Editing Life with Lucy (section)

==Production==
During the 1984–1985 television season, [[NBC]] had experienced a huge success with its [[Bill Cosby]] comeback vehicle ''[[The Cosby Show]]'', following it up the next year with ''[[The Golden Girls]]'', which likewise revitalized the careers of [[Bea Arthur]] and [[Betty White]]. ABC, looking to stage a similar resurgence for an older sitcom star and to boost Saturday night ratings, approached 75-year-old, five-time Emmy award winner and cultural icon [[Lucille Ball]]. Producer Aaron Spelling had been in talks with Ball and her second husband [[Gary Morton]] since 1979 about possibly doing another series; the popular success of her dramatic turn in the television film ''[[Stone Pillow]]'' had proved she was still popular with audiences. Ball was initially hesitant about returning to television, stating that she did not believe she could top the 25-year run of success she had had with ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', ''[[The Lucy Show]]'' and ''[[Here's Lucy]]''. Her longtime co-star [[Vivian Vance]] had died in 1979, and [[Gale Gordon]] was retired in Palm Springs. However, Ball eventually agreed, conceding she had missed having a regular project to work on daily.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45oEx8ECuJ4 Joan Rivers interviews Lucille Ball on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', late 1985]</ref>

Ball's only conditions working on the series were that she be reunited with Gordon, and longtime writers [[Bob Carroll Jr.]] and [[Madelyn Pugh]].<ref name="Fidelman">{{Cite book |last=Fidelman |first=Geoffrey Mark |title=The Lucy Book: A Complete Guide to Her Five Decades on Television |publisher=Renaissance Books |year=1999 |isbn=1-58063-051-0}}</ref>{{rp|337}} Although ABC had offered Ball the writers from the critical and ratings hit ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'', and she was open to other writers on the series, Ball was insistent that Carroll and Pugh supervise the writing. Both had worked for Ball since her 1948 radio show ''[[My Favorite Husband]]'', and had been writers on all of her television series, plus several of her specials; more recently, they had worked on ''[[Alice (American TV series)|Alice]]''. Gordon was coaxed out of retirement with the promise of a full season's pay for all 22 episodes, regardless of whether the show was picked up for such. According to cast and crew members, the then 80-year-old Gordon never once flubbed a line on the set during the 13-episode duration. Ball also called in crew members who had worked for her since the days of ''I Love Lucy''. The most notable was sound man Cam McCulloch, who joined the crew during ''I Love Lucy''’s third season in 1954. However, by 1986, McCulloch was 77 years old and quite hard of hearing, requiring the use of two hearing aids; he was still working actively in Hollywood at the time, mixing audio for ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]'', ''[[Square Pegs]]'' and select episodes of ''[[Newhart]]''. Ball was reportedly paid $100,000 an episode. Ball’s husband [[Gary Morton]], carrying the title of executive producer, negotiated for $150,000 per episode.

The series was initially developed by Carroll and Pugh to resemble ''The Golden Girls'', and Ball had offered to do something different from her previous projects.<ref name="Spelling">{{Cite web|url=http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/aaron-spelling#|title=Aaron Spelling|website=Archive of American Television|access-date=2016-10-02}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRdydWKCqfM|website=[[YouTube]]|title=Aaron Spelling Interview Part 6 of 6|access-date=2018-12-07}}</ref> However, ABC wanted the series in the vein of Ball's previous series.<ref name="Fidelman" />{{rp|337}} According to a former assistant of Morton, "there was a lot of politicking going on between the ''Life with Lucy'' staff, the Spelling staff, and ABC."<ref name="Fidelman" />{{rp|338}}

Ball's character's surname, Barker, continued her tradition of using surnames containing the letters "ar" (as in Ricardo, Carmichael and Carter on Ball's previous sitcoms) in tribute to her ex-husband [[Desi Arnaz]].{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}

The show's theme song was performed by [[Eydie Gormé]]. An alternative theme was written by Ball's daughter, [[Lucie Arnaz]] with [[Cy Coleman]], but was not used.<ref name="Fidelman" />{{rp|338}} <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/lucie-arnaz|title=Lucie Arnaz|website=Archive of American Television|access-date=2016-10-02}}</ref>

