S11.E16: We Love Lucy

[FormerMod-a1]

Quote

Will claims living with Grace is like Ricky living with Lucy. When Karen and Jack hear this, they each claim that they are the Lucy of the group. Grace, Karen and Jack each imagine themselves as Lucy, with Will as the Ricky to all of them.

Original air date: April 9, 2020

[Annber03]

I love that Jack got to be Fred, Ethel, and Lucy at various points this episode. :D. That's great. And of course Karen would be Lucy in the wine-making segment :p. 

The ending was cute :). 

[gaucho91]

That was great!

[Starchild]

I've never been a Lucy fan, so this episode was meh for me.

That said, Debra Messing absolutely brings Lucy to life: physically, aurally and in her behaviour. What an amazing throwback.

[Annber03]

2 minutes ago, Starchild said:

That said, Debra Messing absolutely brings Lucy to life: physically, aurally and in her behaviour. What an amazing throwback.

My mom kept talking about how eerie the resemblance was. 

[Starchild]

1 minute ago, Annber03 said:

My mom kept talking about how eerie the resemblance was. 

Totally

[DXD526]

The premise of the episode looked really tired, and I was kind of dreading it, but they managed to make it fresh and funny. And a nice tribute. Everyone did great in their rotating roles!

[giovannif7]

My favorite episode of this season! It took me a minute to recognize that the line foreperson at Kramer's Kandy Kitchen was Lucie Arnaz... brilliant cameo! As was Leslie Jordan/Beverley Leslie as KarenLucy's rival grape stomper. I hope the remaining episodes are just as much fun.

Edited April 10, 2020 by giovannif7

[jewel21]

I love Lucy was before my time, but I've seen some repeats over the years. I love that they picked the three episodes I was familiar with. The episode was fun and Debra Messing did a wonderful job portraying Lucy. The resemblance and mannerisms were uncanny. 

[Bill1978]

I forgot just how hilarious Lucille Ball was. I was literally laughing out loud during the Lucy episodes. Thanks show for reminding me of funny Lucy was.

The ending was very touching, even though I feel Megan is there under sufferance. Even in the behind the scenes stuff during the credits she just doesn't look invested in the show, like she checked out ages ago. Before this season Karen use to pretend she doesn't care about the other 3, but lately Megan is portraying Karen like she really doesn't care.

Anyway the episode was much better than I anticipated, I literally thought we were going to have it all I Love Lucy and I couldn't understand how that would fit within the show, but the way they did it worked brilliantly.

My only complaint was what the hell was the costume designer thinking when they put Lucille Ball in that dress all those years ago. I looks like they grabbed the nearest thing to dress her in and unfortunately it was a quilt cover.

[Harvey]

Well this episode reinforced that Sean Hayes is still an excellent actor. He did very well in all three different roles he had to play. The voices, the facial expressions, they were all on point.

[chitowngirl]

I thought all three did great in all three roles they played.

[iMonrey]

I'm surprised so many people liked this because I thought it was pretty dumb. This is how you know they're out of ideas. It's so weird, because the whole reason this show got rebooted was supposed to be because it was so much more relevant now and they had so much to say about current events. But episodes like this just feel like late seventh or eighth season episodes from the original run when they didn't know what to do anymore.

That said, Debra Messing captures the look of Lucille Ball like no one else. If they ever did a bio pic about Lucille Ball at this age, Messing would be a dead ringer. She doesn't really have the voice but the resemblance was uncanny.

Will never had a dish washer? Hmm. I'll have to pay attention to reruns and see if that's true. He's always had those high end appliances, I find it hard to believe there was no dishwasher before.

[chitowngirl]

Did the producers have to pay some kind of fee to someone to use the I Love Lucy scripts? Lucie and Desi Jr.? Do they own the rights now?

[ahpny]

1 hour ago, chitowngirl said:

Did the producers have to pay some kind of fee to someone to use the I Love Lucy scripts? Lucie and Desi Jr.? Do they own the rights now?

That's a copyright question. CBS may own the rights, but if they did, they may have sold them to others over the years. Also DesiLu (largely as a result of the management of Desi Arnez, who was prescient in many business ways) had some unusual ownership arrangements for that time. (And if we all didn't already love Lucy, love her even more because without her there would never have been Star Trek!). Bottom line, clearly this was done with someone's permission (and possible payment as well). This type of production goes far beyond "fair use."

This episode turned out better than I expected, but I still didn't see the point of carbon copying original skits with no change whatsoever. While D. Messing's vitametavegiman "Lucy" was frighteningly flawless, what ultimately was the point? She's a good mimic? She's more than that.

The wine grape stomping skit worked better because they started with a familiar premise, but then, through the introduction of "B. Leslie" and call-back to his long-established feud with Karin, went somewhere beyond the original.

The rotating Lucy's, Ethyl's and Fred's worked, as did the song song by "Will."

Edited April 10, 2020 by ahpny

[LavenderSunset]

I thought this episode was hilarious and I LOVED Debra Messing as Lucy.  Wow!  She looked just like her.

[Snow Apple]

I feel bad for how I feel because almost all of you seems to like this episode but I was bored. It's too carbon copy without bringing any new twists or winks.

[howiveaddict]

16 hours ago, Bill1978 said:

I forgot just how hilarious Lucille Ball was. I was literally laughing out loud during the Lucy episodes. Thanks show for reminding me of funny Lucy was.

The ending was very touching, even though I feel Megan is there under sufferance. Even in the behind the scenes stuff during the credits she just doesn't look invested in the show, like she checked out ages ago. Before this season Karen use to pretend she doesn't care about the other 3, but lately Megan is portraying Karen like she really doesn't care.

