YMMV / The Lucy Show

• Fridge Brilliance: Viv's complaints about her ex-husband Ralph are funny, but notice she only badmouths him to Lucy. She never speaks ill of Ralph in front of their son Sherman, or Lucy's children (no matter how much her grievances are likely justified!). Viv's playing the role of a responsible parent, careful not to turn Sherman against his father and/or bring up bad memories.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • While Viv's putdowns of ex-husband Ralph Bagley are funny if audiences think of Fred Mertz (even more if they have in mind Vivian Vance and William Frawley's infamous hostility towards each other), the later revelation that one of Vance's actual ex-husbands (Phil Ober) was abusive towards her can add a darker layer to these lines.
  • Jimmy Garrett, the youngest of the child actors ever to play one of Lucy’s onscreen children, was the first to die on September 17th, 2021.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Viv lying about her age for her driver’s license in “Lucy, The Meter Maid,” because Vivian Vance actually DID shave three years off her birthdate, claiming to have been born in 1912 instead of 1909.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Viv’s wedding to Vern Bunson, which occurs between seasons three and four and only receives a brief mention by Lucy in the season premiere. Many fans have expressed disappointment this plot wasn’t incorporated into the third season, thus giving Vivian Vance a proper sendoff.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Fans of The Cars may not realize that Candy Moore was the model for their Candy-O album cover (which was, coincidentally, NOT named after her).
  • Dick Martin from Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was a recurring character during the first season.
  • Stafford Repp (Chief O'Hara from Batman) appeared in "Lucy and Viv Put in a Shower".
• Seasonal Rot: The last couple of seasons suffer from an over-reliance on guest stars, which often led to Lucy playing second banana to that episode's Special Guest.
• Tearjerker: The episode with Lucy's Aunt Agatha is surprisingly very sad after The Reveal. It turns out Agatha is a poor and lonely old widow who pretends to be rich so her family will give her a place to stay.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • Developed as the follow-up to I Love Lucy, initially featuring not only Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance but many of the same writers and behind-the-scenes personnel.
  • Here's Lucy was the spiritual successor to this show.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Many fans prefer seasons 1-3 over 4-6, mostly due to Vivian Vance's involvement and generally stronger writing. Even those who do enjoy the California episodes acknowledge that the changes made were so significant that it basically became an entirely different series.
• Values Dissonance:
  • Lucille Ball's characterization of a Japanese gardener in "Lucy & The Soap Opera," complete with "chop suey specs" and false teeth, plus a highly exaggerated Asian accent, marks one of the rare occasions where her comedy became racially insensitive by today's standards. No performer could ever get away with such an impersonation in the modern world.
  • Another episode has Lucy disguise herself as a Mexican cleaner, complete with a terrible attempt at a stereotypical Mexican accent. Such a thing would not be done today.