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Lucille Ball wouldn’t be the first actor, comic or otherwise, to cringe while watching herself on screen. But Ball wasn’t universally opposed to watching her own work — it was a specific part of her sitcom portfolio that made her turn up her nose.

“I don’t like some of the shows that I look at,” Ball told the Roanoke Times, as reported by MeTV. “Some of the old I Love Lucy’s are silly.”

I Love Lucy? The original classic sitcom? “I study them and enjoy them and wish I’d done it differently a lot of times — most of the time — but very few I really laugh at,” she explained.

The fact that early episodes didn’t live up to Ball’s funny standards shouldn’t be a surprise, given how quickly the show came together. According to her memoir, Love, Lucy, Ball was four months pregnant...

Desi Arnaz Jr. has made a rare appearance online. The 71-year-old son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz is admittedly a bit of a recluse, but his sister, Lucie Arnaz, got him out of the house recently. Continue reading to see the photos she shared.

Lucie Arnaz Shares Rare Pic Of Desi Arnaz Jr.

On Saturday, Lucie shared a couple of photos featuring her younger brother Desi. In the caption, she thanked Nick Luckinbill for a wonderful meal with their “special guest,” referring to her brother. She wrote, “Desi is alive and well, my friends – just likes to stay a bit ‘undercover.'”

Lucie went on to share that she was in Las Vegas for the weekend with her husband, Larry. There was a tribute to him during the 35th Anniversary of Star Trek V celebration at The Treksperts Convention. He played Spock’s brother, Sybok, in Star Trek V.

Before Dana Carvey made it big on Saturday Night Live — even before he co-starred with Mickey Rooney in the sitcom flop One of the Boys or as a helicopter cop in Blue Thunder — he filmed a pilot for a situation comedy that co-starred ultimate showbiz nepo baby Desi Arnaz Jr. The son of America’s favorite comedy couple, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, never duplicated his parents’ success despite his mother’s best efforts.

The pilot was called Whacked Out, Carvey told fellow SNL alum Chris Kattan on his Idiotically Speaking podcast. What was the sitcom about? That’s hard to say. One of the show’s writers blogged about his experience filming the pilot but neglected to mention his creation’s premise or plot, fixating on how starstruck he was in the presence of Ball.

In Carvey’s conversation with Kattan, the plot of Whacked Out was also of little concern.

Steve Lawrence, the singer who teamed with his wife Eydie Gormé to form one of the most popular nightclub and concert duos of their generation, died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease today. He was 88.

His son, the composer and performer David Lawrence, said in a press statement, “My Dad was an inspiration to so many people. But, to me, he was just this charming, handsome, hysterically funny guy who sang a lot. Sometimes alone and sometimes with his insanely talented wife. I am so lucky to have had him as a father and so proud to be his son. My hope is that his contributions to the entertainment industry will be remembered for many years to come.”

Popularly know as Steve and Eydie, the couple achieved nationwide recognition in the mid-1950s after appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Steve Allen. They continued performing together until Gormé’s retirement...

"I Love Lucy" began more than 70 years ago, yet, in some ways, the show still feels modern. Sitcoms today still lift some of their best comedic bits straight from plots of the classic, plus the series was shaped by a woman and a Latino man who were both groundbreaking leaders in their industry. Unfortunately, though, one distressing story from the show's production -- in which a male director made the woman the show was named after break down in tears -- also sounds like it could've happened yesterday.

The anecdote comes from a 2003 piece in DGA Quarterly documenting filmmaker William Asher's takeover as director in the show's second season. "Asher's first day on the set though nearly ended his association with the show," Ted Elrick wrote, explaining that when the filmmaker stepped away to deal with a technical problem, he came back to find Lucy herself, Lucille Ball, "giving directions backstage.

How much juice did Lucille Ball have in the late 1960s? While many of her contemporaries struggled to remain relevant as America seemed on the brink of a cultural and political revolution, the old-school Ball was still one of television's most reliable entertainers. "I Love Lucy," the paradigm-setting sitcom she created with her husband Desi Arnaz, was a syndication powerhouse. Five years after ending the series, she shook off the Broadway failure of 1960's "Wildcat" and scored another sitcom hit with "The Lucy Show." At the end of the series' sixth season, it was the second highest-rated show on television, but when Ball sold Desilu Productions to Gulf+Western in 1967, she decided to pull the plug.

Why? Because she didn't want to star in a show owned by someone else. So when "The Lucy Show" aired its final episode on March 11, 1968, Ball turned around and created "Here's Lucy," which premiered...

Although “Schmigadoon!” is now campaigning for this year’s Emmys as a scripted variety series, its cast members can still be nominated as comedic actors. According to Gold Derby’s odds, the performer most likely to score a supporting bid for the Apple TV Plus program’s second season is Jane Krakowski, who plays the show-stopping role of singing lawyer Bobby Flanagan. With Best Comedy Supporting Actress notices for “30 Rock” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” already under her belt, she could now make Emmys history as the first actress to be nominated in the same category for regular performances on three different continuing series.

SEEApple TV+ musical-comedy hit ‘Schmigadoon!’ moves from comedy series to scripted variety series category

Krakowski, who earned her four “30 Rock” nominations between 2009 and 2013 and her sole “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” bid in 2015, could now become one of the 12 most-recognized actresses in her category. She is currently...

Carole Cook, a protege of Lucille Ball who would become a familiar face through appearances on Ball’s TV shows, movies like The Incredible Mr. Limpet and Sixteen Candles and stage musicals 42nd Street and Romantic Comedy, died today of heart failure in Beverly Hills, California, just three days before her 99th birthday.

Her death was announced by husband Tom Troupe.

Born Mildred Frances Cook in Abilene, Texas, Cook made her Broadway debut as a replacement in 1954’s Threepenny Opera. After moving to Los Angeles, she became a favorite of Ball’s, who suggested the name spelling of Carole in honor of movie star Carole Lombard. “Like her, you have the same healthy disrespect for all things in general,” Ball told Cook.

Cook would subsequently make guest appearances on Ball’s sitcoms The Lucy Show and Here’s Lucy. The two remained life-long friends, with Ball serving as matron-of-honor at Cook’s 1964 wedding to Troupe.

The Munsters are, by design, a comedic reinvention of the classic monsters – Herman is Frankenstein’s monster, Lily is a vampire, Grandpa is Count Dracula, and Eddie is a werewolf – but other interpretations of iconic creatures occasionally made appearances.

Before TV’s first family of fright returns in Rob Zombie’s The Munsters, let’s look back at six classic monsters that have appeared in The Munsters Universe up to this point.

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Despite only appearing on screen for about a minute and a half, Uncle Gilbert is perhaps the most memorable member of the Munsters’ extended family. The reason is simple: he’s the Gill-man from the Creature from the Black Lagoon franchise.

In “Love Comes to Mockingbird Heights”, Uncle Gilbert sends the family 180,000 worth of gold doubloons from the old country for safekeeping until he arrives to visit. This inciting incident sets the plot in motion,...

In 1953, Danny Thomas began his TV career as the star of ABC’s “Make Room for Daddy,” which eventually migrated to CBS and became known as “The Danny Thomas Show.” Thomas played family man Danny Williams for a total of 11 seasons, ultimately electing to end the show while its ratings were still high. Afterward, he earned an Emmy bid for producing “The Mod Squad,” guest starred on such programs as “Happy Days” and “Here’s Lucy,” and reprised his most well-known role on the single-season sequel series “Make Room for Granddaddy.”

Thomas’s final role was on an episode of the NBC sitcom “Empty Nest,” which aired just four days before his death in 1991 at age 79. His portrayal of the mentor of lead character Dr. Harry Weston (Richard Mulligan) resulted in an Emmy nomination – his first since earning four for his eponymous show over three decades earlier. He was originally the...

In 1953, Danny Thomas began his TV career as the star of ABC’s “Make Room for Daddy,” which eventually migrated to CBS and became known as “The Danny Thomas Show.” Thomas played family man Danny Williams for a total of 11 seasons, ultimately electing to end the show while its ratings were still high. Afterward, he earned an Emmy bid for producing “The Mod Squad,” guest starred on such programs as “Happy Days” and “Here’s Lucy,” and reprised his most well-known role on the single-season sequel series “Make Room for Granddaddy.”

Thomas’s final role was on an episode of the NBC sitcom “Empty Nest,” which aired just four days before his death in 1991 at age 79. His portrayal of the mentor of lead character Dr. Harry Weston (Richard Mulligan) resulted in an Emmy nomination – his first since earning four for his eponymous show over three decades earlier. He was originally the...

Like everyone else, we love Lucy and celebrate the anniversary of Lucille Ball‘s landmark laffer “I Love Lucy,” which debuted on CBS exactly 70 years ago today on Oct. 15, 1951. The show won the Emmy for Best Situation Comedy twice and Ball claimed two trophies as well.

Ball went on to win two more Emmys for the last two seasons of her second series, “The Lucy Show”. In 1967, she edged out “Bewitched” stars Elizabeth Montgomery and Agnes Moorehead and “That Girl’s” Marlo Thomas. By the way, Montgomery never won an Emmy, despite nine nods, including five for her work as that witch with a twitch. The following year, in what was to be her final Emmy race, Ball prevailed yet again. Her competition: Montgomery and Thomas, as well as Barbara Feldon (“Get Smart”) and Paula Prentiss (“He and She”).

Watch that moment from the 1967 Emmycast when Ball wins. As her...

The year of 1969 saw the moon landing of the Apollo 11’s Eagle module, Richard Nixon sworn in as the 37th president of the United States, the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village ushering in the gay rights movement, the Tate-La Bianca murders by the Manson Family, the landmark Woodstock Music and Arts Fair which attracts 400,000, the tragic and violent Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Speedway and even Tiny Tim marrying Miss Vicki on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

But one major event was basically ignored by the mainstream media: the Harlem Cultural Arts Festival which took place June 29-August 24 at the Mount Morris Park. Founded by Tony Lawrence, the festival celebrating Black pride, music and culture features such landmark performers as Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Stevie Wonder, The Fifth Dimension and Mahalia Jackson. And when the NYPD refused to supply security,...

Before “All in the Family” debuted, there was a profound gap between real life and what was being depicted on TV series.

In his autobiography “Even This I Get to Experience,” Norman Lear wrote, “Until ‘All in the Family’ came along, TV comedy was telling us there was no hunger in America, we had no racial discrimination, there was no unemployment or inflation, no war, no drugs, and the citizenry was happy with whomever happened to be in the White House.”

When Lear and Bud Yorkin pitched “All in the Family” to CBS, that network’s executives were looking for something different — but maybe not That different.

A week before the un-publicized sitcom debuted on Jan. 12, 1971, Variety’s Les Brown summed up the first four months of the new season for the three networks. Brown wrote that CBS had a lock on “the rural middle-American viewership” with its “rustic sitcoms,...

Like everyone else, we love Lucy and celebrate the anniversary of Lucille Ball‘s landmark laffer “I Love Lucy,” which debuted on CBS exactly 69 years ago today on Oct. 15, 1951. The show won the Emmy for Best Situation Comedy twice and Ball claimed two trophies as well.

Ball went on to win two more Emmys for the last two seasons of her second series, “The Lucy Show”. In 1967, she edged out “Bewitched” stars Elizabeth Montgomery and Agnes Moorehead and “That Girl’s” Marlo Thomas. By the way, Montgomery never won an Emmy, despite nine nods, including five for her work as that witch with a twitch. The following year, in what was to be her final Emmy race, Ball prevailed yet again. Her competition: Montgomery and Thomas, as well as Barbara Feldon (“Get Smart”) and Paula Prentiss (“He and She”).

Watch that moment from the 1967 Emmycast when Ball wins. As her...

Lucille Desiree Ball

Born: Aug. 6, 1911 in Celeron, N.Y.

Died: April 26, 1989 in Los Angeles

Best known for: CBS comedy series “I Love Lucy” (1951-1957), “The Lucy Show” (1962-68), “Here’s Lucy” (1968-74). As Variety‘s Tom Gilbert observed after her death, “Ball’s elastic facial expressions and precise comic timing catapulted her into an American institution.”

Autobiography: “Love, Lucy,” published posthumously in 1996, from a memoir Ball wrote in the mid-1960s.

Awards: Emmy wins for lead comedy actress in 1953, 1956, 1967 and 1968. Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.‘s Cecil B. DeMille Award, 1979. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Governors Award, 1989

Behind the scenes impact: With her husband and “I Love Lucy” co-star Desi Arnaz, Ball was a TV pioneer who etched an enduring template for TV sitcoms shot on film, which ignited the syndication marketplace for TV. Known for her signature flame-red hair color, Ball was also the first woman to head a major TV studio,...

“I Love Lucy” is the subject of a heartfelt tribute from “Will & Grace” on April 9. In “We Love Lucy,” Grace (Debra Messing), Jack (Sean Hayes) and Karen (Megan Mullally) each imagine themselves as Lucy Ricardo opposite Will (Eric McCormack) as her hubby Ricky. Part of the fun is seeing this trio of talent also play Fred and Ethel in various combinations.

“Will & Grace” and “I Love Lucy” both won Best Comedy Series at the Emmys. The former did it in 2000; Hayes and Mullally won that year as well. McCormack prevailed in 2001 and Messing in 2003. “Will and Grace” is only the third TV series in Emmy history in which all four of the main cast won awards, following “All in the Family” and “The Golden Girls.”

Of the quartet of talent on “I Love Lucy,” it was only the women — Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance — who won over the TV academy voters.

“Will and Grace” pays tribute to “I Love Lucy” on April 9. In “We Love Lucy,” Grace (Debra Messing), Jack (Sean Hayes) and Karen (Megan Mullally) each imagine themselves as Lucy Ricardo opposite Will (Eric McCormack) as her hubby Ricky. Part of the fun is seeing this trio of talent also play Fred and Ethel in various combinations.

In black-and-white fantasy sequences, Grace gets tipsy when Lucy does a TV commercial for the alcohol-laced Vitameatavegamin; Karen is in her element stomping grapes to make wine; and Jack is wrapped up in making candy. Lucie Arnaz, daughter of the show’s stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, appears in that last segment drawn from the classic episode “Job Switching.” She plays the factory forewoman who warns the girls that this is their last stop; if one piece of candy gets past them they will be canned.

In the video above, Lucie, relates...

One of the industry's most beloved artists, Lucie Arnaz, swings by Shetler Studios to talk to Rob and Kevin about her fifty plus year stage career. From her roots on CBS' Here's Lucy, starring her mother Lucille Ball, to her celebrated concert career, Lucie has been entertaining audiences in such shows as Seesaw, My One and Only, Lost in Yonkers, Social Security, Once Upon a Mattress, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, I Do I Do and, the musical for which she received her Tony Award nomination, They're Playing Our Song...

Are you a fan of classic comedies? Recently, Cozi TV announced they are airing an eight-hour marathon of Here's Lucy and The Nanny this Sunday, August 5th.

The "Lucy Nanny" marathon celebrates the grand opening of The National Comedy Center in Lucille Ball's hometown of Jamestown, New York. The I Love Lucy star produced and starred in Here's Lucy on CBS from 1968 to 1974.

Read More…...

Mike Connors passed away today of leukemia at a hospital in Tarzana, CA. He was 91.

Connors is best known for his role as Joe Mannix on the CBS series Mannix that ran from 1967-1975.

He was good guy, a private detective who could take a punch like none other. 

Kreker J. Ohanian was born in Fresno, California in 1925. Of Armenian descent, the actor was told to change his name because it sounded too much like George O'Hanlon.

Connors began his film and television career in 1952 under the name Touch (a nickname he earned in college) Connors. 

Early on in the 1950s, he had a bevy of small roles in westerns such as Gun Smoke, Have Gun, Will Travel and Maverick. 

In 1959, Connors got his first series regular role in Tightrope.

Tightrope was originally going to be called Undercover Man, and that makes sense. Connor's character was an undercover agent who...

Lucille Ball: The glamour look. Cate Blanchett to play Lucille Ball: Actress won Oscar for incarnating Ball's fellow Rko contract player Katharine Hepburn Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is reportedly slated to star in a biopic of former Rko and MGM actress and big-time television comedienne Lucille Ball. Aaron Sorkin, Oscar winner for David Fincher's The Social Network, will be responsible for the screenplay. According to Entertainment Weekly, the Lucille Ball film biopic will focus on Ball's two-decade marriage to her I Love Lucy costar Desi Arnaz. In 1960, the couple had an acrimonious divorce that supposedly “shocked” clueless fans unable to tell the difference between TV reality and real-life reality. Their children, Desi Arnaz Jr. and Lucie Arnaz, had modest acting careers in film and on TV in the '70s and '80s. As per the EW.com report, they're both producing the planned Lucille Ball biopic.

