MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour?

The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour?


What is everyone's thoughts on this show? Did you like it as much as I Love Lucy, what are your favorite episodes? I love the Talulah Bankhead and Danny Thomas episodes. I often wonder if Lucy and Desi had stayed married, would it have continued further? Or would they have created another sitcom maybe? I always wonder what would have happened if they had stayed together.

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I shouldn't be replying here, as I've blasted this show for years. Perhaps a fresh point of view would help.

Anyway, I feel there are "moments", but for the most part, the shows don't work because of padded scripts. Sitcoms
have always worked best as a 25-minute offerings. Also, Lucy and (especially) Desi were aging.

But the biggest problem is that EVERY show had to include guest stars, which really wears out its welcome (for me,
anyway) by the Charles Boyer episode (The Bob Hope show is cute, but not a favorite). I just think it's funnier
to see Lucy interact with non-celebrities. We relate more. In Hollywood, she's a fan, or accidentally screwing them
up. By the hour-long shows, she's getting into fights with them (really, we're supposed to believe Lucy and Ricky
would be FIGHTING with Fred MacMurray and trying to beat him out of a desert claim???).

The Tallulah Bankhead ep works well, but Lucy's massive overreaction to Bankhead simply smells. That she would
deliberately screw up a school play for EVERYONE to get "even" with her is very unattractive. But, yes, there are
still tons of laughs in the first half.

The Danny Thomas one is the best because the guest stars are playing their TV characters, NOT themselves, thus
the comedy seems more honest.

These two, frankly, are the only eps of this show I enjoy.

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This show just never came close to I Love Lucy. ILL had a special something that was impossible to duplicate, even with the same actors!

Having Lucy run into celebrities in every episode IS a big problem. The Tallulah Bankhead episode is the only one I really enjoy, mostly because of the great "Talloo". Her performance was wonderful and saved the episode. Unfortunately Lucy acts like a real nitwit in this episode. Her "scatterbrained redhead" routine was starting to wear thin as she got older. The ditzy behavior of a younger woman looks pathetic on a middle aged one.

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True. But it is still amazing that Lucy was able to look so much younger than 40 for SO LONG!

My brother never cared for this show (frankly, nobody in my family did). But he was shocked recently when I
told him Lucy was 40 when she she STARTED the show. (He bought that she was early 30-something).

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Lucy did maintain a youthful look for a long time. She looked younger than other actresses her age. Remember one of your least favorite episodes, the one with Orson Wells? Lucy invites her high school drama teacher Miss Hannah to see her perform Shakespeare.

In reality, Ellen Corby was only two months older than Lucille Ball! But she looked a lot older. Or else Lucy looked a LOT younger.

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OMG I though Miss Hannah was an old lady! Two months older wow! Lucy did look young for a long time. When she did The Lucy Show she started looking younger again because of they taped her face back ahah. And probably the stress level of being married to Desi was gone.

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"An old lady"... Yes, Ellen Corby was one of those women who looked old for her age. She didn't start playing Grandma Walton until almost twenty years later. But she already looked like a grandma.

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