Post: #1

The other day I was inspired to watch I Love Lucy thanks to a reference in one of Gavin McInnes's youtube videos. I used to watch the show all the time as a kid, back in the 90s, but haven't seen it in at least a decade. The comedy is pretty broad and obvious, which is perfect for a youngster but gets repetitive quickly and makes you want to watch some higher-brow comedy.

The show was extremely popular in the 50s, and earned huge Nielsen ratings on a consistent basis. Back in the day I just enjoyed Lucy being a dingbat and Ricky yelling rapidly in Spanish, but I thought that with my recent Manosphere involvement I'd find some new insight into the show. Lo and behold there's but a single post on this forum that even mentions the show.

So with the help of the handy imdb rating graph tool, I chose some choice episodes and started watching.

Take 'Job Switching'. In this episode Lucy and Ethel challenge Ricky and Fred to stay home and take care of the house while they go out and work. This fails miserably, as you can see:









Funny stuff. My grandmother loves it and she can barely speak English.

At the end of the episode they decide to go back to normal. Ricky tells Lucy that 'We'll make the money and you spend it'.

The show is very traditional in terms of its depiction of their life - Lucy is a dummy while Ricky always keeps things under control. Lucy cooks all the meals while Ricky makes the money and follows his passion - showbusiness - which leads to them becoming quite wealthy, flying to Europe, having kids and moving to the suburbs later on in the series. Standard 1950s American Dream stuff.

At the same time, I can see how the show began a trend towards pedestalizing older women and spinsters that's common today. Lucy isn't Sex and the City, but you can see elements of feminism in it: Lucy's the bored housewife trying to spice things up which gets her into trouble. She's into astrology, fads, and whatever indulgence pops into her world. The show is totally centered on Lucy, not the family or a group like other shows that came before and after it. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz got divorced soon after the show ended.

I'd like to watch the show with a millennial woman and see if she enjoys it. They're so into binge watching, might as well watch something of value.

Post: #2

Interesting that you see proto-feminist elements in it...I never noticed that, but now that you mention it, it was less family centric than other shows of the era. That said, it's still pretty traditional. Fred's line above "I had it (rice) thrown at me on one of the darkest days of my life" is classic. The show tended to reinforce 1950s social norms. Lucy was a ditz, and the message was that MOST women were ditz's (they are!). Such as the time she set her watch BACK an hour so she'd arrive early, and Ricky had to remind her to set it AHEAD an hour instead. Or the times Ricky put Lucy on a budget because she (and, by extension, most women) wasn't good with money. On at least two occasions, Ricky spanked Lucy like a child - and, let's face it, most women are more childlike than most men, to an alarming degree. All in all, while the show was traditional more than "red pill", traditional in that era reflected REALITY, the natural world around us. Men are focused on producing (and chasing pretty women); women are focused on consuming, on building a "nest", on having children, and on snaring a men to provide resources. That was, is now, and has always been the reality of modern humans, since we climbed out of trees and began living in organized societies tens of thousands of years ago. Compare that acknowledgment of reality with this week's freak show on the ESPY's. Today, we pretend men are women, women are men, the two are identical in their tendencies, wants, needs, desires. And ultimately, we pretend the two are interchangeable. They aren't.

I Love Lucy - like Father Knows Best, the Dick Van Dyke show, and other 1950's and early 1960's era TV, reflected the values of a healthy society. That society belongs to the history books now.

Post: #3

The actor who played Fred and the actress who played Ethel apparently hated each other in real life. She resented the fact that her character was married to such an old man and complained behind the scenes. He never forgave her. If you watch the zingers back and forth with that in mind it really adds another dimension to the show.

Post: #4

(07-17-2015 07:35 PM)tarquin Wrote:  The actor who played Fred and the actress who played Ethel apparently hated each other in real life. She resented the fact that her character was married to such an old man and complained behind the scenes. He never forgave her. If you watch the zingers back and forth with that in mind it really adds another dimension to the show.

A real "bitter Betty", eh? I also read that her contract required that she be 15 pounds heavier than Lucy. Another reason to be bitter! Of course, that does put her at least 20 pounds lighter than the average American woman in her 30's :/

Post: #5

(07-17-2015 07:41 PM)The Father Wrote:  

(07-17-2015 07:35 PM)tarquin Wrote:  The actor who played Fred and the actress who played Ethel apparently hated each other in real life. She resented the fact that her character was married to such an old man and complained behind the scenes. He never forgave her. If you watch the zingers back and forth with that in mind it really adds another dimension to the show.

A real "bitter Betty", eh? I also read that her contract required that she be 15 pounds heavier than Lucy. Another reason to be bitter! Of course, that does put her at least 20 pounds lighter than the average American woman in her 30's :/

Skip to 9:00 and then again to 13:00





Apparently William Frawley (Fred) was an alcoholic in real life and gave her enough shit back that she had to see a psychiatrist daily just to work with him.

Post: #6

Ricky Ricardo exemplified amused mastery. In episode after episode, he would come in and save Lucy from her hair brained schemes. And yes, every now and then he'd have to spank her. Imagine the uproar if that happened in a TV series today.

Would bang 15 pounds heavier Vivian Vance.