I am in complete agreement with the majority of the previous reviewers in that the first two seasons in black-and-white with Vivian Vance playing Vivian Bagley (television comedy's first divorcee) where undoubtedly the finest of the series. I am second to none in my admiration for Lucy, but after Vivian's character vanished, I thought the shows got more grating, annoying, repetitious and less funny as a rule. Vance was indeed a great co-star for Ball, they played off each-other beautifully and had genuine "star chemistry" between them. Mr. Mooney yelling at Lucy Carmichael got to be distractingly boring, uninspired and plain stupid. I have always been a great fan of Vivian Vance: in my thinking she was a vastly underrated comedy performer who had a unique voice, delivery style and physical mannerisms. Lucy was indeed fortunate to have had Desi finding Vivian playing in a play in La Jolla back in 195O. Lucy wouldn't have been nearly as successful without the special magic this actress brought to Ethel & Viv!
Review of The Lucy Show
