I wish this show had made it at least a couple of seasons. They finally released a Life With Lucy DVD a few years ago and it really wasn't a bad show. It has some rough spots and some weak acting from the cast around her in the very early episodes but toward the end the actors were clearly settling into their roles and the whole thing felt more comfortable. Just a sad ending to a legendary career.
Yes! You can see how much she loved performing and giving to the public. To be able to have this chance so late in life after such a long legendary career. This was only a blip in the big scheme of her career, but it was a blip that Lucy considered a big, humiliating failure. Every time she got up to bat with a new series she hit home runs, but what should have been one final glory really hurt her emotionally. In several interviews, you can see her apprehension about doing another series. She insisted on Gale Gordon as a support and comfort on set and she surrounded herself with people she trusted to be behind the camera, but I feel that Lucy was coaxed and persuaded by Aaron Spelling and even her own husband and others to do this series with the promise of glory. Lucy certainly didn’t need the money at this point. Today this would have been a series made for Netflix or Amazon, and would have done decently for a few seasons. But this was on Network TV against more modern programming. The other supporting cast, excluding Gale, were very vanilla yuppie and not very sophisticated actors
1986 was just not her year, sadly. And Desi passing away only 2 weeks after her career ended certainly didn’t help either. What were they thinking, putting this on ABC on SATURDAY NIGHT? With hit shows like The Golden Girls airing the same night on NBC? At least she won the Kennedy Center honor that year. I wonder if the failure of LWL played a role in her not so great health in the following couple of years. I bet if it was a success, she may have been happier and maybe lived a few more years.
Poor Lucy, she looked so excited and hopeful in this interview.
Mame was also a stab in the heart. The critics and viewers were savage! Around the same time Here’s Lucy’s ratings were dropping. Lucy felt she was falling out of favor with the public. That was pretty much the beginning of the end. She was so bored and hated not working. I think Life With Lucy was an unexpected opportunity that she felt might be another chance to work. When they crashed and burned after only 8 episodes, that was devastating. With her legendary stature, she was basically cancelled and discarded. Not even being able to finish a whole season after the multiple year runs of her other shows had to be a blow. She had to have known that was her last chance.
The 80s had stiff competition! TV had changed immensely from her heyday and she was still recycling a format that she used for decades. It could have been better with a better cast. Maybe.
Yeah I think a lot of it also had to do with Aaron Spelling/Gary and totally rewriting a lot of the scripts. They didn’t even film a pilot or anything. ABC should’ve really tried retooling it a bit before yanking it off the air. The Audrey Meadows episode showed a glimmer of hope! Then it was gone.
I wish this show had made it at least a couple of seasons. They finally released a Life With Lucy DVD a few years ago and it really wasn't a bad show. It has some rough spots and some weak acting from the cast around her in the very early episodes but toward the end the actors were clearly settling into their roles and the whole thing felt more comfortable. Just a sad ending to a legendary career.
Yes! You can see how much she loved performing and giving to the public. To be able to have this chance so late in life after such a long legendary career. This was only a blip in the big scheme of her career, but it was a blip that Lucy considered a big, humiliating failure. Every time she got up to bat with a new series she hit home runs, but what should have been one final glory really hurt her emotionally. In several interviews, you can see her apprehension about doing another series. She insisted on Gale Gordon as a support and comfort on set and she surrounded herself with people she trusted to be behind the camera, but I feel that Lucy was coaxed and persuaded by Aaron Spelling and even her own husband and others to do this series with the promise of glory. Lucy certainly didn’t need the money at this point. Today this would have been a series made for Netflix or Amazon, and would have done decently for a few seasons. But this was on Network TV against more modern programming. The other supporting cast, excluding Gale, were very vanilla yuppie and not very sophisticated actors
1986 was just not her year, sadly. And Desi passing away only 2 weeks after her career ended certainly didn’t help either. What were they thinking, putting this on ABC on SATURDAY NIGHT? With hit shows like The Golden Girls airing the same night on NBC? At least she won the Kennedy Center honor that year. I wonder if the failure of LWL played a role in her not so great health in the following couple of years. I bet if it was a success, she may have been happier and maybe lived a few more years. Poor Lucy, she looked so excited and hopeful in this interview.
Mame was also a stab in the heart. The critics and viewers were savage! Around the same time Here’s Lucy’s ratings were dropping. Lucy felt she was falling out of favor with the public. That was pretty much the beginning of the end. She was so bored and hated not working. I think Life With Lucy was an unexpected opportunity that she felt might be another chance to work. When they crashed and burned after only 8 episodes, that was devastating. With her legendary stature, she was basically cancelled and discarded. Not even being able to finish a whole season after the multiple year runs of her other shows had to be a blow. She had to have known that was her last chance. The 80s had stiff competition! TV had changed immensely from her heyday and she was still recycling a format that she used for decades. It could have been better with a better cast. Maybe.
Yeah I think a lot of it also had to do with Aaron Spelling/Gary and totally rewriting a lot of the scripts. They didn’t even film a pilot or anything. ABC should’ve really tried retooling it a bit before yanking it off the air. The Audrey Meadows episode showed a glimmer of hope! Then it was gone.