"Here's Lucy" 6th and Final Season DVD to be Released

MPI Home Video revealed that Here's Lucy - Season 6, the final season of the show, will be available on DVD starting December 18th. The 4-disc set is priced at $29.98, but you can pre-order it at a discount right away. MPI says that the set will come with a "wealth of new and never-before-seen special features," but hasn't announced what those will be yet. So once they list the Bonus Features, I'll post to let everyone know!

At the end of Season 5 of Here's Lucy, Lucy made the decision to end the series when for the first time ever one of her shows fell out of the top ten ratings. At the last minute, CBS' President Fred Silverman convinced Lucy to change her mind and return for a 6th Season in 1973, as he felt being #15 was not too far out of the top ten. Lucy agreed, even though she also made a prior commitment to do the musical Mame that year.

To get in shape for the musical Mame, after her fractured leg kept her from doing her famous physical comedy from the last season 5 of Here's Lucy, Lucy worked out with a trainer daily. Lucy kept up with such a grueling schedule on getting her leg back in dancing shape, filming Mame and doing yet another Season 6 of Here's Lucy, that all this could not be believed from a woman 62 years old. Even though a young person couldn't keep up with Lucy's non stop schedule, Lucy's age and everyone else's age around her was beginning to show.

By the time Season 6 started filming, Lucy was in incredible shape from her workouts with her trainer. In Episode 5 of the Season, The Bow Wow Boutique, Lucy's physical comedy is on top of her game again. In the next episode with Eddie Albert, she dances and sings Makin' Whoopie with Eddie, as if she is a girl in her twenties. Lucy also sings and dances with Phil Harris near the end of the season. How a 62 year old can film a musical and a television show at the same time after breaking her leg in 4 places just a year earlier, is beyond me. That is the true Lucy- a woman who could and did do anything with such a never ending abundance of energy. Sadly as you watch Lucy, you see an aging woman in her 60's who physically just doesn't know it.

As always, Here's Lucy Season 6 had loads of great guest stars. In the first show, Danny Thomas plays a painter Danny Galupe, who Lucy talks into playing dead, so his paintings will bring top dollar- the most expensive one being a painting of Lucy in the buff! A note on Danny Thomas- he was the only big star to attend Desi's funeral in 1986 and at the end of this first episode when he says to Lucy- I REALLY Like You - you can feel it's for real. Danny was a grateful friend to the end. You'll also see O.J. Simpson, Steve Lawrence and Edie Gourmet, Ed McMahon, Bob Williams' Dog Act, Eddie Albert, Reta Shaw, Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester), Andy Griffith, Joan Rivers, Foster Brooks, Frankie Avalon who does a Sonny and Cher imitation with Lucie Arnaz that is really great!, Chuck Connors, Dick Sargent, Al Lewis, Arte Johnson, Don Porter (Gidget's dad), Milton Berle, Phil Harris, Mary Winters and more.

Of course, Lucy's wonderful sidekicks Gale Gordon and Mary Jane Croft are in almost every episode, along with appearances from daughter Lucie Arnaz, Mary Wickes, Gary Morton, Carole Cook and Doris Singleton. A note on Doris Singleton, who most of you remember as Carolyn Appleby on I Love Lucy. Who can't forget Lucy's friend Carolyn who constantly compared her perfect son Stevie to the inferior Little Ricky! Doris was one of only two women who Lucy trusted completely, because Desi never hit on her due to his respect for her husband. The other woman who Desi never bothered was Mary Jane Croft, also due to his respect for her husband. Lucy trusted and kept these 2 women in her shows for her entire life. Doris Singleton recently passed away on June 28th, 2012 at the age of 92.

Lucy also used this Season 6 to promote her movie Mame. Near the end in episode 22, Lucy Carter Meets Lucille Ball, the real Lucille Ball's perfume sponsor Mais Oui, holds a look alike contest. Kim tells mother Lucy she is a dead ringer for Miss Ball and should enter, which she does. The funniest scene is when real life hubby Gary Morton kisses Lucy Carter, thinking she is Lucille! There is lots of fun this season, with the Mame promotion and great talented guest stars that you won't want to miss. Sadly, with everyone aging now into their 60's, it will be the last Season of Here's Lucy, which Lucy already saw coming last season 5, when CBS convinced her to try just one more season. When CBS saw the ratings plummet down to #29, they knew the series was over, and chose not to renew Lucy's contract for a seventh year.

Here's Lucy's last 1973-74 season ended Lucy's being on television for a straight 23 years. The truth being, that everyone on Lucy's shows were from television's age of innocence of a past that was a much simpler time. They had aged and could not compete with the number one more realistic shows of All In The Family, Mary Tyler Moore, Mash and others.

In September of this year, the greatest Television Show of All Time was selected and it was I LOVE LUCY. Since television's first shows began after WWII, to entertain the new families in the privacy of their own homes, with the thousands and thousands of shows we've watched over 6 decades, Lucy is our favorite, most trusted entertainer, who we just can never get enough of. Lucy's spirit had a hard time aging, because maybe she knew that she would entertain us forever and remain forever young with us in the privacy of our own homes. Even after 6 decades of television, Lucy remains our favorite of all time, which shows that what remains close to our hearts are the innocent, much simpler times of the past- which Lucy always brought to us for 23 years straight.

