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CBS Brings Back Classic ‘I Love Lucy’ Episodes for One-Hour Special

I Love Lucy Superstar Special (CBS May 17 2015)

What were your thoughts on the colorized versions of "L.A. at Last!" and "Lucy and Superman?"

I was watching WWE Payback and unfortunately had to downsize my cable so I could only watch clips as I switched channels.

I thought they picked two good episodes. Lucy's hair was bright red. Didn't realize the Ricardo's living room was blue. Vivian Vance looked her age and not as old as she portrayed. Overall I liked it.
 
Both episodes were edited. Just shows how many more spots greedy broadcasters cram into an hour now than they did in the 50s.

It was interesting that George Reeves was finally credited for playing "Superman." He was not at the time.

This episode was shown just before the short fifth and sixth seasons of "The Adventures of Superman," which were shot together. This was likely the last work George Reeves did before his death (either suicide or murder).

Brian, this show was colorized. It's not like seasons 3-6 of "The Adventures of Superman" which was filmed on color negatives, but originally shown using black and white prints. The colorizing technicians picked the colors. In some cases, they had color films and photos they could match (like Superman's uniform). The recreation of the apartment in Jamestown, NY (Lucy's hometown) has apartment walls in shades of brown. Lots of shows then just used shades of gray for their sets.
 
umfan said:
I enjoyed it. If the ratings were halfway decent, maybe CBS will do it again.
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.9 for the Sunday slot....It used to draw better on Fridays. They should try going back to that slot.


I deleted your previous post for you. Frank Berry :)
 
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If Desi had wanted to shoot in color, he would have. The show or the film belongs to the auteur, not the consumer.

The great travesty was colorizing George Seaton's "Miracle on 34th Street," which was deliberately show in black and white, on location, using newsreel stock, to give a Christmas fantasy story a look of realism. For the same reason, the Kansas sequences in "The Wizard of Oz" were shot in black and white.
 
I was thinking about watching it but had too much else on. I came this close to losing three shows I had recorded. If I was going to see the Billboard Music Awards I had to act fast. No worrying about something low priority. I had seen these. Just not in color.
 
Some local stations used to "turn down the color level" on color episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show," hoping "consumers" wouldn't notice. The color episodes of "The Honeymooners" are hardly ever shown (and haven't done well when they were shown). Somehow a bleak, working class tenement in Bed-Stuy doesn't look right in vivid "living color."

Broadcasters keep bastardizing works they show, in this case to pander to those in the slacker generation who reject out of hand anything in black and white. But these people are rejecting broadcast television anyway and dumbing down won't change that. I'd be very curious to see the demos for Lucy. I bet it was skewed to those who remember Lucy and black and white television.

Even a right-winger like Jimmy Stewart testified before congress in opposition to colorization, as did most of the leading directors.

For the record, a colorized print of a black and white film looks "different" when color is turned down, not as the film makers intended when shot.
 
landtuna said:


If you want to sell it to a modern audience it had better be in color. The only shows my kids would watch in B&W were The Little Rascals/Our Gang and The Three Stooges.
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If you are going to quote, use the full quote. Don't cut it to make a point. There are shows LT's kids will watch in black and white. Content still rules. And Lucy does very well in black and white on cable - much better than her later shows, shot in color. Again, content. Lucy with Desi, Fred and Ethel was a lot funnier than Lucy with Gale Gordon and the movie star of the week.

Let's see what happens when LT's kids get old enough for film noir, Frankenstein and Dracula, "It Happened One Night," "Some Like It Hot," "To Kill A Mockingbird," "Dr. Stangelove," or "Citizen Kane." "It's A Wonderful Life" was colorized over the objections of Jimmy Stewart, unfortunately. Many classic black and white films were shot that way, when Technicolor or color film was an option because the filmmakers wanted the films to be seen in black and white. Colorizing is like adding more cleavage to the Mona Lisa to make her hotter.
 
Oscar Madison said:
If you are going to quote, use the full quote. Don't cut it to make a point. There are shows LT's kids will watch in black and white. Content still rules. And Lucy does very well in black and white on cable - much better than her later shows, shot in color. Again, content. Lucy with Desi, Fred and Ethel was a lot funnier than Lucy with Gale Gordon and the movie star of the week.

Let's see what happens when LT's kids get old enough for film noir, Frankenstein and Dracula, "It Happened One Night," "Some Like It Hot," "To Kill A Mockingbird," "Dr. Stangelove," or "Citizen Kane." "It's A Wonderful Life" was colorized over the objections of Jimmy Stewart, unfortunately. Many classic black and white films were shot that way, when Technicolor or color film was an option because the filmmakers wanted the films to be seen in black and white. Colorizing is like adding more cleavage to the Mona Lisa to make her hotter.
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Not sure what quote you are referring to. I am unaware my post was quoted.

The ONLY movie my kids ever watched in B&W was Casablanca. They enjoyed the story but it didn't lead them to watch any other B&W films. Their loss.
 
I might be in a minority but I never saw the "greatness" of Citizen Kane. Of course, I abhorred the man it was supposed to have chronicled so perhaps that was the reason.
 
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