How many out there still watch Lucy?

[LunarSpecimen]

This is sort of in relation to my previous post. Since I Love Lucy returns to Hallmark today, we can all assume that at least one person out there in the world is watching it on that channel, right? And for Lucy to have a Lucy-Desi Museum in Jamestown, NY, a Lucy store in Universal Studios Florida, and a Lucy exhibit in Universal Studios Hollywood, among other places, there has to be at least a little support on the show, right? The diverse fanbase doesn't exactly hide in bomb shelters for nine months of the year.

For my statement, I'm not counting those who watch I Love Lucy every 'once' in a great while and then do other activities. I want to know just how many out there still watch Lucy on a weekly basis. This includes other 'production' vehicles that Lucille Ball made in her career, not just her standout role as Lucy Ricardo. In today's world of advanced technology and politically correct environment, I predict that I Love Lucy is not as popular presently as it 'used' to be several years ago. My chances lean towards a observation that not everyone thinks about. Ever since Lucille Ball died twenty years ago, I believe that the TV audience for I Love Lucy reruns has slowly, but steadily, been declining. She made several guest appearances and interviews throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and to see her wave at her many fans always puts a smile to my face (as I saw in a video clip that aired the day she died). People still respected her as a human being some twenty-thirty years after I Love Lucy ended (ex. Lucy's induction into the Television Hall of Fame, and the 1984 All-Star Party for Lucille Ball), and I hope that trend continues on today and beyond in the distant future of oblivion.

The exact number of viewers at this point is unknown. But it's fairly obvious that the majority of the Lucy fanbase is younger than the show itself. Even my mother, now aging and beginning to consider retirement, was a big fan of Lucy. She was born into the Baby Boomer years, a few years after I Love Lucy hit the airwaves. I'm just happy that I realize I'm not the only one who feels this way about the show. I've been around an awful lot of kids who would probably point out to Lucy the second they start to recognize her. I Love Lucy is easy to access and the majority of the United States has seen the show at least 'once'. Again however, this brings me back to who is today's audience. Television audiences today are much different then they were back in the 1950s, and as I flip the channels looking for something good to watch, I Love Lucy is one of the very few pioneer shows that is still here with us today. Today, that list includes the Honeymooners, Gunsmoke, Leave it to Beaver, and Andy Griffith. These are the oldest shows that people today still recognize and cherish. Everything else from that era is either gone forever, or is too obscure to be shown on television and too obscure to be released on DVD. Luckily, I Love Lucy manages to survive the test of time. How much longer it will survive is unknown and unanswered.

As far as local viewing, nobody in my area watches Lucy anymore. It's pretty much just me, watching it if I have nothing else to do. How goes the Lucy fare in your area? Are the neighborhood kids watching it?

[Timoth26]

I don't know about everyone else but, I would catch it on every once in awhile growing. It was until these last couple of years I really starting getting into the show. I watch it now about everyday.

Even when it wasn't on the hallmark channel I still watched it about everyday because I have the Complete Series boxed set. I've also, watched them by going along with the schedule on the hallmark channel. But, I just might do my own schedule because right now it looks like they're airing random episodes instead of airing them in order which for me would be alot of swapping of disks. So, I might do mine in order starting from season one.

[LunarSpecimen]

Okay, that's a give or take. But when was the last time that you and your family watched I Love Lucy together? Or has seen another family watch? I don't think you're going to see much of that anymore. Sadly, it seems that television watching isn't done with families, instead the industry is targeting various groups of people. A kid comes home and watches teenybopper shows for a few hours, then goes in his room to do homework. A mother who's kids have grown up and moved away flips through hundreds of channels only to find nothing interesting, then goes to sleep and works early the next day. These are the common situations that American families are having now. There isn't near as much family viewing on television as there used to be. I think when Saturday Mornings died (to be replaced by news and other crap), family viewing just went down the tubes. There really isn't much out there for the whole family to watch. A lot of the good stuff today is geared more towards adults, and children's shows these days are just there to teach your child about bull crap, just so he/she can stay glued to your television. I Love Lucy is a show for the family more than anything else, and that tradition is dying. I predict, in the future, that television will be a lifeless machine just there to spoon feed you on news, propaganda, and other nonsense in which we can get more by reading a book or surfing the Internet.

