Here's Lucy: Season One
Starring: Lucille Ball, Gale Gordon, Lucie Arnaz, Desi Arnaz Jr., Sid GouldDirector: Herbert Kenwith;Jack Donohue;George Marshall
Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Mono, NTSC
Running Time: 580 minutes
DVD Release: August 25th 2009
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DVD Review
The long-awaited release of the hit comedy series that followed I Love Lucy.
The legendary queen of television comedy, LUCILLE BALL, is joined by her real-life children in her third long-running sitcom success. Ball plays Lucille Carter, widowed mother of teenagers Kim and Craig, portrayed by Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. Lucy works for her brother-in-law, played by Gale Gordon, who owns Carter's Unique Employment Agency, leading Lucy into endless predicaments and hilarious hijinks.
This complete first season of HERE'S LUCY (1968-74, CBS-TV) features all 24 color episodes, digitally remastered for superior quality plus a wealth of new and never-before-seen bonus features. Guest stars include Vivian Vance, Carol Burnett, Cesar Romero, Eva Gabor, Wally Cox, Howard Keel, Van Johnson, Shelley Winters, Jack Benny, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Wayne Newton, Jackie Gleason, Mary Wickes and Victor Buono.
Starring Lucille Ball, Gale Gordon and co-starring Lucie Arnaz Jr. and Desi Arnaz Jr.
Nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and two Emmy Awards
Special Features:
*Meet The Carters
*Let's Talk To Lucy
*Making The Main Title
*Lucy At LAX
*Lucie & Desi Jr. Screen Tests
Home Movies:
*The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show
*Lucy The Model
*Golfing With Gleason
*The Chase
*Slide Show
*Production Files
*Here's Lucy & Other Promos
User Reviews
Here's Lucy - Very underrated series - Rating: 5/5
"Here's Lucy" was Lucille Ball's third successful TV series. It ran on CBS from 1968 through 1974. The series never received the recognition that her previous series (I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show) received. However, it was CBS' top series during the 1970-71 season (no. 3 rated series). "Here's Lucy" was a top 10 performer when "Laugh-In" was one of her major competitors and the Number 1 show during the 1968-69 and 1969-70 seasons. However, Lucy was able to overthrow "Laugh-In" during the 1970-71 season. Both ABC and NBC couldn't kill "Here's Lucy" with a stick. It was a Top 15 Show for five of its' six-year run. Not only was Lucy able to compete with "Laugh-In" and eventually overthrow it in the Nielsen ratings; Lucy managed to compete with major theaterical films that NBC and ABC slotted against her. It also was able to kill most of the competition including ABC's "The New People," "The Silent Force," "Peyton Place," and "Monday Night Football." I'm glad that MPI will be releasing all six seasons. It truly is another classic Lucy series. The most notable episode in "Here's Lucy" was in 1970 "Lucy Meets the Burtons." Not only did it rate as the number one show for the first week of the TV season in 1970 but it received a whopping 52% share of the audience. This episode also recieved two Emmy nominations; one for writing and one for Gale Gordon as Best Supporting Actor In A Comedy. I think the TV Academy overlooked Lucy's performances in this series and Lucy should have won an Emmy for the Burton/Taylor episode. Other classic episodes include Lucy and Jack Benny, Lucy the Fixer, Lucy and Flip Wilson, Lucy and the Rapids, Lucy and Lawrence Welk, and the five appearances that Vivian Vance made from 1968-1972. "Here's Lucy" just further established that Lucille Ball is the Queen of Comedy and TV's First Lady of Television. She will never be forgotten, especially now, with the release of the first official season of "The Lucy Show" by Paramount Home Entertainment (hopefully we'll see seasons two through six), the season sets of "Here's Lucy" along with the release of the Lucille Ball Specials; the first two specials being released by MPI on June 30th.
HERE'S LUCY, SEASON 1 IS HERE! - Rating: 5/5
This Summer of 2009 is a Lucy Summer! In July we are getting the first season of The Lucy Show, thanks to CBS/Paramount and on August 25th, we are getting the first season of Here's Lucy, thanks to MPI Home Video. Some of the great shows of Here's Lucy have already been on dvd by Shout Factory, and it is a great set, but now we finally get to have all of it complete!
