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...A LOT of broken windows every time he showed up! He only wanted to join the military to get a uniform to impress the girls back home.
Just watched "My Fair Ernest" where Andy gave him a make-over so he could go home and impress girls. Hoggette had turned him down and he was depressed and planning to live in a cave and "hermitize myself".
Well you sure made it here fast!! lol I remember Carl Reiner saying that they didn't have the time to explore all those characters in a thirty minute sitcom. I suppose there was a limit to the characters they could write for.
I do like to think that Mrs. Cooley was at some of those Petrie parties, but she was sitting in the background. Or in "Ghost of A. Chantz", maybe she accompanied Mel but was in their hotel room.
So many characters just weren't shown. Ritchie was best friends with Freddie Helper, but Freddie was only in about three episodes (that I can remember). The Helper's daughter was never shown and she only lived next door.
Variety shows did have bigger staffs but for a sitcom it would've been hard to write for an office full of writers. We just have to accept the fact that Rob, Sally and Buddy were SO talented that they didn't need help!
I never thought of Mrs. Cooley (no first name was ever given for her) as the same type of character as Vera or Maris. The latter two were talked about SO much, they really teased and tormented the audience. You really felt as though you knew them. I for one, wanted to see them. Mel's wife, however, was never talked about much at all. She just seemed to be a name mentioned once in a while.
Yes, there are so many discussions about The Dick van Dyke Show that I'd like to have. But I go to the site and all I hear are crickets. lol It's so quiet.
I check in there almost every day to see if anyone posted something new or responded to one of my posts. But so far it's been like that song Rob wrote with an old friend,"Bupkis"!
...etched in my DNA..LOL I just did a marathon of the Ernest T. Bass episodes. As Barney said, " He's a nut!"
Well Ricky's "month off" morphed into about four, so I guess the Tropicana didn't collapse without him. LOL Did he call the Tropicana and say that they shelved his original picture so "I need more time off"?
I seriously doubt it would've been a "disaster of inconvenience" for Ethel and Fred. ha ha As I said before, the Mertzes had no kids or careers to go home to. A year in sunny Southern California would hardly be "inconvenient". I think Ethel would've been willing to cook and keep house and watch the baby. She did all those things in New York anyway.
When the Ricardos moved to Connecticut, the Mertzes gave up their "great" New York lifestyle in a New York minute to move to the country to raise chickens and be close to Ricky and Lucy.
I think the Mertzes would have been just as willing to uproot their lives to live in L.A. with Lucy.
As for Ricky, yes it was a sitcom and the episode had to be wrapped up in a scene or two. But he didn't give a moment's thought about what this opportunity meant to Lucy. She spent 15 years cooking, cleaning and washing his dirty underwear. Didn't he have any desire to help her recognize a dream beyond housework? Well this was the fifties and women were supposed to be content to cook and clean and keep quiet.
Just an interesting irony at play here. Lucille Ball's talent was the reason Desi Arnaz got to be a successful TV producer. If she had quit showbiz to stay home with the kids, no one would've heard of Desi Arnaz!
Yeah, to each his own. I just enjoy going over these episodes with someone who loves the show!
So many great episodes! I remember laughing so hard at the episode when Edith's Cousin Maude visits. Archie and Maude hated each other's guts and argued politics even louder than Archie and the Meathead!
There were some after baby Joey was born that were hilarious, like the one where Edith put Archie on a diet and the whole family dieted to keep him company.
Archie ended up counting the peas on Mike's plate saying, "He got more!"
I wonder if Lucille Ball is looking down on us and wondering why we are so interested in her alter ego? lol
Lucy Ricardo, too old for a newcomer? Well...as I wrote in my last post, a lot of people began showbiz careers later in life and had long and fruitful acting careers, certainly NOT in starring roles, but steady work as supporting players.
A Hollywood contract, however small, would've given Lucy a foot in the door and at least SOMETHING to put on her resume. It didn't mean she had to stay at MGM or any movie studio making musicals. I doubt they were grooming her to be the next Debbie Reynolds or Julie Andrews.
She could have parlayed her experience into TV roles. After all, that's what Lucille Ball herself did! She was know as the "Queen of the B's", B pictures that is. But she became a superstar on TV.
Vivian Vance was no famous movie star. But at the age of forty, ILL propelled her to TV stardom. Character actors like Charles Lane (he had many roles on ILL), played many character roles. He enjoyed a long career in TV.
Lucy's offered to have the Mertzes stay with her. Yeah, Fred was cheap, but not lazy. I don't think he would've sat on his duff the whole year! ha This could've been the perfect chance for him to research his idea of owning that orange grove near Pomona. And remember their old vaudeville friend who gave them parts in a movie? The Mertzes had some showbiz connections. They might've found some other jobs to do.
Yes, Ricky had a CONTRACT. But he was somehow able to get out of it right out of the blue when a talent scout came knocking on his door! I doubt if he was SO irreplaceable. I mean, did the Tropicana close its doors for four months while Ricky was away? New York had NO other band leaders? Did his band collect unemployment? Talented musicians in New York could find work in many places.
