I Love Lucy I ♥ Mom Edition, timeless comedy for all

When I was a kid I Love Lucy was on television in the afternoons. I remember it was sometime before Wild Wild West and after Lancelot Link Secret Chimp. There aren’t too many episodes of I Love Lucy that I distinctly remember. As a child the black and white seemed to throw my attention elsewhere. As an adult watching the special four episode collection, I ♥ Mom, I understand why I Love Lucy is one of the classic sitcoms of all time.

The four episodes on this DVD were aired between December 1952 and December 1955. They highlight four instances where Lucy’s mom persona was front and center.

In the first episode, Lucy is Enceinte, she just finds out that she is pregnant and is trying to figure out a unique, romantic way to tell Ricky. Ethel, her neighbor finds out first, tells her husband Fred and they manage to mess up their romantic lunch.Ricky has to go back to work where Lucy follows him and manages to find a way to reveal the fact that they’re going to have a baby.

This show is funny. It is laugh out loud, tears running down your face funny. The comedy is family friendly, the double takes are hysterical and it has some of the best comedic timing that you’ll see.

What makes the show even more impressive is how few takes they did in a single episode. One episode had approximately 12-14 cuts and it was shot on one camera. There aren’t camera cuts or tricks to lighten any bits that didn’t work; it’s more akin to a 26 minute play with actors that were on the top of their game.

The exits, extras, props, songs, gags, music and everything else that went in to making an episode had to go off on time or the entire scene had to happen again. Aside from the technical aspects the dialogue is funny. It’s in black and white and is dated from the way the characters act, but that does not diminish the humor at all.

While I was watching it my wife was regaling me with trivia about Lucile Ball, the show and how her real-life pregnancy and marriage factored into these episodes.You don’t need to know the back story to her off screen life, but if you do it makes her talent on I Love Lucy all the more impressive.

This four-episode collection is geared as a gift for mom. It comes with a 3-D greeting card in the packaging fold out, is dubbed in Spanish and retails for $14.99. It’s a nice snapshot of Lucy’s talents, but fans of the show can purchase entire seasons for approximately the same price.

If your mom has a short attention span or doesn’t have the time to sit through an entire season or two from one of the funniest shows ever this is for them. It could also be a nice ‘collectors’ edition, but don’t buy it because you think that it’ll increase in value. Bottom line: this is funny stuff that hasn’t aged a day and is possibly more entertaining once you realize the talent and ‘no-wire’ approach that they made the show in.