"Life With Lucy" - 25 Years Later: This Show And Its Star Lucille Ball Deserved More Respect - Herbie J Pilato

On Saturday night September 20th 1986 the legendary Lucille Ball partnered with producers Aaron Spelling and Douglas S Cramer and brought back to the smallscreen a sitcom that chronicled the updated adventures of Ball39s iconic Lucy personaThis time the actress played grandmother Lucille Barker who resided in Pasadena California with her daughter soninlaw two grandchildren and inlaw grandfatherhardwarestorebusinesspartner Curtis McGibbons played by Gale GordonAs Lucy fans around the globe very well know Gordon had appeared with Ball on each of the earlier Lucy incarnations in one capacity or the other On I Love Lucy CBS 195157 in which Ball costarred with husband Desi Arnaz she had originally cast Gordon as neighbor Fred Mertz But the actor was unavailable for the role that ultimately went to William Frawley who later appeared on CBS39 My Three Sons with Fred McMurray Gordon however did have the chance to at least gueststar on Love and its later expanded edition The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour CBS 195760After Ball and Arnaz divorced and the Hour was no more the comedic actress returned to TV with The Lucy Show CBS 196268 and this time Gordon was available on a regular basis and was cast as the banker Mr Mooney to Ball39s Mrs Carmichael A few years later Ball reworked her TV presence once more and played Lucy Carter on Here39s Lucy CBS 196874 with Gordon portraying brotherinlaw Harrison CarterSome 12 years after Here39s Lucy left CBS Life With Lucy arrived on ABCIn between those years Ball gueststarred on variety programs like The Dean Martin Show and The Bob Hope Specials and made a few of her own specials for CBS some of which had dramatic elements She then dramatically exited the tiffany network for a short affair with NBCYet it was with ABC39s Life With Lucy that the actress returned to her beloved redheaded roots on a weekly basisIn addition to Gordon39s return to her side on Life as the staple second banana a position he embraced and revered Ball hired longtime Lucy scribes Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Carroll Jr while second husband Gary Morton a former standup comic joined Spelling and Cramer as Life39s coproducersThe time for Life seemed right Ball had recently appeared in a highlyrated TVmovie for CBS titled Stone Pillow in which she played a homeless woman Her performance was heralded by critics and Lucy fans alike and everyone deemed it a period for Ball to come back to weekly TVConsequently Life With Lucy was bornUnfortunately it then died a very quick and painful deathThirteen episodes were produced but only seven were aired The first episode titled One Good Grandparent Deserves Another cleared the Top Twenty in the ratings but the critics were brutal In subsequent weeks the audience dwindledThe overt negative reactions from fans and critics alike devastated Ball so much so she later appeared on The Joan Rivers Show and weptThere were attacks from critics and fans about the writing The show was called archaic and out of step with the times What39s more Ball was now in her late seventies and years of smoking and not properly catering to her health an ironic twist as her Lucy Barker character from Life was defined as healthconscious had taken its tollIn event the Life complaints had crippled herBall was no longer young and her brand of slapstick comedy had outworn its welcome a tad shy of Nick at Nite39s retro TV resurgence which commenced a mere three years later in 1989 with an allnew network dedicated to all old showsLife With Lucy was rejected and the real life Lucy took it personal She felt unloved by fans critics and colleagues She was overcome by the insecurities possessed by many performers particularly comedic performers Her skin was not thick enough her mindset could not bear the unyielding attacks of which she simply was not preparedAs a result the once enthusiasticallypromoted Life With Lucy was no more amp8211 and in time so would be the case with Lucille Ball herself In 1989 at age 77 she died of heart troubles or a troubled heartin the form of a ruptured aorta Ironically this was same disorder that in 2003 would kill John Ritter who Lucy had adored for years as the star of Three39s Company and who gueststarred on Life39s second airedepisode Lucy Makes A Hit With John RitterHowever one decides to word it Lucille Ball had been fired and that was simply something that the esteemed actress had never experienced It was a development that ultimately proved too much for her to take A glowing small screen image that was introduced to the world with I Love Lucy and that classic shows iconic bigheart in its logo had now died of a broken heart again however one decides to word it Ball39s adoring personal and public fans were no where in sight Seemingly they had deserted her and dwindled away some thirty years after the world fell in Love with LucyAfter Ball39s demise millions of Lucy fans then came out of the woodwork and mourned Lines reaching around the block surrounded the hospital in which she was attended during her final daysHad Life With Lucy been given a fair shake the story may have ended differentlyLife With Lucy had its issues but any new television show needs time find its pace Life was no different Its development required patience amp8211 from all of those involved with its production and from Lucy39s fans Had it been granted at least one season or maybe two Life would have found its rhythm The episodes were sweet and in many instances superior to a few segments that were presented on Here39s LucyThe Life character of Lucy Barker had infinite more texture than both Lucy Carter on Here39s Lucy and Lucy Carmichael on The Lucy Show Lucy39s Carter had legitimate emotions and interactions that were displayed realistically for a TV character in her age bracket particularly in the era of The Golden Girls which aired Saturday nights on NBC one hour after LifeLucy Barker interacted with her fellow TV characters in charming ways Yes the comedy was somewhat broad and maybe a little out of date as well as slightly jarring for viewers who were somewhat aghast to see the aged actress performing so physically for her age But the show had promise and it deserved an opportunity to shineUpon viewing each subsequent episode it became clear the show was improving and that Lucille was having a ball She allowed her costars their comedic onscreen moments and seemed to delight in their performances in a combined reaction as both Lucy Barker and Lucille BallWith a career that spanned decades Lucille Ball the actress could deliver a line of dialogue and dance with the best of them and she did Although she could only slightly carry a tune by her own admission the spectacular thespian was able to pull off any vocal performance with charismatic appeal As one of the most outstanding entertainers in the history of the industry she contributed a great deal to so many in countless ways for agesIn short Lucille Ball in her later years deserved more than the heartless attacks and abandonment that she received by way of Life With LucyHerbie J Pilato is a WriterProducer who has worked for Syfy AampampE TLC Bravo The Discovery Channel Universal Warner Bros and Sony Herbie J is the author of a number of acclaimed TV tiein books The Bionic Book Life Story The Book of Life Goes On The Bewitched Book Bewitched Forever The Kung Fu Book of Caine The Kung Fu Book of Wisdom and NBC ampamp ME My Life As A Page In A Book In 2010 Herbie J founded The Classic TV Preservation Society a nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the gap between positive TV shows and education and presently serves as Creative Director for Erie Street Entertainment a TV production company that is geared toward scififantasy andamp160familyoriented materialamp160 For more information please log on to wwwClassicTVPSblogspotcom or wwwErieStreetEntertainmentblogspotcom or contact Herbie J directly via hjpilatoyahoocomRead all Herbie J39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Herbie J39s Classic TV CornerCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerMediaBizBloggers is an openthought leadership blog platform for media marketing and advertising professionals companies and organizations To contribute contact Jackmediadvisorygroupcom The opinions expressed in MediaBizBloggerscom are not those of Media Advisory Group its employees or other MediaBizBloggerscom contributors Media Advisory Group accepts no responsibility for the views of MediaBizBloggers authors

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"Life With Lucy" - 25 Years Later: This Show And Its Star Lucille Ball Deserved More Respect - Herbie J Pilato

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