Life With Lucy - Lucy Makes a Hit with John Ritter (1 of 3)
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- Опубліковано 18 вер 2024
- John Ritter comes into the hardware store looking for antique door knobs, and Lucy almost cripples him with a series of accidents, advertantly injuring his hands and foot. Lucy takes him home to help him recuperate. After the lead actress drops out, Lucy gets a part in the play John is doing at the Pasadena Playhouse.
![John Ritter • Interview (Stunts/“Skin Deep”/“It”) • 1990 [Reelin' In The Years Archive]](/img/n.gif)
Two geniuses with the physical comedy routine...Lucy & John...
This is full on John Ritter at full 110%. He must have been stoked to work next to Lucy, his comedic idol!
Gale Gordon was a brilliant performer who never lost his timing and his dignity. That voice is beautiful.
Agreed! His voice was just incredible. He voiced my favorite character in the relatively ancient radio serial Speed Gibson of the International Secret Police, and this was nearly 50 years later. Just amazing.
You've got to give Lucy and Gale credit. They gave their all and worked really hard at this show. Even so, their time had passed.
Ritter, like Ball, were great physical comics.
Surprising amount of physical comedy in this one!
Only a few seconds in, and the way she keeps slamming that countertop down... someone is going to get hurt with that thing, I can just tell. 😂
Classic episode with two legends! 🤣
I've never seen this show, but I might watch this one just cause John Ritter's on it
It was Lucy's time when she passed, and I miss her. But John Ritter passed, that was the cruelest thing that God could ever do!! I miss the man so much
Comical Geniuses, John, Lucy, and Gale
One of Lucy's greatest comedies! Great material!
I love Lucy!
Wow, gotta love that ancient Ralph's bag design.
***** I thought she was Ricky's bag. :D
When "Life With Lucy" premiered in September 1986, "The Golden Girls" had already been a year redefining the kind of comedy audiences came to like from post-menopausal female stars. It didn't help that Lucy played on the very same night millions more were tuning in for Bea, Rue, Betty & Estelle, their show having just proved a darling at the Emmy Awards too. Girls cast a long shadow and made the kind of screwball antics that worked so well for Ball in the 50s and 60s seem very old hat. Unquestionably gifted comic talent that Ball was, she was also very modest, unsuited and likely unwilling to progress to the kind of frank and risque humor Girls was accustoming America to relish. "Life With Lucy" was an unfortunate goodbye, but it could never tarnish Ball's true legacy.
Sadly, I agree with your assessment.
What was more, Lucy was said to have been a big fan of The Golden Girls (she & Betty being old, good friends & of course, having acted with Bea in the film version of Mame, though Bea always felt Lucy was not right for the part).
Bingo.
This is full on John Ritter at full 110%. He must have been stoked to work next to Lucy, his comedic idol!
Was wondering if this show went up againts The Golden Girls thank you for that info. Yeah I tried watching this lucy show and it was not funny it had moments but I can see how it would not fare well against the Golden Girls. Sad that it was her last time on TV she deserved a better send off. Hiring the same writers from all her previous shows may have seemed like a good idea at the time but they were stuck in the past writing a 1950s show for the 80s
Television icon- Larry Anderson!
Thank you for posting this video
A shame it was canccelled... concidering the writers were the same team who wrote I Love Lucy. , the Lucy show and Here's Lucy.
Wow John Ritter as himself?
With Lucy?
Man all those years of smoking really altered her voice (not just aging).
I didn't even know she had this show. But yes compared to I Love Lucy her voice and everything changed a lot
I just watched a Here's Lucy from the early 70's and Lucy's voice sounds about the same. Definitely lower than the 50's but not much different than the late 60's or 70's.
Smoking definitely contributed, but the real damage was due to her never being vocally trained to project. In all those years of I Love Lucy, she tried to give the Lucy Ricardo character a youthful voice thus why she spoke in a higher register. That puts strain on your vocal chords. In 1961 when she did Wildcat on Broadway, she really damaged her voice as she was never a trained singer nor had theatre experience in projecting to large audiences 8 shows a week. It screwed up her voice permanently and a year later when she did The Lucy Show, you could tell her voice was different. She continued to give her Lucy characters that youthful sound by speaking in a higher register, but by the late 60's/early 70's it was hard to disguise how much her voice had altered.
They should have given this show more of a chance.. but Lucy was getting older..
i agree...if the would have re-casted the family
I loved this show, and the intro song is amazing. Thanks, Eydie. I will always love Lucy; I've seen all her television shows: I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, and Life with Lucy. My favorite is The Lucy Show, with that unforgettable kaleidoscope intro.