Like it or not, this is how I personally feel about the present day events that plague our society. I also noticed that in the past decade or so, television networks have constantly added more commercials and infomercials to give them an excuse to cut down on our favorite shows and add more junk food to decrease our health. An airing of I Love Lucy on the Hallmark channel is roughly five minutes shorter than what you can get on the DVDs. I was watching an episode a few months ago and about seven minutes into the program, it was already halfway through and I noticed they cut out much of the plot, so at times, you couldn't understand why they suddenly did something. Shortening something is like giving a piece of artwork only half of the credit, so it doesn't make sense that Hallmark does it even worse than what TV Land did. I Love Lucy is supposed to be reserved for future generations, not edited or manipulated.

But that gives a good reason to just pull out the DVDs and say that Hallmark is treating the show poorly. I fear that there's not many viewers for I Love Lucy, either because it's old and lost it's novelty, or we already own the Complete Series. These days, people buy a television series box set for a considerable sum, watch it through for a couple months, put it away somewhere, forget about it for a few years, then take it out and watch it all over again. Heck, I own a vast collection of DVDs and I haven't watched some shows in maybe, six-seven years now. Unless for some reason hasn't been released to DVD, you may as well throw out your VHS tapes and go for something that offers better picture, sound, and audio. Then again, don't you miss when we had to catch it on television?

That's my whole point of this topic. How many people out there still watch Lucy regularly? Do we still have a steady flow of television viewers, or have they migrated to the DVDs? I'm asking because, I Love Lucy remains the oldest show that is still recognizable today, and I want to know how many people out there still watch it, even if they don't like it much. It remains my favorite classic, and I don't take criticism on the show lightly.

[Timoth26]

I get what your saying. I know a few people that still like Lucy and still watch her accationally. Your right about how television has been going down hill. There's still good shows on today like "Ghost Wisperer" but, they're still not like I Love Lucy. Also, they seem to keep adding in more commercial time during the airings and sometimes they seem to be quite boring and then tend to break into commercial just when it's getting good.

That's what I like about the DVD's is you get the whole episode and you don't have to sit through them boring commercials. What I've been doing is when an episode comes on TV I would watch the DVD version of the same episode and then watch it again on TV when it came on and I would see what was cut out of the syndicated version.

I was doing this yesterday and in the episode "Lucy Does A TV Commercial" they had edited out the Philip Morris reference when Lucy was inside the TV set and that was restored on the DVD version. Plus the DVD's give you better sound and picture which the one on TV seems to have some scratches and stuff on them and the sound is sort of low and muffled. But, I still watch it both ways accationally and I know a few people who still watch the show.

[Coffeecup]

Since it came back on Hallmark I have been watching it. One day they had the "having the baby episodes" which I tune out. I did come back for No Children Allowed. I do wish it was a little earlier in the day. 5-8 is right at dinner time. I could make due with a hour of shows say at 3 or 4 pm. I'm not crazy about overlaps with upcoming shows placed on the show. I can tolerate Happy Halloween in the corner but take the other clutter out.

[Benno123]

Phillip Morris reference in "TV Commerical" has been missing since the first broadcast of the episode. The "official unedited" version available for TV, and even the first home video releases included the re-edit of this scene. The footage was restored for the DVD.

While the DVD's are the way the shows, some of the edits done to the shows after the first broadcast are nice in that Desilu used some of the B-roll footage that has since been lost.

[MickeyMac]

Havent seen this show in a while, but its always worth watching.

[celtickitty60]

I am so happy "Lucy" is back on the air! I've been watching it faithfully every day since it's been back!