Donna Reed and Lucille Ball, Executive Producers - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

hawaii five-o · 02-02-2004, 09:32 PM

Although she never received credit on screen, Donna Reed served as executive producer of "The Donna Reed Show" along with her husband, Tony Owen. Lucille Ball also served as an uncredited executive producer on her shows. Funny how women were not given the credit they deserved for the work they did back then.

TV Guy · 02-10-2004, 12:25 AM

I can't comment on Donna Reed, but Lucille Ball did not serve as an uncredited executive producer on "I Love Lucy". That was Desi's job (seasons 2-5), and Lucy was not involved in the business aspect of the series, nor was she involved with supervising the writers (Jess Oppenheimer during seasons 1-5 and Desi for season 6).

Lucy did not act as executive producer of "The Lucy Show" during the early seasons, either. That was up to Desi at first, then Elliot Lewis. During the later years, when Lucy began to take on production responsibilities (after Desi's departure), she was credited first as executive producer, and later as "Executive in Charge of Production", with Gary Morton getting the EP credit (they both continued to hold these titles on "Here's Lucy").

The problem these days is that a lot of series stars get vanity production credits, especially in the later days of their series, even when they have virtually no production responsibilities (Candace Bergen on "Murphy Brown", Craig T. Nelson on "Coach", Helen Hunt on "Mad About You", Heather Locklear on "Melrose Place", etc.). Two of the more notable exceptions are Angela Lansbury and Jerry Seinfeld, both of whom actually served as showrunners during the later years of their respective series.

stuartfanning · 04-23-2004, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by hawaii five-o
Although she never received credit on screen, Donna Reed served as executive producer of "The Donna Reed Show" along with her husband, Tony Owen. Lucille Ball also served as an uncredited executive producer on her shows. Funny how women were not given the credit they deserved for the work they did back then.

As I understand it her Husband Tony Owen alone was the Executive Producer, although effectively Donna ran the show.

02-02-2004, 09:32 PM	#1
hawaii five-o Book 'Em, Dano Senior Member Join Date: Jun 27, 2003 Location: At home, eating cereal straight out of the box Posts: 1,406	Donna Reed and Lucille Ball, Executive Producers Although she never received credit on screen, Donna Reed served as executive producer of "The Donna Reed Show" along with her husband, Tony Owen. Lucille Ball also served as an uncredited executive producer on her shows. Funny how women were not given the credit they deserved for the work they did back then.

02-10-2004, 12:25 AM	#2
TV Guy Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 25, 2001 Location: Boston, MA, USA Posts: 3,419	I can't comment on Donna Reed, but Lucille Ball did not serve as an uncredited executive producer on "I Love Lucy". That was Desi's job (seasons 2-5), and Lucy was not involved in the business aspect of the series, nor was she involved with supervising the writers (Jess Oppenheimer during seasons 1-5 and Desi for season 6). Lucy did not act as executive producer of "The Lucy Show" during the early seasons, either. That was up to Desi at first, then Elliot Lewis. During the later years, when Lucy began to take on production responsibilities (after Desi's departure), she was credited first as executive producer, and later as "Executive in Charge of Production", with Gary Morton getting the EP credit (they both continued to hold these titles on "Here's Lucy"). The problem these days is that a lot of series stars get vanity production credits, especially in the later days of their series, even when they have virtually no production responsibilities (Candace Bergen on "Murphy Brown", Craig T. Nelson on "Coach", Helen Hunt on "Mad About You", Heather Locklear on "Melrose Place", etc.). Two of the more notable exceptions are Angela Lansbury and Jerry Seinfeld, both of whom actually served as showrunners during the later years of their respective series.