Lucy Mondays this Summer on Nick at Nite's Un-Real-a-Thon!

[Pavan]

For the first time in nine years, Nick at Nite will not present summer programming
under the umbrella "Block Party Summer" in order to make way for "Un-Reality
Summer: Un-Real-a-Thon" which debuts on Sunday, July 1 and continues through
Thursday, August 30th. It'll air Sunday through Thursday from 9 p.m. to midnight. Some of the blocks include " 'Andy Griffith' Sundays," " 'I Love Lucy' Mondays," " 'Three's Company' Tuesdays," " 'Brady Bunch' Wednesdays" and " 'Diff'rent Strokes' Thursdays."

[Betsy]

I don't know if I am too happy with that. I'm trying to record all of the Lucy episodes so that when Lucy goes to TV Land, I can watch an episode any time I want to.

I just hope that when the block party ends, they will continue airing the episodes from the point where they left off....

betsy

[dawsongirl]

Maybe I'm ignorant, but what makes that any different than block party summer? Sounds like a dumb name change.

[Betsy]

Remember, Dawson...we are talking about a network that has dumped Lucy. How smart can they be?

[dawsongirl]

Haha! That's true!! Very perceptive.

[D&R]

Originally posted by Betsy:
I don't know if I am too happy with that. I'm trying to record all of the Lucy episodes so that when Lucy goes to TV Land, I can watch an episode any time I want to.

I just hope that when the block party ends, they will continue airing the episodes from the point where they left off....

betsy

I think it will definitely affect the current schedule. As of now, Nick is doing a good job of showing the episodes (14 per week and not skipping around - if you're a fan of All in the Family you'll know what I mean). Now this summer schedule lasts til Aug 30th and it is possible that Lucy won't return because Family Ties is coming in Sept. We'll just see what happens.

[Betsy]

D & R, normally I am not such a positive person, but I don't think N@N would remove Lucy for Family Ties. I think it more likely that it would remove Facts of Life or Threes Company. Considering that Lucy is an all-time classic, and a staple of their network, I would imagine that the least they would do is finish it's run and give it a marathon before they take it off the air. For goodness sakes, the Different STrokes marathon they are having in June will be the second one they are having!

If anyone is at all connected, or knows anyone at N@N, is their anyway we can find out Lucy's schedule on N@N after the block party?

Thanks.

betsy

[Betsy]

Pavanbadel, can you tell me where you found out that Lucy will be on Mondays during the Summer? Nick at Nite no longer has a website, and I find it impossible to contact them..

thanks

[Pavan]

I found it in a press release...I think SitcomsOnline.com has it up by now, the news article section, check it out...

[dawsongirl]

They won't take off 3's Company; it's one of their top ratings getters.

[Terry Ross]

dawsongirl, you're very smart. And very right. "Three's Company" is one of Nick's highest rated primetime shows, which is why it remains on at 10:00PM for one solid hour.

Itrack this stuff for a living but how did you know that?

[dawsongirl]

Originally posted by Terry Ross:
dawsongirl, you're very smart. And very right. "Three's Company" is one of Nick's highest rated primetime shows, which is why it remains on at 10:00PM for one solid hour.

Itrack this stuff for a living but how did you know that?

I saw somewhere else on this site http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/wink.gif Your job sounds facinating though. I'd love to work with something like that.

[Terry Ross]

I work in NYC and have worked in television my entire career. I was ALMOST invited to a party where Lucie Arnaz was going to be, too. It is an interesting line of work since I do get to meet andwork with famous people.

By the way, I was out in LA last fall andwent past Lucille Ball's house. Thenew owner has changed it quite a bit. I saw the house two decades ago when she was still in it. I have before and after pictures. Didyou know that she used her own house in one of the LA storylines? The house that she's walking toward when she wants to pick a grapefruit off of Richard Widmark's house is really her own house.

[dawsongirl]

Yeah, I read that in a book. Her wall and everything. I also saw some pictures on a website of Lucy's Beverly Hills home and that person said the same thing: that it was changed and renovated. If I lived in Lucille Ball's old house, I'd probably leave it as a shrine.

