I Watched Every Episode of Lucille Ball's Failed Sitcom | A 'LIFE WITH LUCY' Deep Dive

[@DustinReckling]

Barbara Walters ≠ Joan Rivers!

[@E.K.2003]

"I Love Lucy" set the bar so high for Lucille Ball that by the 1980s she had exhausted her repertoire--and I actually mean this as a compliment!

[@fjccommish]

It didn't flop because of Lucy. It flopped because of too much time showing the family. The people who played the family were awful.

[@cyf195]

They were all good... except for Ann Dusenberry, who played her daughter... she couldn't act and just shouted all her lines so loudly, it made me cringe.

[@MrKeychange]

​@@cyf195The little boy was good?

[@georgfriedrichhandel4390]

This sitcom was indeed pretty bad. The problem, IMO, was that Lucille Ball insisted on using the same writers with whom she had worked from her I Love Lucy days. These writers failed to adapt to changing public tastes and didn't understand what audiences in the 80s found funny. They kept the same slapstick humor Lucy had used in the 60s and the truth was that this type of comedy just didn't appeal to younger audiences that had grown up with All in the Family and Saturday Night Live. I read once that ABC wanted to use younger writers who had worked on such popular shows like MASH but Lucy refused to work with them. And in the end, that decision may have been the main reason why this show failed. It was an inglorious end to one of the most popular actresses in TV history.

[@kenthuang436]

One thing I think hampered Life With Lucy’s chances at being successful was Lucy’s age and how age couldn’t do physical comedy the same way she could during I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show.

[@rosemaryharold8189]

Absolutely right - I remember watching the first episode during its original broadcast, and I was frightened for her during every bit of physical comedy. Not conducive to laughter, even if it had been funny, which it wasn’t.

[@ericnelson9100]

Fine, but that doesn't excuse her for being in this POS! I Love Lucy does not shield her from criticism.

[@tonyhoward7004]

Correct ! We even had a watch party for that episode. People forget for those of us born in the 60s , Lucy had been on television our WHOLE lives - this was a major event! And yet I still recall how embarrassed we all were feeling, that awkward cringe-inducing feeling of watching this old woman attempt physical comedy , it looked more dangerous than funny. Very sad ending. Even to this day I still watch I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show. She was a genius!

[@mthivier]

You mentioned that the episode where Lucy plays the sax (or tries to) seemed like a recreation of the famous "I Love Lucy" scene. I actually noticed that the writers frequently "borrowed" from themselves many times. For instance, the segment where Lucy and her date are sinking into a hole in the floor, while blissfully unaware is a blatant copy of the "Lucy Show" episode, where Lucy is demonstrating a specially-designed bank vault for Jack Benny, and the two of them sink in quick sand at the end, while the bit with Gale's tie getting caught in the pasta machine was adapted from one where Gale's tie gets caught in Lucy's typewriter in a "Here's Lucy" episode. Not surprising, I guess, since they were well-crafted and well-performed bits when originally done, but it does demonstrate how little originality went into "Life With Lucy".

[@DavidTSmith-jn5bs]

The offkey saxophone gag was from The Lucy Show where she impersonates a nun who was too sick to perform at a church. Mary Wicks played the Mother Superior who hired Lucy...

[@fromthesidelines]

That "lousy saxophone" gag went as far back as "I LOVE LUCY".

[@mojo500100]

@@fromthesidelines25:40 True. Lucy’s “lousy saxophone” schtick went back decades. It wasn’t surprising it would be used in this series, for sure.

[@patriciaschuman4205]

I think the whole point of having the 'guard goose' was for Lucy to do that bit where the bird followed her outside, it's a throwback to another I Love Lucy show. After the Ricardos moved to Connecticut, Lucy and Ethel were trying to raise chickens and they had all ended up in the house and, as she did here, Lucy ended up being able to round them all up and get them to go where she wanted by doing an imitation of their walk and getting them to all follow after her.

[@eloiseockert9233]

I guess a loss of what else could be scripted.

[@Robert08010]

That's a great observation. I had not thought of that but yeah, I can see them writing any random bs to recreate that situation all over again. I think the premise of her taking over and running her husbands business after his death was reminiscent of her running Desilu after her divorce from Desi.

[@ThatJohnKillion1970]

I'm pretty sure that studio audience had someone pushing everyone into that out of hand round of applause.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

They have a sign that says "Applause" at certain times.

[@fromthesidelines]

Which also flashed, "Whatsa matter, can't you read??? *APPLAUD,* already!!!!!!!!!!!!" 😏

[@sunnyscott4876]

What is funny is that I watched the Golden Girls religiously but I never once remember the Life with Lucy show...ever. It's not even on my radar screen.

[@thomaskemer8109]

Only 12 episodes in the can

[@tlw1950]

13, but who’s counting...

