Kick The Telly : Living by Lucy
Posted by | Posted in Comedy TV | Posted on 06-06-2009
She has become the queen of comedy TV serial, Lucille Ball, but the fourth and final series is all about the disaster. What happened to our love Lucy?
Lucille Ball in the history of television broadcasting, where the old safe, shine through “I Love Lucy” and (to a lesser extent), after a series of “Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.” When you start the last CBS show ended in 1974, Lucy fans have to be repeated, but before his body of work, it was not bad “things.
However, Lucille Ball as a workaholic, retirement has proved a difficult task. Play Cribbage and appeared from time to time game show “Password” is not a substitute for film production of TV shows or studio situation. From 1974 to early 1980, Lucy appeared in a number of special welcome, others are not.
Flash forward to 1986: Ex-”Lucy” co-star Vivian Vance and William Frawley died and ex-husband Desi Arnaz cancer. Altogether, sitcoms to come back because of the success of The Cosby Show. “The old lady went to act as co-star (” Who is the boss, “Night Court”), or water ( “The Golden Girls”). A repetition of “I Love Lucy ‘more popular favorite cartoon was always ready to return the TV series. Season, Ball starred in” Stone bag “for a television film, which he describes a homeless woman living on the street. Critics have praised the performance of Ball (but not As predictable plot), both in the evaluation for CBS.
This success brings the ball, “and her second husband, producer Gary Morton, to consider a proposal to return to the television series.
Enter the ABC. Network dropped to third place, and it is a particular problem for Saturday night when the NBC comedy-stable composition with a “Golden Girls” is a distortion of competition. Aaron Spelling, producer of the series, has a contract with the network for the production of comedy. Network show with the ball in his thinking, his presence would help level the field with NBC. Check spelling (which appeared in “I Love Lucy” episode in season 1954/55 as an actor) is a ball, at first refused. ABC will offer large sums of money for 22 episodes, whether broadcast or not. ABC also agreed that creative control of the ball and the air series without a pilot. This time the ball and Morton agreed.
But the only new comedy redhead, if you long with the stars Gale Gordon appeared, and both the original “I Love Lucy” writers Madelyn Davis and Bob Carroll Jr. monitoring scripts. ABC contract. The original idea was to file does not, unlike “Golden Girls”. But in the case of new network series, Lucy was a success, such as “I Love Lucy.” One problem: When “Lucy” was first broadcast in 1951, the band was in the early 40th years. Until 1986 he was 75 years old – a script that they want the same pieces, which increased the original series should be done. (Gordon was 80 years old when the show begins.)
Carroll and Davis came up with the idea of playing Lucy Lucy Barker, a widow who moves with her daughter Margot MacGibbon (Ann Dusenberry), her husband Ted (Larry Anderson) and their children, Becky and Kevin (Jenny Lewis, and Philip J. Amelio II). Lucy has a small part of Pasadena, Calif. store trading partner of the deceased husband (and father Ted) MacGibbon Curtis, played by Gordon. The event was originally “New Lucille Ball Show” for employees who come up with a better title “Life with Lucy.”