I Love Lucy on Blu-Ray? (Speculation)

This has gotta be coming at some point, right? Anyone heard any rumblings? I'm surprised it hasn't been transferred to HD yet, for syndicated broadcasts.

 

Maybe.

There are very few pre-1970 television shows that are on blu-ray. Right now I'm only remembering three: The Twilight Zone (1959-1964), The Dick van Dyke Show (1961-1966), and Star Trek (1966-1969).

Already with the DVD we are seeing more detail for I Love Lucy than anyone saw back in the 1950s, or in the nearly endless reruns going up to the 1980s.

Addition resolution might be nice, but I'm not sure how much you'd really get from it. When I tried to re-watch the show on DVD about 10 years ago it wasn't as funny as I remembered, although maybe that's just me. Some of it is timeless (Vegameatavitamin, the chocolate factory, etc.), but some has aged less well imho, and the production values while certainly good enough are rather basic.

 

It was shot on 35mm, so I can't see why it wouldn't benefit from an HD transfer. You're right though that TV on blu-ray hasn't been as big as TV on DVD was at its peak, especially for old shows. But still, this is I Love Lucy, pretty much the TV show of the 1950s (or at least the greatest surviving one).

 

I can't imagine there is much crossover between ILL fans and people who care about HD transfers and the Blu-Ray format.

 

You might say the same about Dick Van Dyke Show fans, but it exists (and is supposed to be excellent, by the way).

 

They should at least upgrade to HD for syndication.

 

This was a head-scratcher. ILL/Lucille Ball has come up a few times on this board and I'm constantly seeing a huge sense of "meh" over the show. I find it surprising that many people are "over" Lucy. I usually watch the entire series once a year or so and every time I do I'm impressed just how well it stands up today. The writing is crisp and still works. Even if you take away the shtick like Lucy crying or Ricky chewing her out, you still have some wonderful dialogue between the 4 principles. Vitameatavegamin and the Chocolate Factory episodes I never really watch. To me, that's like saying "Hound Dog" and "Blue Suede Shoes" are the only tunes that are worth listening to in Elvis Presley's catalog.

Anyway, you're obviously allowed to state your personal opinion but I'm just surprised how blase people have become over Lucy on the board. Really weird....

 

Probably if I could watch it with someone like you I'd have more fun.

 

Just remember one thing about Lucy, Ben...without her, there'd be NO "Star Trek"...the original series was a Desilu Production, remember???

 

Try to catch an episode from the first or second season and you'll see the show's strength come through loud and clear: vibrant dialogue and committed performances...good stuff!

 

+1 Yes!


Lucy herself was very smart when it came to business. Iirc, it was her idea to film the show 35mm. That was a significant expense and the network didn't want to do it. She said her production company, Desilu, would pay for the filming, but then Desilu would own the film and the rebroadcast or rerun rights. That decision not only earned her, her husband, and her company tens of millions of dollars over several decades, but it generated the first example of a show that was even more valuable in reruns than during its first run.

The rerun model for TV programs probably would have been discovered in a few years anyway, but I suppose you could say that about many inventions.

Desilu was a prosperous company in the 1960s, and able to mount an impressive show like Star Trek, because of her decision. And with Star Trek too they were very careful to film it in 35mm and preserve these films carefully. And voila—another fortune was made that is still paying off for the current owner CBS today with their sparkling blu-rays of Star Trek.

In 1987, when Star Trek: The Next Generation entered production, Gene Roddenberry, remembering Lucy's key ingredient for success apparently insisted that the show be filmed 35mm and that these films be carefully preserved. No doubt some network execs and accountants shook their heads at this expense, as they had with Lucy in 1951. But they did it.

And now, a quarter of a century after that decision, inspired by Lucy's earlier one, we are getting blu-rays of the Next Generation with amazing clarity. In a way, Lucy did it.

 

ILL is perhaps the funniest overall TV show I have ever seen. I wish I could have seen it when it was airing as a current/new show.

 

Don't forget about The Prisoner. On BD, it looks stunning. The faux-5.1 remix was a mistake, but the DD2.0 is pretty good.

 

Especially B&W from the 1950s. Not much detail. But from an archival point if view, I'd like to see it happen.

 

No, actually the decision was Desi's, who basically ran the production. They sold out right after the divorce, and only made about $10M on the reruns. Not bad, but only a fraction of what the show eventually made. She was bitter about that years later.

 

Netflix is currently showing HD transfers of the Andy Griffith Show and they look gorgeous. B&W in hi def is lovely, so much texture; like fine B&W photographs of that era.

 

What I'd really like to see is "LIfe With Lucy" on DVD.

No, I'm not being facetious.

Yes, I know it's pretty awful.

 

My understanding that by their divorce in the early '60s, Lucy was basically running Desilu, partly because of Desi's alcoholism...all the corporate and creative decisions were coming out of HER office by 1965, which means SHE was responsible for shows like "Star Trek" and "Mission: Impossible"...not bad, eh???

 

The "I Love Lucy" Complete DVD Box Set looks great...I'm good.

 

Very true. She at least approved the budgets by that point. In fact, one of the producers on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy told me that Lucy was so involved with the business, she had very little time for rehearsals and started using cue cards by about 1965 or 1966. You can see her reading the lines off camera in quite a few scenes, and she was still doing that in 1986 on the show I worked on, Life with Lucy.

 

thanks

for that interesting info...didn't know that.

 

ILL is currently available in HD on iTunes and Amazon Instant Video. I'd be surprised if it gets a blu ray release. I'm happy with the complete DVD set myself.

 

I'd love to see that show again. Never got a chance to see the whole thing.

 

I always thought it was Desi who came up with the film and syndication deal.

 

I think she may have laid off on the cue cards a bit during the early seasons of Here's Lucy, but maybe I just got used to it.