The Lucy Show vs I Love Lucy

[The Flying Dutchmans]

Are these 2 shows basically the same? I know the comedy is because it's Lucy doing both. But to me, it seems like a colorized version of ILL only without Ricky and Fred. Maybe it's just me.

[Kasey]

Originally Posted by The Flying Dutchmans

Are these 2 shows basically the same? I know the comedy is because it's Lucy doing both. But to me, it seems like a colorized version of ILL only without Ricky and Fred. Maybe it's just me.

I'd say only S1 of THE LUCY SHOW bears a strong resemblance to ILL in that both were filmed in B&W and had Desi Arnaz as executive producer. Also, the physical comedy stunts in TLS were never as funny or well-executed as they were in S1 (aside from a few exceptions).

When TLS switched to color and lost Desi's guidance in the second season, the connection wasn't as strong and strayed even further in S4 when Viv was gone and the Lucy character moved to Hollywood.

[ajgenard]

Originally Posted by The Flying Dutchmans

Are these 2 shows basically the same? I know the comedy is because it's Lucy doing both. But to me, it seems like a colorized version of ILL only without Ricky and Fred. Maybe it's just me.

While the first couple seasons share some obvious similarities with I Love Lucy, I'd argue that calling them "basically the same" is a misrepresentation of The Lucy Show.

The biggest glaring difference between them is what I call the consistency factor. Right from the start ILL was pretty well set in style, content, and quality. It was an overnight hit and under Desi's direction, they didn't deviate too much from the groundbreaking format they established. Sure, there are some episodes that aren't up to par with the others but overall the show was pretty tightly-knit from start to finish.

TLS is much more complicated. The format was constantly being tinkered with for one reason or another. The end result is a 6-season show that was virtually unrecognizable from it's beginnings by the time it ended. In addition to Desi leaving after the first season, most of the creative team left after the 2nd season and it became a revolving door of writers and staff personnel. Because of this the quality is all over the map with some of it being as good as anything from ILL (mostly the earlier seasons) and some of it being pure garbage.

[Mr. Drucker]

Although Ball was with little or no question the single greatest star in the history of the American small screen,I always thought that due to her well known big ego,she failed to recognize the fact that no matter how beloved and revered such a figure might well be,sooner or later the creative well around their entertainment persona WILL run dry,as I believe it did even by the end of her original show.Despite continued big ratings,it's possible much of her sixties comedic meanderings were milking a dead cow.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by Mr. Drucker

Although Ball was with little or no question the single greatest star in the history of the American small screen,I always thought that due to her well known big ego,she failed to recognize the fact that no matter how beloved and revered such a figure might well be,sooner or later the creative well around their entertainment persona WILL run dry,as I believe it did even by the end of her original show.Despite continued big ratings,it's possible much of her sixties comedic meanderings were milking a dead cow.

Lucy can easily be argued the greatest comedienne ever, and certainly the best PHYSICAL comedienne. But greatest star ever? Not sure if there even is one. She certainly isn't greater than Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Barbra Streisand or Jimmy Stewart - to name a few. In fact, her straight acting was nothing to write home about. For years she was known as the queen of B movies. But I don't fault her for that. Where were the directors who FOR YEARS missed her comedic genius? Besides I.L.L., where Lucy SHINES, her greatness also comes from her drive and courage to crack a completely new medium, television, and trailblaze within it. To this day, I.L.L. is beamed across the world.

Sadly, she tried to recreate her masterpieces with efforts toward the end of her life and failed. I was sad when I heard how depressed this failure made her. So yes, I agree with you, the well can run dry, and sometimes you need to go out riding on a crest.

I thought the Lucy Show had a more tender feel to it. I loved her two shows from the 60s; they were fine shows even if they didn't have the fire of I.L.L.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by OH Nuts!

Lucy can easily be argued the greatest comedienne ever, and certainly the best PHYSICAL comedienne. But greatest star ever? Not sure if there even is one. She certainly isn't greater than Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Barbra Streisand or Jimmy Stewart - to name a few.

Greatest star ever does not necessarily mean greatest actor ever. I think a very, very strong argument can be made that Lucille Ball was the greatest star ever. I don't know of another performing artist who was as enduring and beloved as she was. I Love Lucy can still be found regularly on television -- I can't remember a time when it wasn't available -- but it's little more difficult to come across a Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn film. Young people today are probably more likely to recognize Lucille Ball than pretty much anyone else from that era. During the '50s, "Lucymania" swept the nation. But the country never experienced Bette-mania or Katharine-mania. They were certainly great box office stars, but people were not going crazy over them and treating them as not-to-be missed the way they were with Lucille Ball. When Lucy went into the hospital the week before her death, Cedars Sinai experienced the largest volume of flowers and get-well cards in its entire history. This is a hospital that has treated virtually every big name celebrity at some point. The outpouring of devotion for Lucille Ball was far greater than for anyone who had ever spent time there. I Love Lucy has endured more than any other TV show. Lucille Ball mistakenly felt the failure of Life with Lucy meant her fans no longer were interested in her. Hopefully, that outpouring in her last days made her realize they had turned away only from that show, not from her. And the fact that people are still talking about her 24 years after her death, and there are websites galore devoted to her, and virtually every TV show she made is available on DVD, all speaks volumes about her place in history and among the greatest of stars.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

