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229 of 235 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This DVD set should have been done like this originally!, March 3, 2005
I am a huge Lucy fan and just love her shows. With the price of the other version of this set, along with all the space it took up I avoided buying it. I agree with many of the reviewers about the GREED behind the first version of the I love Lucy complete first season DVD set. It takes up so much space (9 DVD Boxes) and it is expensive. Well I guess the powers that be at CBS finally listened to the dissapointed fans. They are now releasing this Reissue of I Love Lucy - The Complete First Season in what they call a new slim pack and the best thing is that it will be under $50.00 which is almost half the price of that other version. The DVDs will also be cut down to 7 instead of 9 which gives you more episodes per DVD. The will be one box set rather than 9 individual boxes. I encourage anyone who is in the process of buying that other more expensive version to wait because on May 3, 2005 this New slim pack and more affordable version will be released and the package looks a lot more like a DVD package should look, and less like a box that holds 9 DVDs. It has all the things the other version has but it is in a space saving package and is more affordable. The pilot and all 35 season 1 episodes are included on this classic sitcom! Approx. 907 minutes of total fun on a slim 7 DVD BOX SET under 50 bucks. I hope this helps some of you. Be sure to remember Season 4 of I love Lucy is also released the same day of this new set on May 3, 2005.
Save money and save space and wait till MAY 3, 2005 to get this version which is the way it should have been done in the fist place!
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103 of 103 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Patience Rewarded, June 14, 2005
I love "I Love Lucy." Whenever I find it on TV, I watch and find myself laughing no matter how many times I've seen the episode. Naturally, it was one of the first shows I knew I wanted on DVD. I wished I'd waited for this set, however.
When season one was first released, it was huge and expensive. Knowing how much I wanted the show, I ignored the price and bought it. Now, over a year later, we get a set more in line with the other three released to date. Now there are only seven discs, and it's much thinner. This takes up a fraction of what the original did on my shelf. Yet all the extras and quality are still there. Believe me, I checked.
So what do you get? You get the 35 official season 1 episodes plus the "lost pilot" that was found and released several years ago. The episodes have been restored and they haven't looked this good in years. Picture is original full frame black and white and sound is original mono. While there is occasional dust and such in the picture, for something 50 years old, this is pretty amazing. Bonus features include behind the scenes trivia and photos, guest cast information, restored footage (some of which is a hoot), the original animated opening, and a total of thirteen episodes of Lucy's radio show "My Favorite Husband" that inspired certain episodes.
For me, I find some of the episodes near the start of season 1 to be rather slow and not as funny. This is a common complaint of mine with most TV shows. The writers and actors need time to find the characters before things really take off. Still, there are some early gems like "The Diet" and "The Fur Coat." The second half more then makes up for the first with many classic moments and hilarious episodes like "The Ballet," "Breaking the Lease," "The Gossip," "Pioneer Women," "The Freezer," and "Lucy's Schedule." I can watch these episodes over and over again and laugh myself silly every time.
Of course, this doesn't mention the single most famous episode of season 1 - "Lucy Does a TV Commercial." If this title doesn't ring a bell, I have just one word for you. Vitameatavegamin.
This is the set that should have been released originally. If you waited, hoping that Paramount would see the light, your patience has been rewarded big time.
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102 of 104 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dieting, Lucy's Play, the Lease, Gossip & Vitametavegamin!, May 20, 2005
Over 50 years ago during the early years of broadcast television, the very inspired talents of Lucille Ball (1911-1989) and her then husband Desi Arnaz (1917-1986) were showcased on their hilarious television show "I Love Lucy". TV execs had initially rejected the plausibility of the show because of Desi and because they intended to tape the shows. However, thanks to the tireless efforts of Lucille Ball and Desi's obvious talents, the show first aired in 1951 and quickly became one of the most successful TV shows during all six of its regular seasons. As Lucy and Ricky Ricardo on "I Love Lucy", Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were joined by William Frawley (1877-1966) and Viviane Vance (1909-1979) as their best-friends/apartment landlords of Fred and Ethel Mertz.
The first season of "I Love Lucy" that aired between 1951 and 1952 has 35 memorable episodes:
1. "The Girls Want To Go To the Nightclub": For the Mertzes' anniversary, Ethel & Lucy want to go a nightclub, but Fred & Ricky want to see the fights.
2. "Be A Pal": Thinking their marriage is going cold, Lucy joins Ricky for a poker game, then turns their apartment into a Cuban getaway.