I would love to hear some audio from her 40s radio show, My Favorite Husband, and get the scripts of the episodes that are not available/extant on audio.
Friday, 6 February 2015 2004h14s
+Fersomling Finally, someone who loves ALL of Lucy's shows, like I do! And my favorite is THE LUCY SHOW as-well, but I also love LIFE WITH LUCY and wish it could have lasted longer. :-)
Me too !!!
Awesome and hilarious!!!!!
I used to have a crush on john ritter!!!! There was just something about him.... I don't know
Lucy;'s way ahead of her time with health food awareness!
Eddie Gourmet, who sings the theme song, passed away last week.
The chubby guy almost looks like Mark Holton from Pee Wee's big adventure.
Brian Van Ness He starred in original Police Academy as Leslie Barber
Thank you for posting. John Ritter gone far too soon.
She was worth 10s of millions...even if Lucy were skint, this would be embarrassing, but it's nice to see it on youtube.
VEI has just released the complete series on DVD, including the 5 episodes that were never aired.
I never knew Lucy did this show ...
Better than a sitcom with a 80 year old Betty White. They could replace boring shows today, sitcom instead of the chew.
well, didn't know Lucy would eventually become Ethel
Wow look at Gale Gordon all gray...aging the one thing none of us can avoid...
Lucy and John both died due to aortic ruptures but you are correct, Ritter's was the more unexpected and therefore more tragic.
Did they get all the applause out the way for the cast and special guests?
Stone Pillow brought me here. Lucy was so much better than this. :(
so sad that both these legends died from the same rare heart defect (aortic dissection).
A young Ruth Buzzi...
I love Lucille Ball but this show seems kind of dated for the time it was released.. The whole setup seems more like a show from the 60's and not a show from the 80's...
Jeff Roberts Probably because she brought her longtime writers, Robert Carroll and Madelyn Davis, out of retirement to write this fiasco.
Jeff Roberts A lot of shows from ABC looked like this (which is why the network was in third place)
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+Jeff Roberts You say that as if it is a bad thing! Personally, I'd rather watch a 1960s sitcom than one from the 1980s any day! So, the fact that this plays like a 1960s show is a major plus to me!
+Classic Junk her longtime writers, Robert Carroll and Madelyn Davis had success with all her earlyer shows with a track record of 4 hit shows...I love Lucy, the Lucy- Desi comedy hour , the Lucy show and Here's Lucy.........they hoped to make it 5 with Life with Lucy... sadly it didn't work out. still they did have a good successfull career as writers.
All I remember is a troupe of actors that I was part of back then in 1986 reacted by saying "Have you seen the new 'Lucy' show? It's sooooo bad."
This is a bit foreboding- the swallowing of The Harmonica - Years Later -John Ritters cause of death ; Aortic Tear in Main Artery -
Gale Gordon had class
Her rationale for doing this show was that "Golden Girls" was popular, which proved TV audiences were receptive to senior citizens.
And it was also one of her favorite shows. Problem was, that show rewrote the book on what older actors/actresses could do & say on television. Talk of sex, menopause & the like would have been hard to imagine before then. With The Golden Girls showing that not all older people sit around, knit & play bridge, expectations like that had changed. But she probably thought it was better that she was not doing such things on television, as she had an image to maintain.
Perhaps Lucy was still taking a chance on doing the same physical comedy she had always done, but even there, at 75 years old, bodies do not bounce back as quickly as they used to. You can hear audible gasps from the audience as she does the same pratfalls from 30-some years earlier. It is amazing how the show got insurance for doing that. In other circumstances, if someone broke a hip or something, the show would be shut down.
John Ritter made this episode!!!
Totally!
Lucy would have been a lot better on the Golden Girls she would have been fantastic in a more witty, age appropriate role instead of trying to replicate The Lucy Show of the 60s. That said gotta give her major respect for wanting to work again.
At least if kept Ruth Buzzi busy
Eydie Gorme.
It seems strange for Lucille Ball to do her star worshiping thing to John Ritter who was much younger . During most of her run as a TV star Ritter was a youngster .
ABC Ran this series "Life With Lucy" in 1986 on Saturday nights...The show was great but i don't think people knew it was on Saturday Nights then and because of low ratings it was cancelled. Sad that they only aired a few episodes then cancelled it. Some episodes didn't even air on the network. 1986 was a tough time to air Lucy's new series.