Greatest star ever does not necessarily mean greatest actor ever. I think a very, very strong argument can be made that Lucille Ball was the greatest star ever. I don't know of another performing artist who was as enduring and beloved as she was. I Love Lucy can still be found regularly on television -- I can't remember a time when it wasn't available -- but it's little more difficult to come across a Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn film. Young people today are probably more likely to recognize Lucille Ball than pretty much anyone else from that era. During the '50s, "Lucymania" swept the nation. But the country never experienced Bette-mania or Katharine-mania. They were certainly great box office stars, but people were not going crazy over them and treating them as not-to-be missed the way they were with Lucille Ball. When Lucy went into the hospital the week before her death, Cedars Sinai experienced the largest volume of flowers and get-well cards in its entire history. This is a hospital that has treated virtually every big name celebrity at some point. The outpouring of devotion for Lucille Ball was far greater than for anyone who had ever spent time there. I Love Lucy has endured more than any other TV show. Lucille Ball mistakenly felt the failure of Life with Lucy meant her fans no longer were interested in her. Hopefully, that outpouring in her last days made her realize they had turned away only from that show, not from her. And the fact that people are still talking about her 24 years after her death, and there are websites galore devoted to her, and virtually every TV show she made is available on DVD, all speaks volumes about her place in history and among the greatest of stars.

I agree that greatest star ever doesn't mean greatest actor ever. And Lucy was clearly a super-star. Certainly her most ardent fans could argue she was the greatest star. But I don't agree. I just don't think there is a "greatest star". Please don't get me wrong - I love Lucille Ball and have the entire I.L.L., many eps of Here's Lucy and The Lucy Show and many of the movies she did with Desi. I think we all have stars that really touch us more than others. For me it was Bette Davis, who was as (or almost) as groundbreaking as Lucy.

I can understand why many might elect Lucy best star ever, but again, there's too much immense talent for me to pick just one. If I could pick a top ten (in no particular order) Lucy would definitely be in it. But for me there is no particular one I'd call "the best". My favorite superstar is Bette Davis, who, I think, was as admired and loved as Lucy. Nonetheless, Lucy rocked and I admired her on many levels.

And BTW, she had fantastic legs! Everyone in the 40's went gaga over Betty Grables's legs, but I thought Lucy's were better. Lucy was a stunningly beautiful woman up to her 60s. Just look at her in Yours, Mine and Ours!

[Frump]

I think there is a slight difference in Lucy in both shows.

Lucy Ricardo I think is a little more spiteful and combative, and a lot of her problems where results of her own doings.

I sorta thought felt sorry for Lucy Charmichael, it seems trouble followed her around.

[1960'sTVfan]

I Love Lucy is more of a domestic sitcom, where in The Lucy Show she is a single mom with two kids. As The Lucy Show progressed, the kids were eventually dropped from the series and the focus was on Lucy & Viv, then Lucy & Gale Gordon after Viv left. Mary Jane Croft was a good replacement for Viv, she developed her own character and didn't try to be the same type of person like Viv was.

In I Love Lucy, Lucy's relationship with Desi seems mostly combative, kind of ironic for a show titled I Love Lucy. Desi's funny lines are when he has problems pronouncing the english language, but he and Lucy don't really seem to have a good on screen chemistry together. Maybe that's a reason why they divorced. Fred and Ethel Mertz are two of the best supporting characters in the history of TV, those two are what made the show click, without them I think the show would have been a failure. Lucy's brand of zany comedy was popular with the viewers, people tuned in week after week to see what mess she would get herself into next, but without the Mertzes in there mixing things up, Lucy's act would have gotten tiresome pretty quick.

Having said all that, I prefer The Lucy Show over I Love Lucy. Not that I dislike I Love Lucy, but to me The Lucy Show is overall a better production, the actors have better chemistry together, and there is a classy and professional look to it that is absent in I Love Lucy. I also think overall The Lucy Show episodes have better writing, there are a few clunkers as well but I Love Lucy also has it's share of weak episodes.

[storrs19]

I think the one saving grace for The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy was Gale Gordon. What a tremendous straight man to all of Lucy's antics and nobody could "blow up" better than he could. I wonder how long the series would have continued after Vivian Vance left had Gale Gordon not been on it?

[1960'sTVfan]

Lucy had better on screen chemistry with Gale Gordon than she did with Desi. I believe Lucy would have wanted Gale Gordon on The Lucy Show right from the start in season 1, but Gale Gordon was busy being Mr. Wilson in Dennis The Menace for the 62-63 season. After Dennis got cancelled, Gale Gordon signed on with The Lucy Show for season 2. I think The Lucy Show could have continued on as it was after the 6th season, but Lucy wanted to shake things up a bit, hence the change in format and title change to Here's Lucy. I have all 6 seasons of The Lucy Show on DVD, in my opinion it is Lucy's best sitcom. I Love Lucy and Here's Lucy are the types of shows I might watch once in a while if episodes air on TV, but I'm not interested to have them on DVD.

