Here's Lucy S4: Opinions from Back in the Day - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

LittleRickyII · 04-03-2011, 08:23 PM

lucyandethel · 04-06-2011, 12:52 AM

So, I got my season 4 DVD set of "Here's Lucy" and have watched the first ten episodes of the season.

I am a big Lucy fan...I LOVE Lucille Ball...but I have to say, this series, while moderately watchable in the first couple of seasons, just seems to get progressively worse. I know...I am going to get a lot of hate responses on this, but can someone tell me, what is missing here? Each episode I watch, it is like, something is missing. The stories, many of which are recycled ideas from "The Lucy Show" in my opinion, just seem to fall flat.

It is my opinion that Lucille Ball needed two really strong things supporting her: writing and co-stars. For the life of me, I don't understand why Mary Jane Croft is not more utilized instead of one or two appearances a season. Maybe she didn't want to be a regular I guess. But, Lucy needed a Desi or Vivian to bounce things off. While I was not a fan of Gale Gordon in "The Lucy Show", I think here, he does shine in some episodes of "Here's Lucy". But have you noticed in every episode, he starts out like Mr. Mooney and then reverts to a wimpering goofball by the end of the episode? His character is just not defined in "Here's Lucy".

I will keep buying "Here's Lucy" because it is Lucille Ball, but to say "Here's Lucy" is inferior to her other series, is an understatement. While Lucie Arnaz in all the commentaries praises almost every episode as "superbly written" or "the best of the series", I would encourage her to take another look. Not so, Lucie, not so.

LittleRickyII · 04-06-2011, 07:25 PM

You're not missing anything, lucyandethel. I have to agree with your sentiments. I mentioned before that season four is my least favorite season of Here's Lucy. The same goes for season four of The Lucy Show; I think that was the low point in that series, too, which is ironic because I think season four was the best year for I Love Lucy. Here's Lucy got marginally better in the fifth season, and then somewhat better than that in the sixth season. Actually, several of my favorite episodes are from the sixth season. But nothing from the fourth season stands out for me at all. And several episodes are just downright bad: "Lucy, the Mountain Climber"; "Lucy Makes a Few Extra Dollars"; "Lucy in the Jungle" (one of the worst, most painful, episodes ever!); "Lucy and the Little Old Lady"; "Lucy's Replacement"; "Kim Finally Cuts You-Know-Who's Apron Strings"; and "Lucy & Candid Camera" (how could the merger of one of the funniest shows ever -- Candid Camera -- with the greatest comedienne ever -- Lucille Ball -- wind up being so horribly unfunny?). That's seven out of 24 episodes -- nearly a third -- that I'm classifying as just plain bad. Most of the rest are just mediocre. "Lucy Helps David Frost Go Night Night," "Lucy's Punctured Romance," and "With Viv as a Friend, Who Needs an Enemy?" do offer a few good laughs, but still nothing coming out of the fourth season is particularly great.

I agree with you about the lack of good writing and strong supporting characters as the problem. I love Gale Gordon, but I think too often he was not properly utilized. He was great with his trademark "slow burn" (which he never strayed from in the early seasons of The Lucy Show; his anger would gradually build to the point where he was on the edge of exploding, but rarely actually did, but by this point, rather than a slow burn, they had him immediately blowing his top all the time, which is much less effective.

One positive thing that happened in the fourth season was the return of I Love Lucy writers Bob Carroll, Jr. and Madelyn Davis, who would write 8 episodes per season for the last three seasons. The episodes they wrote, if not always laugh-out-loud funny, were at least usually well structured and based in reality, unlike some of the other writers of this series whose scripts too often threw logic out the window. I also think Bob O'Brien wrote some decent scripts in the last few seasons (he also contributed 8 episodes per season). But the other writers were usually horrible! Take, for example, the episode "Lucy Makes a Few Extra Dollars." Can someone please explain this one to me? In the opening scene, Lucy is on the phone with Kim. Five minutes later, Kim comes walking through the door. Okay, they didn't have cell phones back in those days, so exactly where was Kim five minutes earlier when she was on the phone with her mother? If she was already that close by, it wouldn't make sense for her to call her mother. But if she was not close by, it doesn't make sense that she could show up at the office that fast. And near the end of the episode when Lucy and Kim are in the office pretending to make counterfeit money, Lucy telephones Harry who, presumably, is at home. But he comes bounding through the door literally 55 seconds after Lucy hangs up the phone. Did Scotty beam him up there?