[@Ccyawn123]

What makes the sitcom even worse is the lighting, which makes Lucys face look quite cadaver-like. That and the antics theyre having her do is unsettling, like seeing a corpse used as a marionette

[@andreabonanno437]

I thought I only notice this

[@3dartistguy]

She didnt want to do anything realistic or serious. She loathed such shows as All In the Family in the 1970s that dealt with realistic issues like the Golden Girls tackled. She stated repeatedly that wasn't her kind of comedy. She didnt think times had changed but she was dead wrong and thats why her show failed.

[@istvanpraha]

So true! And tackling those topics FOR THE FIRST TIME (which people forget in retrospect) caused peak drama and excitement and a range of emotions while watching. Definitely a dopamine rush. So watching slap-stick humor after that? Boring as hell

[@Katya_Lastochka]

I dont think the style is wrong. These jokes wouldnt be funny even in the 50s. They shouldnt have relied on physical gags so much and written some better supporting characters. That was my main problem with the show.

[@3dartistguy]

@@Katya_Lastochka Yes, I think the style was all wrong for her. She did care for the kind of meaningful comedies like The Golden Girls that were on air at the time, only frivolous slapstick comedy. Even I Love Lucy could be more meaningful. She just had it in her mind the public only knew her from her Lucy Show slaptick of the 1960s and tried to retread it in the 1980s and it led to disasterous results. Its a real shame she ended her career on a real low note.

[@lancebuckhammer7270]

I am not not so sure about that, What is your source? Also. Lucille Ball hosted a best of episode of Three's Company so I am not buying your opinion.

[@3dartistguy]

@@lancebuckhammer7270watch the 1978 Barbara Walters interview. She separated from cbs because she didn’t care for shows like All In the family, or Maude that drew their meaningful comedy from real life. All she knew was the same old stale comedy bits from her stale old writers who wrote the same stale old comedy she did in the 1960s

[@Katorri]

I can't with the Simpson's Lucy and that smoker's stage whisper

[@TriWaZe]

Been watching it recently. I ignored it for a while thinking it would be bad but I thoroughly enjoy it. Her and Gale are always a gem on screen regardless of the time period. Its not perfect by any means but its a shame more episodes werent made.

[@bluecollarlit]

It's nice to read a dissenting viewpoint. : )

[@johnbrowneyes7534]

Instead of the numerous useless family characters, a good concept would be Lucy interacting with a different actor on each show. It would have been amazing to see her with Madeleine Kahn, Gilda Radner, etc, like she did with Ritter. The husband/wife/kids didn’t benefit Lucy.

[@donngobbie429]

The policeman in the goose episode was Charles Levin. Ironically, later in his life, he died after falling off a cliff and was eaten by turkey vultures in Oregon.

[@DarkAngel459]

I read the story and it's very sad.

[@pnsjax]

Charles Levin appeared as Coco, the gay housekeeper in the Golden Girls pilot episode. He was switched out for Estelle Getty to portray Sophia Petrillo.

[@TheVerbalVolley]

Lucy did not want to do the show. She said that she could never top what she did. Gary went behind her back and fixed up the bits of business to persuade her by getting Spelling aboard, along with Gale Gordon, and the writers and other 'behind the scenes' people that were with her from the time of "I Love Lucy". Lucy felt very comfortable around them, and reluctantly agreed to do the show. She knew that it was a disaster from the very first episode. When asked about it by a friend (Lee Tannen) about "Life with Lucy", she said to him, "You mean 'Life with Angst'." He told her to stop doing the show if she disliked it so much, but Lucy said that it was already "Too Late". She was contractually obligated to doing it. When the premier episode was viewed with friends at Lucy's house, they crowded around the television set, but Lucy retreated to her lanai, and sat there by herself, staring off into space. PS: Gary secretly negotiated a clause in the contract that if the show was cancelled before the first season, Lucy would get a $1,000,000.00 settlement fee. That was probably the only good thing to come out of this sad mess.

[@nonenoneonenonenone]

You don't know that, and it's garbage. She said herself in an interview that it felt great to be back on stage and that she needed it.

[@TheVerbalVolley]

@@nonenoneonenonenone Read the book by her best friend at the time, Lee Tannen, for verification of what I wrote. Gary convinced her that it was the right thing to do, even though she didn't want to do it because she could never "top what she had already done". She felt an obligation to do it because of him. He made so many bad decisions regarding her career.

[@jn8ive60]

@@nonenoneonenonenone I'm not really taking a side here, but I do want to point out that it's naive to take everything any celebrity says in an interview as gospel. They know they are speaking to the public. If Lucy did indeed feel reluctant to do the show, and uncomfortable with it, and had been tricked into doing it by her husband, do you think she would say that in an interview meant to promote the show?

