The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
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| The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour | |
|---|---|
 Title card for The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. |
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| Genre | Situation comedy |
| Running time | 60 minutes per episode |
| Creator(s) | Desilu |
| Starring | Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Vivian Vance William Frawley Richard Keith |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | November 6, 1957–April 1, 1960 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour was a 1957-60 CBS television situation comedy. The show was more a collection of occasional specials than a regular series. Its original network title was The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show. It was the successor to the classic comedy, I Love Lucy, and featured the same major cast members. Desilu produced the show, which was mostly filmed at their Los Angeles studios with occasional on-location shoots at Lake Arrowhead, Las Vegas and Sun Valley, Idaho. CBS reran the show during the summers of 1962-67, after which it went into syndication.
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[edit] Description and evaluation
In the final season of I Love Lucy the Ricardo family moved to Westport, CT, which reflected the growth of the suburbs throughout America. The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour was also set in the new suburban locale, only at a 60-minute length and with guest stars such as Tallulah Bankhead, Betty Grable, Danny Thomas, Red Skelton and (in the final episode) Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams.
The show ended at almost the same time as the marriage of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. In fact, there were many episodes in which constant bickering between Lucy and Desi was noted. In the second-to-last episode of the series, titled "The Ricardos Go to Japan", Lucy appeared on screen red-eyed due to her crying during the arguments between herself and Desi. The series ended April 1, 1960, and their marriage ended May 4, 1960. (Actually, the last episode was filmed March 2, with the divorce proceedings starting the next day.)
Critics have generally regarded the series as a rather pallid continuation of I Love Lucy, with not enough of the original show's brisk pace and memorable sketchwork. Still, many fans enjoy the series due to the cast, which remained intact from the original. The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour is occasionally seen on nostalgia outlets like the TV Land cable network or in thirty-minute installments under the title We Love Lucy, where stations run it directly after the sixth season of I Love Lucy. This allows them to have 26 additional "episodes" that run like a seventh season.
Published reports indicate that the series will be released on DVD sometime in early 2007 as a complete set, along with the long-lost I Love Lucy movie.
[edit] Regular cast
| Actor/Character | |
|---|---|
| Lucille Ball | Lucy Ricardo |
| Desi Arnaz | Ricky Ricardo |
| Vivian Vance | Ethel Mertz |
| William Frawley | Fred Mertz |
| Keith Thibodeaux credited as "Richard Keith" | Little Ricky Ricardo |
