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I Love Lucy - Season One, Volume One

I love Lucy, and she loved comedy, and her television show has now become one of the most revered, talked-about, popular, beloved, hilarious, uproarious, riotous, exciting sitcoms ever in television history. What began as an idea spawned from a radio show developed into a series that, through extensive reruns after its initial premiere, has made more than just a simple name for itself. The show brought us into the life of Lucy Ricardo, her Latin husband Ricky whose fiery temper was always afoot whenever his wife was overdrawn in her accounts, or she bought herself too many clothes, or tried one of her endless parade of shenanigans to get into his act at a nightclub. We also met their neighbors, Fred and Ethel Mertz, the landlords of their apartment building who always seem to find themselves in the midst of Lucy's crazy schemes. ***

The first season of the show was unique in that these episodes could easily have been introduced later in the series, and would still have the same effect on audiences. The laughs are constant, the characters involving and quirky, the overall experience completely memorable and worthy of cherish. "I Love Lucy" is the true definition of what it means to be a classic.

First of all, I must commend the studios for their efforts in cleaning up "I Love Lucy." The black-and-white images have been beautifully restored and enhanced, providing us an image that is filled with solid blacks, nary a flicker or grain on the screen, and a clarity that was unheard of in the days of the show's television run. The sound remains monaural, but has also been tidied up a bit, and it matters little when the show looks this good.

For years, Columbia House has been releasing the episodes of "I Love Lucy" on DVD for a hefty price of $24.95, with only four episodes per disc! And now, Paramount, in connection with CBS Video, has come out with the first two DVDs in what looks to be a promising start to a new collection of the beloved series, complete with supplemental material that is immersive and beautifully rendered. ***

The disc contains four episodes from the first season of the series: "The Lost I Love Lucy Pilot," which was sold to the network CBS but was never broadcast, "The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub," which aired on October 15, 1951, "Be A Pal," which aired on October 22, and "The Diet, airing on October 29. While the clarity of these episodes is spectacular and just the mere fact that attention is being devoted to them from the DVD field, the fact that Paramount is releasing the episodes four to a disc, only two discs at a time, is baffling, considering their success with the popular "Star Trek: The Next Generation," whose entire first season was released months ago. Why not the same treatment for this series, with a special bonus disc for supplements? ***

The supplemental material begins with "Flubs," which features two bloopers from the shows contained on the disc. This is followed by the guest cast information on those actors who make repeated appearances throughout the series that got their introduction in this season. Each contains a small bio, as well as a list of the episodes in which they appeared. ***

Moving ahead, we find ourselves in more immersive territory, beginning with a selection from the radio show "My Favorite Husband," the show that landed Lucille Ball a spot on television in the first place. It's interesting to listen to her voice and imagine her movements, her mannerisms, and her facial expressions as she talks. It's also equally surprising to listen to a selected add-on that comes at the end of the show, in which a narrator regails the various praiseworthy remarks made by listeners who felt she would be an even bigger success on television. ***

The "Special Footage" is comprised of a deleted sequence from "The Diet" that was later added in when the episode was re-run after Ball's pregnancy and childbirth, and a soundtrack selection that was cut due to syndication reasons from the end of "The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub." And the original opening sequence features a promotional gig for Philip Morris cigarettes; it's interesting to look at this and note the vast changes that have taken place in our society since 1951. ***

The most intriguing of all the features is the audio behind-the-scenes feature, which is a book excerpt from Jess Oppenheimer's book "Laughs, Luck... and Lucy," narrated by Larry Dobkin." It tells the story of the beginnings of the show, from Lucille Ball's start on "My Favorite Husband," to her pushing to have her husband, Dezi Arnaz, play the role of her television spouse, despite studio rejections stemming from the notion that no one would believe that he was her husband on the show (she wryly remarked, "But he is my husband."). It tells of CBS's final committment to the show when it appeared that NBC would be the studio of choice, and then goes on to discuss the makings of the first episodes. I love this because there is a selection from an episode of "My Favorite Husband" that contains dialogue that any hardcore Lucy fan will undoubtedly recognize from one of the episodes of "I Love Lucy."