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I Love Lucy - Season One, Volume Two

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.

The second in a set of two discs to be released in the DVD series of "I Love Lucy," Series One, Volume Two has pretty much the same perks as its sister disc. Again, there are tragically only four episodes on this disc, though I'm not going to go on and on about that again; you can read my review of Volume One for that quibble. ***

The episodes, once again, look spectacular, with images that have been cleaned up beautifully for a quality that is unprecedented for such a dated series. The episodes contained here are "Lucy Think Ricky is Trying to Murder Her," which aired on November 5, 1951, but has been used as the series opening episode for decades of reruns, "The Quiz Show," airing on November 12, "The Audition" on November 19, and "The Seance" on November 26. Again each episode is broken down by chapters, as well as musical numbers, too, so you can skip right to your favorite parts. ***

The special features are pretty much the same as the first volume. Three different bloopers from the first episode are highlighted here; it's finally nice to see someone acknowledge the fact that it was in fact Ricky, not Lucy, that drank from the tainted cup. The guest cast information is a bit repetitive if you've already seen that of the previous disc, but it still finds a nice home here. The series original opening is also lifted from the first volume. ***

Of extreme interest are episodes of the radio show "My Favorite Husband." One episode was the basis for the "I Love Lucy" episode "Lucy Thinks Ricky is Trying to Murder Her," though the television show is loosely based on the concept of the radio program. The episode that was the basis for "The Seance" is an almost word-for-word reading of the television episode, and it's quite fun to point out the similarities between the two. ***

The special footage contains much more than the previous volume, and is comprised of two openers for reruns for the period after Lucille Ball's pregnancy, a restored scene from "The Audition" in which Lucy holds up a cigarette pack, restored musical cues and selections, and a voice-over at the end credits of "The Quiz Show" detailing the guest stars. It's quite interesting to see just how many changes were made to the episodes, and how much more fluid and better they appear when in their original form. The behind-the-scenes photo gallery is a nice collection of production photographs from the first episode, showing the kitchen set in its rough, conceptual stages, and the cast and crew interacting with one another backstage. ***