The era of innocent television in 1974 was over, but thanks to MPI Home Video under license from Desilu,Too and Lucille Ball Productions, we can enjoy the simple wonderful television of Here's Lucy whenever we want on DVD!

Here are all the episodes from this final Season 6 that you won't want to miss:

1. LUCY AND DANNY THOMAS, 09/10/1973 - Lucy helps an artist sell his paintings for top dollar- the most expensive being of Lucy in the buff! (Danny Thomas & Hans Conried guest)
2. THE BIG GAME, 09/17/1973 - Harry scalps Buffalo Bills $6.50 tickets that were a gift for $50.00 a pair. (O.J. Simpson guests)
3. LUCY, THE PEACEMAKER, 09/24/1973 - Lucy's job as a secretary for Steve Lawrence turns to a peacemaker for the fighting Steve and wife Edie Gourmet. (Steve Lawrence and Edie Gourmet guest)
4. LUCY, THE WEALTHY WIDOW, 10/01/1973 - Lucy pretends to be wealthy in order to get an easy loan for Harry. (Ed McMahon guests)
5. THE BOW WOW BOUTIQUE, 10/08/1973 - Lucy and daughter Kim take care of a pet shop for the weekend. (Bob Williams Dog Act guest)
6. LUCIE GIVES EDDIE ALBERT THE OLD SONG AND DANCE, 10/15/1973 - Lucy and Eddie sing and dance Makin Whoopie for a charity for children. (Eddie Albert guests)
7. LUCY'S TENANT, 10/22/1973 - Lucy rents a room to a used car salesman, who turns out to be in love with her. (Reta Shaw & Jackie Coogan guest)
8. LUCY AND ANDY GRIFFITH, 10/29/1973 - Andy performs to make money for his Right Path Youth Camp. (Andy Griffith guests)
9. LUCY AND JOAN RIVERS DO JURY DUTY, 11/05/1973 - Lucy never agrees with the jurors, so when they have to stay in a hotel and not speak overnight, she communicates through charades. (Joan Rivers guests)
10. TIPSY THROUGH THE TULIPS, 11/12/1973 - Lucy is secretary for a writer with a drinking problem. ( Foster Brooks guests)
11. THE CARTERS MEET FRANKIE AVALON, 11/19/1973 - Frankie includes Lucie Arnaz in his nightclub act doing Sonny and Cher. Watch Frankie's impressions of Jimmy Cagney and John Wayne! (Frankie Avalon & Jerry Fogel guest)
12. HARRY CATCHES GOLD FEVER, 12/03/1973 - Lucy and Harry go gold panning and so does a bear.
13. LUCY AND CHUCK CONNORS HAVE A SURPRISE SLUMBER, 12/17/1973 - Harry rents Lucy's living room to a film crew, where Chuck stays the night without Lucy knowing. (Chuck Connors guests)
14. LUCY PLAYS COPS AND ROBBERS, 12/31/1973 - Forming a neighborhood watch, Lucy cries wolf so often, when a real burglar arrives, no one believes it. (Dick Sargent & Al Lewis guest)
15. LUCY IS A BIRD SITTER, 01/07/1974 - Lucy loses a tropical rare we-walk bird that Harry entrusted to her care. (Arte Johnson guests)
16. MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE OFFICE, 01/14/1974 - Harry wants to buy his Employment Agency back. (Don Porter guests)
17. LUCY IS N.G. AS AN R.N., 01/21/1974 - Lucy cares for Mary Jane, Harry and daughter Kim all at the same time.
18. LUCY, THE SHERIFF, 01/28/1974 - A pretend robbery in Carterville turns real.
19. MILTON BERLE IS THE LIFE OF THE PARTY, 02/11/1974 - Milton auctions himself off for charity for entertaining a party for a day and Lucy's winning bid of $7.50 gets him. (Milton Berle guests)
20. MARY JANE'S BOYFRIEND, 02/18/1974 - Mary Jane's new boyfriend who she got after going to charm school, Walter, chases after Lucy.
21. LUCY AND PHIL HARRIS STRIKE UP THE BAND, 02/25/1974 - Phil needs musicians for his big band sound and Lucy dances and sings. (Phil Harris guests)
22. LUCY CARTER MEETS LUCILLE BALL, 03/04/1974 - Lucille Ball's look alike contest winner promoting Mame, will win a car.
23. WHERE IS MY WANDERING MOTHER TONIGHT?, 03/11/1974 - Lucy pretends to have a date when spending a weekend at daughter Kim's apartment, so she won't be a third wheel when Kim has a date. (watch Lucy's lotus yoga position with her legs- all that training for Mame!)
24. LUCY FIGHTS THE SYSTEM, 03/18/1974 - When Mary Winters loses her waitress job due to age, Lucy fights back for her friend. (Mary Winters guests)

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