I also read on another website that her and Desi's Chatsworth house isn't there anymore because first it got a lot of damage in the '94 quake, then it got termites. At least I don't think it's there. It's not a ranch anymore anyway.

[Terry Ross]

I didn't know about Chatsworth but isn't that the ranch that Desi lived in at the end ofhis life? Or was it by the ocean? Not sure. Interesting that Lucy stayed in the house that she and Desi bought, huh?

I love that Widmark episode. She got the idea for that show when she was walking outside her house all wrapped up in a robe and kerchef and a tour bus came along. She had a lot of courage to film that episode in front of her own home . . .but then, back then, I don't think celebrities had to worry about security like they do today.

[Betsy]

Speaking of Richard Widmark, he was a pretty good looking guy in that episode. I had asked my mother if he was still alive, and she said he wasn't...that kind of depressed me....and puzzled me, because I always thought he was still around.

Then, about a week or so ago, there was an article in the NY Times about there being a retrospective on Richard Widmark, and right next to the article was a picture of a still handsome distinguised Richard Widmark.....I rubbed it in with my mother that night... http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif

[dawsongirl]

You got to do that too? Same thing happened with me and my mom. I was watching Family Feud one night and I asked my mom if Richard Dawson was still around. She said he was dead, but something in me said not to believe her, so I got online and found out that he was alive! I teased her about that for days. Actually we still do whenever the topic of whether or not a celebrity is alive or dead. I'll ask her, then I'll say something like "are you sure? You did kill off Richard Dawson." It's a running joke.

[dawsongirl]

Originally posted by Terry Ross:
I didn't know about Chatsworth but isn't that the ranch that Desi lived in at the end ofhis life? Or was it by the ocean? Not sure. Interesting that Lucy stayed in the house that she and Desi bought, huh?

I love that Widmark episode. She got the idea for that show when she was walking outside her house all wrapped up in a robe and kerchef and a tour bus came along. She had a lot of courage to film that episode in front of her own home . . .but then, back then, I don't think celebrities had to worry about security like they do today.

No, it's the ocean one. It was in Del Mar, down by San Diego. There is a picture of it on some website and if I remember the address, I'll post it.

I think it is kinda funny she lived in that same house. Guess she was either too cheap to move or she just couldn't let go all the way http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/wink.gif I can't see her being too cheap to move.

[Terry Ross]

I personally have no inside information on this but I have a feeling she just couldn't let go of Desi and the house was filled with memories of him. What's really curious is her second marriage to Gary Morton, which just looked like a rebound marriage. Why he wouldmovie into Desi & Lucy's house is a big mystery to me. I doubt she ever truly loved Gary. I read just how devastated she was when Desi died. Sobbed. Theirs was a great love story that never should have ended.

[This message has been edited by Terry Ross (edited 05-28-2001).]

[dawsongirl]

I agree with you completely Terry. I find the Lucy/Gary relationship to be more a marriage of convenience. Or rebound, like you said. It's interesting to watch any episode of Password Lucy did with Gary. It's like she domineers over him. Love, sure, and I'm the Queen of England.

When Lucy died, Gary was reported as saying something like now she'll be happy, she's with Desi. Her HUSBAND said that about her EX-HUSBAND. Says it all doesn't it?

[Betsy]

I don't know all that much about Lucille's relationship with Gary, so maybe I shouldn't say anything but.....I think she must have loved him in some way, but not the way she loved Desi. A similar discussion developed awhile ago on another Lucy board, and the conclusion seemed to be that, at that point in her life, Lucille needed stability and happiness (less than passionate though it may have been),coming off of such a tempestuous relationship with Desi, and she got that from Gary (but everyone agreed that Desi was her true love, and she was his).

I know Dawson has seen the Home Movies (thanks again! I treasure that video), but have you seen them, Terry? Lucy and Desi looked so happy and carefree....and so in love. I find it difficult to believe in love at first sight, but I loved hearing the story of Lucy and Desi's first meeting,and their torrid romance that followed.How romantic is that?

