Lucille Ball - I Love Lucy Box Set Review

Although old news to all Lucy Fans, I post this article from The London Free Press on I Love Lucy: The Complete Series Box Set which came out this last October.

For the I-want-it-all collector, this is absolutely it for Lucy, the holy grail or "the whole McGillicuddy," as the box cover declares. Anyone who already owns season-by-season sets might be annoyed by this more desirable mega-set, but this is now the pattern with TV on DVD. Plan ahead.

The new gift box, shaped like a giant heart, contains six seasons of I Love Lucy and three of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, taking them to April 1, 1960. The shows are all in proper full-frame and vintage black-and-white.

In addition, you get the rough kinescope version of the so-called "lost pilot" of 1951 -- first aired in 1990 -- along with the filmed feature, I Love Lucy: The Movie. It was constructed in 1953 out of three first-season episodes connected by a new intro, exit and various tidbits.

There are other gems, too, including Lucy and Desi's three-minute skit on The Ed Wynn show in 1949, ads from sponsor Philip Morris (Lucy, Desi and co-stars Vivian Vance and William Frawley all smoked like steam locomotives on air, too) and excerpts from the 1954 Emmy Awards.

You can also watch a separate colourized version of the 1956 Lucy Goes to Scotland episode.