[@SymphonyBrahms]

She should never have listened to Gary Morton. He was no show business expert. He wasn't a great producer like Desi Arnaz.

[@DavidTSmith-jn5bs]

​@@SymphonyBrahms Didn't he start out as Lucy's warm up guy on The Lucy Show before he married her and became her Producer...

[@lindaeasley5606]

Many people don't realize that Bob Hope and Lucille Ball were great friends. They made 3 films together and had perfect chemistry 👍

[@LJ-ht4zs]

Bob Hope and Lucille Ball made 4 films together: Sorrowful Jones, Fancy Pants, Critics Choice and Facts of Life.

[@LJ-ht4zs]

Actually they made 4 films together - 3 very good, especially The Facts of Life, and one not good, Critic's Choice.

[@nadyarossi5102]

Hope was another one who "stayed too long at the fair."

[@lawrence142002]

Yeah, the biggest problem with this show is that it was 30 years out of date and it had the wrong producer. It could've succeeded if they'd had Lucy and Gale playing like a husband and wife who have moved in with their son who needed to be John Ritter. The chemistry that they all had with each other, plus the fact that Ritter was so good at physical comedy would've allowed him to carry the load rather than Lucy doing it.

[@heidiknabe9669]

I would have watched the HELL out of that. I’d STILL be watching the hell out of it!

[@MondoMiami]

The whole family was awful. If the show were set in the hardware store with Lucy and Gale, that would be watchable.

[@markelijio6012]

@@MondoMiami On the 1986 cult television mini-series Life with Lucy, it was filmed at the Warner Hollywood Studios in Hollywood, California. This was a co-production of Desilu and the Cramer Company in association with Spelling Television. Distributed by Worldvision Enterprises (1986-1999) and Paramount Television (Fall 1999-present), a Viacom Company.

[@stevenelief6784]

The irony is in Lucille Ball's own remarks: " you've got to know when to get off." "Honeymooners," one full season of 39 episodes. "Dick Van Dyke,' 5 seasons. Go out on top.

[@uofa82]

1986 was a totally different culture, a jaded culture, a selfish culture, an ADHD culture. Most of her original fans from the 40s-50s were either gone of too old. She needed better actors to support her. I guess that would have cost too much. Still love her!❤

[@Patrick3183]

She should never have hired Gale, Madelyn or Bob. Those three stuck her firmly back in 1959. This was such an error.

[@crmay72]

Agreed 110%!!

[@vistaestrada]

Dustin! Thank you for creating this carefully researched video on an obscure series featuring one of the icons of television. What a treat this video was. Great job!

[@sashineb.2114]

27:45 The computer bit reminds me of how Lucy couldn't operate an electric typewriter on the Lucy Show. Recycling the gags, adjusting them for current times.

[@buddyngracie1361]

I’ve seen all the episodes and I love Lucille Ball… but I agree…the fact that Lucy could blow her nose and get applause was ridiculous. I watched this show when it first aired and was so disappointed in what it was. Still, 3 successful TV shows out of 4…she’s the legend!!

[@seltonk5136]

There's a light above the stage that tells the audience to clap. Why are you folks puzzled by this 😂

[@mahatmarandy5977]

Hey, thanks for doing this. I remember when the show aired and I remember not watching it because it was a Lucy show. There had always been a Lucy show, and there will always be a Lucy show so I felt that urgency. And then it was just abruptly gone. I always wondered about it a little bit, but never enough to actually try to track it down. So I appreciate you doing all of the work for me.

[@mst3kanita]

17:05: Lucy's dress is fire though. oddly enough, does anybody remember when Arsenio Hall tried having a late night show again? the audience reactions and him bringing up the past over and over again reminds me of this so much. His revival lasted as long as Lucy's.

[@keaton718]

Lucille has always said she doesn’t have a funny bone in her body, that all the credit should go to the writers and she just performs what they wrote on the script. Her later shows deserved much better writers.

[@markelijio6012]

The creators/writers/executive producers of the cult television series were Madelyn Davis & Bob Carroll, Jr. were truly amazing. Besides I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, Alice and Will & Grace as co-writers/co-producers on some of television's funniest sitcoms...they've taken over from other creators/executive producers on both successful shows: Lifetime's Day by Day: the Third and Final Season (1989-1990) and FOX's The Duet/Open House Hour: the Fourth and Final Season (1989-1990) and received an "created under the supervision/executive produced by" credit for CBS Television Distribution.

[@nadyarossi5102]

The credit should have gone to DESI!

[@markelijio6012]

Well we love Lucy as much as Desi does and this is the real reason why they really ran an indie production company, Desilu for making a variety of projects. Today, Desilu has been an “in name only” business unit of Paramount/Viacom since 1999 under Desi Arnaz Jr., Lucie Arnaz, Laurence Luckinbill, Cleo Morgan and Susie Morton.

