First watched: Uncertain
Here's Lucy returned to the BBC 1 Saturday schedule in September 1970 and was probably the first programme aimed at adults that I saw regularly.
It was comedienne Lucille Ball's third star vehicle following I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show and the main reason for this re-vamp was to bring her real-life children Desi Arnaz Jr and Lucie Arnaz on screen with her. As the show was made by her own production company no one was going to say no to the idea. The premise was that Lucille as widowed "Lucy Carter" worked as a secretary for her fastidious brother-in-law Harry ( played by her regula fall guy Gale Gordon ) while coping with two independent-minded teenagers Kim and Craig. It started in 1968 and ran for six years. In a case of life imitating art both Desi and Lucie were keen to make their own mark elsewhere and, neither being teenagers anymore, gradually reduced their involvement. A spin off show with Kim as the main character had gone to a pilot episode but a lukewarm reception killed the idea, With the ratings slipping - though not catastrophically - as well, Lucille , now in her sixties, decided to pull the plug on the series and bring down the curtain on her TV career. She was the last of the fifties TV legends to have a regular show. She and Gordon were persuaded into an ill-fated comeback series Life With Lucy in 1986 which was pulled after only eight episodes ( and never shown here ) and she died three years later aged 78..
I liked it but can't remember enough about it to say why and viewing a couple of episodes on youtube just now doesn't help me much. I was too young to appreciate Ms Arnaz's statuesque charms. The other thing that strikes me is the now unusual sight of a sitcom with a woman in late middle age as the lead character.
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