Yeah the Hollywood arc was fun and it had to end. But it's also fun to discuss these "what ifs" with another rabid Lucy fan!!!
Oh I also agree that the "online community" experience is fun too. If someone watches the DVD in order to watch what others are viewing on TV, that can be fun. It's great to participate in the on-line discussions during commercial breaks
But some people don't get into marathons. Not trying to be argumentative here, I just don't get how that makes one a "sad, little loner" is all I meant.
I love the friendliness and fun exchanges of going on-line and discussing a show I love. It's just that not everyone views these shows in the same way.
I didn't get the "sad little loner " comment either. I also enjoy watching my dvds of classic shows without the painful commercial interruptions.
I do like to introduce the younger generation, like my niece, to some of the classic sitcoms. But for me, the experience of watching some of these classics is akin to reading a good book. I don't NEED a crowd around me to enjoy it!
And sometimes, just being practical, some people need to ask questions and interrupt. It ruins the enjoyment of an episode.
I know some men who are football FANatics and if you ask a question during a game they want you penalized and thrown out of the room. lol And football has no dialogue!
To each his own. I too prefer to watch my favorites without distractions.
godewey-Oh don't feel guilty if you think you have nothing to contribute! I can understand your reticence to post if you don't remember an episode all that well.
I grew up on Lucy reruns (my mom loved the show) and I have all six seasons, so it's easy for me to post on an episode. I also have seasons one through six of Bewitched (still need seven and eight) and the five seasons of The Dick van Dyke Show. Also I have one season of The Munsters and The Honeymooners.
It IS easier to take part in the discussion if you are familiar with the episodes. But believe me, all contributions are welcome! You can find a lot of the episodes on youtube. Or if you read an interesting discussion of an episode, you can comment and ask questions. I just love to enlighten fans! LOL And there are other folks on those boards who love to explain episodes. We always welcome new blood. Only requirement is that you LOVE those shows as much as we do!
"Dramatic license"? Just trying to be tactful!
No argument about Alda's ego. I loved the show when it first aired. But when I watch reruns, I only like the first few 'Henry Blake' seasons. Those years seemed to capture the zany, we're just "dopey doctors" trapped in the Army scenario. The later years, oh my yes(!), Alan Alda began to run things and to insert his philosophy and political views into just about every episode.
Even at the beginning, it always irritated me when Hawkeye bent over backwards to stick up for North Korea and any Commie he ran into while badmouthing the Army and America.
Happy Days was a great show in the first season. I agree when it became Fonzie's "Happy Days" and the studio audience hooted and screamed when he made an entrance, it lost its charm.
Actually I still liked All in the Family when baby Joey was born. It was only a natural outgrowth of a young married couple's lives. And I think it made Archie and Edith grow too. Archie softened up a bit and was devoted to his grandson. Edith seemed to grow more of a backbone by becoming a grandmother.
I loved Bewitched right up until the end. By the time Dick Sargent came on, the show was getting old, didn't have the same charm as the first few seasons. But it was still good. Just watched a few of the first season six episodes and Sargent was a lot funnier than I remembered.
I just get bothered when it's "slow" on the boards where I like to discuss things, such as I Love Lucy and Bewitched. I like to talk about the old shows! No traffic either at The MUnster board or The Dick van Dyke Show. Come on people!! There must be some folks who are fans of nostalgia TV!
If you want to talk "hairstyles", the guys on Happy Days, aside from Fonzie, sported very seventies hair styles! No crew cuts for Ritchie, Potsie or Ralph. lol
MASH had no laugh track in the OR which made a lot of sense. I have to agree with that. But yeah, many holidays and seasons passed by when the characters would've only been in Korea for another two years. It was sort of a running joke that the series lasted a lot longer than the war.
I don't think Margaret Houlihan's long flowing hair was exactly military or very practical since she was an OR nurse. But when don't TV shows take dramatic license? lol
Okay, don't know much about Hollywood contracts, standard or otherwise! ha! Why was Ricky only offered a ONE picture deal? He surely wasn't out in Hollywood seven years. He didn't get the "standard 7 year contract".
Of course Lucy wouldn't be offered a "star" salary, but $500 a week was a big chunk a change back then. It would've have gone quite far, that is if Lucy could refrain from buying any hats. lol
She would've been making $2000 a month when most working class folks made $40 a week. You really don't think a family could live on $500 a week back then??
I looked at one of those inflation converters and $500 back then had the buying power of over $4000 today. Lucy could surely have rented a nice place and afforded groceries for that amount!
And I do wonder what the studio execs saw in Lucy, must've been something. Why would they be offering an unknown a contract?
Also, you wrote that she "wasn't young". Well, Lucy was only supposed to be about 34 at that point, hardly a doddering old lady! I read about some performers who entered show biz late in life. Not every performer was Judy Garland or Shirley Temple.
