| The sixth and final season of I Love Lucy finds new laughs in some old formulas while also expanding the hugely popular show's horizons with a change of scene. Things get off to a familiar start when Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) gets in the middle of husband Ricky's business--in this case, disguising herself as a hot dog salesman at Yankee Stadium in order to get near Bob Hope. Hope, she believes, has ignored Ricky's offer to be the first act at his new nightclub. But, in fact, Hope had already agreed; Ricky was just sitting on the information to keep Lucy from getting typically ditzy in front of one of his celebrity pals. Not surprisingly, mayhem follows when poor Hope finds his hand slathered with condiments and his noggin bonked by a foul ball. Other celebrity sightings include Orson Welles, who copes with Lucy's aspirations as a Shakespearean actress, and George Reeves, television's Superman, who shows up unexpectedly, in costume, at Little Ricky's birthday party. Meanwhile, Lucy--who didn't want to disappoint the tyke--stands in a makeshift Man of Steel outfit on a window ledge, in the rain. A number of episodes concern Little Ricky (Keith Thibodeaux) now that he's old enough to be a functioning character on the show. In "Little Ricky Learns to Play the Drums," the lad takes after his musician father and starts playing percussion, leading to some frayed nerves. A couple of episodes later, young Ricardo gets a bad case of stage fright at school, and Lucy suggests Ricky let him play the drums at the nightclub. (But then, of course, she has to figure out how to talk her son into performing.) A big change comes to I Love Lucy in the season's second half, when the Ricardos decide it's time to become homeowners and pull up stakes at their old Manhattan apartment. Moving to a nice, new house in Connecticut, they're soon joined by Fred (William Frawley) and Ethel (Vivian Vance), and the season's storylines take on a distinctly suburban flavor, with country clubs, barbecues, and gardens figuring into the comedy. With those developments, I Love Lucy came to a close after making television history as a much-beloved sitcom. Lots of special features, including multiple audio commentaries, flubs, lost scenes, and five episodes of My Favorite Husband, Ball's radio show. --Tom Keogh |
