Info:
DVD Release Date: February 1, 2005 (Paramount Home Video)
Black & White
MSRP: $54.99
Number of Discs: 5
Number of Episodes: 31
Running Time: 13 hours and 39 minutes
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: Spanish &
English; Spanish Subtitles; Closed captioned.
Special Features: Lost scenes, flubs, original
openings, production notes, script excerpts, five
complete episodes of the radio show, "My Favorite
Husband," original CBS promos and even the rare
closing credits!
Introduction:
LUCY!!! Once again, that zany, crazy redhead is back
on DVD in the third season release of I LOVE LUCY. You
can enjoy the entire Emmy-winning third season on five
DVDs. Classic scenes from the third season include
Lucy and Ethel ripping apart each other's dresses to
shreds during their televised duet of Cole Porter's
"Friendship." And you can never forget watching Lucy
have to go 24 hours without telling a lie to watching
her quest to recover a contest-winning dollar bill to
Lucy and Ethel's unforgettable TV commercial for "Aunt
Martha's Old-Fashioned Salad Dressing." Included on
this set are all 31 original season three episodes
with loads of special features, ranging from flubs,
lost scenes, script excerpts, to five complete
episodes of Lucy's radio show: MY FAVORITE HUSBAND.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
The third season, like nearly all seasons of I LOVE
LUCY contain quite a few memorable episodes, and they
include "The Girls Go Into Business," "Lucy Tells The
Truth," "The French Revue," "Redecorating the Mertzes'
Apartment," "Too Many Crooks," "Changing the Boys'
Wardrobe," "Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined," "Fan Magazine
Interview," "Oil Wells," "Bonus Bucks," "Lucy Writes a
Novel," "Lucy's Club Dance," "Tennessee Ernie Visits,"
"Lucy is Envious," and "The Golf Game." The more
memorable guest appearances in the third season
include Tennessee Ernie Ford and golf pro Jimmy
Demaret.
Packaging:
The packaging for this set follows the same design as
season one but it's blue in color. Inside the box,
there are five individual cases, one for each disc.
Each case has a spliced shot of Lucy from one of the
episodes from that disc. On the discs they are spliced
screenshots from one of the more memorable episodes on
that disc. On the back of each case, there is a list
of each episode that is included on that disc (inside
the case are episode descriptions). The descriptions
themselves are a couple of sentences and include the
episode title, the original airdate and the production
number. The episodes are presented in original
production number order instead of the airdate order.
There are five discs in the set, each one in its own
individual case. There are six episodes per disc, but
the first disc contains seven episodes.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menu screen is simple and is exactly the same format as
seasons 1 and 2. It features a spliced shot of Lucy
from one of her memorable scenes (Harpo Marx for the
main menu, or the chocolate factory on the bonus
features menu) on a red background that has
screenshots from various episodes of the series. The
main menu has a list of the episodes that take you to
scene selections and it has the opening theme song
playing in the background, although it doesn't loop.
It has the popular "Play All" feature as well as
"Setup". The bonus menu is the same design as the main
menu and lists all the bonuses for that disc. The
"Setup" menu allows you to choose if you want Spanish
subtitles or a Spanish language track.
Video and Audio Quality:
The video is very good, but the audio needs work. The
picture is crystal clear but the audio is still very,
very low, which is common for releases of older
series. The audio is presented in Dolby Surround
Sound. Each episode runs about 26 minutes, which means
you get almost four-five minutes of extra footage you
can't see in syndication.
Special Features:
Special Features on all of the five discs, which are
explained in more detail further down, include
"Special Footage." Guest Cast Information is the list
of the special guests that are featured on the
episodes on that disc. "Original Opening" is the
original animated opening that was originally aired
along with the episodes on each disc. Now on to the
special features -- hang on folks, this is a long
read!
