|
“I Love
Lucy: The Complete Second Season”
|
 |
Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Comedy |
| Video: |
1.33:1 Full
screen (black & white) |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
Surround 2.0 (mono) |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Length |
794 minutes
|
| Rating |
NR |
| Release Date |
9/7/04 |
| Studio |
Paramount
Home Video |
| Commentary:
|
None |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
“Season Two: Behind-The
–Scenes” |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
Deleted footage,
lost scenes |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
None |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Lucille Ball,
Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley |
| Written
By: |
Bob Carroll
Jr., Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer |
| Produced
By: |
Desi Arnaz,
Jess Oppenheimer |
| Directed
By: |
William Asher,
Marc Daniels, James V. Kern |
| Music:
|
Eliot Daniel,
Ralph Carmichael |
| The
Review: |
Luccccccccccccccccccccccccccccy.
OK, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system. When “I Love
Lucy” premiered in 1951 it literally created the template
for every situation comedy that followed. It was the first
TV program shot using film and three cameras. It also used
a series of standing sets on a regular basis making the characters
the focus of the comedy. More importantly, it used elements
of screwball comedy remolded them into a half hour format
and captivated a nation just beginning to purchase TV sets.
The second season of “I Love Lucy” broke even more new ground
with the pregnancy of Lucy. It really wasn’t an option as
Lucille Ball was carrying a baby in real life and there was
no way to write around it. Bravely Ball and her husband/co-star
and producer Desi Arnaz decided that it was OK to show a pregnant
woman on TV. Hadn’t been done before and the writers fashioned
many memorable episodes around the trails and tribulations
of pregnancy. It’s a classic despite the laugh track (which
also became standard operating procedure before live studio
audiences). ---
|
| Image
and Sound: |
Paramount
has painstakingly restored the series on DVD. While it doesn’t
look perfect (and what could given the age of the source material
and how many times the show has been syndicated?), it looks
really, really good. Using digital filtering techniques to clean
up the image and sound, Paramount presents “I Love Lucy” in
as close to pristine condition as we’ve ever seen it. In fact,
it probably didn’t look or sound this good in the 1950’s simply
because resolution was low on TVs. All 31 episodes look pretty
darn good. There’s occasional edge enhancement and shimmer as
a result of it but, on the whole, this boxed set had a considerable
amount of work put into cleaning it up for presentation. The
awkward popping and hissing that could be heard during the syndicated
run as the resolution on TV sets improved has all but been eliminated
in most cases. Kudos to Paramount and the Arnaz family for taking
such great care to restore such an important TV classic as it’s
becoming increasingly rare in the case of vintage classics.
--- |
| The
Extras: |
The first
season set had the original unaired pilot produced for the
network as the most attractive extra. There was also material
from the radio show, a behind-the-scenes featurette, outtakes,
the original series opening and other great extras. It’s really
hard to top that and there aren’t any stunning new features.
We get more of the same here which is better than most boxed
sets on vintage shows. We get lost scenes that were edited
for time considerations, deleted footage and some outtakes.
There’s also a delightful and candid assessment of the challenges
facing the cast and crew during the second season highlighted
in a new very good behind-the-scenes featurette. ---
|
| Commentary:
|
No audio
commentary. A suggestion to Paramount might be to use the text
commentary that has gone over so well in the “Star Trek” movies
and “The Original Series” boxed set they recently put out. This
isn’t a criticism just a suggestion as a lot of trivia on the
making of the series could be put into such a format. Paramount
has continued to raise the bar for the release of boxed sets
(with the notable exception of the first season of “Happy Days”)
and they continue to do so here. --- |
| Final
Words: |
A delightful
slice of history that will keep you laughing for hours, “I Love
Lucy: The Second Season” is spread out over five DVD discs with
all 31 original episodes in their original running order. The
image quality is truly terrific. The extras although not quite
as enlightening as season one, still are pretty darn good. |
