With yesterday's death of cinema icon and perhaps the ultimate movie star ever Elizabeth Taylor, it's an appropriate time to feature the moment when ET met our favorite redhead Lucille Ball on an episode of her Here's Lucy series.
The episode premiered on September 14, 1970 -- the season opener for the series' third year -- and was predictably a ratings and publicity success, but perhaps more unexpectedly and importantly a comedic smash, too. Taylor and her husband Richard Burton were international celebrities and getting them on Here's Lucy was quite a coup. They seemed to enjoy their romp with America's greatest female clown, and the episode is a charming look-back at a wonderful comedienne at the top of her game, and at Taylor and Burton at their most glamorous and refreshing. Enjoy!
It's the first of her appearances as herself in fictional settings to help land her in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame. The big coup was her appearances in four other CBS soaps all in one night ('The Nanny', 'Murphy Brown', 'Can't Hurry Love', and 'High Society'). Sure, it was just a way to promote her perfume, and her participation in each succeeding sitcom dwindled, but it was still a coup for the network as a ratings stunt.
ReplyDeleteShe also had 'Roseanne' and 'The Simpsons' to her credit as well.
What a trouper, eh? I definitely remember the buzz around the Lucy appearance -- I'm THAT old! -- but missed those other ones. I'll have to revisit the episodes! Thanks for your comment, Toby! You know more than ANYBODY about this stuff! :-)
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