I Love Lucy: The Complete Series

I'm not going to waste time reviewing the show. We all know the show is timeless, acclaimed, beloved, and all that jazz. This is simply to comment on the newly repackaged set. The previous release of the complete series of I Love Lucy contained the complete show on 33 DVDs, including a new pressing of the first season, reducing it to 6 discs from the 7 of the slimpack reissue and the 9 discs of the original release, while retaining all bonus features. (When CBS/Paramount repackaged the seasons with new comic-strip-styled artwork in standard-sized amaray cases with much smaller price tags, the 6-disc configuration was used for season 1, giving it its first standalone release.) It also contained a bonus DVD with the long lost movie, the colorized "Lucy In Scotland" episode, and many other rarities, plus an episode guide. However, the packaging took up shelf space and was quite frustrating to get the discs out. It was also quite expensive. This new 2015 repackage ditches the guide, as well as the bonus DVD, which was issued separately a few years after the first set was released. It also presents a better package, albeit one that still needs improvement. This set takes up as much space as about five standard DVD cases and consists of a box with two cases inside - one contains seasons 1-5 on 25 discs while the other contains seasons 6-9 on 8 discs. This makes one case much larger than the other, and frankly, I think it'd have been better to divide seasons 1-5 into two cases as well. The holder inside the first case is not fixed inside but is pretty snug when the case is closed. The second case is a standard 8-disc double-thick amaray case. The episode lists are printed on the reverse side of the artwork, which can be seen through the clear cases. The artwork for this release is classy and well done. I have to admit, I never cared for the artwork in the 2012 season set reissues, finding them way too kitschy for the show. This set looks much nicer and classier. Finally, the price. At the MSRP of $80, it's great. But after tax, I paid $40. That's less than it would have cost me to buy the remaining five sets I needed at Amazon's current price of about $10 per season, as I had previously purchased the 2012 releases of the first two seasons. You can't argue with $40 for 131 episodes of I Love Lucy plus all 13 of the Comedy Hour specials. Especially with the wealth of bonus material (even without the bonus DVD), uncut restored episodes, great video and audio quality. One thing that would have truly sent this over the top would have been a bonus DVD with all of the colorized episodes to date, but for the content and price, I'm not complaining. This set was a great purchase. As a Hulu subscriber, I was happy to find the show on there, but disappointed to find some great episodes missing, not to mention the lack of the Comedy Hour specials. Now I have every episode whenever I want, with or without an internet connection.

While the TV series I Love Lucy completed its original run a few years before I was born, I watched the first series on DVD some years ago and I knew I had to buy this Complete Series Blu Ray set. The show is iconic for so many reasons and has earned its place in television history. It's good, clean family entertainment and has never looked better in High Definition. The whole of I Love Lucy is included, plus the Lucy & Desi Comedy Hour and loads of bonus features. CBS/Paramount have done a great job with this release and should be applauded for making it available at an affordable price. Like a lot of other reviewers, I would have preferred individual cases for each season, rather than stacked discs in one big box. But that is my only criticism, which should not put you off buying it. I'm grateful that this series has been released on disc, at a time when so many archive shows are being streamed online. There is so much to watch here that I may not have time for any more reviews for a while!

I love this show. I'm glad I have the whole series

I'm not going to comment on the quality of the I Love Lucy shows. I do not feel that this is the place for that. Instead, the quality of the DVDs, packaging, etc. is what should be reviewed. First, the packaging was a bit overdone but still delivered the important content, the DVDs themselves, in excellent condition. Inside the fancy outer plastic case were two accordion fold folders that contained the DVDs. I've seen reviewers complain that their disks were damaged by the folders and would have preferred jewel cases for each DVD. My DVDs were in excellent condition and I'm glad they were not in jewel cases because they would have taken up ten or more times the amount of room. The box with the folders keeps everything corralled in a minimal amount of space. If they had eliminated the big cardboard heart on top, it would have been even more compact. The content on the DVDs was excellent! The first disk was a bonus disk I didn't watch because I wanted to dive into the series. I'm glad I did because much of what is on it is also found on the other disks. Others may feel it is all worth watching. The episodes were all digitally remastered and, whenever possible, deleted footage was restored. The picture was clear and sharp, better than anything I've ever seen on TV. Each disk also contains bonus features, such as original openings and closings which had been deleted when edited for reruns because of the advertising content or to allow more room for commercials, "flubs," behind the scenes notes, guest star credits (with bios), and an episode of Lucy's radio show, "My Favorite Husband." If the only available replacement for missing footage was of too poor a quality to include with the episode, the missing footage was included separately in the bonus section. The bonus section of each disk is well worth watching. The only complaints I have was occasionally some of the clothing the actors wore would have fine lines or dots which would create moiré patterns on screen which would make the clothing appear iridescent or even flashing at times. I feel the editors could have taken a little more time to eliminate, or at least reduce, these. It didn't happen often but it still was a bit distracting. Two or three episodes had a scene or two that briefly displayed unnecessary Spanish subtitles. If I wanted to see Spanish subtitles, I would have selected them. A few episodes were preceded with a written announcement In Spanish. My high school Spanish is rather rusty (more like corroded) but it appeared they were apologizing that they didn't have Spanish subtitles or dubbing for the following episode. I feel that should have been shown only if Spanish had been selected. I feel these are very minor complaints, especially in light of the excellent quality of everything else. Considering the number of disks, the amazingly high quality of the video, and the bonus material included, this set is an incredible bargain.