[@richardlawson6787]

Lucy was a "comedic"actress... people that knew her confirmed she wasnt a funny person at all off camera.

[@davidmaholchic6146]

Well there was an hour of my life I will never get back

[@bleepiestofbloops]

As a Lucy/TV/theme song geek, this theme has been in my head for close to 20 years even though I've only watched an episode or two of this show. It really is a banger.

[@MrHowzabout]

Chiefly for the amazing vocal chops of the late, great Edyie Gormé who sang the theme song.

[@Sweetpea1128]

I don’t even watch TV anymore. I Love Lucy premiered on my 5th birthday. We watched the show as a family. It was new and funny. By the time this show came around, we had seen her routines and shticks a bazillion times in reruns. We didn’t need to see them again in a different titled sitcom, this time without Fred and Ethel to add understated but genuine humor. It was outdated. She was too old to be so naive and coquettish.

[@istvanpraha]

Ouch, if this were a published review about me, it would hurt my feelings!

[@clifforddriver9434]

At this point in the game it was over, unfortunately humans don't know when it time to realize that you will never too your last performance. There's not a thing wrong with taking a final bow and taking the rest of the time enjoying what you actually accomplished before closing your eyes for the final time.

[@snarkus63]

I didn't learn of this show until Lucy passed away... strangely enough, she died the same week Disney/MGM Studios ( as it was originally called ) opened; I clipped TIME magazine's two-page article about the park's opening, and I also got her obituary. They mention that her last show, just a few years before, flopped because viewers and critics alike believed she was too old to do physical comedy anymore. Whoops! Nearly forgot the "strangely enough" part... when the park first opened, they had a live show where visitors could be superimposed into iconic moments of television, one of which was Lucy and Vivian Vance's less-than-successful attempt to work on a candy factory's assembly line.

[@haroldstella1398]

LUCY IS IMMORTAL ❤️❤️🥰🥰🙏🏼🙏🏼 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@lindakelley2676]

I recall Lucy being so despondent looking when she was on a talk show and commened on how she just couldnt figure out what people wanted anymore and how the show bombed. It was a brutal experience for her ego and legacy to go out with a "failure", especially as she was a workaholic and perfectionist. She didnt want to leave TV. I adore Lucy and consider her the " Queen" of comedy, the GOAT and will never say a bad word about her. Kids these days dont even know who she is, I find that sad. Shes epic, a legend, brilliant, and so unique, the magic of " i love Lucy" could never be replicated.She instictively knew it couldnt be topped, and with her last attempt, she was talked into it and didnt want to let anyone down. She also loved working. I love everything she did, what I would give to have been in her studio audience watching. Im an old lady fan, selling all my Lucy memorabilia, my kids dont want it. Ah...the end of a grand era.

[@Patrick3183]

Lmao the intro. With the raspy voice from hell.

[@chapterblaq]

yo the intro 😂😂 is that tress macneill? getting progressive like more hoarse sent me 😂

[@jaleel7371]

Wow, you are a good narrator.....and pretty funny.

[@davewoodman8326]

"Wondaful!!!" I LOVED your thoughts about this series! Lucille Ball bought some of the drawings I created in high school and that boost helped me believe I could be a professional artist. Being a friend of someone who worked on the show, I attended every taping. The audience really did Lucille Ball a disservice by reacting so well to her antics. My friend told me that she had questioned how good the stories were and then felt better about them after seeing the audience reaction. We were generally ecstatic to be watching her perform & the home audience didn't have that same experience. Ratings plunged with shows that had been created far in advance. Having previously worked on Filmation's hit She-Ra series, Life With Lucy mirrored my own career's Ghostbusters slump. (Not even The Real Ghostbsters........Filmation must have been creating "The Fake Ghostbusters"!). Of course my after work driving to watch her perform in person was the most exciting thing going on. As the show failed, I felt so bad for her that I made sure there was time to create a beautiful portrait of Lucy Barker. She was as gracious as she could possibly have been, when. the next week I was brought back to her dressing room for thanks! Shocking to have her stand in front of me with joyful gratitude, the only thing that I cold get out of my mouth was, "You're pretty!". She looked absolutely stunning wearing the newly appointed wardrobe girl's outfit and aqua tinted contact lenses, quite popular at that time. Her answer to me was the usually humble comment she would come up with: "Not as pretty as your picture.". A lot of us felt this series quite responsible for the end of her life. Your bringing out the triumph of her Academy Award show appearance is quite gratifying to see. Thank you. I was working on The Little Mermaid by then and there was no time for us to watch The Academy Awards presentation. I remember being aware that she was appearing as I returned to work after dinner and gratefully KZbin exists so I got to finally see her swan song. ...........Years later, friends sent me photos of the Barker portrait, saying, "Isn't this your work?". It now hangs in The Lucy-Desi Museum in Jamestown. .....................Now being aware of her triumphant Oscars performance helps me feel better about her time running out. She got to see how much we all love her.

