I Love Lucy

It is beyond my comprehension how anyone can watch this show and think it isn't funny. Easily the most beloved series in the history of televison, I LOVE LUCY is a timeless milestone classic which will never be equalled. The casting is perfection personified: Ball's attractiveness, grace, vigour & timing are impeccable. Desi was an underrated straight man who was alternately funny himself - and with that inimitable Cuban accent yet. Bill Frawley and Vivian Vance seemed to BE Fred and Ethel Mertz: who else could play these loveable characters so memorably effective as they? Talk about inspired casting! The chemistry between the four is more than amazing: it's phenomenal. Bob Carroll, Jr. & Madelyn Pugh were truly gifted writers and Jess Oppenheimer gave the series its certain elusive magical quality which vanished after he left over issues with Desi. The show was still terrific during the latter part of its run, but after Oppenheimer left and Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskoff were added to write the scripts, the show's predictibility was definitely more pronounced. I think Vivian Vance was a truly underrated performer: her timing, delivery, facial expressions and gestures are joys to watch! Lucy herself - to her credit - acknowledged Vance's brilliant talent. P.S. one of my very favourite Lucy moments is during a scene in the lesser-known THE SAXOPHONE. Ball's timing - when she opens up the coat closet to find a strange man hidden therein - is split second perfection: hilariously funny.

To date, I have now seen every single episode from all 6 seasons of the "I Love Lucy" TV show from the 1950s. And, by far, I rate Season 4 as being the absolute best season of them all.

In fact, I'd quite confidently say that when it came to the show's superiority in the realm of its hilarious scriptwriting, Season 4 was, without question, the ultimate peak of Sit-Com perfection.

It was especially when the Ricardos and the Mertzes arrived in Hollywood, USA that this show's scriptwriters proved themselves to be at the absolute pinnacle of their craft by creating incomparably uproarious situations for Lucille Ball and her fellow cast members to indulge themselves in.

This review of mine is my respectful tribute to writers Bob Carroll Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and Jess Oppenheimer who, as a team, surely must have worked like fiends behind the scenes as they wrote one memorable episode of priceless, 1950's comedy after another.

I would also like to take this moment to salute and pay honour to director William Asher who was the one responsible for knowing exactly how to handle the script-material given to him and then mould the actors perfectly into the characters which they inevitably became. Even today, 60 years later, the "I Love Lucy" show still remains, on all levels, one of the most unique and unforgettable programs in all of television history, bar none.

Everyone who has already commented has said just about all one can about this extraordinary accomplishment in TV entertainment. I would just like to add this. Some years ago, I saw a comic strip panel that showed the following. We see two gas pumps, one labeled Fred and the other Ethyl. That's it. Evokes a little chuckle. How many shows made the names of their characters so much part of our culture, that 50 years later, a pun like that would be immediately understood by young and old alike? You teenagers out there, do you remember Conklin and Boynton? Or Lily Ruskin and Hilda Crocker? How about Cosmo and Henrietta Topper? Seems to me it is just I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners that have stood the test of time and appealed to all generations. The Bach and Beethoven of TV. Real classics. I am so happy Lucy is finally available on DVD, with plenty of entertaining and fascinating extras.

"I Love Lucy" is one of my faves guaranteed to elicit a constant belly laugh from me. Great way to start any day! Ball's comic timing in her scenes has NEVER been surpassed. Since I was born in 1945 this is also somewhat of an opportunity to see what life in America was like when I was a mischievous child. Today, of course, we know more than we want to about the real-life personality conflicts behind the scenes and Desi's constant insensitivity toward Lucille. Ms Ball was a great role model for young ladies, esp. in the industry, because of her managerial/financial/directorial brilliance. I don't think that the later "Lucy" sitcoms were even as good as the "I love Lucy" series.

First of all, just about every aspect of this show's premise was implausible: that Lucy and Ricky would even be married to each other and that they would be best friends with the much older Mertzes. (Although William Frawley was 64 when the show started, Vivian Vance was 42, close to Lucille Ball's age, but Ethel was supposed to be much older). Anyway, the show worked in spite of, or maybe even because of this.

Almost every episode was good, except for some weak ones during the first season. And even though the show is over 50 years old, it doesn't seem dated like other old shows. It's still fresh and entertaining, even after repeated viewings.

There are many well-known stories that have to do with Lucille Ball's vanity. She didn't want Ethel to wear nice clothes, so as not to overshadow Lucy. Vivian Vance's wardrobe was purchased off-the-rack in department stores, and Lucille Ball's was designed especially for her. And then there's the rumor that Vivian Vance was contractually obligated to be at least 25 pounds heavier than Lucille Ball. When Vivian Vance returned from summer hiatus one season having lost weight, Lucille Ball said, "You're looking a little too good there, Viv, we're going to have to fatten you up real quick."

Not enough credit goes to the underrated Desi Arnaz. He was a brilliant, talented, and very, very funny man, but not in the same exaggerated over-the-top style of Lucille Ball. His facial expressions are priceless, especially when his eyes literally pop out of his head. It's too bad that he was overshadowed by his more famous wife. Even his daughter, Lucie Arnaz has been known to say that "my mother gets all the credit, but my father was the brains behind the show."