Here they are: all 180 episodes of classic Lucy (1951–57), plus the thirteen special "Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour"s. They appear well remastered: video and ausio quality are quite good. These are NOT the awful colorized versions. This is glorious black-and-white, lensed by master ciematographer Karl Freund. All the discs are compressed on two-sided plastic "leaves" that are fastened to a single plastic spine. So far the spine has remained intact, which is more than I can say for other such collections. It is not easy to ferret out the disc you want, but the episodes are labeled on each disc. I can retrieve what I want with a minimum of fuss. There are few special features and commentaries. A happy exception is actor Keith Thibodeaux's (Little Ricky's) affectionate remembrance of George Reeves in a voiceover commentary for "Lucy Meets Superman." The fact that these episodes exist at all, in such quality, is a testimony to the genius of Desi Arnaz, who created the three-camera, live-before-a studio-audience format that persists seventy years later. Other groundbreaking comedies of the 1950s, like "Your Show of Shows" and Milton Berle's "Texaco Star Theater," have been forever lost to us, because most were wiped clean almost as fast as they were telecast. "The Honeymooners" still exists, but in primitive kinescope format. Only Arnaz had the foresight to realize that audiences would want to see these shows more than once. He filmed them for posterity. Because of his vision, CBS and Desilu not only made a mint, but today we can watch these slaptstick classics in the same way that we can still laugh with (much of) Laurel and Hardy, Chaplin, and Keaton. No collection of classic American television should lack "I Love Lucy." At seventeen cents per episode, you are buying, not only Lucille Ball's comedic genius, but a thick slice of popular culture that I'd bet will be entertaining audiences another fifty years from now. Not only that: like Vetamitavegamin, "It's tasty, too!"

The price is unbeatable. Definition of “bang for the buck.” However, this munificent 33 disc set which was manufactured in Germany was not quality checked and included a duplicate disc and is missing a disc with one of the most iconic episodes “Lucy Does a TV Commercial” or more commonly known as the “Vitameatavegamin" episode. Also “The Indian Show” episode was defective. All that aside, the classic series is still relevant and laugh-out-loud funny, and it initiated the seminal sitcom framework and template that current sitcoms still steal from. In short, the comedic formula and timing never goes out of style, and Desi Arnaz’s genius and tenacity to shoot it on film using a 3-camera system has preserved this gem for generations to come. The whole cast and guest stars were immense talents, and as I watch these classic episodes, I have newfound respect for the equal and innovative talents of Desi Arnaz. Although some may disagree and even Arnaz himself gave Lucy 90% of the credit for the show’s success, I think the show would have lasted only one season had it not been for his show business acumen, instinct and authentic and gifted charm that Arnaz brought to the show. In this respect, Arnaz playing the sane man opposite Lucy’s crazy ideas is pure magic, which leads me to the extraordinary writer and producer talents of Jess Oppenheimer. He gets the lion’s share of the applause in my book, and I cannot stress and underscore this fact alone. You also cannot undermine the talents of Vivian Vance and William Frawley that completed this gifted cast. I also have to give a nod to CBS for keeping the show alive over the years, and I have read they consider it to be one of their most precious assets. This show is a classic, and that is why the series outlived the cast and live audience that participated at that time, and it will also outlive all of us and still be as fresh as yesterday for decades to come.

I won't go into how much I love "I Love Lucy." I don't see how anyone could argue anything less than a five-star rating for this once-in-a-lifetime series of perfectly matched actors to perfectly matched parts to perfectly matched writers. It is a series I have watched again and again and will continue to do so. Some comments have been made regarding closed captions, which my wife and I prefer to have active as we watch most anything on television. This series DOES have closed captions (in English), but it does not have English subtitles, only Spanish subtitles. With subtitles, you can turn them off and on at the set-up section once the DVD loads. With closed captions, you must trigger them with your television remote once the show is loaded onto the screen. Subtitles appear at the bottom of the screen as an overlay, whereas closed captions are usually white letters in a black box and usually show up next to whoever is speaking. Here is the catchy part, though...you can only see them if you have your DVD player connected with composite cables. I tried activating them with an HDMI connection as well as with a component connection, and nothing. Then I tried it with a composite connection, and there they were. I do wish the series had subtitles instead of closed captions, but unfortunately that's not the case. I've found the same setup with the Frasier series and with the The Andy Griffith Show. On the other hand, examples of shows that have actual subtitles are MASH and Columbo. For what it's worth, I looked at the picture quality in HDMI mode as opposed to composite mode, and I couldn't really tell any difference, and this is on a 67-inch screen. I have a low-cost, standard (non-HD) DVD player already hooked up to my television via its composite connection, so when playing a series with closed caption but without subtitles, I just play it through that unit. I'll also mention that the series is nicely packaged in a creative container, but accessing each DVD can be a bit of a pain if you want to keep the package in tact. You have to pull everything out of a hard plastic, clear container, take the pink paper heart off the top of the DVD box, and then you have the first half of the series in a container on the left side and the other half in a container on the right side, each of which can be taken out of the box and then you can flip through the DVD's to select the one you want. Once finished, the whole thing has to be put back together again. You'll want to keep the plastic container because of the Lucy photo on the front that really "makes" the package. A bit of a hassle, but it really does LOOK great. Anyway, in summary, a timeless series with creative, albeit awkward, packaging. Closed captions are there, but you have to have the right connection. Enjoy!