===Cancellation===
Fourteen episodes were written, thirteen filmed, but only eight aired. The final to air, "Mother of the Bride", was the twelfth episode filmed and featured [[Audrey Meadows]] as Lucy's sister. Meadows was offered to be cast as a regular to give the show a new direction and Ball's character a comic foil and partner, similar to the role of [[Vivian Vance]] in Ball's previous series. (This was the only Ball sitcom in which Vance, who had died in 1979, never appeared). However, Ball and Meadows did not get along on the set, and Meadows turned down the offer.<ref name="Fidelman" />{{rp|342}} On November 17, the day of the taping the final episode, ABC informed Spelling and Morton that they were not ordering a full season, thus cancelling the series. Morton decided not to reveal the news to Ball until after the taping had ended.<ref name="Fidelman" />{{rp|343}}

Since only 13 episodes were produced, it was not possible for the series to go into heavy rerun rotation like ''[[I Love Lucy]]''. Nevertheless, it aired on [[Nick at Nite]] as part of a Lucille Ball-themed [[Marathon (media)|marathon]] in 1996. Episodes can also be found at the [[Paley Center for Media]] in New York City and Beverly Hills, California.

Ball was devastated by the failure of the show, and she never again attempted another series or feature film; her subsequent interviews and other TV appearances were infrequent.<ref name="Fidelman" />{{rp|343–44}} Her last public appearance was as a presenter at the [[61st Academy Awards|1989 Academy Awards]], where she and fellow presenter [[Bob Hope]] were given a standing ovation. She died a month later, in April 1989. In a 1999 interview with the [[Archive of American Television]], Aaron Spelling attributed the failure of the show to his decision to allow Ball to do the same type of shows she had done in the past. Spelling said that at her age, the audience were more worried for her safety than laughing at her pratfalls. Spelling said this experience had a lot to do with his rarely producing sitcoms.<ref name="Spelling" />

In July 2002, ''TV Guide'' named ''Life with Lucy'' the 26th worst TV series of all time, stating that it was "without a doubt, the saddest entry in [its] list of bad TV shows of all time". In his book ''What Were They Thinking? The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History'', author David Hofstede ranked the series at No. 21 on the list.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Hofstede|title=What Were They Thinking? The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History|publisher=[[Back Stage Books]]|year=2004|pages=159–161|isbn=0-8230-8441-8}}</ref>

===Ratings===
''Life with Lucy''{{'}}s premiere episode on September 20 made the Nielsen's Top 25 (#23 for the week) for its week; however, subsequent episodes dropped steadily in viewership; ''Life with Lucy'' went against NBC's ''[[The Facts of Life (TV series)|The Facts of Life]]'' in the same Saturday night lead off timeslot and never gained ground against it. It ranked only 73rd out of 79 shows for the season (the seventh lowest rated show on TV for the season), with a 9.0/16 rating/share.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Ratings [https://www.ratingsryan.com/2021/05/weekly-nielsen-ratings-1986-87-tv-season.html] 
!Episode
!Title
!Original air date
!Rating/Share
!Rank
|-
|1
|"One Good Grandparent Deserves Another"
|September 20, 1986
|14.6/28
|23
|-
|2
|"Lucy Makes a Hit with John Ritter"
|September 27, 1986
|10.1/20
|57
|-
|3
|"Lucy Among the Two-by-Fours"
|October 4, 1986
|10.2/19
|66
|-
|4
|"Lucy Gets Her Wires Crossed"
|October 18, 1986
|11.5/20
|53
|-
|5
|"Lucy Is a Sax Symbol"
|October 25, 1986
|8.7/15
|62
|-
|6
|"Lucy Make Curtis Byte the Dust"
|November 1, 1986
|8.0/14
|71
|-
|7
|"Lucy, Leagle Beagle"
|November 8, 1986
|8.1/14
|71
|-
|8
|"Mother of the Bride"
|November 15, 1986
|6.6/12
|68
|-
|}