Lucy, the Robot

[1960'sTVfan]

I recently watched this episode on the DVD, not the greatest episode but I was surprised to see Jay North appear as Mr. Mooney's bratty nephew. My god, Jay North was really bratty and obnoxious in this episode. He would get in mischief in Dennis The Menace, but in that show he played a good natured kid, in this Lucy Show episode he's just a total brat, it was quite a shock to see. Jay was probably about 14 or 15 when this episode was filmed, his hair color had changed to a reddish brown rather than the blond hair he had in Dennis The Menace. After seeing Jay North's performance in Lucy the Robot, I no longer want to see him act in any role outside of Dennis The Menace.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

I recently watched this episode on the DVD, not the greatest episode but I was surprised to see Jay North appear as Mr. Mooney's bratty nephew. My god, Jay North was really bratty and obnoxious in this episode. He would get in mischief in Dennis The Menace, but in that show he played a good natured kid, in this Lucy Show episode he's just a total brat, it was quite a shock to see. Jay was probably about 14 or 15 when this episode was filmed, his hair color had changed to a reddish brown rather than the blond hair he had in Dennis The Menace. After seeing Jay North's performance in Lucy the Robot, I no longer want to see him act in any role outside of Dennis The Menace.

I agree, there is nothing likeable about his character on TLS. That would not have worked as a lead character on a series where there would need to be likeability and empathy for the character. As for Jay North's hair, that's his real hair color on TLS; it was bleached blond on DTM.

[lucyandethel]

This was one of the worst episode's of TLS. You could even sense the audience was bored.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by lucyandethel

This was one of the worst episode's of TLS. You could even sense the audience was bored.

I agree. And if you've seen that television documentary that included footage from this episode, and some narration by Lucille Ball -- who said the portrayal of a robot was too confining and prevented her from performing good physical comedy -- she apparently agreed as well. Which begs the question: why was this horrible script produced? Of course, that same question could be asked of many of the S4 episodes. I think the California format was conceived too quickly and went on the air before enough time could be taken to fine tune it and make it workable. So much of that season is just an unfunny mess.

[rjt100]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

I agree. And if you've seen that television documentary that included footage from this episode, and some narration by Lucille Ball -- who said the portrayal of a robot was too confining and prevented her from performing good physical comedy -- she apparently agreed as well. Which begs the question: why was this horrible script produced? Of course, that same question could be asked of many of the S4 episodes. I think the California format was conceived too quickly and went on the air before enough time could be taken to fine tune it and make it workable. So much of that season is just an unfunny mess.

Season 4 was a vast improvement over season 3, which, was starting to go down in quality. Vivian Vance just wasn't up to doing the show and started to ask for a higher salary, equal billing to Lucy and creative control. Now we all know Lucy and Viv was a great team but everyone watched because Lucille Ball was the star. In fact, the episodes that Vivan missed (6) were quite good including the Ann Sothern episodes. Season 4 brought a freshness and liveliness to The Lucy Show. The ratings went up and Lucy was nominated for her second Emmy for The Lucy show. There were only about three, maybe, four episodes that weren't good in Season 4. The other 22 were just great. Lucy made the right decision to continue the Lucy character and further solidified hereself as the all time queen of comedy and queen of the nielsen ratings.

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by rjt100

Season 4 was a vast improvement over season 3, which, was starting to go down in quality. Vivian Vance just wasn't up to doing the show and started to ask for a higher salary, equal billing to Lucy and creative control. Now we all know Lucy and Viv was a great team but everyone watched because Lucille Ball was the star. In fact, the episodes that Vivan missed (6) were quite good including the Ann Sothern episodes. Season 4 brought a freshness and liveliness to The Lucy Show. The ratings went up and Lucy was nominated for her second Emmy for The Lucy show. There were only about three, maybe, four episodes that weren't good in Season 4. The other 22 were just great. Lucy made the right decision to continue the Lucy character and further solidified hereself as the all time queen of comedy and queen of the nielsen ratings.

I disagree, I think the 3rd season is better than season 4, in fact the 3rd season is my favorite of the 6 Lucy Show seasons. The one negative about the 3rd season is the departure of Vivian Vance, I wish she had stayed for the whole season instead of leaving during the season. But otherwise the 3rd season is superb with many good episodes.

[Kasey]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

I disagree, I think the 3rd season is better than season 4, in fact the 3rd season is my favorite of the 6 Lucy Show seasons. The one negative about the 3rd season is the departure of Vivian Vance, I wish she had stayed for the whole season instead of leaving during the season. But otherwise the 3rd season is superb with many good episodes.

I agree! Season 3 is my second favorite season after S1. Lucy the Good Skate, Lucy Goes to Vegas and Lucy and the Ceramic Cat are among my favorites. I love S3 much better than S2.

[biffbronson]

Jay also popped up on My Three Sons, also being filmed at Desilu. The teenage Jay and series regular Stan Livingston go through a "hairy" phase in the episode I'm thinking of.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

I disagree, I think the 3rd season is better than season 4, in fact the 3rd season is my favorite of the 6 Lucy Show seasons. The one negative about the 3rd season is the departure of Vivian Vance, I wish she had stayed for the whole season instead of leaving during the season. But otherwise the 3rd season is superb with many good episodes.

Originally Posted by Kasey

I agree! Season 3 is my second favorite season after S1. Lucy the Good Skate, Lucy Goes to Vegas and Lucy and the Ceramic Cat are among my favorites. I love S3 much better than S2.

Count me in as well. Although there are a couple weak episodes during the third season, there are enough strong episodes to make up for that. I think it ties with S2 for best season. I don't agree at all with rjt100's comment that S4 was "a vast improvement" over S3; it was quite the opposite. Yes, I know the ratings went up a little (not that they were bad in S3; the show was 8th in the ratings). But if you look into the numbers and what actually happened in the fourth season ('65-'66), TLS and The Andy Griffith Show switched time slots with one another. In 1964-65, TAGS aired at 8:30 (after I've Got a Secret), followed by TLS at 9:00 (airing opposite Andy Williams). In 1965-66, it was the other way around: TLS aired at 8:30 (after I've Got a Secret), followed by TAGS at 9:00 (airing opposite Andy Williams). What is significant about this? Well, not only did the two shows switch time slots, they also switched ratings: the ratings numbers (meaning number of viewers) TLS got in the 8:30 time slot in 1965-66 were virtually the same as the ratings numbers TAGS had received in that time slot a year earlier. And the ratings numbers TAGS got in the 9:00 time slot in 1965-66 were virtually the same as the ratings numbers TLS had received in that time slot a year earlier. So the ratings increase for TLS I think had more to do with time slot than anything. It was not because people preferred watching Lucy without Viv. If you take a poll of fans of the show, it's virtually unanimous that people strongly favor the Viv years of TLS over the later years.

There are many episodes in S3 that are laugh-out-loud funny to me. But in S4, there's not a single one that makes me laugh. The Dean Martin and Robert Stack are the only ones I like. It was just poorly conceived season and the episodes, with few exceptions, were badly written and beyond absurd. One example: How many times did they expect us to find it plausible that Lucy would coincidentally run into Mr. Mooney somewhere in greater Los Angeles? When she first arrives in L.A., Mr. Mooney just happens to be there as her banker. (How could they have both left gossipy Danfield for L.A. with neither of them knowing about it?) Lucy sells maps on a street corner and Mooney coincidentally comes by on his bicycle. Lucy works as an usher at a Hollywood premiere and Mooney just happens to be a guest. Lucy gets a job as a stunt double and Mooney just happens to be the banker financing the film and shows up on the set. Lucy gets a job in a department store and Mooney just happens to show up there in her department as a customer. When Lucy goes to the race track, guess who just happens to be there? At least twice during the season they wind up at the same restaurant. These are just a few examples. And those ridiculous plots, like Lucy being shot out of a cannon, or flying through the air in "Lucy, the Superwoman." Or convincing a kid she's a robot. Or being chased around her apartment by a gorilla, and in another episode, Lucy chasing a gorilla that stole her autograph book at a movie theater. Such unbelievable nonsense. The show rapidly went downhill after the third season, though I do think it recovered quite a bit in the last two seasons, which had a fair number of worthwhile episodes. But S4 is very hard to watch, embarrassingly so. As for those S3 episodes without Vivian Vance, they tend to be my least favorite episodes of the season. I'm not terribly fond of the episodes with Ann Sothern, with the exception of "My Fair Lucy." I've just never found Ann Sothern very funny.

[1960'sTVfan]

The departure of Vivian Vance definitely was a setback for The Lucy Show. I think the main problem with the 4th season was, they wanted Gale Gordon to fill two roles, be replacement for Viv while still being Mr. Mooney, and often the results didn't turn out too well. Include the fact the series was now based in California and the three kids were dropped from the cast, there were a lot of changes from season 3 to 4 and it basically took that whole 4th season for everyone to get adjusted. Mary Jane Croft did an admirable job in this show, but she didn't have the on screen presence like Vivian Vance did. Mary Jane was no Viv, but she eventually settled into her role and contributed nicely to the episodes she was in.

Lucy The Superwoman, I agree the episodes final scene in the lab where Lucy flies in the air goes a little over the top, but otherwise I like the episode, I think it's one of the better season 4 episodes. The opening scene in Mr. Mooney's office, and the scene in Lucy's apartment are filled with funny visual gags, I always roar with laughter when I watch this episode.

As much as I like season 3, I do admit a few of those episodes are stinkers. One of those episodes is Lucy Goes To Vegas. This is one of those episodes that sounds like it's going to be funny, but it really isn't and falls flat. Had the episode been written better it could have been very funny.

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by lucyandethel

This was one of the worst episode's of TLS. You could even sense the audience was bored.

I agree Lucy The Robot isn't a good episode, but I don't know if I'd rank it among the worst, what I dislike most about the episode is the way Jay North behaves. He is bratty to the point of borderline evil, it is quite shocking to see compared to the well mannered type of child he was in Dennis The Menace.

[McGillicuddy]

Even though Jay's character wasn't very likable, I still enjoyed the reunion with Gale Gordon and Jay North.