What is The Lucy Show was a spin off of I Love Lucy?

[Timoth26]

I've been thinking and wondering. What do you think it would have been like if "The Lucy Show" was actually a spin off of "I Love Lucy"?

I know the "The Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour" specials is sort of a spin off but, I actually don't think of it as a spin off. I think of "TLDCH" as just a continuation of "I Love Lucy" just in a hour long format.

What they could've done with "The Lucy Show" if it where a spin off of "ILL" they could have just killed of Ricky and made Lucy Ricardo a widow. Then Ethel would have finally devorced Fred after married to him for so long. Then Ethel and Lucy sold their Conneticut home and they could've moved to Danvil with Little Ricky not long after buring Ricky Sr. Ethel would've moved in with Lucy and adopted a son named Shirmon and Lucy could have adopted a daughter name Chris.

Shirmon would've been Shirmon Mertz and Chris would have been Christ Ricardo. Then they could've of done a special episode where they tell what happened to Ricky Sr when he died and it would tell about Fred and Ethel's devorce. What do you think this would have been like? Do you think that the ratings would have been as good as they where? Then of course Lucy Ricardo would up and move again when they came to the California era. Then Ethel would visit Lucy in one episode where the remence about past times even from moments in the I Love Lucy show.

I've noticed in Season 1 of The Lucy Show there where some stuff that sort of reminded you of I Love Lucy. Like when Lucy and Viv did that popcorn thing that sort of reminded me of the "A Millian Doller Idea" episode from I Love Lucy. Please let me know your ideas. Thanks.

[Edster2973]

Originally Posted by Timoth26

I've been thinking and wondering. What do you think it would have been like if "The Lucy Show" was actually a spin off of "I Love Lucy"?

I know the "The Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour" specials is sort of a spin off but, I actually don't think of it as a spin off. I think of "TLDCH" as just a continuation of "I Love Lucy" just in a hour long format.

What they could've done with "The Lucy Show" if it where a spin off of "ILL" they could have just killed of Ricky and made Lucy Ricardo a widow. Then Ethel would have finally devorced Fred after married to him for so long. Then Ethel and Lucy sold their Conneticut home and they could've moved to Danvil with Little Ricky not long after buring Ricky Sr. Ethel would've moved in with Lucy and adopted a son named Shirmon and Lucy could have adopted a daughter name Chris.

Shirmon would've been Shirmon Mertz and Chris would have been Christ Ricardo. Then they could've of done a special episode where they tell what happened to Ricky Sr when he died and it would tell about Fred and Ethel's devorce. What do you think this would have been like? Do you think that the ratings would have been as good as they where? Then of course Lucy Ricardo would up and move again when they came to the California era. Then Ethel would visit Lucy in one episode where the remence about past times even from moments in the I Love Lucy show.

I've noticed in Season 1 of The Lucy Show there where some stuff that sort of reminded you of I Love Lucy. Like when Lucy and Viv did that popcorn thing that sort of reminded me of the "A Millian Doller Idea" episode from I Love Lucy. Please let me know your ideas. Thanks.

Sorry, but this doesn't work for me in the slightest. I think having "The Lucy Show" in continuity with "I Love Lucy" would've been a mistake ultimately. Killing off Ricky Sr. and Ethel divorcing Fred makes the concept too depressing. Both shows provide a healthy escape from the painful, ugly realities of life & tying both shows together would've served as a reminder that in real life Lucy & Desi were divorced.

Also, had this been attempted, no way would Vivian Vance have agreed to it. According to sources, she was reluctant to do the new show as it was and one of her stipulations in agreeing to do it was that her character be called Vivian instead of Ethel. So even if the idea had been attempted, we wouldn't have gotten an extension of "I Love Lucy" out of it since we'd be missing 3 of the former co-stars instead of 2.

Your suggestions of the new children being adopted is a little complicated as well. Remember, Lucy was trying to win new viewers to her show, not just her old ones. Having almost a soap-opera history as a backstory makes the new show's premise inaccessible, and it would've tanked ultimately.

But in all honesty, I just think that what you suggest doesn't enhance the story of "I Love Lucy"'s universe at all. It brings it down in fact. I think part of the appeal of the show is that, even though we know that Lucy & Desi ultimately divorce and that Vivian & William could barely stand each other, somewhere in that "I Love Lucy" universe, Lucy is still married to Ricky and Ethel & Fred are still a happy, if not occasionally ornery, couple. The good part of their real life reality, though over, still live on in that show, and that's how it should stay. Anything less only tarnishes the show in my opinion.


Ed

[lucyandethel]

Well, the only real similarities between ILL & TLS is that the Lucy character is similar. However, it is a totally different series ... different characters, different setting. Vivian Vance does have some of her "Ethel"-mannerisms to an extent, but it is a different show. Vivian, to me, looks more "affluent" in TLS compared to her "simple" Ethel character.

However, in the world of sitcoms, killing off a character is not OK. I think that puts a damper on the humor.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by lucyandethel

Well, the only real similarities between ILL & TLS is that the Lucy character is similar. However, it is a totally different series ... different characters, different setting. Vivian Vance does have some of her "Ethel"-mannerisms to an extent, but it is a different show. Vivian, to me, looks more "affluent" in TLS compared to her "simple" Ethel character.