[@ira1ish]

Lucy imitating the goose is reminiscent of the episode in the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour episode Lucy Raises Chickens when she imitates the chickens to bring them into the warm house when the incubators are late in arriving.

[@blockcl]

I remember watching a bit of this in the original run and feeling sorry for Lucy and Gale Gordon. It was a feeling I didn't want to experience regularly.

[@orbyfan]

One odd throwback characteristic of the show was that it was the only series I can think of made after the early 1960s that concluded each episode with highlights of the next episode.

[@notyournormalg1]

THAT SCENE of lucy crying, talking about age and dating. I want SO MUCH MORE of that. Obviously we'll never get it, but I can only imagine the way maybe a more innocent golden girls could've lasted.

[@walterburns1789]

Thank you so much I enjoyed it

[@stevenstanley3157]

Fabulous video! Can't wait to watch more of them!!!

[@BrooklynDreaminCG]

I think you mean her interview with Joan Rivers (probably subbing the Tonight Show), not Barbara Walters, although the mid 1970's Barbara Walters interview at Lucy's home, while Lucy speaks wistfully about Desi (with Gary sitting there), is a classic. As you say, Life With Lucy was a shipwreck, but you also insightfully point out the poignant recognition Lucy got just 2 months before her death.

[@eyechartny]

Let me go over a couple of guest stars from this show. Lucy's dancing partner was Peter Graves, star of TV's Mission Impossible and the pilot in Airplane! (Ever seen a grown man naked?). And the teddy bear extortionist was Dena Dietrich, best known as Mother Nature (or as I call her Muthah Naychah!) from Chiffon Margarine commercials. I don't know if you know who Frank DeCaro and Jim Colucci are, but you could be their son. Good work!

[@StevePemberton2]

A few other mentions, Greg Mullavey 15:22 who played Louise Lasser's husband on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Popular TV actor Dick Gautier 23:13 who played the recurring character Hymie the robot on Get Smart. Dave Madden 27:15 who played band manager Reuben Kincaid on The Partridge Family.

[@rommel55]

Actually the teddy bear girl was played by actress-singer Jenny Lewis (obviously not to be confused by Jenifer Lewis but just throwing that in as a disclaimer). I double-checked it on the show's IMDB.

[@eyechartny]

@@rommel55 Jenny Lewis was the teddy bear extortionist on The Golden Girls when she had Rose's bear and refused to give it back. That is one of my favorite episodes of that classic show.

[@Swampzoid]

I vaguely remember Life With Lucy. It would have been great had they just written her into a current hit TV show. Sometimes you just can't do what you use to do.

[@rodriguez1025]

It seems to me that Life with Lucy's biggest creative sin was that ultimately, it just reminded viewers that a better version of the concept alreadt existed. In the end, Lucy couldn't compete with herself anymore.

[@DevilTravels]

Her last sitcom might have been more of a success, but her costars dragged down the ratings. Although, the John Ritter episode gave a boost.

[@rudypalma1250]

Beautifully done.

[@sarahjeannepeterson5536]

You did a great job! I applaud you! When I was a child I loved "I Love Lucy." Then, in her next sitcom I watched for a while noticing that stories, situations, predicaments were recreations of ILL. Also, I found that she relied too heavily on that crying she's famous for - that loud grating whine. A few times I watched episodes of the third and fourth incarnations of "I Love Lucy." All the stories were the same. Were there only four??? Seemed like more. She took something wonderful and tried to wring the life out of it. All my peers, classmates, etc. felt like I did. It was time for Lucy to let it go. The rest of the world moved on. She didn't.

[@3dartistguy]

I remember my dad being totally offended by the second episode with John Ritter. He was profoundly disappointed it seemed nothing but a rehash of her tired old bits from her 1960s shows and refused to watch anymore preferrng to watch the more realistic and timely comedy of the Golden Girls which was by far much more funnier. I cant even believe the show lasted to13 episodes given how incredibly bad it was or that it was even released on dvd.

[@1977TA]

Life with Lucy failed because the world was a much different place in the 1980s than it was in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Lucille Ball seemed unwilling or not capable of adapting to the change. She continued to do what worked for her in the past, not realizing doing so limited her to a small audience. Also, Vivian Vance who died in 1979, was not around to play her trusted sidekick as she had done in "I love Lucy" and "Here's Lucy." Lucille would have been better off retiring after "Here's Lucy" or getting cast as one of the Golden Girls. It's sad her last major work before she died was a failure. I don't think she recovered from it because in her mind, America would always love Lucy no matter what she did. The truth was her time in the spotlight had come and gone. It was a good run but as we know, everything must come to an end. Recognizing the end and bowing out gracefully is not easy but it is no doubt the right thing to do in the case of celebrities who find themselves living well past their best days.

