More Pioneering Television
by David Lambert (All reviews)
6/23/2002
Ricky: "Lucy's actin' crazy." Fred: "Crazy for Lucy, or crazy for ordinary people?"
Lucy and Ricky. Fred and Ethel. Little Ricky. Babalu.
These are household names and words these days. Everyone has heard of them. I Love Lucy kicked off a grand tradition of television sitcoms. It is one of the most-watched, well-known shows ever. The first issue of TV Guide had Lucy on the cover. Some of the best-loved shows in syndication today - The Dick Van Dyke Show, Leave It To Beaver, Gilligan's Island, and so forth - all owe something to Lucy. One way or another. It was a truly pioneering series.
By-the-way, speaking of pioneers: It may be worth noting to any Star Trek fans out there, that all the episodes on this volume (and on Volume 1, except for the Pilot) were directed by none other than Marc Daniels...who went on later to direct over a dozen episodes of the original Star Trek series! A bit of trivia there for fans of both shows (had you perhaps noticed that I qualify as a fan of both?).
I Love Lucy was shot in Los Angeles, live before a studio audience (another pioneering concept for that type of show), using a theatrical type of setup. Sets were built so that the three cameras employed for filming could easily follow the stars from the Kitchen to the Living room to the Bedroom, simply by moving to the left as they followed the action and the actors. Each room was part of a larger set, missing the front wall so we could all look in on The Ricardos and their friends. In fact, it's easy to see this setup in a screen capture that accompanies this review. It's taken from the episode "Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying To Murder Her"...a shot that I'm frankly surprised didn't make it into the "Flubs" section on this disc's bonus material!
The DVDs: "Season 1, Volume 2"
I won't bother to recap what kind of show this was. If you're reading this, you almost certainly have access to my summary in the review of the "Season 1, Volume 1" DVD. Again, however, I will reiterate that the show was not shot in the same order in which it was aired. This volume's first episode starts with the show produced *first*, even though it aired nationally as the fourth. These shows cover the month of November 1951:
Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying To Murder Her
The Quiz Show
The Audition (Note: the disc's segue sequence calls it "The Audition Show" in error; it is a remake of the Pilot)
When a show starts on this DVD, you are treated first to a segue sequence, which ends with a version of the "heart-on-satin" layout that names the episode. An overlay appears at the bottom that names the episode's original airdate. From there, the show itself begins.
I will take the time to repeat verbatim some information from my review of Volume 1:
There was some confusion surrounding what this release would consist of. About a year prior, in the late Summer of 2001, subscription-only service Columbia House made available some I Love Lucy DVD's via their "Lucy Club" subscription service. The first disc they provided was a "best-of" affair, and then everything thereafter was in-airdate-order. Meanwhile, Paramount (who inherited the main rights to the series when parent company Viacom bought out CBS) was stating that their own plans to release the show on DVD were cancelled...that " the original materials are in poor condition; we didn't feel we could meet our own standards if we released a DVD". So imagine everyone's surprise when, a mere nine months later, leaks occurred that Paramount was bringing I.L.L. out to DVD pretty quickly!
As unofficial information about these Paramount releases circulated, word came from sources-in-the-know that they would be the exact same discs as Columbia House's releases. But there were concerns over the quality of those releases (more on that later), and so folks started to compare features on each version. I will make a long story short here, and sum it up this way: I myself have never seen the Columbia House releases. Neither Paramount nor Columbia House are officially stating yet one way or the other. However, after reading detailed descriptions from owners of the CH versions of these discs, I am 100% positive that these releases are identical to each other. So, if you already own the Columbia House product, you don't need to repurchase them; there's nothing to gain. At least from what I can tell!
Menu Design & Navigation:
Both of the first two volumes of I Love Lucy - this one and Volume 1 - feature an easy-to-use navigation system that starts with, gratefully, a "Play All" button. Choosing this will play all four episodes on the DVD. Or, you can continue on down the main menu to choose which episode you want to view. Moving the cursor to the right will choose each episode's index.
Each episode is broken into five chapters. You can easily move past the all-too-familiar opening credits and get right into the action, if you choose. A marvelous addition to the chapter list is the ability to choose a "Song Selection"; this lest you go straight to any musical numbers you want to see in any episodes that happen to contain them! Since singing is a big part of Lucy's entertainment value, this was a well-though-out navigational aid on these DVD's. Wonderfully, a chapter-stop insert is included in the DVD packaging, which lists not only the chapter stops but the song selections as well! Commendable, even if the episodes on this disc don't use the song selection feature as much as the shows on the previous volume.