DISC ONE - The first "Flub" is from the episode "Lucy
Tells the Truth" in which you see a moth fly directly
in front of Vivian Vance's face; the next flub is
about the sudden switch of the number of Ricky and
Lucy's apartment. In the episode "Ricky and Fred Are
TV Fans" it is 3B but in "Lucy Tells the Truth" it is
3D. The writers changed the number to make a joke
work, hoping viewers wouldn't notice; In the final
flub on this disc is from the episode "Ricky's 'Life'
Story" in which a prop man pasted together the
magazine started with an article about a face type but
left in the subtitle that Ricky is a pleasing and
graceful type." Special Footage - The special footage
on Disc One is the 3rd season promo. CBS aired this
promotional spot on the evening of September 28, 1953,
exactly one week before I LOVE LUCY returned for its
third season. In "Lucy on the Radio" bonus, we have
the episode "Liz Appears on Television" from MY
FAVORITE HUSBAND and it was originally broadcast on
April 23, 1950 and inspired the I LOVE LUCY episode
"Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress." The first
production note explains how in the episode "Lucy
Tells the Truth" a scene was written that featured
Ricky learning he will be audited by the IRS. Desi
Arnaz didn't like the scene for various reasons and so
the writers came up with the scene you see today of
knives being thrown at Lucy. You can also read the
original script scene of the IRS audit. Although in my
opinion, it was hit or miss. Some of the jokes from
Ethel and Fred were good, but I had to agree with
Desi, the scene wasn't the greatest for the character
of Ricky although in actuality, it fit better with the
theme of the episode, it was better to cut it. The
next production note is from "Equal Rights" when Lucy
blew up the paper bag and punches it to make the sound
of a gunshot. Although it lasted just a minute, Lucy
wanted to perfect it. And finally, the Behind the
Scenes featurette is yet another audio excerpt from
Jess Oppenheimer's book "Laughs, Luck... and Lucy."
DISC TWO - In the first of four "Flubs" it comes from
"Redecorating the Mertzes' Apartment". Lucy flubs a
line about painting and reupholstering the old
furniture but Desi's clever ad-lib saved the scene.
The next one, also from "Redecorating the Mertzes'
Apartment" is the final scene from the episode set a
"few days" after all the feathers, etc. had been
cleaned up, but you can clearly see one lone feather
floating through the scene. The third flub is from the
final scene of the episode "Lucy Has Here Eyes
Examined" and features Desi/Ricky's struggle with
pronunciation. Much of it was added to the scripts but
Desi's struggle to say "homecoming" wasn't part of the
script. The final flub is how Ethel's middle name
changes from Ethel Louise in "Lucy and Ethel Buy the
Same Dress" to Ethel Roberta in "The Million Dollar
Idea." In the first of three "Special Footage" scenes
is the "Jingle Bells" Tag scene, seen at the end of
CBS's original airings of "Ricky's Old Girlfriend,"
(which aired 12/21/53) but was originally seen at the
end of "Drafted" on 12/24/51, and repeated on 12/22/52
at the end of "Lucy's Show Biz Swan Song." The second
is a restored opening sequence. In "Changing the Boys'
Wardrobe" it originally opened without music. CBS
later added music to the show making it appear that
Ricky is raising his voice to be heard above the
orchestra! But the DVD edition restores it to how it
originally was. The last one is lost footage from the
episode "Ricky's Old Girlfriend". When CBS edited the
episode for syndication, they inadvertently eliminated
Lucy's, Fred's, and Ethel's dialogue as Lucy offered
the Mertzes coffee at the start of the show. For this
special DVD edition, they've restored the missing
lines using a rare 16mm print of the episode. In the
second "Lucy on the Radio" bonus, we have the episode
"Husbands are Sloppy Dressers" from MY FAVORITE
HUSBAND and it was originally broadcast on September
2, 1950 and inspired the I LOVE LUCY episode "Changing
the Boys' Wardrobe." The "Production Note(s)" is from
"Too Many Crooks". The LUCY writers originally
conceived a different closing scene in which Madame X
made a clean getaway but during rehearsals, the ending
was abandoned. Here you can see the original script.
The second explained that the many references to the
magazine "Better Homes and Gardens" in "Redecorating
the Mertzes' Apartment" wasn't due to product
placement but due to the fact the writers felt they
owed it to the magazine after the joke they did in
"Men Are Messy". The next one explains that in
"Ricky's Old Girl Friend" how the list of Lucy's many
"boyfriends" are really just names of the production
staff.
DISC THREE - The first of two "Flubs" explains how
Lucille Ball always pronounced Tomato's "Tomahto" but
she used the other way while playing Lucy Ricardo, but
in the episode "Ricky Loses His Temper" Lucille
slipped and used her pronunciation instead of Lucy's.