[@WrongedSports]

The problem with the show was that Lucys kids werent funny or really had any character. They werent even the straight men. If they just had Lucy working at the warehouse with Curtis it couldve gone a little longer

[@scottheierman4481]

I wish it had just been Lucille Ball and Gal Gordon playing off of each other again. It could’ve been them moving into a senior community together, and hijinks ensue.

[@gregoryagogo]

I haven't seen them, but if you can just imagine you're watching the other 'never before released' "The Lucy Show" or "Here's Lucy"... seems like they are close to 'that kind of comedy from the past'.

[@audreyhepburne]

48:35 This isn't Barbara Walters, this is Joan Rivers guest hosting The Tonight Show.

[@papagreenemusic]

The audience applauded on cue because studio audiences are shown "APPLAUD" signs above the stage, if indeed they filmed this before a live audience. Either way, with added applause/laugh tracks anything is possible.

[@b.strong9347]

Lucille Ball will always be top of the heap. She was the forward-thinker and visionary of all entertainment for her time. She was excellent on stage, film, and tv. She was smart, shrewd, and talented. The problem with 'Life with Lucy' is that, as mentioned, it was created using an outdated formula for slap-stick sitcoms while being probably a little too wacky for then-future contemporaries such as Full House and Family Matter. By that point, television had become more than just a simple escape from reality. People were looking for serial or canonic story lines that followed a more realistic comedy routine rather than just over-the-top sight gags that had worked so well in the 50s and 60s. It is a shame that Lucy was not attached to the Golden Girls. I can only imagine that the pilot to it rolled across her desk, but that she felt it wasn't kosher to some degree to discuss some of controversial topics that the Golden Girls featured; Lucy was from a different time. With Desi, she created modern television; and no one will probably ever reach the legendary status of Lucille Ball. The producers were some 'familiar' names on 'Life with Lucy.' Like we said, the formula was out of date. It's funny as well, there are cliche 90's sitcom feels throughout, too. Between some of the corniness of a family comedy (Full House) and the hardware store and over-the-top DIYs (Home Improvement), in a way, it was ahead of its time. Also as mentioned, it is like their ages hurt the audience's reception of the slapstick due to concern of their actual health rather than seeing it as a gag.

[@HelloooThere]

Gale Gordon made out like a bandit and slipped right back into retirement after this.

[@markelijio6012]

Two years later, his final film appearance was The 'Burbs (1989) with Tom Hanks, produced by Imagine Entertainment, Polygram Filmed Entertainment and MBST, distributed by Focus Features in association with StudioCanal. He also made his final TV appearance on The New Lassie (1989-1992, syndicated) for Polygram Television. It lasted for a total of four successful seasons until Summer 1992. Gale Gordon died in 1996. He was 89 years old.

[@jmy9595]

Just on the off chance that it’s not here in the comments somewhere, that’s not Barbara Walters at the end, it’s Joan Rivers.

[@DustinReckling]

Oh yes, it's everywhere. My cardinal sin haha

[@robertwalker2052]

Lucy did indeed have a serious side, only it was at the beginning of her career. She was a standout actress and was pursued by the great Samuel Goldwyn in the 1930's."Dubarry was a Lady" soon followed. Being hired to Goldwyn Meyer was a distinction few had. She could have pursued leading lady roles if she chose to do so.

[@MauriceRivers415]

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.

[@DustinReckling]

She got pigeonholed into something that really worked and she was unable to really break free from that. Granted, she became the exact force holding herself back from pursuing other genres, but it's really hard to un-learn a 40-year-old habit.

[@MauriceRivers415]

@@DustinReckling Agreed.

[@robliste3680]

I liked the show it was just a different time in the world. I think it would work today!

[@audreyhepburne]

Desi Arnaz was one of my professors at San Diego State University in the late 1970s.

[@BeatUpRecordsCDs]

I thought it was a charming, funny 13 episodes. I don't care how others have felt about the series.

[@WKAdventures]

This was great! I have seen a few episodes of that show. Just an FYI - that interview was with Joan Rivers, not Barbara Walters. (Unless she did another one with BW and you just showed footage from The Joan Rivers Show).

[@DustinReckling]

I think that was just lack of foresight on my end! My queer card MUST BE REVOKED! 😂

[@theturtlearchives]

Makes me wonder what would’ve happened if she was a Golden Girl.

[@singlesideman]

Why is 'I Love Lucy' colorized? It's so weird...

[@CoopyKat]

I remember how excited I was when I heard Lucille Ball was gonna do a new series. Then I got angry at the media for slamming it before it even aired. But once I started watching the show, it was a huge disappointment! The cast and writing seemed very cheap, and now even the sets look cheap compared to the great sets she had in her previous shows. But now it's interesting to watch it decades later, and not having high expectations for it!

[@SymphonyBrahms]

I agree. It was a terrible show.

[@markjames2686]

Your take on this show is ascerbic, satarical, and dead on perfect! 💯

[@richh9450]

The sad part was Lucy. The failure of the show didn't bother her as much as the critics comments about her. "Mummified in all the makeup"etc. Not nice.

[@faithbydesign]

Margo and Ted were completely corny and not based in reality and we’re over the top and less than stellar actors. Vivian and Bill didn’t even over act like they did. The scripts were outdated. I don’t fault Lucy at all. She gave us classic Lucy. It was everything around her that was the problem 💔

[@alank5560]

They were always yelling at each other. They had microphones.

[@Rigel7WasAlreadyUsed]

In total fairness to this show, you're watching a nearly 40 year old show that was likely meant to be a comfortable throwback for an audience from 30 years prior, so you're 3 or 4 generations out.

[@debrahelmlinger6256]

I thought Lucy and Gale were fine in Life With Lucy but the supporting staff not so great.

[@akrenwinkle]

00:36 "Ooovre" I love when Americans make hash out of foreign words, especially French, thinking they're hoity-toity.

[@l.a.gothro3999]

How did you confuse Joan Rivers with Barbara Walters?

[@istvanpraha]

Not to be ageist, but Lucy just seemed from a different time by 1980 something. Times changed more quickly in the last century. I feel like a 70 year old boomer can still feel sort of modern since they didn't grow up THAT differently than some of the younger generations. But someone like Lucy who grew up in the 10s and 20s and was an adult during the depression was just from another era. And I don't think the 80s were about nostalgia, except to the 50s

[@markjames2686]

This is SO brilliant... I'm watching it again! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 💯 This is BRILLIANT 🧠💯 THANK YOU!! 🙌🏻

[@hcombs0104]

I saw one episode. The timing was now gone.

[@danareyes-norton3347]

I remember watching this show as a kid and the only episode I remember is the saxophone one! I thought it was odd how she judged her granddaughter to be a good player by her lips.

[@WarEagleTimeMachine]

I watched these a year or so ago, and I guess comparing it to much of the crap that comes out these days, I thought it was pretty good. Lucy and Gale Gordon didn't miss a beat, but the family portion never clicked. They shoved it in the 8PM slot on Saturdays and I would imagine if they had put it on Tuesday or Wednesday it probably would have lasted at least a season.

[@tammyblack2747]

That’s Joan Rivers guest hosting The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson! Not Barbara Walters!

[@evans54]

the background music is annoying

[@dalehoward3704]

Wilson aalso played various drunks on Bewitched ❤

[@larryshaver3568]

the show was put on a abd night for that type of program.a week night would have been much better

[@SymphonyBrahms]

It wouldn't have mattered. The show was terrible.

[@sugarjoe50]

The cute little girl has grown up to become the beautiful singer Jenny Lewis.

[@DeanLeonard1]

Entertaining and incisive review of this painful, misbegotten last Lucy series. (Plus, you sound cute.) :)

[@DustinReckling]

Thank you! There’s definitely more to come :)

[@jeffpagan7735]

The 80s sitcoms that were popular had more cerebral humor like cheers. The physical humor was becoming passe.

[@joemanzo4453]

People go on about how awful this show was but has anyone seen EVERY episode of her previous series, Here’s Lucy? There’s only a handful of watchable episodes of that show. Most of them were worse than this show was. Ugh

[@johnflynn9619]

Lucy was a Superstar. She should never have done this show or Mame. RIP

[@sosure]

just so you know, LUCY has NEVER Failed! who are you? lol you are toying with Royalty!!

[@chucksellers8422]

She looked great though. I agree that fresh ideas could have made the show work.

[@zagnorch1336]

I must have watched this show back in the day, 'cuz the (SPOILER ALERT) decreased/deceased error gag from episode six definitely rings a bell. Another bell-ringer was the teddy-bear-extortion plot from episode seven. However, I could have sworn this whole premise-- including the top-hat gag-- was from an episode of The Golden Girls. But then I remembered that (SPOILER ALERT) the teddy in that episode was being held for ransom by one of Rose's granddaughters. I guess the two episodes just blended together in my mind over the last several decades...

[@bWitched96]

It wasn't Rose's granddaughter, it was a neighbor girl named Daisy. That same girl in the Golden Girls episode who played the kid who got the bear is the very same little girl in Life with Lucy. That's the overlap you're remembering. Sorry, had to point that out.. i've been a Golden Girls super fan my whole life, lol.