The Bonus Material menu simply lists each of the possible supplements you may want to explore, and in some cases have sub-menus underneath them. Each item has its own navigational structure that is appropriate for it's nature. In each case I was able to maneuver where I wanted to go rather quickly and easily, or abort what I was doing and get back to either the Main or Bonus menus. My only minor complaint was that the radio shows do not allow you to fast forward or rewind...you have to let them play all the way through from start to finish. A minor quibble, though.
The only other complaint I could possibly make of the menu screens is that the background shots they use are repetitive. They are collages of Lucy Ricardo's funniest moments from throughout the run of the show. They are not specific to the episodes on the disc, and it gets old seeing the same thing back there. Making it a bit more varied would encourage more exploration of the materials, in my opinion.
Video
The video quality has improved a little bit with the second disc in this series. All four episodes seem to have been remastered this time, and video is clear throughout. Black levels are still a tad off in places, but there is still good distribution through the rest of the gray scale. Focus is still soft in places, and the blurriness is still present during fast camera movements. But, I no longer saw any of the "splice jumps" that were rather visible on the first disc, and artifact speckles - which were rather absent on Volume 1, excepting for the Pilot episode - were in even less evidence on Volume 2. Since one of the episodes on this discs was actually shot before any of the post-pilot shows on Volume 1, then I assume that the people remastering these episodes for these discs hit their stride more, and that hopefully means even cleaner presentations as the releases continue. Even so, there's not too much room for improvement. I Love Lucy has never looked better than this!
Audio
As with Volume 1, the audio on this disc is presented in English and Spanish mono sound, preserving the format it was recorded in back in '51. Audio dropouts are still very occasionally present, but they are hardly noticeable. The soundtrack for these episodes was cleaned and restored, and one of the extras demonstrates how musical cues and bridges were restored to their original form for this presentation. A well-done job...Lucy has never sounded better, either!
The Original Opening Sequence to the series. Back in the days before cigarette advertising was banned from television, tobacco companies like Phillip Morris were major sponsors of broadcast pioneers, like Lucy. Hence, the original opening credits sequence of I Love Lucy consisted of stick figures with caricatures of Lucy and Ricky climbing onto the top of an enormous pack of Phillip Morris cigarettes, with ropes in hand. Each would toss the rope over their side of the pack. Lucy ably slid down her rope, while Ricky dove off, prompting Lucy to catch him. After a bow, the figures each tugged their ropes, Venetian-blind-style, changing the face of the cigarette pack to first the starring credits, and then to the Title screen. Watch it, it's fun! However, times have changed, and the anti-smoking lobby would no doubt protest the restoration of this sequence as the standard opening to every episode on each I Love Lucy discs. Especially since Desi Arnez's cause of death was lung cancer. Instead, the disc's authors chose to make it available as a bonus feature.
A look at the Guest Cast appearing in the various episodes on this disc. It includes interesting information about these people, their appearance, and/or circumstances before and/or after the appearance. Look for a great shot of three of the people responsible for this show making it onto the air each week, posing as "Network Executives" watching Ricky play Babalu.
Flubs are demonstrated, including where necessary the insertion of arrows to point out and help the viewers follow the mistake. Also included is "Special Footage" not seen in half-a-century, such as extra (cigarette-pack-and-stick-figure-oriented) animations and filmed framing sequences with the main cast, designed to introduce re-broadcasts of first-season episodes during the 2nd season (since Lucille Ball was busy having a baby - Desi Arnez Jr.- at the time, reruns were born!).
A "Behind the Scenes" photo gallery of pictures taken on-the-set during set-up and rehearsal for the first post-Pilot episode filmed, "Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying To Murder Her".
A terrific extra is included on this DVD: two shows from the radio series that inspired episodes of I Love Lucy: the My Favorite Husband broadcasts of "Numerology" and "The Will". I cannot even begin to praise the greatness of these treasures being included here! Radio broadcasts were an astounding art form of their own, and set the pattern for television broadcasts later on. Now a new generation can appreciate these clever shows!
Summary
Every fanatic of the I Love Lucy series is hereby instructed to get this release. While nothing is perfect, the adventures of Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y De Acha III as Ricky Ricardo and Lucille Desiree Ball as his wacky red-headed wife have never looked or sounded better, in a format you can own in your home.
For more casual fans of the show, who don't intend to own every episode, and are just looking for your favorites, I will say this: The shows that constitute your favorites *might* be on this disc, but probably aren't. If they are, then it's a no-brainer: pick it up. If they are not, as I suspect, then you will probably be tempted to wait until the classic Ep.'s you like come out on their own volumes later on. But think on this: for an SRP of just $14.99, you should consider investing in this volume, to convince Paramount to keep 'em coming. That's one good way to keep your favorite TV being put out on DVD...buy what you ask for! This is a solid release, and nobody will regret owning it.