People knew it was airing on Saturday nights. Promotion was huge, and it premiered decently in the ratings, and then dropped each week millions of viewers. It was simply a bad show.
Unwatchable, truly. I prefer to remember her doing material that was worthy of her
was she fed lines thru an earpiece?
she fiddles with it...
The sad thought is is that if "Life With Lucy" was successful,it would've only lasted about three seasons as Lucille Ball passed away three years after the show premiered.
I heard she died of a broken heart. The commercial failure of this and the harsh critics is said to have crushed her and she was overheard saying...Well they don't love Lucy anymore...so what's the point of me being here anymore.. She went into a deep depression which she never came out of. This show killed only her spirit, but her. It's sad when we toss out treasures from the past onto a pile of garbage. And Lucy is and always will be a treasure. I loved her!
Marcus A No she died of an aortic rupture & literally bled to death (internally). It had nothing to do with her state of mind
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+Marcus A It wasn't the show that killed her spirit and her (in fact - the show could've saved her), it was the harsh critics - and the cynical fans who refused to say a kind word when needed. Just looking at the awful chain of comments on this video proves that.
+electrictroy2010 It was emotional and mental anguish that found physical expression. Just because something physical happened to her, doesn't mean it had nothing to do with her state of mind.
@@storybellz i don't see hateful comments on this thread actually a lot of people wishing it had lasted longer. But Lucy unfortunately was set in her ways and the writers she hired were stuck in the 50s and 60s. But I have read some of the reviews looked them up they were harsh. Combined with the fact that it went up against The Golden Girls this show all ready had an up hill battle.
I think she didn't just "take it" but was instrumental in developing it and wanted to get back in the tv spotlight again. The show was mediocre and, unfortunately, this particular type of comedy was no longer in demand in the 80's. A sad way to go out.
she insisted on the writers, but it wasnt the 60s any longer
This show didn't last very long but I think if John had been a regular it might have lasted longer😆😆
Would of only lasted till Lucy died 3yrs later.
According to her daughter and friends she started to go downhill after LWL was canceled. Had the show been a success she might of lived longer. Would of gave her something to do and kept her busy.
I remember when this aired. It wasn't funny to see people in their 70's and 80's doing slapstick.
Apparently, you can hear gasps of shock from the audience on the soundtrack. It is hard to laugh when you are wondering, "Are they OK?!".
Ritter was a little big for the room...
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You know, I don't think Lucy's return to TV was a rejection of Lucy, unto itself the show was bloody awful!
I love Lucille but I think they all tried too hard on this show.
Love Lucy...1st time watching this, another great classic tv show... Thank you for posting..
I am guy who always had a mad crush on John Ritter when he was younger like this. Absolutely loved his acting and he was sooooooo cute. I didn't see any of his work while he was cute like this while it was on the air as I am 27 years old, born in 1986. However, when Nick At Night started showing Three's Company I had the wildest crush on John Ritter. As for Lucy. Yea, sadly, her acting was horrible and she sounded like an old man. She should have ended with her flawless work of the 1950s!
Then you must seek out the 1975 Mary Tyler Moore episode "Ted's Wedding," where he and Georgette are married by Reverend Ritter who is wearing the most flattering tight white tennis shorts you're likely to see :)
Dave dvlaries Lmfao! I love you for this post. I am going to check that out. Thanks
Poor writers and themes. This is nothing like the 1960s Lucy Show which had to do with everyday events. Mama's Family was more in tune with 1980s issues. But to say this was a really poor sitcom compared to the kind of weird shows aired and praised in the 1980s is not credible.
+Davin Dx the writers were the same ones who had wriiten Lucy's earlyer successfull shows I Love Lucy, Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour , the Lucy show and Here's Lucy.
the little boy died in real life,
Should have kept Ritter, fired those fucking actors that played her children and give it a modern twist.
Does anyone know why Lucy took this job? At that point she was very old and hadn't been in much since the lucy show.
It was during the height of "Matlockmania", so networks were eager to dust off their former stars for fun and profit.
she never really recovered from the death of vivian vance in 1979. she was incredibly bored and after desi became sick and died she grew deppressed and needed somethng to occupy her time/mind. gary tried to talk her out of it be she was determined....gale gordon agreed to star only if his salary was guaranteed for the entire season....lucy for him as the show was cancelled after 8 episodes.....after the show was cancelled she again became deppressed....it was not for money cause at the time of her death she was worth over $40 million dollars....her beverly hills home alone was valued at over $9 million.
