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I Love Here's Lucy!
****About four years ago, a radio interviewer asked me what show I would most like to see come out on DVD. This was before the new interest in releasing classic TV shows in the newest format. My answer, Here's Lucy, pretty much got me thrown off the air!
My reasoning - I grew up on I Love Lucy reruns as a kid and was thrilled when Nickelodeon began airing The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour and The Lucy Show. But Here's Lucy hasn't been active in syndication for over a decade and I've barely seen the series at all since it left the air in 1974.
So I was shocked to find a brand new collection of the best of Here's Lucy along with the greatest batch of extras I've seen to date. I'm going to go out on a limb and say there is no greater DVD release than this one so far, especially for Lucy fans.
If the name of Paul Brownstein isn't familiar to you, you'll want to know why one Amazon reviewer called him, "the best friend classic TV ever had." I second that emotion.
Here's Lucy: Best Loved Episodes from the Hit TV Series is another Paul Brownstein production (released through The Shout Factory); if you purchased the Dick Van Dyke Show, Richard Pryor, Sonny and Cher or You Bet Your Life collections you'll know what I'm talking about.
Paul is setting the gold standard for classic TV, the quality everyone should strive for but few attempt - once again offering a package of extras that TV lovers dream of. outtakes, bloopers, rehearsal footage with Jack Benny, Johnny Carson and others, rare network promos - hours of rare treats that are well worth the price of the collection by themselves. No, seriously, they are.
You'll thrill to documentary footage shot during the production with overlayed commentary by Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. along with outtakes from The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy, showing the human side of Lucille Ball.
Out of this world extras are what Paul Brownstein brings to the screen, that and a painstaking eye for detail when restoring these episodes to pristine condition.
For mindless entertainment (and if you turn to TV for any other reason, I feel sorry for you), Here's Lucy can't be beat. The fabulous guest stars, silly plots, the precision production headed by a star who was stubbornly traditional in her approach. Lucille Ball was the last purveyor of the old school style.
Here's Lucy - Best Loved Episodes This is one of my favorite so-bad-it's-good shows - and look at these extras! Commentary By Lucie Arnaz, Desi Jr. and Carol Burnett On Their Favorite Episodes * Never Before Seen Bloopers * Rehearsal Footage * Sketch From A Jack Benny Television Special With Lucy, Jack and Johnny Carson * Sketch From An Ann-Margret Television Special Featuring Lucy and Ann-Margret * Audience Warm-Up With Lucy's Husband and Show Executive Producer Gary Morton * The Original CBS Network Promos * The Here's Lucy Syndication Sales Tape * Footage From A Benefit Dinner Where Lucie and Desi Jr. Play Their Parents In An I Love Lucy Sketch
I Love Lucy - The Complete Fourth Season It's been exactly fifty years since I Love Lucy season four originally aired. CBS, Paramount and about a million other production entities have released the fourth season of I Love Lucy - as far as I'm concerned it's a 'Best of' package because it contains many of my favorite episodes. I Love Lucy - The Complete Fourth Season starts out with some funny New York City based episodes before Lucy Ricky, Ethel and Fred dump the baby midseason, packed their bags and headed out to Los Angeles. You not only get those great Hollywood episodes but the very funny shows detailing the car trip out west. Not having seen most of these episodes since I was a kid, I was pleased to find them as funny as I remembered. Lucy learns to drive, poses as the Mertz' maid, sets her nose on fire, jumps a Hollywood tour bus and hikes over Jack Benny's fence, stars like Harpo Marx, William Holden, Rock Hudson; they are all here. I was fortunate to meet with the guys at CBS Television City who were remastering the I Love Lucy series for these DVD sets. Every episode is painstaking restored; there was so much depth and detail in the original films their biggest problem was when to stop sharpening the image. (They told me they stopped when you could see how bad Desi Arnaz' potmarked face looked.) The interstitials and secondary sponsor tags are here, along with the original animated openings - though for some reason the episodes begin with the familiar heart-shaped syndicated openings, you have to view the animated titles separately in the bonus material section. For those of you who prefer to watch the show in Spanish, the shows come with the original Spanish language overdubs recorded more than forty years ago for syndication. There are extras - five complete episodes of Lucy's radio show My Favorite Husband, trivia feature by Lucy expert Tom Watson, behind-the-scenes audio featurette, production notes and more. Loads of fun!
LUCY SHOW DVD? Bob Huggins tells us: "I don’t necessarily think that all of the public domain releases of "The Lucy Show" mean that we won’t see some sort of official release of the series, either in season sets or a "Best Of" package. Here’s why: Despite the proliferation of the public domain releases, there are only 30 episodes of the series (out of a series total of, I believe, 156) in the public domain (and only two of the public domain episodes are from the show’s early black & white years). The PD companies are releasing the same material over & over. Shout! Factory’s recent announcement of "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" on DVD comes in the wake of numerous public domain releases of the show, including the dollar DVDs. Yes, Shout! is taking a bit of a risk on O&H, but the extra features coupled with the best quality episodes will make their release the one to own and has the full involvement of David Nelson and Sam Nelson (son of Ricky). Incidentally, Shout! is using the same formula for this release that they used for their "Here’s Lucy" release... 24 episodes spread across four discs and great extra features. If "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" can get an official release, despite numerous PD releases, why not "The Lucy Show?" Also, you may remember that 16 episodes from season 3 of "The Andy Griffith Show" (half of that show’s third season) were public domain and released by numerous companies (including the usual dollar store releases)... but that didn’t stop Paramount from releasing season 3 in its entirety with these same episodes. Arguably, "The Lucy Show" is the best known Lucille Ball series after "I Love Lucy" and had a comparatively long run (1962-68). I would not be surprised, in the least, if Paramount decides to release this once they feel they’ve done as much as they can sales wise with "I Love Lucy." Now for the bad news... apparently Shout! Factory’s release of "Here’s Lucy" did not sell as well as expected. This set is currently in liquidation for $10 or a little higher at several companies specializing in closeout merchandise (which represents a great opportunity for anyone who doesn’t have it yet). Click here or here for examples. I don’t believe that Shout! Factory has any plans for additional releases of this series but, I have to agree with you, the extras (produced by the great Paul Brownstein) are incredible... some might argue, better than the series itself.
****Reviews by Billy Ingram,
as seen on VH1, Trio and Bravo.
**** Here's Lucy on DVD**
Plot Outline Lucy Carter, a widow with two teen children, takes a job as a secretary for her stuffy brother-in-law.
Plot Synopsis: Lucy Carter, a widow with two teenage kids (Kim and Craig), moves to Los Angeles and takes a job as secretary to her supercilious brother-in-law Harrison Carter, owner of an employment agency. Lucy's overzealous manner often caused her to stumble into embarrassing slapstick situations, much to the chagrin of her best pal Mary Jane.
DVD Features:Available Audio Tracks: English (Unknown Format)Commentary by: Lucie Arnaz, Desi Arnaz Jr., and Carol Burnett on their favorite episodesUnknown Format24 episodes on four discsNever-before-seen bloopersRehearsal footageSketch from a Jack Benny television special with Lucy, Jack, and Johnny CarsonSketch from an Ann-Margret television special featuring Lucy and Ann-MargretAudience warm-up with Lucy's husband and show executive producer Gary MortonA classic Pepsodent commercial with commentaryThe original CBS network promosThe "Here's Lucy" syndication sales tapeFootage from a benefit dinner in which Lucie and Desi Jr. play their parents in an I Love Lucy sketch
**About four years ago, a radio interviewer asked me what show I would most like to see come out on DVD. This was before the new interest in releasing classic TV shows in the newest format. My answer, Here's Lucy, pretty much got me thrown off the air!
I Love Lucy - The Complete Fourth Season 
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**Reviews by Billy Ingram,
as seen on VH1, Trio and Bravo.
**
PLAYBOY AFTER DARK