I wish they gave this show a longer season than just the few episodes. It would probably have gotten better. They were just continuing it to much like the other shows of Lucy and they probably should have changed it up a little bit more. I didn’t even realize this show existed until this year.
Lucille was a smoker plus her voice was strained during the 50s on I love lucy due to her having to shout and talk loudly and it got progressively worse through the 60s and 70s
I’m glad they applauded her every time she appeared & she got all the awards & accolades when she was alive. All well deserved of course. It’s sad though that this show was her last. Not her best by any means but they tried.
I think that age sadly caught up with Lucy and Gale and they couldn’t really do the slapstick that they were really known for. Lucy is hilarious but her style of comedy really needs a physical aspect to it and situational comedy with no slapstick was something she couldn’t pull off very well especially since everyone was so used to seeing her slam into people or knocking something down on top of another person. I like to think that Life With Lucy could have worked if the writers had adapted some slapstick that worked for Gale and Lucy’s ages. Something like Lucy still bumping into people and the other person getting a cake smashed into their face or a washers overflowing with water and soap bubbles are exploding out of the machine and Lucy and Gale are struggling to shut it down. There no real chance of them seriously getting hurt and it would still feel like Lucy.
The girl was in another tv series called Brooklyn Bridge that ran for two seasons and was in a few movies with her most memorable being Beverly Hills Troop.
If you are a fan of Lucille Ball, you will like this show. But, you'd have to admit it a rather dated and overly-sweet, even for the '80s. Gale Gordon was a great as always. Some fo the gags and on-going jokes were just hold overs from the old formula, it seems. Still, fun to watch.
12:35 The audience gasped at the sight of Lucy being slammed around in a recliner (hidden by laugh track) and director Aaron Spelling coming to the realization that the concept of Life With Lucy was a big mistake.
Actually I talked to someone who was in that audience who said the laughs were real. There is even a moment where Lucy is lifted off the chair & he can hear himself laugh alone just for a moment as the laughs continue. The main concern that Lucy had in the chair gone amok was that her wig was gonna fly off!
This was Lucy's last series and the writers were horrible. Lucy didn't even act as she usually did as it seemed she didn't put herself in this series. I know after this show was cancelled she stopped acting. Perhaps if she had better writers and actors the show would have been a great success.
Funnier than I thought it would be. Maybe they should have just have given Lucy and the writers the full year at least to to find this show's identity and do some good episodes. Too bad she was such a heavy smoker. Her voice and her health might have lasted longer by today's standards.
I agree too.. I left a comment about just this on another episode.. trying to merge comedic legends from the 50s, 60s and 70s when television was even a little different into the 80s was no small fete... it needed more time to really show case her talent more into a new era or something like this.... as just watching at least Lucy and Gale it still feels just as good at The Lucy Show, but they're in an 80s sitcom... maybe they should have been more glamorous such as living in Beverly Hills or something and going with the 80s glamour angle... ? I remember hearing the later seasons of the Lucy Show in Hollywood were more popular than the early ones in Connecticut (although I love those).. they could have had famous guest starts etc.. people would have been honored probably to be invited to be on that show- or even audition... Lucy's still a Gem and the Queen of Comedy, and Gale is amazing.... maybe she's/they're just too good for modern entertainment to some extent... things did get a little cheesy in the 80s at times...but I think the guest stars and more fashion could have been great ... she could have even played a movie star or herself perhaps being a star? not a reality show ...but ..something like this
Lucy forced her voice into a higher pitch than was natural for seven years on "I Love Lucy". This is more likely to be the cause of her gravelly voice in later years than is smoking. I've known plenty of heavy smokers who did not end up with a voice like hers. As for her health, there isn't any proof that the heart condition which killed her was caused by smoking, and she was 77 years old, after all.