Lucille Ball is set for a major biopic, with Cate Blanchett starring as the legendary actress and Aaron Sorkin lined up to write the script.

The movie, which is being produced by Ball's two children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr, will follow the star's career and 20-year marriage to I Love Lucy co-star Desi Arnaz.

The Wrap was first to report this story.

The story of Lucille Ball has been attempted before with two TV movies: 2003's Lucy and 1991's Lucy & Desi.

As well as famed sitcom I Love Lucy, Ball also starred in The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life with Lucy.

The actress began her career in the late-1920s. She passed away of an abdominal aortic dissection in 1989 at the age of 77.

Read More: 2015 Emmy Predictions: Best Comedy Series Ever since Lucille Ball thrust her first name into iconic status on "I Love Lucy" (and later basically had it trademarked via "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour," "The Lucy Show," "Here's Lucy" and "Life With Lucy"), actors have used their public image to earn laughs on TV. Sometimes they create a whole new persona to go along with the character they play (who just so happens to share their name). Other times they glean jokes from real-life events, using the audience's knowledge of their actual actions to poke fun at themselves "in character." The concept is even older than that of the mockumentary, a parody of documentaries made popular in the '80s in films like "This Is Spinal Tap," "Zelig" and, later, "Man Bites Dog."  Both genres have gone through a revitalization period during the so-called golden age of television. Mockumentaries were...

There are the 1960s, and then there is "the Sixties," and they only overlap to a degree. Popular culture and popular history have turned the Sixties in America into a dreamscape of mop-topped British invaders, painted hippies, an escalating war in Vietnam, a moon landing, and massive social unrest. But before the rise of the flower children, there were men in suits and short haircuts, women in conservative dresses, and chaste movie musicals dominating at the box office. And it's not like the counterculture obliterated the culture that had already existed. The psychedelic-inflected comedy of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" was the highest rated show of the 1968-69 season, but the top 10 also included "Gomer Pyle," "Bonanza," "Mayberry Rfd," "Family Affair," "Gunsmoke," "The Dean Martin Show," "Here's Lucy" and "The Beverly Hillbillies." In 1969, the same year that The Beatles released "Abbey Road" and The Rolling Stones presented "Let It Bleed," aging Rat Pack...

The first episode of "American Horror Story: Freak Show" gave us a number of strange curiosities, including a killer clown, a pair of Siamese twins played by Sarah Paulson, and even a bearded Kathy Bates throwing down a Baltimore accent. The greatest spectacle of all, however, was a German-accented Jessica Lange singing a cabaret version of David Bowie's "Life on Mars." Experience the glum performance below: She's definitely going for a Marlene Dietrich vibe, given the curls and accent. But the two-time Oscar-winning Lange actually reminds me more of the following: 1) Late-stage "Here's Lucy" Lucille Ball 2) The flawless Nanette Fabray 3) And of course, Madonna in the "Me Against the Music" video. Imagine Jessica Lange deadpanning, "Hey, Britney." You die.

Almost a quarter century after her death in 1989, Lucille Ball is still a ratings winner for CBS. Last Friday, the Tiffany net aired two colorized episodes of "I Love Lucy" -- the special 1956 Christmas clip show and the classic grape-stomping installment from earlier that season -- and drew almost nine million viewers.  Like everyone else, we love Lucy and have been talking about her a lot this year as Julia Louis-Dreyfus just bested her Emmy record, reaping a 14th nomination in the comedy categories. She went on to win Best Comedy Actress for the second year running for "Veep," bringing her Emmy haul to four (with wins in 1996 for "Seinfeld" and 2006 for "The New Adventures of Old Christine").  That ties Louis-Dreyfus with Ball, who claimed two apiece for "I Love Lucy" and "The Lucy Show." While Ball was never nominated during the six seasons of "Here's Lucy" or for her subsequent tele.

The world has lost another screen legend this week as Andy Griffith reportedly passed away at his Dare County home earlier today. The man was known to two different generations for separate iconic roles, one throughout the '60s as Sheriff Andy Taylor on his own sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, and then later as the star of Matlock in the late '80s and early '90s. He also had several noteworthy film roles over the years, including the one that launched his career, Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd. Griffith was 86 years old. The news comes courtesy of University of North Carolina President Bill Friday, who was a close friend of the actor. It was later confirmed that emergency medical crews responded to Griffith's home this morning. He had undergone quadruple heart-bypass surgery back in 2000 and had struggled with partial paralysis due to Guillain–Barré syndrome in the early '80s.

