Life with Lucy

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.

Very, very, sad. At 75, Lucille Ball was coaxed from retirement to reprise the shenanigans of her former glory (and what glory it had been). With the help of her longtime writers Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Carroll Jr. and her old pal, actor Gale Gordon, Lucy joined the 1980's as though the world stopped spinning in 1974 when Here's Lucy has signed off. "I didn't know that moving me in could be such a turn-on!" said Ball's character (named Lucy, of course) after catching daughter Margo (Ann Dusenberry) kissing son-in-law Ted (Larry Anderson). The ancient slang was all too indicative of Life with Lucy, and as critics savaged the series, audiences ignored it. Lucy's fans expected more, and Lucy desevered better.

Its just about 20 years since Lucille Ball came back to Television in the short lived, "Life with Lucy." I feel great stars work until the very end, like Lucy (she was on the Academy Awards with Bob Hope a few weeks before her death in 1989), Bette Davis dying of cancer and still made films shortly before her death.

Lucy wanted to work (certainly it was not for the money), America wanted to see her but not in the same manner as we did in 1950's-1960's shows. I feel her late husband did her in, he was a glory hog and mismanaged her. Why did he need Lucy in that vehicle--to put a few more bucks in his pocket? The show has a dull cast, its very 80's (shoulder pads, severe make up and pointy earrings). I think Lucy should have come back as a more serious actress, I always thought she could have played the Jane Wyman role on Falcon Crest. I as a fan was willing to see Lucy in different types of work the fans forced her to "paint on" the face of long ago Lucy. She was Lucille Ball a legend she should not have done this. In one of her books someone asks her while on a flight whats the fame like, she replied, "see all those lights down there, I could go to any house and it would be the most exciting thing that has ever happened to the residents." this was so true.

But what happened to Lucy happens to other, ie: Joan Crawford in the horror movies, Mae West in 1980 in Sextette playing it like she was 30 not 85.

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.

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.