Life with Lucy!
This one’s going to get almost no feedback from you guys, but it’s Sunday night and everyone’s freaking out about the Oscars anyway, so it’s a good time for something subtler:
Here’s a random episode of Life with Lucy, a famously disastrous attempt to do for Lucille Ball what The Golden Girls did for Bea, Betty and company. The series came and went in 1986, and didn’t even make it through its first season. Lucy was definitely showing her age by this point, but the real issue — allegedly — is that she had complete creative control.
It’s been said that the show’s failure took a serious toll on Ball. Watching it now, I wouldn’t call it “horrible” or anything — just acutely flat, and without much punch from the script or its star. Oh well. Worth a watch for curiosity’s sake!