Burt Mustin, well known character actor got his first professional acting job at age 67. You might remember him as Mr. Quigley from All in the Family. He was also the messenger who contacted Endora in Toys in Babeland.
Remember Madge Blake, Mrs. Mulford who owned the hat shop in ILL in "Ricky Loses His Temper'? She started her acting career at age 50.
Maybe Lucy wouldn't have become the great Oscar winning star she fantasized about, but she may have had some success in Hollywood. She was ambitious, beautiful and she could dance! I remember how she told Van Johnson that she saw his act fourteen times and knew the dance routine by heart. I have watched that episode more than 14 times and I could never imitate the steps Lucy does!
Just sticking up for my gal Lucy!!
Yes, that's another way to look at it. She would be the first woman in the new world they found.
Some women might find it a paradise to have three men to themselves. I tend to be more pragmatic about it. Being the only woman with three men would mean I would have THREE times the laundry, cooking, and cleaning up. We may discover new worlds and even new galaxies, but I doubt if we'll discover a way to make men volunteer to do housework. LOL
Oh I forgot about the Munster episode! I think they won a free membership to a country club and Herman decided to check out the greens early in the morning. Herman succeeded in destroying them.
The country club thought someone had vandalized the place.
I Love Lucy did an episode called 'The Golf Game". The girls were tired of being golf widows so they decided to take up the sport too. Ricky and Fred made up all sorts of outlandish rules hoping the girls would quit.
Oh I didn't mean to imply that Ricky shouldn't have gone fishing! I don't think he owed the studio any more performances either.
You said it in another thread. Hollywood is a tough town and they shelved Ricky's film without even telling him. Then they had him hopping around like a trained seal from one publicity stunt to the next. But it wasn't to benefit the studio. They were trying to keep Ricky's name in front of the public while searching for the right film for him.
I do think the studio decided to cut it losses with Ricky after one film. He obviously didn't impress MGM that much.
As for Lucy's showgirl staircase number, a very funny comedy bit, but it was hardly a fair test of Lucy's ability. I mean, she was given NO rehearsal time! They just plopped a 25 lb (or whatever it weighed) headdress on her and expected her to be graceful? I can't think of anyone who could walk while balancing that thing without any practice.
I know Lucy wanted them all to stay with her but she offered to pay the Mertz's expenses. Fred's eyes lit up at that and he would've gone for the idea if not for Ricky. What were the great "lives" Fred and Ethel had to rush home to anyway? Their kids? Their careers? If it was me, I'd trade a year in an old New York brownstone to live in sunny Southern California any day! Fred could've found someone to manage the place. Not all landlords live in their buildings.
Ricky was in show business. He could have found a booking for his band out west. If not, he could have at least been supportive, allowed Little Ricky to stay with his mother.
Lucy and Ethel were inseparable. They would've had a great time. And as you said, her career in show biz would've probably been short-lived anyway. Ricky wasn't thinking ahead. It was a perfect opportunity for Lucy to have her "big chance"! If she was a flop, Ricky wouldn't have to hear her complain anymore that he was standing in her way.
I get ideas, I get ideas...
Yes, it's not talked about much, but it is funny! Lucy at her loony, scheming best! Only Lucy could come up with an idea like that. Served Ricky right for going "dipsy fishin'."
It's a hilarious episode but I usually don't comment on it because I thought Ricky was being a selfish jerk in the end. I wish they had come up with a different idea for the last act, e.g., the studio wanted Lucy to perform with the REAL Ricky, not "raggedy Ricky", so he ended up obligated to do several performances with Lucy.
The way it ended made Ricky seem so selfish. Sure, he had to get back to New York and wanted his wife with him. But for years, Lucy had a dream of being in show biz. Now she was handed a golden opportunity and he couldn't sacrifice ONE year to help her go for her dream?
I know Ricky had to get back to his band, but what was "the band" doing in the months he was in Hollywood? Working somewhere else? On a paid extended vacation? They were professional musicians. Surely they didn't need Ricky to maintain a livelihood.
But Lucy needed Ricky in her corner. She obviously had SOME talent. Ricky made one movie and MGM obviously wasn't clamoring for his services. But Lucy, on the strength of one messed up performance, caught the eye of the studio and was offered a contract.
Sure she was no singer, but she had a possible future in comedy musicals.
She could have stayed in Hollywood for a year along with Ethel. She said she'd be making a big salary and she'd pay expenses. I'm sure Ethel would've taken care of the baby in exchange for room and board. Ricky could've gotten his band a gig in California.
I just wish the episode hadn't ended with Ricky stomping on Lucy's dream. Yes, she was a wife and mother. But surely he must've met SOME actresses at MGM who were married with children! And Ethel was married when she was a vaudeville performer.
Did you like the golfing episode in The Honeymooners where Ralph Kramden learned to play golf in his apartment? lol
First you address the ball. Ed Norton- "Helllooo ball!"
Actually Ellie Walker was a pharmacist. But Andy only dated her for a year so if he got diet pills from her,he got a BIG supply!