Is anyone else just creeped out by this opening?

[Alan Brady's Hair]

I mean you got this 60-year old woman who looks 70, and they're using a puppet of her that looks 60, in spike heels and pants that are cut up to her hip bone, and the puppet has this huge head that looks like it was taken off of one the characters in "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer." It scared me when I was little and still creeps me out - what point were they trying to make, "Lucy, she really is 60, even though she looks 70 - just ask the puppet!"?

[Bonniegirl]

No! I always thought it was kind of cool. Esp. when she hits the stage light with her hips and it goes Boom-Boom, right before Gale, Lucie and Desi's names come up) ! LOL!! It's cute!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=18nTJK4lrGs

[Marvo301]

If it had been the real Lucy dressed like that it would have been creepy! But since it's a puppet it doesn't seem that creepy to me!

[Bonniegirl]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

If it had been the real Lucy dressed like that it would have been creepy! But since it's a puppet it doesn't seem that creepy to me!

For her age, the real Lucy had a really nice figure!

[Mr. Television]

I used to dance like her when it came on. lol Didn't scare me at all.

[Bonniegirl]

Originally Posted by Mr. Television

I used to dance like her when it came on. lol Didn't scare me at all.

That's so cute!!

[Torgo]

Not creepy at all, now if it looked like the Zuni Fetish doll from Trilogy Of Terror, that would be creepy.

[Bonniegirl]

Originally Posted by Torgo

Not creepy at all, now if it looked like the Zuni Fetish doll from Trilogy Of Terror, that would be creepy.

Out of curiosity I googled the Zuni fetish doll! And YES that would be pretty creepy!!! Much creepier than Lucy!!!!





Torgo, you are funny!! You always get me laughing!!!

[TVFactFan]

So this show airs on Cozi and i can't even check it out because it doesn't come on in primetime. 6pm and 6:30pm

[visaman666]

I used to watch the show when it aired in the afternoons. It didn't scare me, but I had repressed the memory of watching it, now it's back in my head, thanks.

[biffbronson]

Stop-motion puppet animation already had a very long history prior to this series using it for its opening. Lucy's was done well and likely enjoyed by people who grew up with George Pal's Puppetoons, Clokey's Gumby, Ray Harryhausen, etc.

While it may seem a little odd to people now used to live-action sitcom openings, it's important to keep in mind that basically it's caricature artwork -- and more-or-less by definition, a caricature exaggerates for effect.

I don't find it creepy at all. It's just from an era way before today's whiz-bang, computer-generated stuff that blurs the line between reality and animation.

[Torgo]

Originally Posted by Bonniegirl

Out of curiosity I googled the Zuni fetish doll! And YES that would be pretty creepy!!! Much creepier than Lucy!!!!





Torgo, you are funny!! You always get me laughing!!!

That little doll traumatized me as a kid.

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by TVFactFan

So this show airs on Cozi and i can't even check it out because it doesn't come on in primetime. 6pm and 6:30pm

This show isn't a good place to start for experiencing Lucy. You need to check out I Love Lucy first, or the first few seasons of her second series, The Lucy Show (episodes with Vivian Vance). (I Love Lucy is currently airing on MeTV, and The Lucy Show is on Decades.) By the time Lucille Ball got to this Here's Lucy series, she was without the strong supporting cast of the past, and the writing was sub-par. Her own two kids as replacements for Vivian Vance, William Frawley and Desi Arnaz is like substituting a bottle of the finest wine with a can of Coca Cola. There are still some very funny episodes here and there, but mostly there's a whole lot of mediocrity in between. Here's Lucy is proof that even the best comedians and comediennes still need a strong supporting cast and writing. Besides, when this show started in 1968, Lucille Ball had already been on the air for 20 years (including her radio series), so her writers were running out of new ideas. Somehow they managed to squeeze out another six years of scripts for this show.

A year ago when Here's Lucy first started running on Cozi, I started a thread where I pointed out the episodes that are worth watching, and warning about those to pass on.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...d.php?t=327488

Those are my opinions, but maybe a good guide.

Incidentally, about that puppet, I remember when the show originally aired, I was fascinated by that puppet and it never scared me at all. Anything that was animated I always loved. After this series, that puppet was put in storage in a warehouse in the Los Angeles area. Then in the early '80s it was stolen from the warehouse and has never been found. A few years ago, I saw someone posted a comment that they know where it is, but the jerk wouldn't provide any further information. So it apparently still exists out there somewhere with the thief, or a friend of the thief.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by LittleRickyII

This show isn't a good place to start for experiencing Lucy. You need to check out I Love Lucy first, or the first few seasons of her second series, The Lucy Show (episodes with Vivian Vance). (I Love Lucy is currently airing on MeTV, and The Lucy Show is on Decades.) By the time Lucille Ball got to this Here's Lucy series, she was without the strong supporting cast of the past, and the writing was sub-par. Her own two kids as replacements for Vivian Vance, William Frawley and Desi Arnaz is like substituting a bottle of the finest wine with a can of Coca Cola. There are still some very funny episodes here and there, but mostly there's a whole lot of mediocrity in between. Here's Lucy is proof that even the best comedians and comediennes still need a strong supporting cast and writing. Besides, when this show started in 1968, Lucille Ball had already been on the air for 20 years (including her radio series), so her writers were running out of new ideas. Somehow they managed to squeeze out another six years of scripts for this show.

A year ago when Here's Lucy first started running on Cozi, I started a thread where I pointed out the episodes that are worth watching, and warning about those to pass on.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...d.php?t=327488

Those are my opinions, but maybe a good guide.

Incidentally, about that puppet, I remember when the show originally aired, I was fascinated by that puppet and it never scared me at all. Anything that was animated I always loved. After this series, that puppet was put in storage in a warehouse in the Los Angeles area. Then in the early '80s it was stolen from the warehouse and has never been found. A few years ago, I saw someone posted a comment that they know where it is, but the jerk wouldn't provide any further information. So it apparently still exists out there somewhere with the thief, or a friend of the thief.

I think the show did well until Norman Lear hit the scene in 1971

[LittleRickyII]

Originally Posted by TVFactFan

I think the show did well until Norman Lear hit the scene in 1971

Here's Lucy did well in terms of ratings, yes, but I think it was largely riding the momentum of the success of her previous series. In no way does Here's Lucy match her earlier work in terms of quality. In fact, she won her four Emmys, and received all her Emmy nominations, for I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show, but not Here's Lucy; Here's Lucy got only a single Emmy nomination during its entire run, which was for Gale Gordon, who lost to Ed Asner for the Mary Tyler Moore Show. And yes, Norman Lear made a huge impact. Sitcoms in general were running out of fresh ideas. By 1970, The Andy Griffith Show had transformed into the very stale Mayberry R.F.D. Formerly huge movie star, Doris Day, was stumbling through a sitcom that could never figure out what it wanted to be. The Beverly Hillbillies and Bewitched had become hollow shells of their former selves, with repetitive and tired plots. Here's Lucy managed to stick around longer than those shows, lasting until 1974, and well into the Norman Lear era. But that's because it was Lucy. But even this show seemed to feel some of the Norman Lear impact, with a few of its later episodes touching on themes such as ageism and racism, although in a very, very subtle way. But television viewers were hungry for something very fresh and new, and Norman Lear certainly brought it, as did the MTM folks.

Putting things in Norman Lear perspective, Here's Lucy compared to I Love Lucy or the early The Lucy Show is like Archie Bunker's Place compared to All in the Family. Lucy without Ethel/Vivian and Ricky is like Archie without "the meathead" and Edith.