When I heard Here's Lucy Season 1 is being put out by MPI Home Video, I immediately contacted MPI for more information- especially about the quality of the video! For anyone who is familiar with MPI Home Video's quality of their dvd's, you know they can be horrible or superb. MPI put out the first season of The Beverly Hillbillies, The Honeymooners 6 sets and Hullabaloo's- all very poor quality, loaded with graininess and scratches. MPI also put out The Doris Day Show- all 5 seasons and Family Affair's all 5 seasons, and the quality is superb, very clean and crystal clear! MPI is also known for putting out all of a show's seasons separately and then in a complete set later on. I spoke to MPI directly to find out the quality they are putting into Here's Lucy Season 1, and they assured me that they are remastering the original 35 mm film, in exactly the same way they did for Doris Day and Family Affair. This means the dvd's will be absolutely superb in color, crystal clear sharp picture and a clean film! As a huge Lucy fan, this was great news for me! They also stated, that on June 30th, 2009, they are putting out the first of The Lucille Ball Specials dvd. These are two specials that Lucy made after Here's Lucy, starring with Dean Martin and Jackie Gleason. Both Here's Lucy and The Lucille Ball Specials will have extra's included. I was really happy to find out that the quality will be superb on this first season, as I know how MPI is very unpredictable when it comes to video quality.
Here's Lucy was Lucille Ball's third television show, that premiered on CBS on September 23,1968. The show started out with weaker than expected ratings, but gradually picked up during it's 6 season run, from 1968 to 1974. Lucy played a widower, Lucy Carter with 2 teenage children Kim and Craig Carter. The children were played by her real-life children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. Their Uncle Harry was played by Gale Gordon and Vivian Vance made numerous guest star appearances in this show. Lucy, as a single mom, worked at the Unique Employment Agency, which allowed her to sing, dance and act with the many wonderful special guest stars she featured on this show. In this first season alone, some of the guest stars were Jack Benny, Jackie Gleason, Shelly Winters, Eva Gabor, Wayne Newton, Van Johnson, Wally Cox, Carol Burnett and Tennessee Ernie Ford. This show never got the number 1 ratings that I Love Lucy received, or even the number 2 position that The Lucy Show finished with, so it was rarely syndicated on tv, making many of these great shows rarely seen for decades. For Lucy fans, the summer of 2009 is one we will never forget, as we will finally have The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and The Lucille Ball Specials dvd, to watch whenever we want after so many years of wishing!
Here are the 24 Episodes of Here's Lucy Season 1:
1. 9/23/1968 MOD, MOD LUCY
2. 9/30/1968 LUCY VISITS JACK BENNY (with cameo by Jackie Gleason)
3. 10/7/1968 LUCY THE PROCESS SERVER
4. 10/14/1968 LUCY AND MISS SHELLY WINTERS
5. 10/21/1968 LUCY THE CONCLUSION JUMPER
6. 10/28/1968 LUCY'S IMPOSSIBLE MISSION
7. 11/11/1968 LUCY AND EVA GABOR
8. 11/18/1968 LUCY'S BIRTHDAY
9. 11/25/1968 LUCY SELLS CRAIG TO WAYNE NEWTON
10. 12/2/1968 LUCY'S WORKING DAUGHTER
11. 12/9/1968 GUESS WHO OWES LUCY $23.50? (Van Johnson guest stars)
12. 12/16/1968 LUCY THE MATCHMAKER
13. 12/30/1968 LUCY AND THE GOLD RUSH
14. 1/6/1969 LUCY THE FIXER
15. 1/13/1969 LUCY AND THE EX-CON (Wally Cox guest stars)
16. 1/20/1969 LUCY GOES ON STRIKE
17. 1/27/1969 LUCY AND CAROL BURNETT
18. 2/3/1969 LUCY AND THE GREAT AIRPORT CHASE
19. 2/10/1969 A DATE FOR LUCY
20. 2/17/1969 LUCY THE SHOPPING EXPERT
21. 2/24/1969 LUCY GETS HER MAN
22. 3/3/1969 LUCY'S SAFARI
23. 3/10/1969 LUCY AND TENNESSEE ERNIE'S FUN FARM
24. 3/17/1969 LUCY HELPS CRAIG GET A DRIVER'S LICENSE
Also Included are all these wonderful BONUS FEATURES:
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Meet The Carters
Let's Talk To Lucy
Making The Main Title
Lucy At LAX
Lucie And Desi Jr. Screen Tests
HOME MOVIES:
The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show
Lucy The Model
Golfing With Gleason
The Chase
Slide Show
Production Files
Here's Lucy And Other Promo's
For this complete and restored Here's Lucy Set with so many GREAT Bonus Features, THANK YOU MPI!