[@zagnorch1336]

@@bWitched96 That's what I get for going from a very hazy memory of things that happened almost 40 years ago. BTW while I caught an occasional episode or two back in the day, I just recently got into watching the entire run of The Golden Girls. I just haven't gotten to that particular episode yet. Wish me luck...

[@acox3527]

Lucille Ball contributed to Star Treks success of syndications she sank Desilu Productions into star trek resulting in Paramount Studios by her ownership into Desilu Productions how many people know about her doing that....

[@markelijio6012]

By the spring of 1978, Emmy winner Lucille Ball and her team were Gary Morton, Desi Arnaz Jr., Lucie Arnaz, Laurence Luckinbill and Cleo Morgan who contributed to their success such as the I Love Lucy franchise, Mission Impossible, Star Trek, Mannix, J.J Starbuck: Tenspeed and Brownshoe and more to syndication which they brought Desilu into others in Paramount Studios by its ownership into CBS Television Distribution under Viacom how many people know about her doing that.

[@deepachand9689]

Not Barbara Walters, its Joan Rivers ,and after this last lucy show , she was honoured by the highest award....the Kennedy centre honours which proved to her once and for all ,that the world loved her

[@johnpickford4222]

Deeps Chand: The Kennedy Center Honors we’re NOT meant to honor and include MAME and LIFE WITH LUCY.

[@DonnaBrooks]

@@johnpickford4222 *were I think what the commenter is saying is that, regardless of her later career disappointments, the public recognized her LIFETIME achievements.

[@DonnaBrooks]

Actually, I think that standing ovation she got with Bob Hope at the Oscars & the fans outside proved that she was still loved.

[@TheVerbalVolley]

@@johnpickford4222It included her lifetime body of work, which included both "Mame" and "Life with Lucy".

[@3dartistguy]

I@@TheVerbalVolley given how bad those two productions were, i dont think so.

[@VinzKlortho]

To think that if Lucy were around today she could have just done a podcast in her retirement. Imagine the guests she’d have!

[@DustinReckling]

She lowkey kind of did! There's a series of sit-down interviews with celebrities of the day that exist in audio form.

[@jaygatz4335]

@@DustinReckling She had good interviews with Mary Tyler Moore and Streisand, among others.

[@HCHxxiv]

​@@DustinReckling...yes. It was originally a CBS Radio Network daytime feature from the mid-1960s.

[@bunnyoneful]

​@@DustinRecklingAnd they are very good. I listen to them on Spotify.

[@markelijio6012]

@@DustinReckling In 1985, she says she wants to retire one last time and she did very quietly. No excuses. No nothing. Just a quiet, peaceful life with her husband, former actor/producer Gary Morton. However, she had great interviews on television with Mary Tyler Moore, Barbra Streisand among others.

[@johnbrowneyes7534]

Casting her as a ditzy older person in a sweatsuit with headphones (I know it’s the 80s) was just playing it safe. The typical living room environment was very overused in 80s sitcoms. I don’t think the writers were too philosophical regarding the storylines; they probably knew this wasn’t going to last too long so they just delivered what was expected. Lucy played the same character in all her shows. Nothing changed.

[@TheFailedmessiah]

The thing about the Lucy shows. Is that they were always a copy of a copy of a copy. I love Lucy being the original copy. Then the other ones to follow. 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. Similar to Kurtwood Smith from that 70s show. She was at an age here where ppl aren't really interested in what an old lady is doing during the day. Even in I love Lucy she was in her late 30s. It gets kind of ridiculous at a certain point. That's why when I heard about a sex and the city revival I was thinking. Dude. Those chicks were already pushing 40 back then. Childless without families. Who is gonna care about a bunch of old dried up old prunes now? Is it gonna be like the Golden Girls? Which was actually funny? Probably not.

[@tlw1950]

Actually Lucy was 40 when I Love Lucy premiered. (Lucy was born in August of 1911 and ILL premiered in October of 1951). I remember being surprised when I realized that...

[@istvanpraha]

You made me laugh hard just now. I forget myself, as a NYer, that some episodes of Sex and The City were original/groundbreaking 20ish years ago. The same stories and character are so boring and pedantic not that long after. Now those characters are like real life to me and no thank you! Already know too many "girls" here in the city who are single with impossible expectations who are whining all of the time. It was only interesting in SATC when you saw it in 30 second clips back in the day

[@MauriceRivers415]

Agreed! I've been saying this all along: 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. FADE OUT.

[@jbizz80]

​@MauriceRivers415 Milton Berle had a similar embarrassment when he brought his 1940s comedy to SNL as a host in 1979. It was so bad he was banned from ever hosting again.

[@crmay72]

​@MauriceRivers415 Absolutely!! Couldn't have said it better myself. Well-stated.