Thursday, July 25, 2013

A Classic Reborn: Here's Lucy (1968)

After six seasons of The Lucy Show, Emmy winner Lucille Ball would only consent to continue with one provision----that her children would co-star with her.

Daughter Lucie Arnaz had made a guest appearance on The Lucy Show, and her brother, Desi, Jr., had appeared with his father on The Mothers-In-Law. Now, they'd be together with their mother in Here's Lucy, which anchored CBS' Monday lineup, alongside, of course, Gunsmoke, for six seasons of its own (1968-74).

As was the case at the end of The Lucy Show's run, Lucy relied on major celebrity guest stars, such as Elizabeth Taylor and then-husband Richard Burton, and Joan Rivers, to help reel in the viewers. Well, it worked, and one must assume that the series ended because Lucy had finally decided to walk away after 12 seasons. She'd spend the rest of the decade carefully selecting movie roles and was feted by Dean Martin on his Celebrity Roast.

Edit--11/24/15: The intro has been deleted. In its place, we offer a network promo for the show.



Rating: B.

2 comments:

magicdog said...

This show was likeable, but I think it was the guest stars that really kept the show afloat. Half the fun was wondering who would drop in and become an unwilling partner in Lucy's antics! Mike Connors even came on in character as Mannix - of course that's because it was a Desilu production - but it was fun!

hobbyfan said...

Actually, it was a case of sharing the same network--CBS. By the time Here's Lucy debuted, Desilu had been absorbed by Paramount, and Lucy had formed her own self-named production company for this show.