Similarities with I Love Lucy

Cheerioaway, what an interesting comparison. Of course even with the similarities you pointed out, ILL and B&A were of course different styles of comedy.

As her co-workers said years later, Lucy was excellent with props and practiced those physical routines she did over and over. until they appeared to 'just happen'. She also practiced in the mirror her trademark expressions.

I know Lucy said they always thought of ILL as a stage play, and you will see her look out to the audience when she has a good expression, or has an "uh-oh" moment.

As we all know, ILL has been rerun constantly ever since it went off the air in the late 1950's. I think in a way, that has caused it to be devalued. Certainly no one looks at it in a fresh or new way,

Of course, G&G (George and Gracie) has been seen relatively little in the past decades. I am currently watching it on Antenna TV (DVR'ing it at night) so almost all of the episodes I am seeing for the first time.

I did watch it on CBN in the late 1980's and our local NBC affiliate ran it in the summer of 1975, where I was first introduced to G&G (as I like to call them).

Speaking of ILL, over on another board (sitcomsonline.com) someone has colorized stills of shots from ILL episodes. It is amazing how the colorized stills make the still shots seem as if one is viewing them for the first time. It is surprising all the detail one notices in the colorized stills that simply disappears in indistinct shades of gray in the black and white shots. In that sense, it is like viewing ILL again but for the first time.

I really think sales and viewer ratings of ILL would shoot way up if the ILL episodes were colorized. Of course after seeing this done to ILL, I would love to see a colorized episode of B&A! (The latest computerized colorization process looks much better than the process that Ted Turner promoted in the late 1980's.)

It is hardly necessary for me to say (not to take anything away from Lucy as she was incredibly talented) Gracie is my favorite.

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There is another similarity, an unfortunate one, in my opinion. Late in the series, especially by the last season, the plots started to be come more Lucy-esque. They involved Gracie deliberately coming up with outlandish schemes that involved none of her illogical-logic. In the earlier years, the wackiness of the scheme would be predicated on Gracie misunderstanding some point due to her Gracie-logic. In the late episodes, she just thinks she can get away with something. For this reason, I think the later ones are weaker (although I still love George watching in on the events on his television. :)

You overlooked a couple things...

Both shows basically began on radio (though Lucy was married to Gale Gordon, not Desi, on her radio show).

Blanche and Harry's personalities closely mirror Fred and Ethel's. Fred and Harry are both cantankerous misers who seem to loathe their wives. Blanche and Ethel were both sensible ladies who got caught up in their best friends' crazy schemes despite their better judgement.

Many, many actors and actresses appeared on both shows. I keep seeing people and thinking, "What do I know them from?" In almost every instance, the answer's been Lucy (though granted, these same people showed up on Jack Benny and many other shows from that era).

There were some similarities between the two shows, but there were a number of differences:
George was laid-back and easy going; I don't think he ever lost his temper with anyone, let alone Gracie.
Whereas, Ricky Ricardo was volatile, constantly hollering at Lucy and sometimes resorting to physical violence.
Gracie was content with her role as wife and mother; Lucy was dissatisfied at being a housewife and longed to get into show business.
Fred and Ethel's barbs at each other were MUCH funnier than the banter between the Mortons. In fact, I found Harry to be a miserable grouch! I wonder why Larry Keating was not cast as Mr. Wilson on DENNIS THE MENACE; he would have been perfect.