I Love Lucy in Color - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Fanof227 · 11-15-2002, 12:08 PM

Has the I Love Lucy show ever been shown in color? I know that alot of shows like, I Dream of Jeannie, Andy Griffith started out in black and white then changed into color the later years. Jeannie was in the 2nd season, Andy G was the last season. I was curious if the last season of I Love Lucy was in color.

SPLAIN · 11-15-2002, 12:14 PM

I Love Lucy was always in black and white although they TALKED about going to color many times, i think they pioneered color at NBC, so the show being on CBS might have had something to do with it. They did colorize the Christmas show though, i have that in color from when they aired it that way! It was so unreal to see them all in color, although the cast always spoke in a colorful way in real life!

DarleneIllyria · 11-15-2002, 02:45 PM

I'm kind of glad Lucy stayed in black and white except for that one episode. That one episode, you can stand back and just be awed by the fact that you can see the gang in color. Most of the shows that I like sometimes went into the crapper when it went to color. By the way, Andy was in black and white during the first 5 years. He went into color during the last 3 years.

Barnabas1 · 11-15-2002, 05:09 PM

ILL in color?? NO WAY!

Mickey · 11-15-2002, 05:33 PM

It's probably just because we're so used to seeing it in monochrome, but colour doesn't sound right, does it! I don't know why, exactly. Certain things would be very different in colour though. Desi's hair dye would have been more obvious, for one. To say nothing of Lucy's... Pinky orange, didn't they say it was?! Since colour usually picks out more detail, the difference in age between Fred and Ethel (which, to be honest, I never really thought about) would likely have been much more obvious. Then there's all those revolting fifties colour schemes, the decor, etc. It'd date it much more. The clarity of the prints probably wouldn't be so good, either. Those early colour shows degraded much more quickly. And remember how TV shows used to overdo colour when they first made the switch. Anybody remember the early colour episodes of shows like 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea'?! It was like they'd bought every can of bright red and orange paint that they could find, just to underline the fact that they were in colour now! Fake scenery in the outdoors scenes always looks more obvious in colour, too. Look at the old Westerns. The fact that a lot of scenes were done in studios is much more obvious in the colour ones.

Brian · 11-15-2002, 09:47 PM

It would be interesting but do you think the world would be ready to see I Love Lucy in color? It would probably tarnish the show, though.

LucyFan · 11-16-2002, 02:03 AM

"I Love Lucy" was always in black and white as well as "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour". If people really want to our Lucy in color than they should watch either "The Lucy Show" and/or "Here's Lucy" because those were filmed in color (except the first season of TLS).

Barnabas1 · 11-16-2002, 07:57 AM

I saw the Coloumbia House videos and it had the ILL song and scenes from some of the episodes in color - it was interesting!

¤I Love Clay Aiken¤ · 11-16-2002, 12:28 PM

Ive seen like clips and stuff, but thats it. Ive always wanted to see a bunch of episodes in color...just to see what everything looked like! If it were in color though, it wouldve looked fake!

White_Daisy · 11-17-2002, 09:55 AM

I saw one ep. Little Ricky was all grown up. Ricky was gone. There was another daughter all grown up and I think Lucy's brother (?) was there too. They all went to DC, horrible episode and Lucy looks terrible in color! There's a beautiful simplicity about black and white.

Mickey · 11-17-2002, 01:07 PM

Just to go off topic for a moment - it kinda surprises me how many Lucy fans are Happy Days fans. The show has been repeated here very recently, and having just been watching Lucy again at last, thanks to the DVD releases, I was amazed at how many scenes on Happy Days were stolen, sometimes almost line for line, from ILL. I still like the show, and I'm not knocking it - most of us have grown up with the Fonz at least to some extent - but it really ruined some of those jokes for me, having just been watching them all done (better!) by the ILL cast. Has anybody else noticed the joke borrowing, or is it just me?!

White_Daisy · 11-17-2002, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mickey
Just to go off topic for a moment - it kinda surprises me how many Lucy fans are Happy Days fans. The show has been repeated here very recently, and having just been watching Lucy again at last, thanks to the DVD releases, I was amazed at how many scenes on Happy Days were stolen, sometimes almost line for line, from ILL. I still like the show, and I'm not knocking it - most of us have grown up with the Fonz at least to some extent - but it really ruined some of those jokes for me, having just been watching them all done (better!) by the ILL cast. Has anybody else noticed the joke borrowing, or is it just me?!

no, it's just you.
Sorry, that was bitter. But there are fans who watched Happy Days long before they watched I Love Lucy. And yes, I'm sure there were some things stolen, but that's like saying the whole boy loves girl, girl loves boy thing in the movies is always stolen. I like I Love Lucy very much, but I love Happy Days and whether or not they're borrowing jokes, I still love Happy Days. And both shows have many unique qualities to them. I'm sure Fonzie would not work in a Chocolate Factory with the same class Lucy did and I'm sure Lucy can't jump over thirteen barrels the same way Fonzie does.

