The Lucy Show (The Official Fourth Season) – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews

Big changes came to Lucy Carmichael (Lucille Ball) halfway through her televised life. She became a single woman with the departure of her children. She no longer shared a house with Vivian (Vivian Vance) in New York and her newfound freedom allowed her to move to California where she received a full time job at Mr. Mooney’s bank. Even more astounding to home audiences was finally seeing the iconic redhead broadcast in color. The series became completely revamped for the fourth season of The Lucy Show.

“Lucy at Marineland” starts the season with a little piece of unfinished business. She must dump her son from the show. His fate is nicer than merely abandoning him off camera like the MIA daughter. The son gets a chance to step away into a military boarding school run by Harvey Korman (Blazing Saddles). The kid seems too cheerful about vanishing from a hit sitcom. Maybe Lucy had told him he was getting a spin-off like Bill Cosby did with Lisa Bonet? In order to impress Korman, she drags the son to Marineland to pal around with the other students. There’s a guest bit from baseball star Jimmy Piersall. His life would become the movie Fear Strikes Out. While at Marineland, Lucy gets into trouble inside the big tank. Seals and dolphins become her slapstick partners. Lucy’s real kids have cameos. In a few years they’d be her TV kids on Here’s Lucy. She won’t ship them off to military academies. “Lucy and the Golden Geek” has her set up on a blind date with Howard Morris (The Andy Griffith Show‘s Ernest T. Bass). He’s s timid kinda guy until Greek music enters his ear.

With the absence of kids and a true companion in California, the series became an extension of the Lucy in Hollywood episodes from I Love Lucy except with no Ricky, Fred and Ethel to hold her back. At first Lucy holds down a series of temp jobs between asking Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon) for cash. “Lucy in the Music World” places her at a record label. She revives the career of Mel Torme to be hip with the kids. It appears the Joan Blondell becomes the latest attempt to find a new Vivian for her to play off. “Lucy, the Stunt Man” gets her a gig on a Western movie when she calls herself Iron Man Carmichael. She gets pounded by the other stuntmen. Ann Sothern returns as the Countess Framboise in “Lucy and the Countess Have a Horse Guest.” But the duo are upstaged by a cameo from William Frawley. Fred Mertz returns for a moment.

Stars come fast and furious to the show. “Lucy Helps Danny Thomas” proves she can’t help anyone, but herself. She ends up performing on his show. “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” fakes her into thinking she’s hanging with Milton’s brother. “Lucy Discovers Wayne Newton” unloads Mr. Vegas when he was a pudgy tot. She wants him to be a big star, but he can only sing to a cow. “Lucy and Art Linkletter” ups the ante when she accepts a bet to not say a word in 24 hours for $200. Might be easy money until an intruder enters her house. “Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney” involves an acting school run by the former biggest star in the world. Lucy wants to study under Mickey. They end up doing a scene from Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid. She puts her new talents to use on “Lucy and the Soap Opera.” She wants to keep her favorite character from being killed so she gets on the set. The stars come out for “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” including Edward G. Robinson, Jimmy Durante and Kirk Douglas. She’s supposed to be an usher, but she steals the show.

The two best episodes involve major stars getting involved with Lucy. “Lucy Dates Dean Martin” makes her think she’s only going out on a date with Dino’s double. But the guy can’t make it so Dino takes her out. She doesn’t think it’s the real guy. “Lucy and Bob Crane” teams her up with Col. Hogan. He’s making a movie and she gets hired to be a stunt man as Iron Man Carmichael. At least she doesn’t beat him with a tripod. There’s a quick cameo from a Stalag 13 regular. With Dino and Bob Crane on the set, this new version of Lucy was a swinger in California. Those who bought The Lucy Show: The Official First Season will be shocked by the transformation. The changes do set the stage for Here’s Lucy. It’s not unexpected that she’d jettison the kids since they really didn’t work for her. The Lucy Show: The Official Fourth Season gives us a streamlined show with a woman not held back by family issues.

The Episodes
“Lucy at Marineland,” “Lucy and the Golden Greek,” “Lucy in the Music World,” “Lucy and Joan,” “Lucy, the Stunt Man,” “Lucy and the Countess Have a Horse Guest,” “Lucy Helps Danny Thomas,” “Lucy Helps the Countess,” “Lucy and the Sleeping Beauty,” “Lucy, the Undercover Agent,” “Lucy and the Return of the Iron Man,” “Lucy Saves Milton Berle,” “Lucy, the Choirmaster,” “Lucy Discovers Wayne Newton,” “Lucy, the Rain Goddess,” “Lucy and Art Linkletter,” “Lucy Bags a Bargain,” “Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney,” “Lucy and the Soap Opera,” “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere,” “Lucy Dates Dean Martin,” “Lucy and Bob Crane,” “Lucy, the Robot,” “Lucy and Clint Walker,” “Lucy, the Gun Moll” and “Lucy, the Superwoman.”


The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The colors bring out the red in Lucy’s hair. This probably had better detail than when people first saw it broadcasted. The audio is Dolby Digital mono. You’ll get all of Lucy’s whines in full effect. The episodes are subtitled.

Lucy: Behind the Scenes (5:56) is footage of Lucy at Marineland. She nearly gets wiped out by a seal pulling her raft. There’s also a selections of stills from the location work.

CBS Fall Promo (1:03) lets Lucy introduce the audience to her colorful life in California.

Meet the Thompsons are text bios for director Maury Thompson and producer Tommy Thompson. They weren’t related.

Original Broadcasts includes original openings and closings to the show including sponsors’ plugs for various episodes.

Wonderful World of Burlesque (2:48) is from Lucy’s segment on the Danny Thomas special that aired in 1965. She comes out dressed as a butterfly for a dance routine. She stays clothed while flying around the stage.

Gale Gordon Holiday Messages (4:45) are five radio PSAs to not drink and drive.

Beatrice Food Presentation (3:26) is only the audio for this short done by Lucy and Gale for a sponsor. The DVD producers manipulated footage from an episode to create a visual component.

The Magic of Broadcasting (7:00) is from Arthur Godfrey’s CBS Special. He gets a behind the scenes tour of Desilu Studios. Gale gets to talk from his dressing room.

Promo (0:24) shows her destruction of sets.

Daytime Bumper (0:10) is from the time when the show ran on CBS daytime. It reminds you to stick around for the second half.

Meet Milt Josefsberg is a text bio about the writer. He went on to work on Happy Days.

Guest Cast identifies the folks that appeared in all the episodes.

Production Notes gives trivia about the season. This should be extremely entertaining to Lucy fanatics who’ve learned everything about I Love Lucy.

Photo Gallery contains dozens of production stills and promotional materials from throughout the season.

The Lucy Show: The Official Fourth Season completely changes the original premise of the sitcom. No more is Lucy dealing with family members and Vivian when she attempts her crazy schemes. She’s in Los Angeles so she’s free to stalk the stars. This is the situation that dominated the second half of her TV career. The best part of the show is guest star bits from Dean Martin and Bob Crane.


CBS DVD presents The Lucy Show: The Official Fourth Season. Starring: Lucille Ball, Gale Gordon, Dean Martin and Bob Crane. Boxset Contents: 26 episodes on 4 DVDs. Released on DVD: March 29, 2011.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.