Here's Lucy - Season Five DVD Review

[TJ]

Lucy (Lucille Ball), daughter Kim (real-life daughter Lucie Arnaz), and Lucy's brother-in-law Harry (Gale Gordon) return yet again for the fifth season of Here's Lucy on DVD! In the next-to-last season of Lucy's last major series, we get to follow Lucy and Harry as they continue to make it through each and every day at Carter's Unique Employment agency, where they are joined by some surprise guests every now and then. The fifth season, though, starts out with a little problem as Lucy breaks her leg in a skiing accident (an accident that happened in real-life and was written into the series), and we get to see much more of her domestic side as she is home bound and in a wheelchair for roughly the first third of the season. Still, we get to see more classic comedy in the fifth season of Here's Lucy.

Read our review by skees53 here:
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/hereslu...dvdreview.html

Please post any questions or comments about this set.

[LittleRickyII]

Petula Clark does the intro for her episode -- yaaaay!

[bliss]

I just received my copy of Here's Lucy Season 5 today. I got the black case version instead of the clear case like the previous seasons.. I'm glad to own it (for that Desi Jr./Joe Namath episode and the Desi Jr. featurette) but it would've been nice of MPI to make an episode booklet instead of putting the episode listing behind the front & back cover.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by bliss

I just received my copy of Here's Lucy Season 5 today. I got the black case version instead of the clear case like the previous seasons.. I'm glad to own it (for that Desi Jr./Joe Namath episode and the Desi Jr. featurette) but it would've been nice of MPI to make an episode booklet instead of putting the episode listing behind the front & back cover.

Lucky you that you at least have it! I bought mine through Amazon and opted for their free shipping, which tends to be slower. And so far they haven't even shipped it yet. The estimated delivery date is March 5 to 9!

[Benno123]

I'm hoping I have a spare clear case around here I can use if this comes in a black case just to keep the sets identical. Once it arrives later in the week I will know for sure.

[bliss]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

Lucky you that you at least have it! I bought mine through Amazon and opted for their free shipping, which tends to be slower. And so far they haven't even shipped it yet. The estimated delivery date is March 5 to 9!

Dang sorry to hear about that long wait on your Season 5 order. I was tempted to do the free shipping method like you but chose standard shipping because I wanted to see the Joe Namath/Desi Jr episode in DVD quality and the bonus featurette on Lucy's son. My Amazon order shipped on Monday and I got it Tuesday Seen the first two episodes and I'm enjoying it much better than the previous season so far (and this is from someone who preferred the first three seasons).

With that black case it's like the "black sheep" of the Here's Lucy series

[bliss]

Originally Posted by Benno123

I'm hoping I have a spare clear case around here I can use if this comes in a black case just to keep the sets identical. Once it arrives later in the week I will know for sure.

Good idea!

I have all 5 seasons of Here's Lucy so far and this fifth season really stands out when all lined up together on a shelf.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by bliss

Dang sorry to hear about that long wait on your Season 5 order. I was tempted to do the free shipping method like you but chose standard shipping because I wanted to see the Joe Namath/Desi Jr episode in DVD quality and the bonus featurette on Lucy's son. My Amazon order shipped on Monday and I got it Tuesday Seen the first two episodes and I'm enjoying it much better than the previous season so far (and this is from someone who preferred the first three seasons).

I'm curious about your interest in that Joe Namath episode. It seemed odd to me that it was included on that "best of collection" DVD because I think it's the worst episode of the season, completely unfunny. Maybe it's just me. But I do agree that the fifth season overall is an improvement over the fourth season, which I think was Lucille Ball's weakest season ever, followed by S4 of TLS. And S6 of HL was a little better than S5, so I'm looking forward to that as well. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for S5 to arrive.

[lucyandethel]

Season 5 was superior to Season 4. I think the episodes with Lloyd Bridges, Joe Namath and Donny Osmond were dull, but so many great episodes from Season 5 make it better than Season 4 by a long shot. I almost stopped buying after season 4....glad I didn't!

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by lucyandethel

Season 5 was superior to Season 4. I think the episodes with Lloyd Bridges, Joe Namath and Donny Osmond were dull, but so many great episodes from Season 5 make it better than Season 4 by a long shot. I almost stopped buying after season 4....glad I didn't!

Am I the only one who likes the Donny Osmond episode?

[bliss]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

I'm curious about your interest in that Joe Namath episode. It seemed odd to me that it was included on that "best of collection" DVD because I think it's the worst episode of the season, completely unfunny. Maybe it's just me. But I do agree that the fifth season overall is an improvement over the fourth season, which I think was Lucille Ball's weakest season ever, followed by S4 of TLS. And S6 of HL was a little better than S5, so I'm looking forward to that as well. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for S5 to arrive.

I adore that Joe Namath episode because it felt like a mini-reunion again with the 4 characters (Lucy, Uncle Harry, Kim, and Craig) in that episode.

I do have to agree that the Fifth season was so much stronger than the Fourth. It was to me like they finally found their way after one cast member left the show.

[bliss]

Originally Posted by lucyandethel

Season 5 was superior to Season 4. I think the episodes with Lloyd Bridges, Joe Namath and Donny Osmond were dull, but so many great episodes from Season 5 make it better than Season 4 by a long shot. I almost stopped buying after season 4....glad I didn't!

Me too I adore Season 5. I can happily have a Here's Lucy mini-marathon but with Season 4 I couldn't even stomach watching more than 2 episodes a day.

I was happy with just buying season 1-3. But I did give season 4 a chance and bought it and after watching season 5 I am now anxious to buy the final season.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by bliss

Me too I adore Season 5. I can happily have a Here's Lucy mini-marathon but with Season 4 I couldn't even stomach watching more than 2 episodes a day.

I totally agree. So much of S4 is just dreadful. When I watched the S4 episodes, it was almost like a chore trying to get through them. With S5, I find myself looking forward to the next episode.

The plots and interactions among the characters seem more believable in S5, which helps to make it funnier. And the Lucy Carter character seems more toned down and mature, and Harry is more likeable. It makes me wonder if Lucy sat down with her writers during hiatus and scolded them for delivering so much crap the season before. Something surely changed when they moved into S5, in a good way. I'm laughing so much more watching these episodes.

Originally Posted by bliss

I was happy with just buying season 1-3. But I did give season 4 a chance and bought it and after watching season 5 I am now anxious to buy the final season.

IMO, S6 is at least as good as S5, definitely much better than S4. One of my favorite episodes in the entire series is the very last one.

Originally Posted by bliss

I adore that Joe Namath episode because it felt like a mini-reunion again with the 4 characters (Lucy, Uncle Harry, Kim, and Craig) in that episode.

But . . . did you laugh?

[bliss]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

I totally agree. So much of S4 is just dreadful. When I watched the S4 episodes, it was almost like a chore trying to get through them. With S5, I find myself looking forward to the next episode.

The plots and interactions among the characters seem more believable in S5, which helps to make it funnier. And the Lucy Carter character seems more toned down and mature, and Harry is more likeable. It makes me wonder if Lucy sat down with her writers during hiatus and scolded them for delivering so much crap the season before. Something surely changed when they moved into S5, in a good way. I'm laughing so much more watching these episodes.



IMO, S6 is at least as good as S5, definitely much better than S4. One of my favorite episodes in the entire series is the very last one.



But . . . did you laugh?

About that Namath episode I plead the fifth

Maybe it was having her leg broken from skiing or something but I really like Lucy even more this season and I can even tolerate Kim Carter now. She's more like a Viv instead of the typical teen daughter of the past seasons. If season 6 is just as good as 5 then they did go out with a bang instead of a whimper!

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by bliss

About that Namath episode I plead the fifth

Maybe it was having her leg broken from skiing or something but I really like Lucy even more this season and I can even tolerate Kim Carter now. She's more like a Viv instead of the typical teen daughter of the past seasons. If season 6 is just as good as 5 then they did go out with a bang instead of a whimper!

I, too, like Lucy more in this season, and yes, maybe it has to do with the broken leg. I think it forced the writers to attempt some character development, instead of just writing some silly gag, like Lucy get's chased up a mountain by a bear, and then trying to build a story around that gag. Lucy couldn't perform a lot of activities due to her leg, so the writers now had to focus more on stories than stunts. And in the process of doing that, there seems to be a whole lot more feeling of relationships between the characters in this season. You can feel the warmth between Lucy and Kim. And Lucy and Harry are behaving as family as well. There seems to be very little of Harry yelling at Lucy for no reason this season.

Now if that's what you mean by Kim being more like a Viv (i.e., that there was now a tangible feeling of warmth and a relationship between Kim and Lucy), then I would agree. On the other hand, it seems to me that in previous seasons, especially the 4th season, they were trying to involve the Kim character in Lucy's schemes the way that an Ethel or Viv would have been involved in the past and that, I think, was a mistake: anyone who tried to fill that role other than Vivian Vance came up short. The show worked better when Lucy and Kim were mother and daughter, with all the caring and concern a mother and daughter would have for one another (which gave Lucy credible motivation for her actions), rather than being buddies.