Someone had asked on that same board if Lucy and Desi's love for eachother had changed, whatwith the passage of time, and their subsequent remarriages. That is..did it develop more into something like love for a family member? (Because they never had a romantic relationship after the divorce). I responded that I thought that their love(again, I am hardly an expert) I'd say it was much more than just loving someone the way you'd love a family member;that after the divorce, it wasn't a physical love, more like an emotional and spiritual kind of bond. In a way, the fact that Lucy and Desi never "reunited", but continued to inwardly love each other shows the hold they had on each other, more so than physicality ever could.

The ending brought tears to my eyes; I was so moved, yet I was laughing as well, when Lucy and Desi were in the pool with their first grandchild, and he played Babaloo on the water.....what a memory for Lucie to have of her parents. At one point, Desi mentioned that the production was about finding a truth...was there a happy family somewhere in there? I think that Lucie and Desi probably got the best possible answer, in that it's obvious that their parents were very happy earlier on, and that, despite not "getting back together", they continued to love each other.

Sorry to babble on for so long!

[dawsongirl]

Originally posted by Betsy:


I know Dawson has seen the Home Movies (thanks again! I treasure that video), but have you seen them, Terry? Lucy and Desi looked so happy and carefree....and so in love. I find it difficult to believe in love at first sight, but I loved hearing the story of Lucy and Desi's first meeting,and their torrid romance that followed.How romantic is that?

Someone had asked on that same board if Lucy and Desi's love for eachother had changed, whatwith the passage of time, and their subsequent remarriages. That is..did it develop more into something like love for a family member? (Because they never had a romantic relationship after the divorce). I responded that I thought that their love(again, I am hardly an expert) I'd say it was much more than just loving someone the way you'd love a family member;that after the divorce, it wasn't a physical love, more like an emotional and spiritual kind of bond. In a way, the fact that Lucy and Desi never "reunited", but continued to inwardly love each other shows the hold they had on each other, more so than physicality ever could.




I agree with you on that whole emotional bond thing. She didn't love Desi like he was her cousin or something, I'm mean c'mon. They were married for 20 years after all (well, technically 19).

I think for a playboy like Desi to stay married to Lucy and still care about her for so long shows you there was something much deeper there. If you ever read anything about the two of them during Lucy's red scare you can see that for yourself.

[Marta]

does that mean that I love lucy will be on every monday night from 9 to 12?

-marta

[Terry Ross]

First of all, the remark that Gary made (that dawsongirl quoted) after Lucy died about her being happy now that she is with Desi is very telling. Gary was a rebound guy;that's it. He was a companion. Lucy never even changed the locks in the house and Desi was known to show up, unannounced. Gary accepted this!? Come on, Lucy loved Desi; Desi loved Lucy. No one else was ever really a part of their lives after 1960. She was one of the last people to speak to him before he died. Very compelling.

Secondly, yes, Betsy, I have their home movies and hearing Desi sing "I Love Lucy" at the end and seeing them in the pool made me cry. Theirs was a love that doesn't come along very often. But he blew it with his drinking and womanizing.

[This message has been edited by Terry Ross (edited 06-02-2001).]

[Betsy]

I didn't know that about the lock. I wonder if, when Gary married Lucy, he didn't semi resign himself to the fact that Desi was always going to be in her life (and not simply because he was the father of her children). It must have been hard for him...

Terry, I agree with you completely that Lucy and Desi had a very special and unique love, and that he really blew it. Despite all that, I do have a soft spot for Desi, who by nearly all accounts, was a good man. It's just too bad that he couldn't have been a better husband...

Have you ever read Lucy's autobiography, Loving Lucy? I was very pleasantly surprised to see it in paperback in my bookstore, and I finished it in a matter of hours. What a remarkable woman Lucille Ball was, and what a difficult childhood she had. There's a lot to admire in that woman: her strength, her ambition, her love for her family, her desire to make her marriage to Desi work......

Towards the end, Lucy says something that I found very intriguing: that she and Desi never "liked" each other before they loved each other (while she and Gary were friends first - but of course, she is married to Gary at the time of the book, so that has to be taken into account). She and Desi just were so attracted to each other, and they didn't care who knew it (I loved the part where she basically says she didn't give a hoot if she and Desi kissed or hugged too much in public). Lucy goes on to mention, and I didn't know this, that she sort of broke it off with Desi after a depressing evening discussing the vast differences between them (age, religion, cultural background), but that Desi continued to persist, sending her "I Love You" telegrams and eventually surprising Lucy with an "elopement"...

