Following the huge success of
I Love Lucy throughout the '50s, and after playing "Lucy Carmichael" in the '60s sitcom
The Lucy Show, comedy legend Lucille Ball tried to capture lightening in a bottle for the third time with the 1968-74 program
Here's Lucy. Her character, Lucy Carter, would be employed as a secretary by brother-in-law Harry Carter. He was played by Gale Gordon, better known as "Mr. Mooney" from Lucy's previous show. The cast also included Lucy's real-life children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr., playing her older kids Kim and Craig Carter.
In 2004, Shout! Factory released 24 hand-picked installments on DVD with their 4-disc set
Here's Lucy - Best Loved Episodes. Now the agreement which allowed Shout! to put that out has expired, and MPI Home Video has picked up the license to it, along with a group of Lucille Ball specials. The first of MPI's releases came out last Tuesday, with the 1994 documentary
Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie.
Since copies of last week's release first became available, readers such as Paul Bruker (thanks for being first to pass along this info) have been telling us that there are advertisements for more upcoming specials, along with
Here's Lucy season sets, planned by MPI to start coming later this year. And MPI has kindly responded to our inquiries about it, by providing us with the following statement, along with a look at the cover art for the first of the special releases.
Note that we won't have ongoing coverage of those one-shot special releases, just like we didn't cover the DVD for the documentary (we concentrate on episodic programs here, with exceptions only made for one-time telefilms IF they are directly related to a weekly program, such as a reunion special). However, the statement below provides great info about the season sets of
Here's Lucy, starting with the
Season 1 release
this Summer, complete with extras. Stay tuned and we'll keep you updated as MPI finalizes their plans, and provides us with package art for that collection.
MPI Home Video will be releasing all 6 seasons - 144 episodes - of the 1968-74 top-ten CBS-TV sitcom "Here's Lucy" (starring Lucille Ball, Gale Gordon, Lucie Arnaz & Desi Arnaz Jr.) on DVD in individual season sets. The first season will be released this summer, with exact date to be announced. In the meantime, MPI will issue a pair of 1970s Lucille Ball Specials - "Lucy Gets Lucky" (with Dean Martin) and "Three For Two" (with Jackie Gleason) - as a double-feature DVD on June 30 (front cover artwork seen below). Additional Lucy specials will follow. All of these Lucy releases on MPI will be loaded with bonus features, including new and vintage materials. Last week, MPI debuted its first Lucy-related release with the DVD debut of "Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie," the 1994 documentary produced by their actress-daughter Lucie Arnaz.