@@jn8ive60 There's plenty of clinical evidence by now that smoking can damage vocal cords and contribute to coronary and arterial disease. Of course, these consequences don't happen to everybody. Some people get lung cancer. Some people live into the 90's as smokers. Who knows. I've heard the theory that Lucy forced her voice into a higher pitch for seven years on "I Love Lucy." I've seen lots of Lucille Ball's film and tv work before/during/after "I Love Lucy and I just don't buy that theory. Thanks for sharing your perspective though.
@@BrooklynDreaminCG Of course there's clinical evidence that smoking can contribute to coronary and arterial disease. I just meant that when a 77-year-old woman dies of coronary disease, age alone can well be the cause. My grandmother dropped dead at 73 of either a heart attack or massive stroke (there would have had to be an autopsy to determine which, and there was no particular reason to do one), and she never smoked one cigarette in her life. Nor did my grandfather, so it wasn't secondhand smoke either. Perhaps smoking contributed to Ball's death, but for a 77-year-old, we can't conclusively say that it did. As for her voice, I am really surprised that you don't hear the difference between how her voice sounds in a movie such as "The Dark Corner" (1946) and how it sounds in "I Love Lucy", but I guess we just won't agree on that.
Lucille Ball plus dated, unfunny writing, a dated, uninspiring theme song, an impressively untalented cast, and the big comeback of Audrey Meadows no one was waiting for. It’s almost like everyone was conspiring to make this show an unfunny disaster. I understand the kindness of the comments, but this show was pitiful.
This series just needed to tighten up on the timing and with some of the characters.. This episode was ok, but it could have been better. The series just needed time to find its audience and get the writing down pat.. I realize it was very expensive to shoot and ABC cancelled it after only 4 episodes.
I like to think this show might have had a chance but I think it was over before it started. Lucy and Gale still could do comedy. The supporting players? Awful. The daughter was barely passable, the grandkids decent. But the son-in-law and that Leonard guy? Ugh. Add to the mix the old, old writers and throwback to Lucy Show plots and, well, sorry to say that that era had passed. Lucy was too set in her ways, wouldn't consider a more modern sitcom type. All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore Show, etc. had already come and gone and set the new standard. This show just could not capture that. Really a shame because had they tried to "modernize" the Lucy character I think it could have worked. She still had immortal comedic timing as did Gale Gordon. Just too bad it was ill-conceived.
What made this show terrible is that they made it way too much like her old TV shows so it wasn't funny anymore. Her fingers getting stuck to her ear, her recliner chair moving all crazy its the old lucy style which like someone said was outdated for the 80s. Which worked for the 50s and 60s.
@@emilycunningham8125 she was railroaded by her own husband. He demanded 150K per episode and she only got 100 K and got Carte blanch whatever he wanted
In my opinion, this show was doomed from the beginning, because she was trying too hard to make lightning strike twice. It was the 80's, so what had worked for her in the 50's/60's, was rather outdated by this time. I give her credit for trying another series, but it wasn't the same with Desi. I think she would've had a far longer (and richer) acting career doing a dramatic series or more movie roles (like "Yours, Mine and Ours" from 1968), rather than looking a fool like this and getting abysmal ratings. Gary Morton was a solid man for her, but he wasn't Desi: she never got the happiness in the end that she gave everyone else.
The thing about all the "Lucy" shows, is that they were always a copy of a copy of a copy. "I Love Lucy" being the original copy, and then the other ones to follow. And all getting a bit inferior as they went along, and "Life With Lucy" being the absolute worst. I think at this point, Lucy needed to become more of a supportive character, instead of having the plot centered around her. She was at an age here where people aren't really interested in what an old lady is doing during the day. Each show got worse as time went on, relying on old/played-out jokes and gags that couldn't keep up with the times. She never really outgrew her original character or stretched her acting chops: she was forever "Lucy Ricardo", trapped in 1951. "Life With Lucy" was an idea that should've been left on the cutting-room floor: her heart wasn't in it, anyway, because Desi was dying at the time. At some point as a Hollywood actor, you have to hang it up and realize you've had your time already: you're too old and/or washed-up. LET IT GO!