Los Angeles — Actress Doris Singleton, who played one of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo's lesser-known neighbors on "I Love Lucy," has died. She was 92.

Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, confirmed the death in a post on her Facebook page. Singleton died Tuesday, the same day as writer-director Nora Ephron, and Arnaz acknowledged them both in her post, writing, "They were loved and appreciated and will be missed."

Singleton's death also was reported by Variety and the Hollywood Reporter.

Her character, first called Lillian Appleby and then Caroline Appleby, appeared in 10 episodes. She was Lucy's neighbor, the wife of a radio station owner.

"She was sort of Lucy's nemesis" because both had young sons, Singleton said in a 2005 interview for the Archive of American Television of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. "There was a rivalry there but she had to be nice, Lucy had to be nice to Caroline,...

American actor Philip Bruns has died at the age of 80.

The TV star, who played Jerry Seinfeld's dad in the first season of Seinfeld, passed away of natural causes on 8 February in Los Angeles.

Bruns broke into acting in an episode of The Robert Herridge Theater, before going on to star on the small screen in a number of shows, including Car 54 Where Are You?, Route 66 and Here's Lucy.

He rose to further prominence playing the father of the title character in 1970s series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, also guest starring on Kojak, The Six Million Dollar Man and Mr. Belvedere.

Bruns also enjoyed roles in films including The Stuntman, The Out of Towners, and Flashdance.

Philip Bruns, the veteran character actor whose main claim to fame was originating the role of Jerry Seinfeld's dad in the first season of Seinfeld, has passed away. He was 80. According to Playbill, Bruns died of natural causes on Wednesday in Los Angeles. During his five-decade career, the actor was a television mainstay. After making his tube debut on an episode of The Robert Herridge Theater, Bruns appeared in such classic series as Car 54 Where Are You? and Jackie Gleason's variety show, Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine, in addition to roles in Route 66 and Here's Lucy. In the 1970s and 1980s he seemed to be everywhere. Bruns played the father of the title...

Just picturing Lucille Ball is enough to bring a smile to most people's faces. After all, the beloved comedienne made us laugh in five TV shows -- I Love Lucy, The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, and Life with Lucy -- as well as through dozens of TV specials, radio episodes, and more than 75 movies.

While Ball devoted much of her life to the art of performing, artist Henry Lmrr most appreciates Ball as the subject for his art. He's drawn Ball literally hundreds of times, filling sketch books and inscribing her likeness on everything from canvas to scrap notebook paper, an eraser, and even a bottlecap. He confesses that he just can't enough of her immortal features.

Lmrr began drawing Ball at the age of 10 after he saw "The Anniversary Present" episode from the second season...

"Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a redhead." -- Lucille Ball

On August 6, 1911, Lucille Désirée Ball was born, and so was a star.

She would get into modeling at first and then eventually show business in 1933, and she would do plenty of uncredited work before moving into more substantial roles. But it wasn't until 1951 when she and then husband of 11 years, Desi Arnaz, came into homes everywhere on I Love Lucy. The show would span six years and 181 episodes, and remains popular to this very day.

Lucy would eventually move on to other ventures—The Lucy Show (156 episodes); Here's Lucy (143 episodes)—but none would have the lasting effect that I Love Lucy had and will continue to have on generations to come. Even in black and white, you could almost see that iconic fiery red hair bursting through your television screen. [...]...

Jon Cryer had no idea his former Two And A Half Men co-star Charlie Sheen was heading for a major meltdown, insisting "nobody was prepared" for such headline-grabbing behaviour.

Sheen was fired from the hit sitcom in March following months of wild antics, a health emergency, rehab and his bitter media blitz.

Cryer admits he was caught off-guard by the sudden onslaught of Sheen's personal and professional problems because he didn't see any warning signs.

He tells U.S. talk show host David Letterman, "We didn't see where it was going. This has never happened before. Honestly, it wasn't like, back in 1963 everybody remembers when Fred MacMurray went bats**t and started talking about Freemason ninjas and stuff. He was crazy! And Vivian Vance started urinating on the set of Here's Lucy. You remember that? That was great fun! Nobody was prepared for this. I did not see it coming. Nobody saw it coming...