McGillicuddy · 04-06-2011, 08:33 PM

Concerning Mary Jane, she was on more than 1 or 2 episodes in the latter seasons. Does anyone know why she was never made a regular co-star? With Desi gone, and Lucie not on as much, it might have helped. She also was never prominately recognized in the credits!

lucyandethel · 04-07-2011, 09:24 AM

Yeah, I was particularly disappointed with "With Viv as a Friend, Who Needs an Enemy?" Vivian's last appearance was less than stellar that is for sure, and in all honestly, Vivian did not look as though she was enjoying herself at all.

As for I Love Lucy writers Carroll and Pugh-Davis, of course they were brilliant writers, but the scripts they penned in this season of Here's Lucy were simply not good. An actor is only as good as the words on the page.

But let's face it....at this point Lucy had been on TV 20 years. It only makes sense the well is almost dry.

LittleRickyII · 04-08-2011, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucyandethel

Yeah, I was particularly disappointed with "With Viv as a Friend, Who Needs an Enemy?" Vivian's last appearance was less than stellar that is for sure, and in all honestly, Vivian did not look as though she was enjoying herself at all.

As for I Love Lucy writers Carroll and Pugh-Davis, of course they were brilliant writers, but the scripts they penned in this season of Here's Lucy were simply not good. An actor is only as good as the words on the page.

But let's face it....at this point Lucy had been on TV 20 years. It only makes sense the well is almost dry.

I agree and disagree about "With Viv as a Friend, Who Needs an Enemy?" About Vivian Vance, I certainly don't detect that she wasn't enjoying herself. My impression of her is that she was always the consummate professional, and no matter what material she was given, she would rise to the occasion and give it her all. She would never allow her on-screen performance to reveal any displeasure in what she was doing.

I think that episode had its funny moments, especially from Lucy doing her old lady bit. Where it misses, in my opinion, is the premise of Lucy thinking she can make Vivian believe her hair could turn gray overnight and instantly age. That's too over the top for me. But if you can get past that, watching Lucy do her thing is enjoyable.

Bob and Madelyn obviously got this plot devise from their I Love Lucy episode, "The Young Fans," which is even more over the top (those teenagers, who played like cartoon characters, actually did believe Lucy and Ricky could go from old to young to old again on a daily basis). So by comparison, I find "With Viv as a Friend" far superior to that I Love Lucy episode, but that's not saying a whole lot because I think "The Young Fans" was a stinker.

HeresJames · 05-19-2011, 11:57 PM

Thank you for the review links, LittleRickyII. Fascinating reading!

04-03-2011, 08:23 PM	#1
LittleRickyII Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 22, 2009 Location: California Posts: 2,246	Here's Lucy S4: Opinions from Back in the Day It's interesting to see how opinions change (or don't) over time. Here are some reviews of some of the season four episodes, which appeared in the newspapers back when these episodes originally aired. Episode 1: "Lucy and Flip Go Legit" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...p+wilson&hl=en Episode 2: "Lucy and the Mountain Climber" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en Episode 3: "Lucy and the Italian Bombshell" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+ballard&hl=en Episode 5: "Lucy and the Astronauts" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en Episode 7: "Someone's On the Ski Lift with Dinah" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en Episode 8: "Lucy and Her All-Nun Band" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en Episode 10: "Won't You Calm Down, Dan Dailey?" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en Episode 11: "Ginger Rogers Comes to Tea" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en Episode 12: "Lucy Helps David Frost Go Night-Night" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en Episode 15: "Lucy's Lucky Day" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en Episode 16: "Lucy's Bonus Bounces" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en Episode 17: "Lucy and the Little Old Lady" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en Episode 20: "Kim Moves Out" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en Episode 24: "Kim Finally Cuts You-Know-Who's Apron Strings" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...9;s+lucy&hl=en