+oldrestless The best parts of the 1960s were celebrated in the 1980s. A lot of 1960s things-- Lucy, The Monkees, redone 60s songs were back in the mid 1980s. This is not as bad as 1980s sitcoms in retrospect but more was expected from this show. Can't stand the intro song but no one will tell me this was worse than any other 80s or 90s sitcoms.
+Davin Dx i agree with you.....what did this show in was the casting n writing.......I love lucy was an ensemble cast with great writing.....the lucy show went through many cast and storyline changes....the chemistry btwn Lucy & gale carried the show but the tv viewing audience in the 60's was very different once viv vance left the show there were several actress's who were considerd as viv's replacment but they wanted co-star billing alone side lucy n she refused all of them (ann souther was one of the actress).....she ended the lucy show n went into here's lucy all in the same season and the show was an instant it.....life with lucy was greenlit without the networks even seeing or requesting a pilot for the show.......lucy did not need the money and was officially done with tv....but with the death of vivian vance and desi arnaz she needed something to occupy her mind because all she was doing was sitting around the house depressed and thinking about her own immortality.....throughout each of her tv shows....lucy never had to focus on casting because the stroyline & writers primarly focused on her...the problem was lucy was now in her 70's....therefore more emphasis shld have been put on the cast.
same routines they did in the 1950's sad
It's interesting that Lucy's ragging on Gale Gordon for eating junk food, yet she was a chain smoker.
***** It's a scripted tv show. Need I state the obvious?
legasiguy Yes, but it was scripted by her longtime writers, under her supervision.
***** She didn't have the last say. I just looked at the producers directors, she's not in any of the credits. So again, it's a SCRIPTED show, need I state the obvious?
***** It doesn't mean her CHARACTER is a chain smoker.
Jamie Laszlo True.
Silly tripe....
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They’re all dead.
I will be in the minority, but I thought this whole entire scene was not funny at all. It was almost idiotic. To watch John Ritter jumping around like a fool carrying on because of the "injuries" was completely over acted and too much of a "put on". Gale Gordon telling Lucy to ask him first before purchasing anything, yawn, Mr Mooney all over again. Lucy smashing the potatoe chips, another idiotic scene. It was Lucy reacting to seeing any movie star that she and Ethel had seen in the 1950's where she is beyond star struck, it is sickening. No one acts like that. None of it was funny, it was beyond silly for a mature woman of her age to be acting like that. Gale Gordon should not have been cast against Lucy as he was in too many Lucy shows already and no matter what the characters name, gale Gordon will always be Mr Mooney. LWL is old done and tired, and I can see why only 8 episodes were aired and the rest were not. It was just not a good TV program. It seems like we have already seen this on TV many times over and Lucy was too old to be doing this nonsense, because that's what this is, nonsense. Either that or I am older and when I thought this type of stuff was funny, to me now, I find it rather stupid in a bad way. I think I had watched 3 episodes if that back in the day. I just re-watched this and I still feel it was terrible. I am also not a John Ritter fan either and I thought his TV program Threes Company was stupid. Maybe it is that type of humor that I don't like. Oh well.
Bobcat Goldthwait made hilarious fun of this shit in his "Share The Warmth" comedy special hahaha...oh dear God this is just pathetic. John Ritter must have owed her money or something to appear in this horrosity. He could have just cruised on his 3's Company $$$ while waiting for a quality project.
electrictroy2010 Fuck all that. TV was a wasteland of hacky shit like this back in the 80's. It's totally Godforsaken now, since 1999, with the advent of reality programming, but there has always been room for totally terrible television because the majority of people are morons.
+UA-cam-tied OK, so you must be one of the 1% that isn't a moron? Get off your high horse with your woefully misguided blanket judgments.
+VaultMasterDBT There was a comment after my original post that has since been deleted by the poster, that inspired my "fuck all that" reply. I don't quite recall the post but it must have been just as feckless as your's I'm afraid. Btw, Bobcat also tells a funny story about Special Olympians on an airplane that probably skews more towards your speed. Peace :)
Nope, my comment was not reckless, but well-thought out, as I don't appreciate people making blanket statements that "the majority of people are morons"..especially since it's not true. Intelligent people do like to relax with sometimes mindless forms of entertainment; still, a lot of us do agree that "Life With Lucy" was a very poor vehicle for Ms. Ball.
just as bad as the rest, Mr Ritter was as sad and dated as the rest....maybe this would have worked in 1972...