[storrs19]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

Lucy had better on screen chemistry with Gale Gordon than she did with Desi. I believe Lucy would have wanted Gale Gordon on The Lucy Show right from the start in season 1, but Gale Gordon was busy being Mr. Wilson in Dennis The Menace for the 62-63 season. After Dennis got cancelled, Gale Gordon signed on with The Lucy Show for season 2. I think The Lucy Show could have continued on as it was after the 6th season, but Lucy wanted to shake things up a bit, hence the change in format and title change to Here's Lucy. I have all 6 seasons of The Lucy Show on DVD, in my opinion it is Lucy's best sitcom. I Love Lucy and Here's Lucy are the types of shows I might watch once in a while if episodes air on TV, but I'm not interested to have them on DVD.

I have all seasons of I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, and Here's Lucy on DVD. Here's Lucy is special to me as it is the first Lucy I got to know via reruns on our local station weekdays at 5:30pm eons ago when local independent stations showed good stuff. I enjoy The Lucy Show very much and think Season Six is quite an improvement over Season Four and Season Five.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

In I Love Lucy, Lucy's relationship with Desi seems mostly combative, kind of ironic for a show titled I Love Lucy. Desi's funny lines are when he has problems pronouncing the english language, but he and Lucy don't really seem to have a good on screen chemistry together. Maybe that's a reason why they divorced.

With all due respect, that's one of the strangest statements I've ever read here. I can't think of any two actors who had better on-screen chemistry than Lucy and Desi. That's always been one of the hallmarks of this show, the superb chemistry between them and all the players. That's what made I Love Lucy work and remain popular to this day. This is like the world of opposites: the sky is green, the president has blond hair and blue eyes, and Lucy and Desi did not have good on-screen chemistry.

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

Fred and Ethel Mertz are two of the best supporting characters in the history of TV, those two are what made the show click, without them I think the show would have been a failure.

I agree that the contributions of Vivian Vance and William Frawley were indispensable and helped elevate this show to classic status, but to say it would have been a failure without them is a bit extreme. After all, Lucille Ball's preceding radio series did not feature either Vance or Frawley, yet it was still a success. Perhaps the most famous episode of I Love Lucy is "Lucy Does a TV Commercial," which did not feature Vivian Vance at all, and not much of William Frawley. And Lucy and Desi had a blockbuster hit with "The Long, Long Trailer," often described as a long, long I Love Lucy, and it did not include either Vivian Vance or William Frawley. Nevertheless, people turned out in droves to see that movie knowing they were only getting Lucy and Desi. At the time it was MGM's highest grossing film ever (MGM had been around for 30 years at that point). If Lucy and Desi did not have good on-screen chemistry, all those millions of people wouldn't have been standing in line paying money to see them together.

[lucyandethel]

Comparing ILL to the TLS is like comparing apples to oranges. Two totally different shows, and both are good in their own right.

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

With all due respect, that's one of the strangest statements I've ever read here. I can't think of any two actors who had better on-screen chemistry than Lucy and Desi. That's always been one of the hallmarks of this show, the superb chemistry between them and all the players. That's what made I Love Lucy work and remain popular to this day. This is like the world of opposites: the sky is green, the president has blond hair and blue eyes, and Lucy and Desi did not have good on-screen chemistry.



I agree that the contributions of Vivian Vance and William Frawley were indispensable and helped elevate this show to classic status, but to say it would have been a failure without them is a bit extreme. After all, Lucille Ball's preceding radio series did not feature either Vance or Frawley, yet it was still a success. Perhaps the most famous episode of I Love Lucy is "Lucy Does a TV Commercial," which did not feature Vivian Vance at all, and not much of William Frawley. And Lucy and Desi had a blockbuster hit with "The Long, Long Trailer," often described as a long, long I Love Lucy, and it did not include either Vivian Vance or William Frawley. Nevertheless, people turned out in droves to see that movie knowing they were only getting Lucy and Desi. At the time it was MGM's highest grossing film ever (MGM had been around for 30 years at that point). If Lucy and Desi did not have good on-screen chemistry, all those millions of people wouldn't have been standing in line paying money to see them together.

I have the movie The Long Long Trailer. I like the movie but it has no connection with the TV series I Love Lucy, so it wasn't necessary to cast the Mertzes in the movie. Just as they often were in I Love Lucy, in The Long Long Trailer Lucy and Desi are frequently at odds with each other. It was part of their act but perhaps this combative on screen relationship was a contributing factor causing them to break up. To me, Lucy and Desi's combative relationship on screen doesn't translate to good chemistry.

I Love Lucy has some good episodes, I've just always preferred The Lucy Show. Lucy does a tremendous job in The Lucy Show episodes, she's very funny and really gets a chance to shine not having to share scenes with Desi. In Here's Lucy, Lucy starts to show her age a bit and overall isn't as effective as she was in The Lucy Show.