MovieChat Forums > I Love Lucy (1951) Discussion > When Additional Dialogue Would've Helped

When Additional Dialogue Would've Helped

posted 2 years ago by Garyandfilm (556)
9 replies | jump to latest

The writing on ILL was generally tight, but in watching each episode so many times over so many decades, we fans tend to scrutinize. Not really fair when one considers the writers only had a week or so for roughly 30 shows a season. That being said, I thought I'd start a thread about how a bit of additional dialogue would've punched up a show, or at least made it more realistic.

First example: Vacation from Marriage

This delightful episode from season two is one of my faves (and the ONLY time we get to see Fred and Ethel's incredibly unsexy bedroom!). Lucy announces to Ricky and Fred that she and Ethel are spending a week away from their husbands. Lucy promptly leaves with Ethel for a week - without any packed belongings (!). Also, as the episode progresses, it seems obvious to deduce that Ricky is home every night with Fred, drinking beer and going to the movies. Why isn't he at the Tropicana - especially on Saturday night??

Here's how I would've done the dialogue:

RICKY: You mean I won't see you for a whole week?

LUCY: That's right - I have two bags packed out in the hall.

Later...

FRED: Now wait a minute, Rick - if they're gonna be bachelor girls, we're gonna be bachelor boys!

RICKY: (smiling) Hey, that's right....and I'm on vacation ALL week.

Just my view.

Any other examples?

[–] [email protected] (6247) 2 years ago

I never considered that! Ricky performed at the Tropicana most nights. But in this episode, he was home every night. There needed to be some reference to the fact that he was on vacation for the week.

Fred and Ethel's "unsexy" bedroom. You really expected it to be otherwise? LOL

In "Job Switching", I used to wonder about Ricky being home all day to clean and cook. He was usually leaving for the club in the morning for rehearsals. I never understood how he could just stay home. There needed to be some dialog about how he didn't have to go to the club.

Also, there could've been additional dialog about where the heck little Ricky was most times! The kid was so ignored. When Lucy wrote a novel, she and Ricky raced out of the apartment to retrieve her manuscript before Fred burned the trash. Presumably little Ricky was alone in his crib. But his parents didn't care. Lucy or Ricky should've stayed behind or else said, "Get Mrs. Trumbull". She was always available.

[–] Garyandfilm (556) 2 years ago

Good points about Ricky being home all day in "Job Switching." Good call on the four leaving the baby to retrieve Lucy's "novel."

Of course, the ep that had the most holes, and badly needed a rewrite is "The Ricardos Change Apartments."

[–] [email protected] (6247) 2 years ago

Apartment changing! AAAArgh! A funny episode but SO full of holes! They switched all the furniture but did Lucy and the Mertzes empty the Bensons closets? Did they switch the contents of their cupboards and refrigerator and rehang the curtains?

It's one of those episodes that I can totally relate to because I had a roommate many years ago and we actually DID switch apartments with a woman upstairs from us. It's more involved than just switching around some furniture. It takes more than a few hours. And the ending!!! In the time it took for Lucy and the Mertzes to go out for a quick meal, the furniture movers had moved EVERYTHING back. And I've never known movers to rehang curtains and pictures. That's not their job.

[–] Garyandfilm (556) 2 years ago

Yes, this offering falls under "bad episodes" we love.

This, like "Lucy Wants to Move to the Country", is iconic in that it's the only ep where we see the old place and the new living quarters in the same show.

[–] [email protected] (6247) 2 years ago

I thought of a topic that is sort of an extension of "...additional dialogue..." I call it "how did he/she know".

Just never understood how Lucy knew the hotel were Eddie Grant was staying! She obviously knew nothing about him until Ricky said that he'd be stopping by. And if Fred HAD mentioned Eddie's hotel, Ricky would never have told Lucy.

Also the Mertzes were clearly expecting him for dinner. How was it that Ethel never mentioned that a young bachelor was going to be their guest? She blabbed about everything else. It was obvious from their conversation the next morning that the two women didn't speak the night before.

In that instance additional dialogue should've been from Lucy as in, "Let's get him fixed up with Sylvia Collins. What hotel is Eddie staying in?"

Another "how did he know" moment occurs in the Brown Derby restaurant. They ordered lunch from one waiter. A different waiter brings their food. But he still knew who got what dish. How did he know if he didn't wait on them?

[–] Garyandfilm (556) 2 years ago

Good points..

Here's another: in "Ricky Loses His Voice", Lucy stages the whole show while Ricky is I'll. Yet he doesn't confer with Mr. Chambers the day of the show and he miracously knows the choreography while not meeting any of the "show girls" beforehand?

[–] [email protected] (6247) 2 years ago

I forgot that one! It was hard to believe that he never spoke to Mr. Chambers on the day of the show.

Another episode that needed more than additional dialogue is the first season "Lucy Writes a Play". It needed a total rewrite! lol

I think we've agreed that some of the first season episodes were subpar and this is one.

Lucy's play "A Tree Grows in Havana" is funny when she and Ethel rehearse using those corny accents and reciting bad dialogue.
Lucy: "Si mamacita, I go alone..."
Ethel" "I think you go to meet your liver..."
Lucy: "LOVER!!"
But the ending is beyond nonsensical. Lucy changes the location to England when Fred agrees to replace Ricky in the lead role. Fred can't do a Spanish accent but he can do a British one.

So why did Lucy never mention to Ricky that she found someone else? Hard to believe that she wouldn't have told Ricky or that Fred wouldn't have mentioned it to him. They were good friends.

Ricky changes his mind about performing when he learns that a Hollywood talent scout will be in the audience. So why doesn't he tell Lucy? He bursts onto the stage as a surprise and in the wrong costume!

Then Lucy and Ethel change costumes to do the original play, how come she doesn't tell Ricky? Where WAS his dressing room located? And where did he get that costume he wears in the final scene? It wasn't even the correct time period. He looked like a Frenchman from the 1700's
Just too many holes in this episode.

[–] Garyandfilm (556) 2 years ago

In "Equal Rights", Ricky states as the foursome is about to leave for dinner, "Mrs. Trumbull is here with little Ricky." Yet when Ricky and Fred frantically rush out of the apartment to "save" Lucy and Ethel during an "armed robbery", we have to naturally assume Mrs. Trumbull went home and the men left the baby unattended, as in their panic, it is doubtful they stopped upstairs, banging on Mrs. Trumbull's door, asking her to go babysit again.

This giant hole could've been changed by having laughing Ricky say, "Look, Mrs. Trumbull agreed to take the baby for the night. The manager will call us as soon as they've finished the dishes, and we'll go pick them up."

[–] [email protected] (6247) 2 years ago

Yes, your additional dialogue would've helped. But poor Little Ricky seemed to be forgotten a lot.

Other dialogue for that episode should've come from the police as in, "How did you guys get here before us?"

I'm sure Ricky and Fred asked the cab driver to hurry, but really(!), wouldn't a police car with a siren and flashing lights get to the restaurant faster than a cab?