The second one is from the episode "Ricky Minds the
Baby". It was the final scene and Lucy walks out of
Ethel's apartment wearing a pair of sling back shoes,
takes a few steps down the hall and enters her own
apartment suddenly wearing ankle strap shoes! In the
first of four Special Footage segments, you can see a
promotional message from Lucy and Desi filmed on the
set of their then-upcoming movie THE LONG LONG TRAILER
that aired at the end of "Oil Wells" on 2/15/54. The
second one is how the DVD edition restored lost music
from the episode "Fan Magazine Interview" that CBS
replaced with their own tune. The third one from the
2/1/54 episode "Sentimental Anniversary" and features
a special pitch from Lucy and Desi for the March of
Dimes instead of their usual Phillip Morris plug. The
last one is from "Ricky Minds the Baby" and explains
how the folks who dubbed LUCY into Spanish in the 50s
had no separate dialogue track so they had to recreate
it from scratch and gives an example here. In the
third "Lucy on the Radio" bonus, we have the episode
"The French Lesson" from MY FAVORITE HUSBAND and it
was originally broadcast on December 9, 1949 and
inspired two I LOVE LUCY episodes "The Adagio" and
"The French Revue."
DISC FOUR - The first of three "Flubs" explains a
scene in the episode "Bonus Bucks." Desilu's prop man
made sure that the crowbar mounted on the wall of the
laundry plant was easily removable. But as Ricky
entered the room, the crowbar fell to the floor,
forcing actress Patsy Moran to search for it later in
the scene. In the second flub (from "Lucy is Envious")
it explains how Lucille Ball spent hours handling
props to make sure the scene went just right, but the
scene shows how Ball met her match in just a little
cloth napkin. In the final flub, it's from the radio
show MY FAVORITE HUSBAND and how guest actor Frank
Nelson blew an "important" line so badly that director
Jess Oppenheimer called for a retake - and another -
and another. The first of four "special footage(s)"
the first one explains how throughout the month of
March 1954, Lucy and Desi ended each episode with the
same plug for their new movie THE LONG, LONG TRAILER.
In the second selection of special footage it explains
how At the beginning of the original network broadcast
of "Lucy's Club Dance" on 4/12/54, Desi stepped out
from behind the curtain to introduce the show, as well
as the sponsors brand new "snap-open" packaging. In
the third selection it explains how on the March 24,
1954 CBS rebroadcast of "Lucy Does a TV Commercial"
with an introduction by announcer Roy Rowan who refers
to the series by it's 1950s nickname - the "Lucy
Show", not to be confused with Lucy's 1960's TV
series. In the last selection, we have a lost scene
from the episode "Lucy's Club Dance." On December 26,
1955, as the Ricardos were preparing for their
European trip, CBS rebroadcast "Lucy's Club Dance" and
to maintain storyline continuity, the cast filmed this
new "flashback" opening, and it's seen here for the
first time since its original 1955 airing! In the
fourth "Lucy on the Radio" bonus, we have the episode
"Trying to Cash the Prize Check" from MY FAVORITE
HUSBAND and it was originally broadcast on December 9,
1950 and featured guest-stars Sandra Gould, Frank
Nelson and others. Also included are more production
notes.
DISC FIVE - The first of two "Flubs" explains a scene
from "The Sublease" and if you watch it closely you
can see that the window shade pull swings THROUGH the
windowpane! In the final flub, it explains that one of
the reasons I LOVE LUCY remains so fresh is that
you're seeing a truly "live" performance, filmed
straight through, like a play. Second takes were
extremely rare, even when the actors made minor
dialogue mistakes and give an example of this in a
scene from "The Sublease." The first of three
selections of "Special Footage" on this disc explains
how CBS's original broadcast of "Changing the Boys'
Wardrobe" ended with this special Christmas message
from Lucy and Desi, unseen since it's original
broadcast on December 7, 1953. The second selection
brings us a lost animation. It explains that these
animated sequences were used as transitions to the
closing commercial on a number of episodes during I
LOVE LUCY's third season. The final selection of
special footage is I LOVE LUCY's original closing
credits, which featured images of Philip Morris
cigarette packs. In the fifth "Lucy on the Radio"
bonus, we have the episode "Hobbies" from MY FAVORITE
HUSBAND and it was originally broadcast on April 9,
1950 and inspired the I LOVE LUCY episode "The Golf
Game." Also, more production notes. And finally, a
slide show of pictures of scenes from the third season
of I LOVE LUCY.
Final Comments:
In conclusion, this set was another fantastic release
from Paramount. They really go all out with I LOVE
LUCY. The special features are amazing because you can
see footage that hasn't been seen in over fifty years!
Overall, there really is nothing I would change about
these releases and I encourage Paramount to continue
doing what they are to bring us all of these amazing
treasures. Expect Season 4 in May and season 5 a few
months after that. As a life-long Lucy fan, I'm
thrilled to own this great set and you will be too!
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):
Video Quality: 4.5/5
Audio Quality: 4/5
Special Features: 5/5
Menu Design/Navigation: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5
-- Reviewed by TVJunkie101 on 011/21/05
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