"None of us wanted to continue with the show if we felt it was hurting him, and there was a point when everyone felt like... there was no control here... When (the show was temporarily) shut down, it was the end of the world for some people. There are a lot of fans of the show... and when we shut down, it hit people hard."

But Cryer is adamant he wants Sheen to put his problems behind him and "get healthy", adding, "I want him to stay sober, I want him to be reunited with his family: That would be the best thing."

Ashton Kutcher has since been hired to replace Sheen on Two and a Half Men.

Filed under: Reality-Free, TV Replay

With Charlie Sheen's very public meltdown happening during the filming of the latest season of 'Two and a Half Men,' David Letterman was curious if co-star Jon Cryer or anyone else on the show saw any of this coming. On 'Late Show' (Weeknights, 11:35Pm Et on CBS), Cryer said nobody did.

"This has never happened before," Cryer said. There was no template for a star going what appeared to be crazy while starring in a popular show before.

"It wasn't like, 'Back in 1963 everybody remembers when Fred MacMurray went bats*** and started talking about freemason ninjas and stuff. He was crazy! And Vivian Vance started urinating on the set of 'Here's Lucy.''"

 

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Some of Lucille Ball's love letters, awards, photos, and a Rolls Royce were set to be auctioned off on Saturday. Heritage Auction Galleries was selling the items on behalf of Susie McCallister Morton, the widow of Gary Morton. He was Ball's second husband and an executive producer on Here's Lucy and Life with Lucy. Susie Morton married him after the death of Ball in 1989. They were married for three years. Gary Morton died in 1999 and his belongings went to his widow as part of his estate.

Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, the daughter of Ball and her first husband Desi Arnaz, sought to obtain the Morton/Ball love letters and Ball's lifetime achievement awards after Susie Morton put them up for sale. Luckinbill said that she wanted to donate them to a museum.

Some of the items were reportedly left to Luckinbill after her...

Everyone loves Lucy, even in a television special as fluffy and foolish as this one. Lucille Ball stars as Lucy Whittaker, an Indiana housewife who phones then President Jimmy Carter to give him a piece of her mind. Carter intends to build a housing project on the site of what is now a camp for underprivileged kids. Of course, President Carter just so happens to be coming to town and ever so kindly offers to allow Lucy to make him dinner as he comes by her house to discuss the situation with her.

I have one kind thing to say about Lucy Calls the President, and that is this: somehow, every Lucy project seems to have a delightful cast of hilarious actors and actresses.  Guest starring in this piece are Ed McMahon, Steve Allen, Mary Wickes, and Mary Jane Croft. And what kind of special would this be if Vivian Vance,...

Here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic, and not-so-classic, movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time this week as well.

Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies and TV shows such as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, North by Northwest, It’s a Wonderful Life and The Rockford Files. Plus, there’s some classic Dr. Who coming out this week as well.

Check them out.

Movies

A Christmas Carol ~ Alastair Sim, Jack Warner (Blu-ray)

Aliens in the Attic ~ Kevin Nealon, Doris Roberts (DVD and Blu-ray)

Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics, Vol. 1 (The Big Heat / 5 Against the House / The Lineup / Murder by Contract / The Sniper) ~ (DVD)

The Claudette Colbert Collection (Three-Cornered Moon / Maid of Salem / Pariser Bekanntschaft (1937)I Met...

Several very notable veterans of television history left us in January. They include Bernie Hamilton (Starsky and Hutch), Steven Gilborn (Ellen, The Wonder Years, Damages, The Bernie Mac Show, NYPD Blue, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The West Wing, The Practice, L.A. Law, Columbo and Law & Order), Pat Hingle (Hail to the Chief, Hawaii Five-o, M*A*S*H, and Gunsmoke), Cheryl Holdridge (The Mickey Mouse Club, My Three Sons, Bewitched, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Leave It to Beaver), Don Galloway (Ironside, General Hospital), John Hager (Hee-Haw), Harry Endo (Hawaii Five-o, Magnum, Pi), Patrick McGoohan (The Prisoner), Ricardo Montalban (Star Trek, Dynasty, The Colbys, Here's Lucy, and Murder, She Wrote), Gordon Mitchell (All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Odd Couple, and Mork and Mindy), Bob May (Lost in Space), and Kim Manners (Charlie's Angels, Star Trek: The Next Generation, 21 Jump Street,...