DarleneIllyria · 11-17-2002, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by White_Daisy
There's a beautiful simplicity about black and white.

I agree.

Mickey · 11-17-2002, 06:14 PM

Yes, I understand your points, White_Daisy - and I for one saw Happy Days long before I saw ILL. Roger episodes first, when they were being screened for the first time, then the Richie ones later. I've always enjoyed the show, and I still do, it just grates a little when some scenes are borrowed almost word for word. ILL did the same thing of course, as I've seen (heard!) when listening to the radio shows included on the DVDs. It's always happened, it just annoys me sometimes.

And yes, there is an attractive simplicity about b+w. So long as the print is clean, which sadly isn't the case with so many early shows and films, it can look so much better than colour, IMHO. Cary Grant never looked right in colour, and neither did Peter Lorre! Some directors preferred it. Billy Wilder hated working in colour.

SPLAIN · 11-18-2002, 01:59 PM

Ok, geez this is a great topic. The color thing, well, remember when Turner colorized those old classic movies, they looked so FAKE. But i agree with those who mentionned that Columbia House montage showing them in color, it was VERY nice! Mickey, you are such a great asset to these boards, because of you i will start watching Happy Days again to test your theory. Is that why Fonzie was on the ILL 50th anniversary tribute show? He noticed it too? I LOVED Happy Days, never missed it, but got turned off because Tom Bosly HATED Lucy and called her the B word after they co starred in Yours, mine and ours!

11-15-2002, 12:08 PM	#1
Fanof227 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Apr 08, 2001 Location: USA Posts: 140	I Love Lucy in Color Has the I Love Lucy show ever been shown in color? I know that alot of shows like, I Dream of Jeannie, Andy Griffith started out in black and white then changed into color the later years. Jeannie was in the 2nd season, Andy G was the last season. I was curious if the last season of I Love Lucy was in color.

11-15-2002, 05:09 PM	#4
Barnabas1 Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 01, 2001 Posts: 4,598	ILL in color?? NO WAY!
	__________________ My favorite shows :: I Love Lucy, Dark Shadows, Leave it to Beaver, The Munsters, Chico and the Man, and Get Smart. Formerly Babalu and agsfan

11-16-2002, 12:28 PM	#9
¤I Love Clay Aiken¤ MISS APRIL Forum Addict Join Date: Jul 19, 2001 Location: Parsonsfield ME Shaws - Screwing my way up the employment ladder! Posts: 68,780	Ive seen like clips and stuff, but thats it. Ive always wanted to see a bunch of episodes in color...just to see what everything looked like! If it were in color though, it wouldve looked fake!
	__________________ DAVID COOK FOR AMERICAN IDOL

11-17-2002, 09:55 AM	#10
White_Daisy blank Senior Member Join Date: Oct 22, 2002 Posts: 2,374	I saw one ep. Little Ricky was all grown up. Ricky was gone. There was another daughter all grown up and I think Lucy's brother (?) was there too. They all went to DC, horrible episode and Lucy looks terrible in color! There's a beautiful simplicity about black and white.
	__________________ <marquee>I love you, Potsie Webber</marquee> <center> "H14...My favorite letter, my favorite number"</center> <center>http://www.obeygiant.com/stickers/bo...happy-days.gif</center> <center>They Call it Potsie Love</center> <center>http://www.tvlinksonline.com/boards/...&postid=549343</center> <center>Warren "Potsie" Webber</center> <center> To me, Fonzie is what everyone wants to be, Richie is kind of what everyone wants her son to be. And Potsie, I think, is what everyone is - Anson Williams </center>

11-15-2002, 12:14 PM	#2
SPLAIN I Love Lucy Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 04, 2002 Location: MONTREAL, CANADA Posts: 4,563	I Love Lucy was always in black and white although they TALKED about going to color many times, i think they pioneered color at NBC, so the show being on CBS might have had something to do with it. They did colorize the Christmas show though, i have that in color from when they aired it that way! It was so unreal to see them all in color, although the cast always spoke in a colorful way in real life!

11-15-2002, 02:45 PM	#3
DarleneIllyria Gone Forum Star Join Date: Oct 15, 2000 Posts: 19,086	I'm kind of glad Lucy stayed in black and white except for that one episode. That one episode, you can stand back and just be awed by the fact that you can see the gang in color. Most of the shows that I like sometimes went into the crapper when it went to color. By the way, Andy was in black and white during the first 5 years. He went into color during the last 3 years.

11-15-2002, 05:33 PM	#5
Mickey Ranger Forum Regular Join Date: Oct 12, 2002 Location: The UK, and still finding Desi funnier than Lucy Posts: 960	It's probably just because we're so used to seeing it in monochrome, but colour doesn't sound right, does it! I don't know why, exactly. Certain things would be very different in colour though. Desi's hair dye would have been more obvious, for one. To say nothing of Lucy's... Pinky orange, didn't they say it was?! Since colour usually picks out more detail, the difference in age between Fred and Ethel (which, to be honest, I never really thought about) would likely have been much more obvious. Then there's all those revolting fifties colour schemes, the decor, etc. It'd date it much more. The clarity of the prints probably wouldn't be so good, either. Those early colour shows degraded much more quickly. And remember how TV shows used to overdo colour when they first made the switch. Anybody remember the early colour episodes of shows like 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea'?! It was like they'd bought every can of bright red and orange paint that they could find, just to underline the fact that they were in colour now! Fake scenery in the outdoors scenes always looks more obvious in colour, too. Look at the old Westerns. The fact that a lot of scenes were done in studios is much more obvious in the colour ones.

11-15-2002, 09:47 PM	#6
Brian Member Forum Celebrity Join Date: Jun 23, 2001 Posts: 20,451	It would be interesting but do you think the world would be ready to see I Love Lucy in color? It would probably tarnish the show, though.

11-16-2002, 02:03 AM	#7
LucyFan Still Loving Lucy! Forum Fanatic Join Date: Sep 23, 2001 Location: In the Wonderful World of Lucy! Posts: 8,198	"I Love Lucy" was always in black and white as well as "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour". If people really want to our Lucy in color than they should watch either "The Lucy Show" and/or "Here's Lucy" because those were filmed in color (except the first season of TLS).

11-16-2002, 07:57 AM	#8
Barnabas1 Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 01, 2001 Posts: 4,598	I saw the Coloumbia House videos and it had the ILL song and scenes from some of the episodes in color - it was interesting!

11-17-2002, 01:07 PM	#11
Mickey Ranger Forum Regular Join Date: Oct 12, 2002 Location: The UK, and still finding Desi funnier than Lucy Posts: 960	Just to go off topic for a moment - it kinda surprises me how many Lucy fans are Happy Days fans. The show has been repeated here very recently, and having just been watching Lucy again at last, thanks to the DVD releases, I was amazed at how many scenes on Happy Days were stolen, sometimes almost line for line, from ILL. I still like the show, and I'm not knocking it - most of us have grown up with the Fonz at least to some extent - but it really ruined some of those jokes for me, having just been watching them all done (better!) by the ILL cast. Has anybody else noticed the joke borrowing, or is it just me?!

11-17-2002, 06:14 PM	#14
Mickey Ranger Forum Regular Join Date: Oct 12, 2002 Location: The UK, and still finding Desi funnier than Lucy Posts: 960	Yes, I understand your points, White_Daisy - and I for one saw Happy Days long before I saw ILL. Roger episodes first, when they were being screened for the first time, then the Richie ones later. I've always enjoyed the show, and I still do, it just grates a little when some scenes are borrowed almost word for word. ILL did the same thing of course, as I've seen (heard!) when listening to the radio shows included on the DVDs. It's always happened, it just annoys me sometimes. And yes, there is an attractive simplicity about b+w. So long as the print is clean, which sadly isn't the case with so many early shows and films, it can look so much better than colour, IMHO. Cary Grant never looked right in colour, and neither did Peter Lorre! Some directors preferred it. Billy Wilder hated working in colour.

11-18-2002, 01:59 PM	#15
SPLAIN I Love Lucy Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 04, 2002 Location: MONTREAL, CANADA Posts: 4,563	Ok, geez this is a great topic. The color thing, well, remember when Turner colorized those old classic movies, they looked so FAKE. But i agree with those who mentionned that Columbia House montage showing them in color, it was VERY nice! Mickey, you are such a great asset to these boards, because of you i will start watching Happy Days again to test your theory. Is that why Fonzie was on the ILL 50th anniversary tribute show? He noticed it too? I LOVED Happy Days, never missed it, but got turned off because Tom Bosly HATED Lucy and called her the B word after they co starred in Yours, mine and ours!