We are all here for a spell, get all the good laughs you can. –- Will Rogers
Television’s rise in popularity throughout the fifties saw the emergence of the situation comedy, a style that captivated audiences by presenting a story with a beginning, a middle, and a happy end. One of the most popular of these shows, I Love Lucy, continues to appeal to both young and old some forty years later -- and counting. For most people, the answer to how I Love Lucy continually and effectively draws viewers to the screen is that "It’s funny." There is more to this funny show than meets the eye.
For television viewers of the fifties, Lucy and Ricky could have been familiar neighbors from down the street. People could relate to this young couple, the Ricardos, who were experiencing the trials and tribulations of marriage as typical Americans were. They lived in a modest brownstone in Manhattan with common worries such as paying the rent and affording new household commodities. The humor came when ordinary situations were exaggerated as Lucy managed to get herself into trouble time and time again, and proceeded to untangle herself from the mess. Ricky, her husband, would often discover -- and thwart -- her numerous schemes, and the best friends, Fred and Ethel Mertz, somehow managed to get involved as well. The zany redhead and the thick-accented Cuban were an oddly-matched pair, not only as a comedy team but as a married couple too. The combination of these factors yielded a television show that portrayed situations that average Americans could identify with.
The luck of having talent is not enough; one must also have a talent for luck. -- Hector Berlioz
Undoubtedly, Lucille Ball carried the show with her impeccable comedic timing an...
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...ll be a "funny" show.
Since we said, 'I do,' there are so many things we don't. –- Lucy Ricardo
Bibliography
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The Andy Griffith Show and I love Lucy have been two of the most watched shows in the history of television aired on CBS. I Love Lucy was a scripted sitcom recorded in front of a live studio audience with multiple cameras to give it better comic energy. It took place in an apartment in New York and her husband was an upcoming Cuban American who sung in a band. Although this was a black and white film, Lucy and Ricardo had colorful personalities. Lucy was always dressed nicely and Ricardo was always in a suit or business like attire. The house was always spotless as she was a housewife and an excellent mother later on. Lucy had a way of getting into trouble but Ricky somehow managed to get them out. She also displayed some traits that women were stereotyped for such as not showing or looking your age, being careless with money, and other secretive things. Ricardo on the other hand was the total opposite of Lucy which in the end balanced out their relationship. He has more patience than most and when he gets extremely mad, he would speak reall...
That 70’s show is about Eric Forman and his teenage friends and also is family members that live in Point Place Wisconsin through the time period of 1976-1979. The biggest surprise about the series is that despite it being only a three year time frame it managed to run for eight seasons that was seen on Fox from 1998 to 2006 which became the networks second longest running live action sitcom only trailing the show married with children. Despite the fact that the show wasn’t really based in the 70’s the production of the show did a good job to make it seem like they lived in the 70’s with cars, music etc… It’s kind of weird that the show was named “that 70’s show” when it didn’t officially take place during the 70’s.
I love Lucy was a very popular sitcom in the 1950s. Through humor and plot it brings out more of positive aspects and less of negative aspects for the 1950's that Coontz described in `What we really missed about the 1950s.'
"Ball, Lucille." Current Biography. 1978 ed. Ed. Charles Moritz. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1978: 32-35.
For a large part of the history of TV sitcoms women have been portrayed as mothers or as having to fulfill the woman's role in the private sphere. Family based sitcoms were one of the forms of sitcom that keep women in these roles, but what is interesting is that even in other forms of sitcoms women do not truly escape these roles. Sitcoms, like Sex and the City and Murphy Brown showcase women whom have seemingly escaped these roles, by showing liberated women, but that does not mean that both do not fall into the gender role showcased in family sitcoms. It draws the similarities between ensemble sitcoms and family sitcoms when it comes down to the role of women. The starring women in both Sex and the City and Murphy Brown, and even the Mary
...d what they consider entertaining or even humorous in a sitcom. Overall, modern sitcoms rely on sex, violence, and the most ridiculous situations that you could ever find yourself in to create entertainment, and although Mary Tyler Moore does have some of this, such as the “Chuckles Bites the Dust” episode, for the most part the show relies on the contemporary ideas of the time. The ideas that they explored was the feminist movement of course. This is why the show Mary Tyler Moore holds up as a historic show rather than a comedy. The audience has simply changed what they find as funny over time.
“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”
“The sitcom is a jumble of mixed metaphors: the repetition compulsion of eternal sameness conjoined to a desire to overturn the established order; a profound aesthetic conservatism bundled with an ingrained desire to shock. Every sitcom possess not just a routine that it perpetually seeks to overturn but also a particular style of fomenting that chaos.”
television is something of the past but it additionally a reminder of the way things was in the 1950’s and 1960’s when the two shows were engendered. I love Lucy and the Andy Griffith Show are two well-kenned classics engendered to regale but additionally to send a wholesome and moral message. The Andy Griffith Show aired for eight seasons winning countless Emmy awards and spawning spinoffs. The I love Lucy Show television show was additionally profoundly popular. The exhibition won eight Emmy’s and the coveted Peabody Award. Both of these television shows were filmed decades ago but they are still aired today and remain a paramount part of television history.
"Men Quotes, Famous Men Quotes, Sayings about Man." Famous Quotes at AllGreatQuotes. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. .
“Adversity has the effect of eliciting [revealing] talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant [hidden],” –Horace. These wise words of Horace prove a point. Everyone has talents of some kind, however these people need to discover it on their own. Adversity, whether it be danger, hardship, or a simple challenge between friends, gives people the motivation to do things they wouldn’t have done otherwise.
Ever since I was old enough to talk, I’ve loved making people laugh. When I was six I received a Lucy Show disk for Christmas, and it introduced me to the world of Lucille Ball. My brother and I spent afternoons watching it on our tube TV. We searched for more Lucille Ball and ended up watching every episode of I Love Lucy. When you came on as her roommate in The Lucy Show, I had to know who you were.
...ar, Sarí, and Julia VanTine. Extraordinary Togetherness: a Woman's Guide to Love, Sex, and Intimacy. Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 1999. Print.
“There is no person in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are.” Are you feeling a little uncomfortable right now? Because I know I am. Most people can’t say something like this without making people cringe and question their sincerity, yet this year we commemorate the 50th anniversary of one of the most modest, most original, and most iconic American television shows of all times – yes, I am talking about Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. A show where Fred Rogers would say something like this quote every day and his audience loved it because they knew he meant it. The show premiered on February 19th, 1968 – the same year that saw the bloody Tet Offensive of the Vietnamese War, the murders of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, and the violent riots in urban America. But among all this
Talent is not enough to teach you a new sport or to make you good at it; as Chris declares “With regards to success, there are certain qualities that can hold greater value than talent alone, which are desire, persistence and hard work.” The talent someone has is not going to make a person intelligent the dedication and hard work will get the person to new levels of wisdom. Life is a battle to achieve personal goals, which can only be won by hard work at every aspect of it. Not only working hard at what you enjoy but also working hard at the obstacles that are put in front of