Friday, February 7, 2014

TV Gold found while mining Hulu

I recently rediscovered a comedy classic while "mining" on Hulu. 
While I've long been a fan of Lucille Ball, she's probably more universally known for her work on "I Love Lucy", rather than "The Lucy Show" or "Here's Lucy". 
I grew up on all those gems, being lucky enough to catch "Here's Lucy" first run broadcast, as it was a show that the entire family enjoyed. 
(Yeah, back in the 60's families usually had only one TV, a console in the living room) 
Anyway, "Here's Lucy" for whatever reason wasn't put into syndication as her other shows were. 
Or rather, it never enjoyed the commercial success its predecessors did. 
That being said, I haven't seen the show since it's first run. 

I just discovered it on Hulu. 

And as wonderful a show as it was, it truly presents a time capsule view of the world at that time. Political correctness? The concept doesn't exist. 
And above all else, you have a glimpse of utter glowing nepotism at its finest.  
Nepotism? 
Think about it. 
"Here's Lucy" was produced by Gary Morton (Lucy's husband) at DesiLu Studios. 
Starring Lucille Ball, and her two children, Desi and Lucy Jr. 
  
And in re-watching these episodes for the first time, I'm honestly amazed at the cross pollination that took place, and the talent that Lucy was able to pull to do a sitcom. (I'm going to gloss over the burlesque racial stereotyping)  
As an example, the episode, "Lucy meets the Burtons" season 3, episode 1, had as guest stars, on a television sitcom for the first time, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. 
Something that would confound the first time viewer is the constant reference to "the ring"... quick backstory on that, Burton bought what was at that time, the world's most expensive diamond, and had it put into a ring he gave to Elizabeth. Hence, "The Ring". 
The episode provided for Burton to show off his Shakespeare, set up a wonderful demonstration of Lucy's physical comedy skills juxtaposed with Burton's epic stoic gaze, (aka Burton being Burton) show off "the ring", and above all else, the "power" of the show by featuring what was at the time the Power Couple, Liz and Dick and insuring top dollar for commercial time.




No comments: