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I Love Lucy - Season One, Volume Three

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.

The third installment into the first season of the new "I Love Lucy" DVD series carries with it much of the material from the previous two discs that came during summer, only it relates directly to the episodes included here. Features like the original opening promoting Philip Morris cigarettes, and the guest cast information for those who appeared in the episodes showcased on the disc, are repetitious, but everything else shines. ***

The four episodes on this third volume are some of the first season's funniest. "Men Are Messy" features the ultimate battle for power as Lucy tries to prove to Ricky that he's a complete "messcat"; "The Fur Coat" is tangled with subplots and laughs galore as Ricky tries to tell Lucy about the real origins of her anniversary present; "Lucy is Jealous of a Girl Singer" showcases one of Lucy's first attempts to get into Ricky's act, this time to keep here eyes on him; and "Drafted" chronicles how two different misunderstandings can lead to some extremely funny results, and a crowded closet of party guests. ***

The supplemental material relating to these episodes is just as interesting as the previous releases. The flubs are quite unique, pointing out things like the inconsistency in the height of Lucy and Ricky's apartment (in one episode, Lucy says that they live on the fourth floor, but in "The Fur Coat," Fred uses a ladder to crawl into their bedroom window). This is followed by special unreleased footage that now finds a new home on DVD: it's so hard to believe that television censors were preoccupied with the length of the kiss that ends the "Girl Singer" episode, considering that certain episodes of the TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" are all about lesbianism amongst vampires. ***

The best features, as with the first two discs, are the radio shows, one of which was the basis for "Men are Messy," the other of of which spawned "The Fur Coat." The similarities and differences between "I Love Lucy" and "My Favorite Husband" are largely due to the different media arenas, but "Husband" does manage a hearty dose of laughs while featuring Lucille Ball as a wife who possesses a bit more common sense than her TV persona.