Anyway the episode was much better than I anticipated, I literally thought we were going to have it all I Love Lucy and I couldn't understand how that would fit within the show, but the way they did it worked brilliantly.

My only complaint was what the hell was the costume designer thinking when they put Lucille Ball in that dress all those years ago. I looks like they grabbed the nearest thing to dress her in and unfortunately it was a quilt cover.

That quilt cover was a bath robe.  And exactly the type women wore in that era. Since Grace is pregnant, in the Will and Grace world, the  robe covered her pregnant belly.  The dress she wore in the Vitameatavegamin sketch was the same also.  

I am old and have seen all the Lucy episodes over and over.  All the sets were perfect replicas to the originals, especially their apartment.  

Debra Messing said on FB, that Lucie Arnez was quite touched to see Debra in costume, as her mother.  She really did look like Lucy.  

[Lone Wolf]

 

22 hours ago, giovannif7 said:

My favorite episode of this season! It took me a minute to recognize that the line foreperson at Kramer's Kandy Kitchen was Lucie Arnaz... brilliant cameo! 

I didn't realize it until they were showing the outtakes.  I recognized Lucie when she was hugging Grace.  Then I put two and two together, and checked the credits to confirm.  I love things like that - it would be very cool to be a fly on the wall for whatever conversation those two had.

9 hours ago, iMonrey said:

That said, Debra Messing captures the look of Lucille Ball like no one else. If they ever did a bio pic about Lucille Ball at this age, Messing would be a dead ringer. She doesn't really have the voice but the resemblance was uncanny.

Will never had a dish washer? Hmm. I'll have to pay attention to reruns and see if that's true. He's always had those high end appliances, I find it hard to believe there was no dishwasher before.

Feel free to check the Google Machine, but it seems to me that during the first iteration of the show there was talk of a bio pic and Messing was getting a lot of buzz.  I remember reading something to the effect that W&G could be considered her audition for Lucy.  Don't know why it never happened.

Agree about the dishwasher.  He has a wine fridge, ffs, and those towels looked thick enough to soak up a swimming pool.  If the place didn't come with a d/w he'd have installed one when he moved in.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Lone Wolf

[Aileen]

2 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

 

I didn't realize it until they were showing the outtakes.  I recognized Lucie when she was hugging Grace.  Then I put two and two together, and checked the credits to confirm.  I love things like that - it would be very cool to be a fly on the wall for whatever conversation those two had.

Feel free to check the Google Machine, but it seems to me that during the first iteration of the show there was talk of a bio pic and Messing was getting a lot of buzz.  I remember reading something to the effect that W&G could be considered her audition for Lucy.  Don't know why it never happened.

Agree about the dishwasher.  He has a wine fridge, ffs, and those towels looked thick enough to soak up a swimming pool.  If the place didn't come with a d/w he'd have installed one when he moved in.

I assumed that she bought him a higher-end dishwasher, not that it was a brand new dishwasher. Grace wouldn't have done the work to remove cabinets to install it.

 

[KWalkerInc]

15 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Did the producers have to pay some kind of fee to someone to use the I Love Lucy scripts? Lucie and Desi Jr.? Do they own the rights now?

Yes, Lucie and Desi Jr. own the rights.  Here is an article excerpt where Debra talks about how they wanted to do a Lucy show in the original run, but couldn't get the rights:

https://www.primetimer.com/item/Debra-Messing-We-tried-doing-an-I-Love-Lucy-homage-during-Will-amp-Graces-first-run-vaSjR1

[Wavy]

Loved it!  I've seen the "Lucy" episodes sooo many times, I have them memorized.  So, I did notice Debra didn't complain: "Its hot in here!" during the Vitameatavegamin  skit !!

[TVbitch]

I don't begrudge them for doing an espisode they aparently have wanted to do since the very beginning. But I hope they are planning to wrap up the series with as much care and effort. 

[dahling]

Self-indulgent tripe. 

[JeezumCrow]

On 4/10/2020 at 3:33 PM, ahpny said:

This episode turned out better than I expected, but I still didn't see the point of carbon copying original skits with no change whatsoever. While D. Messing's vitametavegiman "Lucy" was frighteningly flawless, what ultimately was the point? She's a good mimic? She's more than that.

They really gave her a thankless task, having her just recreate the bit. And IMO it fell incredibly flat - her reactions couldn’t be authentic because they had to mimic Lucy’s, and Lucy’s reactions are funny because they feel authentic. 
 

Each ‘Lucy’ recreation was better than the last, though. 

[Gothish520]

On 4/14/2020 at 12:16 AM, JeezumCrow said:

They really gave her a thankless task, having her just recreate the bit. And IMO it fell incredibly flat - her reactions couldn’t be authentic because they had to mimic Lucy’s, and Lucy’s reactions are funny because they feel authentic. 
 

Each ‘Lucy’ recreation was better than the last, though. 

Agree, the only one I laughed at was the candy bit, because that shiz will always be funny!

[OpalNightstream]

I thought I saw an interview long ago where Debra Messing said she idolized Lucille ball. Ever since, all I notice is how every episode she seems to do the over-the-top Lucille ball acting. It worked great for Lucille ball but it sometimes reads false to me when Debra messing does it.

[Tachi Rocinante]

I never found Lucille Ball funny, and sort of resent the fact we are all supposed to revere her.  Yes, she broke ground, but that doesn't automatically make her funny. Her shtick was tiresome after a few episodes. (The same goes for Lily Tomlin.  She's a better actress than comedienne.)

That being said, this was a decent homage,