3. "The Diet": To be in one of Ricky's shows, Lucy must lose 22 pounds. No steak for Lucy.
4. "Lucy Thinks Ricky is Trying to Murder Her": Lucy's mystery-book reading makes her suspicious of Ricky.
5. "The Quiz Show": Lucy goes on a game show to win money after Ricky cuts her allowance.
6. "The Audition": Lucy sneaks into Ricky's latest show as Buffo the Clown.
7. "The Séance": Reading horoscopes & numerology, Lucy gives Ricky bad advice; but tries to fix it with a hilarious séance.
8. "Men are Messy": Lucy divides their apartment in half when she tires of Ricky being messy, but goes whole-hog to impress a magazine photographer.
9. "Drafted": Lucy & Ethel think that Ricky & Fred have been drafted, but the men think the girls are pregnant.
10. "The Fur Coat": Lucy thinks that a mink coat that Ricky brought home is hers, but he only rented it for a show.
11. "Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer": Lucy sneaks into Ricky's show to spy on him and chorus girl Rosemary (Helen Silver).
12. "The Adagio": Lucy wants to learn the Apache dance from a Frenchman (Shepard Menken) and makes Ricky jealous.
13. "The Benefit": Lucy gets Ricky to perform for Ethel's womens club, but only if she can perform too.
14. "The Amatuer Hour": Lucy baby-sits two terrorizing boys to make money to pay for an expensive dress.
15. "Lucy Plays Cupid": Lucy tries to get to elderly singles together, but they get the wrong ideas.
16. "Lucy Fakes Illness": Lucy pretends to go nuts in order for Ricky to let her perform, but he gets even with her.
17. "Lucy Writes a Play": Lucy writes a play for her woman's club, but when Ricky won't do it, she changes it from Cuban to English. Ricky later changes his mind, but gets the wrong script.
18. "Breaking the Lease": After a fight, Lucy & Ricky want to move, but Ethel & Fred won't end their lease; so Lucy & Ricky have a little party.
19. "The Ballet": Lucy gets ballet lessons from Madame Lamond (Mary Wickes) thinking that Ricky will let her perform at the club. Ballet & burlesque don't mix.
20. "The Young Fans": Ricky & Lucy each have teenagers (Janet Waldo & Richard Crenna respectively) with crushes on them.
21. "New Neighbors": Against Ricky's orders, Lucy tries to met their new neighbors who she comes to think are enemy agents.
22. "Fred and Ethel Fight": Lucy & Ricky help Ethel & Fred end a days-old fight, but end up in a big fight themselves.
23. "The Moustache": Lucy dons a fake beard & mustache to get Ricky to shave, but she used the wrong glue.
24. "The Gossip": When boys bet the girls that they can't stop gossipping, Ricky cheats, but Lucy gets back.
25. "Pioneer Women": On a bet, everyone tries to live in accordance with late nineteenth-century technology with hilarious results. Look out for that bread!
26. "The Marriage License": Lucy thinks her marriage liscence with Ricky is invalid due to a misspelling.
27. "The Kleptomaniac": While collecting items for a women's club bazaar, Ricky thinks Lucy is a kleptomaniac.
28. "Cuban Pals": Lucy gets jealous over a girl (now woman) who had performed with him in Cuba.
29. "The Freezer": The Ricardos & Mertzes purchase a used commercial freezer to save money, but Lucy gets locked in while trying to hide the beef.
30. "Lucy Does a TV Commercial": One of the best episodes of all time with Lucy drinking too much Vitametavegamin for a TV commercial that Ricky begrudginly allows her to do.
31. "The Publicity Agent": Lucy pretends to be the "Maharincess of Franistan" to boost Ricky's sagging popularity.
32. "Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio": Lucy & Ricky go on a radio quiz show.
33. "Lucy's Schedule": Unhappy with Lucy's disorderliness, Ricky puts her on a tight schedule; but the wife (Edith Meiser) of his new boss (Gale Gordon) starts a woman's revolution. Look out for low-flying dinner rolls!
34. "Ricky Thinks He is Going Bald": When Ricky thinks he's going bald, Lucy resorts to tortuous hair-growing methods.
35. "Ricky Asks For a Raise": When Ricky's boss (Gale Gordon) won't give him a raise, Lucy, Ethel & Fred make bogus club reservations as multiple people and promptly leave when Ricky's not performing.
Paramount Home Video has no doubt done a superb job of repackaging the first season on 7 DVD's. Overall, I rate the "I Love Lucy: The Complete First Season" DVD box set with 5 out of 5 stars!
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