My Husband and I are so happy to say, as huge I Love Lucy fan ourselves, that this series has been a wonderful addition to our family series collections. More so then all of the others combined and we do own a fair few. Over the Christmas Holiday's many of our grandchildren paid us a visit, Their ages ranging from 3 to 16. The I Love Lucy Show played in the DVD player for the entire 4 days time, non stop. I offered, many times, to change the DVD's to other movie selections, but I was met with the most Fastenating reactions. My 16 year old grandson said, "oh No Grandma, These guys are so funny!" My 5 year old grandson said, "Grandma, That lady makes funny faces!" My 12 year old granddaughter refused to watch anything else and commented that she really likes the funny predicament Lucy gets up to. Even our 3 year old granddaughter will pause in front of the television when she hears the laughter from their studio audience. While three of our grandson's ages 9, 11, and 14, were engrossed in the antics of Lucy, I made mention that we have many other DVD's if that show gets tiring. Their reaction was unanimous, and I was met with a vibrant, "No Thanks, this is a very funny show." One of the boys even mentioned that it would be great if we were to get more of these black and white shows. We stood in the doorway and watched each of them as they watched and they were actually commenting to each other about the sceens with which Lucy and Ethel were conspiring against Ricky to get on Ricky's show and laughing. I found their reactions to be absolutely astonishing, due to the fact that these are Video game buffs, with games and graphics that are far more outstanding (and in many ways disturbing) then what they are presently watching. The I Love Lucy shows are in Black and White and there is no cursing or blood and guts violence (the things which these boys are usually engrossed in) We, as grandparents, are so grateful that there are things from our childhood that can still reach the hearts of our grandchildren. Since then we have purchased many other DVD sets. My Favorite Martian, Andy Griffith, Mr. Ed, The Munster's, Adam's Family and many more. FAMILY FUN FOR ALL AGES! We hope this review helps. Thanks for reading.

Megasnelle levering vanuit de UK. Woensdag besteld en zaterdag in huis. Terwijl bezorgdatum op dinsdag stond; wat ik ook al snel had gevonden. 2 mooie dozen met 29 dvd’s van ‘I Love Lucy’ erin. Super!

Very hilarious and refreshing sitcom.

This is a golden show from the age that they call the golden age of television. It ran on tv from 1951 till 1957 and was a household favourite. It starred Lucille Ball and her then husband Desi Arnaz.It was all about a cuban bandleader and his wife who tried every week to get into show business in spite of her husbands protestations.Their best friends were the Mertzes who owned the apartment block in which they lived played by Vivian Vance and William Frawley.There were 181 episodes made in black and white. There are plenty of bonus material including original opening and closing credits.Commercials with Desi and Lucy coming out before and after the show to promote these products. There are flubs were the actors forget their lines or something is in the frame of the camera that shouldn't be there.Lots of production notes about what went on behind the scenes and radio shows which Lucille Ball did before it went over to TV. It was called My Favourite Husband which had Richard Denning as her husband. Richard Denning would later go on to play the Governor of Hawaii in "Hawaii Five 0" which ran from 1968 till1980. But when it transitioned to TV Lucille Ball wanted her real husband to play the part. The network was against it as they said no one would believe that she was married to a Cuban. She pointed out that she was married to a cuban in real life. They had to make a pilot episode with their own money to show the networks who then went with the idea and with that tv history was made. This is a really funny show even though some of Lucys antics can become a bit annoying at times. But in all they are terrific. I found myself laughing out loud at most of the episodes. Some of my favourites are the ones were the Ricardo's go to Hollywood when Desi auditions for a screen test to be in a movie. A lot of famous stars appear in these episodes including William Holden who gets a cake trust in his face, Richard Widmark when Lucy breaks into his home after leaving the tour bus going past the stars homes and John Wayne whose footprints she steals from outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre. In these times of pandemics and war here is a show that is over 70 years old and still makes people laugh today. Now that is golden. There were a further 3 seasons from 1957 to 1960 that were made which were expanded to an hour and were specials that was called The Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz Show which are available on another set of DVD's and are not included here. But beware that these later DVD's are region 1 only and are only playable on a modified DVD player which plays region 1 DVD's.

Classic show, but please know the DVD box that you're getting is not the one pictured above, it's just the basic box set, not the one shape like a heart, did DVDs are difficult to get out but you do get the classic show every episode,

Del estilo de humor de Lucy poco puede descubrirse después de tantos años. We love it!. Buena calidad de imagen y sonido. Una gozada!