It was really terrific reading, although I'm sure Desi's book tells it a bit differently. As Lucie says in the forward, there are always two sides to every story....

betsy

[Terry Ross]

I haven't read Lucy's utobiography, Betsy but I did know about her sad childhood. I find it so ironic that this woman, whom so many grew to love, had so much in the way of money, admirers,etc. yet her personal life was often rife with problems.

It is for that reason that I cry when I see her with Desi in that final scene in the pool; in the end, I'll always believe that they took comfort in their ever-lasting love for each other.

[Terry Ross]

I haven't read Lucy's utobiography, Betsy but I did know about her sad childhood. I find it so ironic that this woman, whom so many grew to love, had so much in the way of money, admirers,etc. yet her personal life was often rife with problems.

It is for that reason that I cry when I see her with Desi in that final scene in the pool; in the end, I'll always believe that they took comfort in their ever-lasting love for each other.

[dawsongirl]

Lucy's bio made me cry. Especially that scene you mentioned Betsy, with the telegrams. What girl wouldn't love to have a guy do that to them?

Anyone ever notice that no one seems to know much about Desi's second wife Edith? All I know is, and this is very telling as well, that she was a redhead just like Lucy and that they almost divorced in 1974, or something like that. Hmmm.

Regarding the locks mentioned by Terry. I didn't know that either! Very interesting indeed. One thing I remember reading that kinda goes along with this is quite interesting as well. One night while Desi was at his ocean side home (this was shortly after they divorced) there were some kids on the beach making a lot of noise. Being drunk, he took a gun down there and threatened the kids and shot (a blank maybe, I can't remember) into the sand. As one might expect, he got into some trouble with the authorities after the kids told their folks about the incident. Lucy freaked out and had somebody go to his house and try to cover up whatever needed to be covered to clear him of anything. She was trying to save her EX-HUSBAND. Great I think.

[Sean Snow]

Originally posted by Betsy:
D & R, normally I am not such a positive person, but I don't think N@N would remove Lucy for Family Ties. I think it more likely that it would remove Facts of Life or Threes Company.


Betsy, I don't think they would remove their 2nd (Three's Company) highest show and 4th (Facts of Life) highest show to show a show which is little but a blip in the ratings. Networks show the shows that make the best ratings. They don't have "sitcom" hearts- they're going for the 70's/80's feel, and Lucy showing in the middle of it could affect the shows coming after it.



------------------
Jack: I'm surprised at you. Where would all the great women of history be if they thought like that!? Look at Joan of Ark and wht she accomplished. And, and Florence Nightengale and Madam Curry.
Chrissy: And Lucretia Borzok.
Janet: She posioned people.
Chrissy: Yeah, but she was very goo at it.

[Sean Snow]

I know how te parent nose rubbing feel is like. My da said Pricilla Barnes (Terri on Three's Company was dead. I knew she wasn't and rubbed his nose in it.
Anyway, when did Desi die? When did Lucy die?

------------------
Jack: I'm surprised at you. Where would all the great women of history be if they thought like that!? Look at Joan of Ark and wht she accomplished. And, and Florence Nightengale and Madam Curry.
Chrissy: And Lucretia Borzok.
Janet: She posioned people.
Chrissy: Yeah, but she was very goo at it.

[Betsy]

Sean, I see your point. However, I think that putting Lucy on at 1am doesn't exactly help the ratings. In any case, ILL is such a classic that ratings shouldn't even enter into it. If no one wants to watch ILL (which is hardly true), why is N@N even bothering to move it to their sister network?

N@N used to bill itself as the "home of classic tv". Well.....that's hardly the case. If I had access to TVLand, of course, I wouldn't be this upset. N@N, to me at least, has gone to toilet. Give me TVLand any day.

[Betsy]

Sean, Desi died in 1986, and Lucy in 1989.....

[dawsongirl]

Just adding to Betsy's reply. Desi died on December 2 of that year of lung cancer and Lucy died on April 26 of a ruptured aorta after surgery.

And I hear ya on N@N going downhill. It's hardly worth watching anymore.