04-06-2011, 07:25 PM	#3
LittleRickyII Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 22, 2009 Location: California Posts: 2,246	You're not missing anything, lucyandethel. I have to agree with your sentiments. I mentioned before that season four is my least favorite season of Here's Lucy. The same goes for season four of The Lucy Show; I think that was the low point in that series, too, which is ironic because I think season four was the best year for I Love Lucy. Here's Lucy got marginally better in the fifth season, and then somewhat better than that in the sixth season. Actually, several of my favorite episodes are from the sixth season. But nothing from the fourth season stands out for me at all. And several episodes are just downright bad: "Lucy, the Mountain Climber"; "Lucy Makes a Few Extra Dollars"; "Lucy in the Jungle" (one of the worst, most painful, episodes ever!); "Lucy and the Little Old Lady"; "Lucy's Replacement"; "Kim Finally Cuts You-Know-Who's Apron Strings"; and "Lucy & Candid Camera" (how could the merger of one of the funniest shows ever -- Candid Camera -- with the greatest comedienne ever -- Lucille Ball -- wind up being so horribly unfunny?). That's seven out of 24 episodes -- nearly a third -- that I'm classifying as just plain bad. Most of the rest are just mediocre. "Lucy Helps David Frost Go Night Night," "Lucy's Punctured Romance," and "With Viv as a Friend, Who Needs an Enemy?" do offer a few good laughs, but still nothing coming out of the fourth season is particularly great. I agree with you about the lack of good writing and strong supporting characters as the problem. I love Gale Gordon, but I think too often he was not properly utilized. He was great with his trademark "slow burn" (which he never strayed from in the early seasons of The Lucy Show; his anger would gradually build to the point where he was on the edge of exploding, but rarely actually did, but by this point, rather than a slow burn, they had him immediately blowing his top all the time, which is much less effective. One positive thing that happened in the fourth season was the return of I Love Lucy writers Bob Carroll, Jr. and Madelyn Davis, who would write 8 episodes per season for the last three seasons. The episodes they wrote, if not always laugh-out-loud funny, were at least usually well structured and based in reality, unlike some of the other writers of this series whose scripts too often threw logic out the window. I also think Bob O'Brien wrote some decent scripts in the last few seasons (he also contributed 8 episodes per season). But the other writers were usually horrible! Take, for example, the episode "Lucy Makes a Few Extra Dollars." Can someone please explain this one to me? In the opening scene, Lucy is on the phone with Kim. Five minutes later, Kim comes walking through the door. Okay, they didn't have cell phones back in those days, so exactly where was Kim five minutes earlier when she was on the phone with her mother? If she was already that close by, it wouldn't make sense for her to call her mother. But if she was not close by, it doesn't make sense that she could show up at the office that fast. And near the end of the episode when Lucy and Kim are in the office pretending to make counterfeit money, Lucy telephones Harry who, presumably, is at home. But he comes bounding through the door literally 55 seconds after Lucy hangs up the phone. Did Scotty beam him up there?
	Last edited by LittleRickyII; 04-06-2011 at 10:00 PM.

04-06-2011, 12:52 AM	#2
lucyandethel Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 18, 2009 Location: Los Angeles CA Posts: 435	So, I got my season 4 DVD set of "Here's Lucy" and have watched the first ten episodes of the season. I am a big Lucy fan...I LOVE Lucille Ball...but I have to say, this series, while moderately watchable in the first couple of seasons, just seems to get progressively worse. I know...I am going to get a lot of hate responses on this, but can someone tell me, what is missing here? Each episode I watch, it is like, something is missing. The stories, many of which are recycled ideas from "The Lucy Show" in my opinion, just seem to fall flat. It is my opinion that Lucille Ball needed two really strong things supporting her: writing and co-stars. For the life of me, I don't understand why Mary Jane Croft is not more utilized instead of one or two appearances a season. Maybe she didn't want to be a regular I guess. But, Lucy needed a Desi or Vivian to bounce things off. While I was not a fan of Gale Gordon in "The Lucy Show", I think here, he does shine in some episodes of "Here's Lucy". But have you noticed in every episode, he starts out like Mr. Mooney and then reverts to a wimpering goofball by the end of the episode? His character is just not defined in "Here's Lucy". I will keep buying "Here's Lucy" because it is Lucille Ball, but to say "Here's Lucy" is inferior to her other series, is an understatement. While Lucie Arnaz in all the commentaries praises almost every episode as "superbly written" or "the best of the series", I would encourage her to take another look. Not so, Lucie, not so.

04-06-2011, 08:33 PM	#4
McGillicuddy Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 28, 2002 Posts: 5,179	Concerning Mary Jane, she was on more than 1 or 2 episodes in the latter seasons. Does anyone know why she was never made a regular co-star? With Desi gone, and Lucie not on as much, it might have helped. She also was never prominately recognized in the credits!

04-07-2011, 09:24 AM	#5
lucyandethel Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 18, 2009 Location: Los Angeles CA Posts: 435	Yeah, I was particularly disappointed with "With Viv as a Friend, Who Needs an Enemy?" Vivian's last appearance was less than stellar that is for sure, and in all honestly, Vivian did not look as though she was enjoying herself at all. As for I Love Lucy writers Carroll and Pugh-Davis, of course they were brilliant writers, but the scripts they penned in this season of Here's Lucy were simply not good. An actor is only as good as the words on the page. But let's face it....at this point Lucy had been on TV 20 years. It only makes sense the well is almost dry.

05-19-2011, 11:57 PM	#7
HeresJames Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Nov 08, 2009 Location: Connecticut Posts: 13	Thank you for the review links, LittleRickyII. Fascinating reading!