Season 1 of “The Lucy Show” out on DVD today!

Today’s the day!

The complete first season of Lucille Ball’s follow-up series to I Love Lucy is finally out on DVD. It’s called The Lucy Show. Fans may already have some episodes from this 1962-68 series but never in complete seasons and only a handful from the first year. There has been some kind of public domain issue I believe that seems to have been resolved.

While not the classic that I Love Lucy was, The Lucy Show was really terrific in its first 2-3 seasons or so. Mostly because it also starred Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz from the first series) and focused on two women (Lucy a widow, Vivian a divorcee) sharing a home, raising their kids, and getting into all kinds of trouble as they tried to install a shower, fix the rooftop antenna, or start their own business.

Miss Vance left after three years and the show really suffered because of it. It became something of a cartoon and had none of tbe heart of I Love Lucy or the earlier seasons and relied on silly gimmicks and guest stars as time went on. And let’s face it, Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon) the banker was not as good an oppressor as Ricky was – he just came off as a meanie. And Mary Jane (Mary Jane Croft) was no Viv.

Desi Arnaz was the executive producer this first year and there are 30 episodes in the collection – most of which have been very rarely seen in recent decades. The first season also featured Dick Martin as the next door neighbor, a pilot who would come back from a trip and find the single moms in a whole heap of trouble.

One of my favorites is the installing a shower episode (the doors get jammed because they installed them backwards and the water is rising with Lucy and Viv inside) and the girls start squabbling. Lucy: “Maybe somebody will come by the house and save us?” Viv: “Who? Some door to door frogman!”

Miss Ball would go on to win two best actress Emmys for this series.

Here is a YouTube video of the shower episode: