Life with Lucy

Although the series was pretty bad ( because of the awful slapstick) it actually was getting better. The writers were told to tone down the slapstick. One of the last episodes aired was a wedding flashback episode that also starred Audrey Meadows as Lucy's sister. This episode was a turning point in the writing. It was amusing without any slapstick. This is what the series could have been from the beginning. It is too bad that it was yanked off so soon. It was just beginning to correct its mistakes.

I went to the Lucy Museum in Jamestown NY yesterday and they aired an episode of Life With Lucy. The episode had John Ritter as a guest star. I thought it was very funny and I laughed a lot. I'm surprised this show didn't make it on TV.

I've heard it said that Lucy and Gale were too old for the roles in this show, but that isn't the reason that this show failed. There is one reason this show failed and that one reason is a man known as Aaron Spelling! Abc pitched an idea to Aaron about producing a show starring Lucille Ball. He was sold from the start and every actor was signed except for Lucy. It took a lot of talking into from Gale and Gary (Morton) and she finally said "YES." Under one condition- she have Bob Carroll, Jr. and Madelyn Davis write the show. As they did for I Love Lucy, The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy! Both were basically Lucy's writers.

To make a long story short, Aaron Spelling got the idea of "Power" in his head. He would often take a script written by Bob and Madelyn and make drastic changes to parts he didn't like or parts that he didn't think were funny. Had Aaron just left the scripts alone and let Lucy run the show, the show would have been a bigger success than it was. The John Ritter episode was the funniest because Aaron wasn't able to get his hands on the scripts right away.

HAPPY TRAILS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR RED RIVER48

When one thinks of this show the word "illconceived" comes to mind. This wasn't a bad show, nor was it good. It was just average fodder that was being pumped out in the 1980's. It's unfortunate that Lucille Ball didn't go with her first intuition and leave well enough alone. A golden opportunity was missed. If the show had been about Lucy Ricardo as a retiree living with Little Ricky and his family, that might have had some possibilities. But this show suffered from scripts and stories that we have seen over and over again, along with characters that were bland, also to be a bit blunt, watching an old lady perform some of the stunts she did just didn't work. Broad slapstick was gone and was replaced by clever writing that was shown on The Golden Girls. Times and tastes had changed and it's too bad that Lucy didn't realize this. A sour note to end a stellar career that didn't tarnish her overall body of work.

A few years ago, Nick at Nite aired the first episode of this miserable piece of garbage as part of some kind of "Lucython." I was in Bad-TV heaven; I watched this catastrophe when it first aired in 1986, and I was delighted to see it again in all of it's badly-written, poorly executed glory.

What was the problem? Do you have a few hours? First of all, casting a 75 year-old comedienne LONG past her prime in a series that involves extensive physical comedy is downright pathetic. This sort of thing is difficult for someone in her twenties; watching Lucy and Gale Gordon (who was in his EIGHTIES at the time) was just downright painful. It was impossible to laugh because there was so much concern about these two senior citizens seriously injuring themselves.

Secondly, the scripts were awful. Nothing but a bad rehash of older Lucy shows....only this time the stuff wasn't funny. This show wouldn't have been funny in 1956, let alone 1986.

Third, the annoying hooting and hollering of the studio audience every time the star showed up on the set was unbearable.....think "Married...with Children" but without the subtlety.

Easily one of the most ill-conceived, badly executed, poorly written shows in the history of television, "Life with Lucy" belongs on the list of the top-five worst TV "Mistakes" in history. The series was pulled off the air in less than two months and RARELY surfaces in reruns. If you ever get a chance to see it, make sure you do. In fact, I urge you to write, call, or e-mail Nick at Nite and TV Land and BEG them to show an episode or two of this miserable piece of crap. You won't believe your eyes.