Search - The Lucy Show (Lucy Gets Trapped & Lucy & The French Movie Star + BONUS: Jack Benny Program: How Jack Found Mary" on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 7/25/2023...

Not as good as the I Love Lucy Show with plotline content and lower audio and video quality. Slide on over to the I Love Lucy series instead!

Die Hard Fans Will Get Their Laughs

Mark Baker | Santa Clarita, CA United States | 05/27/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"While I've long been a fan of Lucy's classic I LOVE LUCY, I have yet to see any of the episodes of her other sitcoms. I went about correcting that with this set. The results weren't quite as exciting as I expected.

Turns out that there are 30 episodes of this show that have gone into the public domain. Bet you can't guess which episodes are here. We get two from the first season. Then, Lucy Carmichael (Lucille Ball) and Vivian Bagley (Vivian Vance) are two formerly married women living together to raise their children. "Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower" especially is downright hilarious.

The other 28 episodes are from the fifth and sixth seasons (mostly fifth). Here, Lucy has moved to California and is working as a secretary in a bank for Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon). Some of these episodes are pretty funny, like the one where Lucy gets an expensive ring stuck on her finger or gets caught in the draft. These episodes allowed Lucy to show off her great physical comedy.

The problems with these episodes is often two fold. One, Mr. Mooney was a one note character. He's never sympathetic and only there to react to Lucy. Even then, his only reaction is to get angry at her. It's funny sometimes, but it needed more. While Lucy does have a friend she hangs out with, that friend is usually only in a scene or two as a plot device. Additionally, these episodes are filled with guest stars like John Wayne, Sheldon Leonard, and George Burns to name a few. Most of the time, the guest star tends to take over the episode, not really giving us a decent plot.

Honestly, this DVD set doesn't help. It's rather obvious at times that it was put together from someone's VHS tapes. The picture quality is poor with lots of grain and dust even in the best pictures. The color and brightness can fade without warning as well. The sound is fine, although it doesn't need to be in full surround. We also get three bits of her old radio show, but it really is hard to get into a five minute clip from a 25 minute story.

Since the show is finally being released in season sets, my best advice is to stay away from this one."