I remember when the series first aired. I know it wasn't a hit with the critics, but it was great fun to see Gale Gordon and Lucile Ball together again.
@@astornic Hard core fans of Lucy were heartbroken, to see the show didn't have her usual strength. I think LIFE WITH LUCY was, unfortunately the end of her life.
@@davewoodman8326 no disagreement here. Wish Bob & Madelyn had NOT written that 1st show. Linda Morris & Vic Rauseo were able to write more believably w/less corny old fashioned shtick.
Gordon was at his calmest in this episode. He didn't have any tantrums. He neither screamed or berated Lucy. In fact he was quite supportive and empathetic. Refreshing to see Gale Gordon with a "normal" disposition.
I can never get enough of Lucy, Vivian and Gale Gordon... Just love that golden era that lives on through them. How I wish I could have met them! I absolutely adore them.🌹🌹🌹
i think this was the best episode they did, it had real heart and some nice lucy moments...still, it's clear that the show wasn't a very good idea, but lucy loved to work and she was persuaded it could work
Wow! The female lead of "The Honeymooners" and the star of "I Love Lucy" together, and they play together great! Cute episode with some very funny sequences. Thanks so much for the upload!
Thank you so much for sharing. I remember this. I believe the last show she did before she passed. As someone else stated, it was not a hit, but still fun to see Lucy and the chemistry with Gale Gordon again. She still drove him crazy.
They filmed 5 more episodes after this one but they were never aired because the rating were so bad. This was the last episode to be aired, but not the last episode filmed, they filmed 5 more....
Thanks! I"m really enjoying these episodes. Lucy should have been given more consideration and more time to do this series.She did not get the support from the network, the critics, and yes, the American public that she so richly deserved! We still miss her.
This was the final episode that aired on ABC. It and the show that followed it, The Ellen Burstyn Show were officially cancelled after this airing. The Ellen Burstyn Show returned in the summer of 1987 to burn off its remaining five episodes, but the remainder of Life with Lucy was not seen until the series was aired on Nick at Nite sometime in the 1990s.
I'd never even HEARD of that show! It must have done a little better in the ratings than Life with Lucy. I never watched LwL, but at least I'd heard of it. My parents were alive then... I'm just wondering if they watched LwL & what they thought of it?
It's sad when we get older and can't do what we used to be able to do...and I am speaking from experience! I turned seventy recently and can't do much! Anyway, Lucy was still good here...better than I had been led to believe...
no, Gale Gordon was one of the few redeeming qualities of the show. Despite being 80 at the time, he was still as sharp as a tack and his comedic timing was largely intact. Gordon knew that this show would most likely be a train wreck, which is why he wanted to be paid for a while season in advance whether or not it was cancelled early.
I only just now discovered this series. I feel like this is the first episode of the series to have some real substance to it. I'll be curious to see if any of the remaining episodes do.
Worlds Greatest Grandma, the last filmed episode that never aired was decent. This was the day after the end of the show that Lucy was given the bad news the show was canceled and broke down sobbing as some have reported. Her husband waited until the end and the audience was gone to tell her the ABC had pulled the plug. It was her first time ever being canceled so I get she was highly devasted. She ended all the other shows on her terms, this time she was booted
I always like Lucy. ❤ And most of her shows. Especially. With Vivian Vance . .. and Gale. Gordon...... But this series was not a big hit. Although it was not bad 😞. . At all... Lucy was such an amazing woman. Very industriousness and hard working.... Tried to reinvent her self.... I always admire her for That
Lucy was amazing. Like her other shows, she was center of attention. Dressed well Completely different Here she had this untalented family, Except for gale gordon Classic act at 80 years old. She deserved a better script She deserved better. Rest In Peace Xxx
I don't understand what was so terrible about this show? It's so sad in her hit I love lucy show she wore nothing but so manypretty dresses, hats gloves, etc. Now in this show she just dresses in frumpy gym suits.
@@politiekwaarnemer No, that show was a perfect ensemble. It also had lots of sexual situations & humor into which Lucy would not have fit. Lucy was a relic of a past era of physical comedy. Penny Marshall & John Ritter carried on that legacy, but IDK of anyone after them. However, I only started thinking about this recently & there may have been others who picked up that mantle in shows about which I've never even heard. Does anyone know of any post-'70s actors who did physical comedy? While I watched Laverne & Shirley and Three's Company when they first aired, I didn't have a sense of the history of television comedy to know there was anything about Laverne or Jack related to Lucille Ball. I only realized all this in the last month when I learned about the early eps of The Lucy Show w/ Vivian Vance & the kids, which I loved! I didn't even know they'd done a show with that premise until I heard about it on YT while watching Kate & Allie videos. Kate & Allie was my fave show from 1984 to 1989 so it was on the air when Life with Lucy aired. (I had no idea that Lucy & Viv did Kate & Allie 25 years before K & A before reading it in a YT comment on a reunion interview with the 5 main K & A cast members!) I started learning more & I've been a bit obsessed with Vivian, Lucy, & their legacies ever since.
Should have been in from E1. They were afraid any sidekick would be an anti-climax after Viv, so Gale had to be half a pal, half a foil. More so bc the younger household members were thinly characterized and you saw nothing of their locality. Where was it, California or Centerville in the Great State of Somewhere? City, burb, small town? Cold, hot? White, mixed? By the mid-Eighties sitcoms no longer took place in Ozzie-and-Harriet country. We always knew where Mrs Ralph Kramden lived.
Well, it was also not a hit with the television audience. I think it was at #71 out of 75 shows. Networks are in the business to make money, not to spare the feelings of beloved actors & TV legends.
@@DonnaBrooks Because it was about being old, dealing with the things concerning being old. People instinctively avoid thinking about becoming old. Thoughts of life's auitemn puts the audience off.
I know that Lucy let Aaron Spelling know that she was willing to try something new and different if he wanted that but he let her do this but really should have gotten the Producers of EMPTY NEST to come up with a Show for Lucy and she might have had a Hit that way in a better Time Slot. And Lucy probably would have liked doing something more Modern and Edgier too in her GOLDEN GIRL YEARS.
No, Lucy never liked edgy, modern comedy. She was critical of the direction TV was going in the '80s. She was of a bygone era. The Golden Girls had a lot of sexual humor that I can't imagine Lucy doing.
You idea about the producers of Empty Nest creating a show for Lucy IS intriguing, though. I honestly don't remember anything about that show except for Park Overall & Kristy McNichol! Why do you think the producers of that show would have been a good fit for Lucy?
Lucille Ball could have played any of those four women on The Golden Girls. In fact, I heard if Rue McClanahan didn’t get the role of Blanche, then Lucille Ball was next runner up for consideration.
@@HelloooThere That would have been interesting but they would had to write her character off as Lucille Ball died in 1989 so it would have been interesting to see how they would have dealt with death in that show of a main character. Also I agree with some of the other commenters, Lucy was a comedianne thick and thin with dated comedy. She turned down modern writers to bring back her folks and everyone was stuck in the past. I get the hand Aaron was dealt, Lucy was the shotcaller and I am sure they gave her total creative control and the fact the show had no tester, lead it down the hill fast.
@@DonnaBrooks Yep, I binged this show many times and you could see the dated humor for this era. The 80s had a cheesy feel, Lucy was still acting like this was the 1950s and 1960s. Sherman Hemsley was the king of physical comedy at this time with the stunts he was doing on Amen. Lucy was too old to be doing ditzy things or over the top silliness. This episode was the direction the show should have started off with. The family outside of Jenny Lewis really did nothing for me. I would have made Gale and Lucy an elderly retired couple in a more co ed, family friendly Golden Girls. I would also kept Ann Dunsenbery as a widowed mother who lost her husband in an on the job accident so she has to come back and live with her parents. This was the era where many single mothers were moving back in with their parents to help with living. Audrey Meadows would have been Lucys sister who lived across town the rich area and I would have kept her the career woman who retired and never married but deep down regretted it. For physical comedy episodes here and there in a throwback to the Lucy era, the could have brought on Sherman Hemsley as the sleezy businessman who always had some trick up his sleeve to help Gale and Lucy flip money but ended up backfiring in a comedic way on Hemsley but somehow they got their money back, lol.
@@DonnaBrooks ok.. it made one person (you) laugh. But that doesn't change my opinion. Even the worst show ever made will have some people who liked it for whatever reason.
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!
Too bad Lucy's kids looks took after the ugly desi. Lucy still doesn't even have great grandkids that is blessed with her beauty genes!!!! Margo looks like she would be Lucy's real daughter cuz she is beautiful like Lucy was.
I don’t believe that this guy is Gale Gordon’s son. How old was Gordon’s character when the son was born? 50? The mother and father are just not right for this show.
Gale Gordon was 80 when this show aired. Are you saying Larry Anderson(the husband) is Gordon's son? If that is true, Anderson was born in 1952 so he is 70. Gordon would have been 46 in 1952.
@@lax1194 He's talking about the characters. It's totally irrelevant that Anderson is 70 now. He plays Gordon's son at that time on this show! Jared was saying it wasn't believable.
This Show is not as Terrible as people thought it was but what they needed to do was have different Writers and Producers and make it more like that Show EMPTY NEST. Lucy living alone and then Forced to live with two of her grown Kids who are supposed to be taking Care of her but she ends up taking Care of them most of the time. That would make it more Modern and Edgier with her Kids bringing people home and Hooking up in Lucy's House. Then they could have Lucy Dating Gale Gordon and deal with a ( GOLDEN GIRL) Hooking up with someone later in Life and call it LIVING WITH LUCY and Focus more on her Kids and Lucy Living together and trying to Hook up with someone under one Roof with a Mom like Lucy living there with you.
How do you know it's canned? Lucy was really hurt by the critics & the public for how viciously they attacked this show. I don't think she hated the show. Why do you say that? I think she was reluctant to do it & her husband talked her into it, but she also loved to work & was lost when she wasn't working.
I think a big reason why this show failed is that people got tired if the over-acting/reacting, the canned laughter, the phoniness of it all. Also the plots were terrible (what plots?), the writing and the jokes just mediocre and the acting stilted and artificial feeling. This was the eighties but the whole production was straight out of 1951, complete with screw-ball situations and slapstick humor.. Though Lucille Ball was still very much loved, she had lost her comedic timing and talent. At least she wasn't reading her lines off cue cards like she did in the earlier post I Love Lucy shows, which were really awful. Also the children on this show were not central to the plots at all, just cutesie "add ons." All in all, the show did not reflect the audience's tastes nor reflect what the audience wanted.
