TV Show Review: I Love Lucy - Season 1 Volume 3

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: "The Fur Coat" and bits of other episodes

Cons: "Drafted"

The Bottom Line:

Beginning to gel

Despite one weak episode

Get ready to laugh

An Early Classic Episode, but Still Not Up to Par

Volume three of the original release of I Love Lucy has the single best episode to date. It also has the worse episode to date and a couple of entertaining but not quite as funny as they could be episodes.

As always, the stories resolve around the antics of two couples. Leading the way are Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz). Ricky is a band leader who works in a nightclub, and Lucy is his stay at home wife. They do everything with their best friends Fred and Ethel Mertz (William Frawley and Vivian Vance).

"Men are Messy" - Lucy is sick of picking up after Ricky. When he insists he likes the "lived in" look, Lucy divides the room in half. But when Ricky gets a photo spread, Lucy really decides to have some fun. I love the first part of this one. It may be standard battle of the sexes stuff, but it is funny. Unfortunately, the ending leaves much to be desired.

"The Fur Coat" - Ricky has just rented a mink coat for an act at his night club. When he brings it home, Lucy thinks it is a gift for her. Much to Ricky's dismay, she puts it on and absolutely refuses to take it off. This is the early classic I referred to. All four characters are in great shape, and Lucy's reactions are priceless.

"Lucy is Jealous of Girl Singer" - Besides being a completely unimaginative title, it's also wrong. Lucy reads an item in the local paper that makes her jealous of the new dancer Ricky has just hired. Ricky doesn't necessarily make things easier on himself, either. The episode is a little slow, but there are some funny bits. And the ending of this one is truly classic.

"Drafted" - Lucy and Ethel read a letter that makes them think Ricky and Fred have been drafted. But the men interpret their wives strange behavior as signs they are pregnant. The idea may have sounded funny on paper, but the result is a dud.

The problem with these early episodes continues to be too much of a reliance on the scripts from Lucy's radio show "My Favorite Husband." The writers of the radio show also wrote these episodes, and it shows. While there are some bits of physical comedy, most of the jokes are verbal. And Lucy is still getting the best material with three supporting players. While Ethel appears in all these episodes, Fred is missing from the "Girl Singer" episode. I'm certainly not blaming the actors, because they are all doing a great job. This is just the natural growing pains of a show, especially one in a still relatively new medium.

On the plus side, this is the best quality DVD release of the series yet. The black and white picture is sharp and bright. There are occasional flaws, but considering the source material is over 50 years old, I'm very willing to forgive. The sound is only mono, but it's all you need. And the disc has plenty of extras. We've got the usual assortment of behind the scenes photos and trivia (including a few pages of one script that got cut before it was filmed), bios of the guest cast, the original opening, and "flubs," mistakes that made it into the show. They've also restored a few scenes that were cut when the show went into reruns, including the Christmas tag to "Drafted," which originally aired on Christmas Eve 1951. These scenes aren't up to the quality of the rest of the episodes, but there are some wonderful bits in them. Finally, we've got two more episodes of "My Favorite Husband" which help prove my point above.

When originally releasing season one, CBS decided to do these individual discs instead of a complete season set. Unless you are only looking for something here, I recommend you get the entire first season. It's cheaper and will take up much less room on your self.

While the show still hasn't gelled completely, you get glimpses of what I Love Lucy will become on this disc.