Life With Lucy: The Show That Cursed Lucille Ball?

[callmetootie]

Isn't it strange that a short time after Life With Lucy went off the air, Lucy passed away? Was the show sealed with a curse? It is the poltergesit of sitcoms?

------------------
Andrew Carden

[dawsongirl]

I suppose if you call 2 1/2 years short.

[TV Guy]

Lucille Ball died at 78, which is a pretty normal lifespan. We should all be so cursed <g>.

LWL was just an ill-conceived comeback for her. A lot of people don't have the stamina to work full-time at age 75, and Lucille Ball was one of them. She had problems remembering her lines, and her delivery was really flat (very little inflection in her voice). Add to this the problems with the writing, and a mediocre supporting cast, and you have a recipe for disaster.

[NCVARick]

Originally posted by TV Guy:
Lucille Ball died at 78, which is a pretty normal lifespan. We should all be so cursed <g>.

LWL was just an ill-conceived comeback for her. A lot of people don't have the stamina to work full-time at age 75, and Lucille Ball was one of them. She had problems remembering her lines, and her delivery was really flat (very little inflection in her voice). Add to this the problems with the writing, and a mediocre supporting cast, and you have a recipe for disaster.

And besides all this (which you are correct to note), this woman, who was well-known for endless rehearsing no longer had the energy to do that and would call it a day fairly early (5:00 or so). Add to this the fact the show was aired on Saturday night, a night when most folks are out unless something special and unique is on TV. Given that reruns of much better "Lucy" could be seen every day of the week, there was nothing special and unique about this show. Lucy's biggest competition when she did LWL was probably her own younger self, which people could overdose on. She should have taken a totally different direction at this point in her career and done something very different than "Lucy."

[BundyBoy10]

This show should of never been made. It made Lucille look bad...:(

[SPLAIN]

Get somebody to make you copies of the shows, they are not that bad and some of them are quite good, especially the one with Audrey Meadows as her sister and the wedding, excellent show!

[tvboy]

Cmon LWL could have gotten better if only given a chance and Audrey Meadows could have become a regular and eventually she and Lucy could have moved out and gotten a place of their own and interacted with some unique and crazy people in town a la newhart. Lucy was and still is the best female sitcom star the only other two actresses who can even compare are Carol Burnett & Mary Tyler Moore. Lucy also would have been great on the Golden Girls I can honestly see her in the Bea Arthur or Betty White role.

[Brandon]

Originally posted by callmetootie
Isn't it strange that a short time after Life With Lucy went off the air, Lucy passed away? Was the show sealed with a curse? It is the poltergesit of sitcoms?

------------------
Andrew Carden

no... she was really old when she died...

[SPLAIN]

She could have done the Betty White role on Golden Girls, but she was more Bea Arthur in real life though! LOL!

[JaneTVFan]

Originally posted by SPLAIN
Get somebody to make you copies of the shows, they are not that bad and some of them are quite good, especially the one with Audrey Meadows as her sister and the wedding, excellent show!

LWL was not that bad, but it was not that good, either. Compare the 8 episodes of LWL that were aired with the first 8 episodes of Here's Lucy and you'll see HL was far superior, which says a lot! I think LWL was pretty much on par with some of the other mediocre fare that was on the air at that time, like Perfect Strangers and Alf. The big problem with LWL is that people expected the show to be up to the standards of the Lucy shows of the past, but the show didn't deliver, so viewers were disappointed.

[SPLAIN]

Well said, but when i look at those shows today compared to the crap that's on nowadays, it sure looks better to me than it did back in '86. We just thought that with the same writers and director, and the flawless Lucy, it would be a hit, we ll times had changed and the writing was horrible. But it did have some nice moments though, here and there.

[I Love Carol Burnett!]

I belive near the end of LWL Lucille Ball gave up she was tired I think tired of tv she thought she wanted to do another series, but I think deep in heart she knew she couldn't

I LOVE LUCY

[bb25]

Yeah, I agree she could have been great on the Golden Girls, but none of them were as old as Lucy at that time, and it probably wouldn't have worked anyway. I think her number was just up...:(

[SPLAIN]

Lucy would have been terrific on The Golden Girls, if you knew their ages in real life, you'd see that age didn't matter, what would have been the problem about Lucy being older anyway? But her hubby must have been too busy playing golf than being concerned about her career and happiness.

[bb25]

True, but I'm pretty sure that the 4 main Golden Girls were only in their middle to late 50s (the age Lucy was during TLS), and that's a big difference from 75...

[SPLAIN]

When they STARTED the show, Lucy was younger and Bea and Betty didn't exactly look that young on the show, with filters and lighting, the age difference could have been taken care of, Lucy had been doing it for decades. Hey BB, did you ever get the tape?

[Kazza]

The age difference wouldn't had mattered as much as the desire, the timing and a failing health among other things

[SPLAIN]

She had the desire, never lost the timing, except to idiot reviewers who know nothing about performing comedy and age and health issues would have takent a back seat to performing which was her life, you would find it hard to understand, but some people don't MIND working! Lucy was not the type to just sit at home, but she had to due to a lousy manager and narrowminded people in the industry.

[Kazza]

Originally posted by SPLAIN
She had the desire, never lost the timing, except to idiot reviewers who know nothing about performing comedy and age and health issues would have takent a back seat to performing which was her life, you would find it hard to understand, but some people don't MIND working! Lucy was not the type to just sit at home, but she had to due to a lousy manager and narrowminded people in the industry.

Seems like someone is a little starstruck with God Lucy:rolleyes:

[bb25]

Hey SPLAIN, the answer is no, I have not yet recieved the tape...if I don't get it by next week, then we can start worrying...:p :rolleyes:

[SPLAIN]

The day you stop worshipping Desi is the day you can lecture me, ok? I'm so sorry to hear that BB, but i will do it over for you if i have to, let's give it more time though, some people have waited weeks and then finally got it and it was during the Holiday season.

[bb25]

That's fine...and I would probably only have you remake it if it wasn't here by like March or April...all's cool...:)