However, in the world of sitcoms, killing off a character is not OK. I think that puts a damper on the humor.

Well, Danny Williams' wife from the first three seasons of Make Room for Daddy was killed off when actress Jean Hagen quit the show in 1956. Danny was suddenly a widower and, over the course of the next season, had a new girlfriend, Kathy, played by Marjorie Lord, who became his wife at the start of the next season. Several years later, they killed off Luke McCoy's wife on The Real McCoys when it began its sixth season in 1962. The opening episode had Grampa Amos trying to hook up the newly-widowed Luke with a new girlfriend. With a big grin on his face, he says "Luke's a widower!" Kind of strange that the wife could be dismissed and forgotten just like that. She was never mentioned by name. In 1976 when John Amos quit Good Times, his character James' untimely death was famously played out on the show in a two-part episode where Florida comes to terms with her loss. In that case, the deceased character did not get brushed aside, but sometimes figured into the plot or dialogue. Same thing a few years after that, in 1980, when Edith Bunker passed away on Archie Bunker's Place. More recently was the loss of John Ritter from 8 Simple Rules in 2003, where his character was killed off the show.

As for similarities between ILL and TLS, consider the format of ILL when it ended: the Ricardos were living in the suburbs of New York and the Mertzes were their tenants. At the beginning of TLS, Lucy Carmichael was also living in the suburbs of New York, and Viv, a reincarnation of Ethel, was her tenant. (Of course, things are more downscale from a large house and guest house to a single mid-sized home.) And when you hear Viv talk about her ex-husband, Ralph, tell me you don't have visions of Fred Mertz in your head. I certainly do! The way she describes him he sounds exactly like Fred! And when Mr. Barnsdahl is reading Lucy's late husband's will in the "Kangaroo" episode, it's hard not to imagine those words weren't written with a Cuban accent.

[lucyandethel]

Well, I can't say much about Danny Thomas' show or The Real McCoys because I have never seen those shows. However, killing off the dad on Good Times did not help that show at all. Its ratings continued to decline. Killing off Edith Bunker was also not so smart. They could have just referred to her instead.

Anyway, as for TLS....bear in mind, the same people who wrote for ILL wrote the first season of TLS, so obviously, the same patters and styles will apply. But, if you watch TLS as the years go on, especially after Viv leaves, there is little comparison.

[TV Guy]

What a lot of people don't know is that The Lucy Show actually is a spinoff of I Love Lucy. The pilot takes place years after I Love Lucy. Lucy and Ricky have since had two more children - a girl and a boy - and Little Ricky has grown up and moved away. The Mertzes also have had a late-in-life child. As the pilot begins, Lucy is sick and tired of Ricky bossing her around, and Ethel is tired of being married to a man old enough to be her grandfather. So they hatch a Strangers on a Train-type plot, where Ethel agrees to murder Ricky, and Lucy agrees to murder Fred.

After the dirty deed is done, the ladies decide to change their identities and leave Connecticut. So they move to Danfield, NY. Lucy changes her last name to Carmichael and Ethel assumes the name Vivian Bagley. They live there for several years, until the police start to close in on them. Lucy packs her kids off to school and leaves for California without Ethel/Vivian (they decided that staying together was too conspicuous). Lucy's banker, Mr. Mooney - who discovered her guilt several years earlier and was blackmailing her into sharing the trust left to her by Ricky - follows her to California.

Lucy and Mooney live in California for a few years, posing as banker and secretary. However, when the police start to close in again, Lucy and Mooney changes their last names to Carter, move across town, and start posing as sister and brother-in-law running an employment agency.

CBS never showed the pilot that sets up the series - they understandably deemed it too violent.

[LittleRickyII]

That's classic! Made me LOL, literally. Thanks for the laugh.

Originally Posted by TV Guy

What a lot of people don't know is that The Lucy Show actually is a spinoff of I Love Lucy. The pilot takes place years after I Love Lucy. Lucy and Ricky have since had two more children - a girl and a boy - and Little Ricky has grown up and moved away. The Mertzes also have had a late-in-life child. As the pilot begins, Lucy is sick and tired of Ricky bossing her around, and Ethel is tired of being married to a man old enough to be her grandfather. So they hatch a Strangers on a Train-type plot, where Ethel agrees to murder Ricky, and Lucy agrees to murder Fred.

After the dirty deed is done, the ladies decide to change their identities and leave Connecticut. So they move to Danfield, NY. Lucy changes her last name to Carmichael and Ethel assumes the name Vivian Bagley. They live there for several years, until the police start to close in on them. Lucy packs her kids off to school and leaves for California without Ethel/Vivian (they decided that staying together was too conspicuous). Lucy's banker, Mr. Mooney - who discovered her guilt several years earlier and was blackmailing her into sharing the trust left to her by Ricky - follows her to California.

Lucy and Mooney live in California for a few years, posing as banker and secretary. However, when the police start to close in again, Lucy and Mooney changes their last names to Carter, move across town, and start posing as sister and brother-in-law running an employment agency.

CBS never showed the pilot that sets up the series - they understandably deemed it too violent.