was also plagued by unrealistic situations and cartoonish character portrayals (though not quite as outlandish as IMJ). But it turned into a very different show by its second season, with the writers making a valient efforts towards crafting believable situations people could relate to, and the actors shifting from playing cartoonish caricatures to portraying believable characters the audience felt they knew. "I Married Joan," however, never evolved beyond broad slapstick and never had the benefit of superb supporting actors like Desi Arnaz and Vivian Vance and great writing.

[NCVARick]

Originally posted by Tom Munster
Yes indeed.
"I Married Joan" was intended to be similar to "I Love Lucy".
The reason was simple: NBC wanted a hit comedy that generated the ratings that "I Love Lucy" was doing on CBS.
"I Married Joan" did well on NBC for 3 seasons.

"I Married Joan" did okay. It peaked at 25th place in its second season. That's the only time the show was in the top 25.

[Fran=Lucy]

Wow, it's too late to be posting something here but...oh well...Did Lucy and Joan ever met face to face?

[Dr. Jazz]

Originally Posted by Fran=Lucy

Wow, it's too late to be posting something here but...oh well...Did Lucy and Joan ever met face to face?

Upon meeting each other, I can see Lucy and Joan having a good "Krystal & Alexis" catfight, except with a little more slapstick

[TV Knowledge Fan]

Joan had more experience on RADIO (on a regular series) than Lucy did. While Lucy was under movie contracts to RKO and MGM- and appeared as a guest on other people's shows, Joan started out as a supporting cast member of Rudy Vallee's "SEALTEST" radio show on NBC in 1941, and quickly gained popularity- when he enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1943, she took over his show (in "THE SEALTEST VILLAGE STORE") and remained the star until 1947, when she went over to CBS Radio in another comedy/variety format {"THE JOAN DAVIS SHOW"} and was on the air for another five years. CBS tried to bring her to TV in a situation comedy format titled "LET'S JOIN JOANIE" in 1950, but she never got past the unaired kinescope pilot film, which is still available in collectors' circles.

Lucy, on the other hand, had become the star of her own CBS radio comedy, "MY FAVORITE HUSBAND", in 1948, which they tried to bring to TV in 1950 (but Lucy essentially said, "Either Desi plays 'George Cooper', or I won't do it"). By the time the show went off in the spring of 1951, she and her "HUSBAND" staff huddled together and...well, you know the rest.

Joan Davis KNEW the success of "I LOVE LUCY", and definitely wanted her own filmed sitcom- and it took a deal with NBC to do it, in 1952. Unfortunately, she could only film three seasons worth of episodes before illness (and low ratings) forced her off the air in 1955. And eventually, spotty distribution of her reruns in syndication in the late '50s and early '60s has now branded her, to most people, as a "Lucy imitator".

[The Flying Dutchmans]

Originally Posted by Dr. Jazz

Upon meeting each other, I can see Lucy and Joan having a good "Krystal & Alexis" catfight, except with a little more slapstick

I dont think so as I remember she was not the joan that lucy didnt like,it was I believe miss crawford, that was the joan lucy didnt like.

[gidgetgrape]

Joan was envious of Lucy according to The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of the 1950s Sitcoms by David C. Tucker. The book states that co-star Jim Backus said that Joan kept an eye on the publicity Lucy and "I Love Lucy" received and would react in kind.

When Lucy and Desi's movie, The Long, Long Trailer, was released, Joan had an oversized trailer installed as her dressing room on the Joan soundstage. Joan even thought of having a baby after finding out Lucy was pregnant!


I've only seen two episodes of this show and I couldn't get interested in it at all.

[comedyfreak]

Originally Posted by Tom Munster

For my money, it was as just as good, if not better than Lucy.

I disagree...I just bought a copy of I Married Joan vol. 1 and it's okay, but I didn't find myself laughing out loud as when I watch most Lucy episodes. It was nice to see a young Mr. Howell.

[mrs.gingerhinkley]

Originally Posted by comedyfreak

I disagree...I just bought a copy of I Married Joan vol. 1 and it's okay, but I didn't find myself laughing out loud as when I watch most Lucy episodes. It was nice to see a young Mr. Howell.

yeah... I really didn't get to interested... the only reason i watched it in the first place was because i wanted to see Jim Backus in another role aside from Thurston Howelll the third

But, I did like the theme song. For some reason, i really liked the theme song...

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by Fran=Lucy

Wow, it's too late to be posting something here but...oh well...Did Lucy and Joan ever met face to face?

Good question. Joan and Lucy did both appear in the 1936 film Bunker Bean. Joan's role in the film was apparently small as her part was uncredited (Lucy had 5th billing), and I don't know if they were in any scenes together. So it's possible they never met during production of that film, even though they were both in it. Perhaps someone who's seen the movie can comment on whether they appeared in any scene together. Of course this was many years before I Love Lucy and I Married Joan and both were little known at that point, so Joan wouldn't have been looking at Lucy as her competition.

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

Good question. Joan and Lucy did both appear in the 1936 film Bunker Bean. Joan's role in the film was apparently small as her part was uncredited (Lucy had 5th billing), and I don't know if they were in any scenes together. So it's possible they never met during production of that film, even though they were both in it. Perhaps someone who's seen the movie can comment on whether they appeared in any scene together. Of course this was many years before I Love Lucy and I Married Joan and both were little known at that point, so Joan wouldn't have been looking at Lucy as her competition.

It's somewhat unlikely they viewed each other as direct competition in 1936 when each of them were struggling performers trying to make a living to provide for their families but by the early 50's when Lucy was the top comedienne and Joan would have wanted that spot, it seems more likely. Although, why Joan may not have felt a rivalry towards Gracie Allen is worth pondering. The only reason I can think of is that Joan and Lucy's comedy focus was physical while Gracie's was verbal.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by PracTz

It's somewhat unlikely they viewed each other as direct competition in 1936 when each of them were struggling performers trying to make a living to provide for their families but by the early 50's when Lucy was the top comedienne and Joan would have wanted that spot, it seems more likely. Although, why Joan may not have felt a rivalry towards Gracie Allen is worth pondering. The only reason I can think of is that Joan and Lucy's comedy focus was physical while Gracie's was verbal.

I think the reason Joan felt competitive towards Lucille Ball as opposed to Gracie Allen is that I Married Joan was conceived to be "NBC's answer to I Love Lucy." Gracie Allen had really already had her heyday back in the old days on radio. While the Burns and Allen TV show was popular enough to run eight years on television, it was never an enormously popular show and was never in the top 20: http://tviv.org/Nielsen_Ratings/Hist....931953_Season

I Love Lucy, on the other hand, had taken the nation by storm and was a runaway hit. It made CBS the network to watch, and NBC was depending on I Married Joan to seize some of that popularity. But it never did. During those three seasons I Married Joan was on the air, I Love Lucy remained firmly in first place in the ratings, while I Married Joan was unable to ever crack the Top 20. According to Jim Backus, Joan Davis was intensely jealous of Lucille Ball. As Ms. Davis was the executive producer of her own show, I think it's very telling that the show's opening proclaims I Married Joan to be "America's favorite television show," and Joan Davis "America's queen of comedy." Kind of wishful thinking, I suppose. Here are some interesting tidbits about Jim Backus and Joan Davis. They obviously were not the best of friends:

http://books.google.com/books?id=1kK...all%22&f=false

[TMC]

CDAN published a blind a few months ago about a '50s sitcom that notoriously copied plots, jokes and even physical business from another show. The reveal was I Married Joan/I Love Lucy.