Thank you MPI - Rating: 5/5
MPI has a great track record with their releases!! They put so much attention and detail into it! I am excited that they have confirmed they will release all 6 seasons of HL. This is going to be a great summer of DVD buying for me. With this, The Lucille Ball Specials, and The Lucy Show coming out, I am set! I encourage all Lucy fans to buy this product!!! She was, is, and always will be the Queen of Comedy!! Now let's just hope we see news on the release of Life With Lucy!!
"At Last! Lucy's Best TV Series on DVD!!!" - Rating: 5/5
Lucille Ball began her third weekly series on CBS on September 23rd, 1968. After selling "The Lucy Show" to Paramount, Lucy wanted to own her own show, so she created "Lucille Ball Productions" to produce her new sitcom. Lucy had already finished an amazing run on CBS with her "I Love Lucy" show in the '50's, and her 1962-1968 series "The Lucy Show" never went out of the top 10. It was very important for CBS to keep her as the network knew Lucy had a loyal fan base that wanted to watch her week after week. "The Lucy Show" finished its final season in 1968 at #2 in the national Nielsen numbers, so expectations were high that "Here's Lucy" would be an even bigger hit. Lucy had nothing to worry about: both the fans and critics loved her new show, with "Here's Lucy" staying in the top 10 in its first three years.
"Here's Lucy" was different than Lucy's other two series in that she cast her real-life children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr., as her on-screen kids Kim and Craig. Lucy also brought back the marvelous Gale Gordon as her brother-in-law Harry and boss at the Unique Employment Agency in Los Angeles, which was the setting of the series. Lucy played Gale's crazy secretary. The wacky redhead continued to make viewers laugh for six more years on CBS, and many fans, including this one, believe "Here's Lucy" was Lucille Ball's best television work. Lucy has even admitted that out of all her shows, this one was her favorite.
As the 1970's arrived CBS wanted to change its image as the "rural network" by canning shows that featured longtime tv personalities like Ed Sullivan. Lucille Ball was a different story however. "Here's Lucy" would continue well into the '70's as CBS' top-rated show. In 1970-1971 "Here's Lucy" finished the year as CBS' #1 program!
In 2004 "Here's Lucy" made its debut on DVD with a 24 episode boxset featuring the best episodes of the series. That boxset has a ton of special bonuses including commentary by Lucy's kids, rare network TV promos for the show, a much more. In this new "Here's Lucy" Season One Boxset special features will include new videotaped interviews never seen before and new introductions by both Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr.. Other rare gems are Featurettes, Screen Tests, home movies, making of the main title, and a rare interview with Gale Gordon. It is wonderful to see MPI bringing back this beloved show that has been rarely seen on television in the past two decades. The series had a CBS daytime run from May-November 1977, and in 1982 "Here's Lucy" went into national syndication. The sitcom has rarely been seen on cable stations as it surprisingly does not bring in good ratings. In the late '90's PAX TV aired the show for awhile then it disappeared. The studio also promises to release every season in individual boxsets so that is something to applaud.
This boxset contains all 24 shows of the first year uncut and digitally remastered from the studio's 35 mm negatives for excellent video and audio clarity. A total of 144 episodes of "Here's Lucy" were produced. The first three seasons were fimed at Paramount studios in Hollywood, but the last three years were shot at Universal. The most famous episode was the season premiere of the third season in 1970 featuring Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. That episode catapulted "Here's Lucy" to the top of the ratings and put Lucy and the Burtons on the cover of TV Guide that week.
In the show's first season boxset many stars are featured including Jackie Gleason, Shelley Winters, Jack Benny, Wayne Newton, and more. The pilot of "Here's Lucy" is included called "Mod, Mod Lucy", where Lucy has to perform in the place of her daughter in a band. Lucy tries to sing, albeit with her mouthing the words to a record, and she proves she is quite a dancer. You will laugh hysterically when Lucy comes out donning a black wig, trying to be a teenager. She really fits in with the younger generation!
Many other celebrities graced "Here's Lucy" over its run including Eva Gabor, Carol Burnett, Ann-Margret, Johnny Carson, and more. Vivian Vance also made many guest-star appearances over the years as Aunt Viv to the delight of fans everywhere.
Don't forget too that "The Lucy Show" makes it first-time debut on DVD in July with the Complete First Season boxset. That series too is excellent.
