Ian Dawson's Blog - Posts Tagged "all-in-the-family"
It’s the 70th Anniversary of “I Love Lucy”! - A Salute to the Show’s Amazing Writers
On October 15, 1951, a new sitcom premiered on CBS starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The series was I Love Lucy, a show that would forever change the way sitcoms are filmed and produced. It was the first sitcom to feature an interracial couple and to show a pregnant woman (GASP!) on TV.
Married in real life, Ball and Arnaz were looking for a project to keep them together instead of traveling around making films or doing concerts. When the idea for the series fell in their lap, they jumped at the opportunity, taking the initial concept on the road to see how it was received by audiences. Assured that they had a workable idea, the show was developed into I Love Lucy.
I Love Lucy Theme
I Love Lucy was also the birth of Desilu Productions, which would produce many notable series, including The Lucy Show, Mission: Impossible, and Star Trek. Following Lucy and Desi’s divorce, Lucille Ball would take the reins of Desilu, becoming the first female studio president in Hollywood.
Seven decades after its premiere, Lucy is as popular as ever and is an ever-present staple in pop culture. Generations of families have sat down to enjoy the antics of Lucy Ricardo in black-and-white and in color; on small tube TVs and giant OLED screens; on DVD and streaming.
Lucille Ball was a comedic genius; her influence on other female comedians over the decades is a tribute to her skills and talents as a genuine comedienne. I Love Lucy was a vehicle to showcase Ball’s talents, but we can't overlook the comic contributions of her three fantastic co-stars. Desi Arnaz, who doesn’t get enough credit for his role as Ricky, was a great straight man and a powerhouse behind the scenes. Vivian Vance, the world’s greatest second-banana, Ethel Mertz, was a talented woman who brought her comic and singing talents to the role. William Frawley, the cranky and cheap Fred Mertz, was a character actor that never missed an opportunity to deliver a one-liner.
Despite any off-camera drama that may have occurred over the show’s production, these four collectively created some of the most memorable moments in TV history. Their chemistry on-camera is undeniable, and it’s still evident 70 years later.
Classic Lucy Clip 1
But Lucy Ricardo remains silent and with no crazy ideas without the geniuses who gave her and the other characters that populated I Love Lucy life. Throughout its six seasons and 180 episodes, five writers delivered the scripts that would be turned into comedy gold by Ball, Arnaz, Vance, and Frawley each week. We owe as much to these five writers as we do to the actors who brought I Love Lucy to life.
Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller, and Bob Weiskopf are the writers whom Lucille Ball has credited many times for giving her comedy gold to work with throughout the series' run. I can only imagine the pressure these five were under to create a fresh, creative, and funny script each week that would please Ball and Arnaz, who weren't just the stars of the show but their employers as well. And they did it, creating comedy gold week after week, giving Lucy new motivations to get into Ricky's show, taking the gang to Hollywood, Europe, and the country. One-liners, slapstick, physical gags, sight gags, big guest stars, and some of the best facial expressions in the business.
Classic Lucy Clip 2
Lucille Ball had previously worked with Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll, Jr. on her radio series, My Favorite Husband, where Ball played housewife Liz Cugat (later Cooper) for 124 episodes. Liz was a devoted, loving, and zany woman who got into comedic situations every week (sound familiar?). The series ended its run in March 1951, the same year I Love Lucy would hit the airwaves in October.
With Husband ending and Ball and Arnaz needing writers for their new series, it was common sense to use writers familiar with Ball’s comic sensibility and who came with a vast knowledge of the situation comedy formula. Obviously, bringing this trio along was a choice that helped keep I Love Lucy so widely known seven decades later.
Classic Lucy Clip 3
Seasons one through four came from the creative minds of Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll, Jr. Seasons five and six would see the addition of Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf, with Jess Oppenheimer leaving after season five. All five writers would continue to write in the sitcom genre for decades to come on series like Alice, All in the Family, Maude, The Carol Burnett Show, Here’s Lucy, and Get Smart.
Sadly, while these talented writers were nominated for Emmys for their work on I Love Lucy, they never won. However, I think the longevity of the series and the legacy of their work is an even greater reward.
Needless to say, I’m a huge fan of I Love Lucy. No matter what’s going on in the real world, the antics of Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel, always manage to bring a smile to my face and make me laugh even if I’ve seen the episode dozens of times. I’m sure they had no clue when director Marc Daniel yelled action seventy years ago that I Love Lucy would still be on the air today; on TVs worldwide, translated into dozens of languages, and still enjoyed by millions.
Classic Lucy Clip 4
Thank you, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley; Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf; directors Marc Daniels and William Asher; and the hundreds of other people who brought I Love Lucy into homes in the 1950s so that we could still enjoy the show today. Your legacies, talents, and positive contribution to the world have not gone unnoticed.
Classic Lucy Clip 5
Check back this weekend for a few more posts about the writers of I Love Lucy! Stay tuned!
What are your favorite episodes, moments, lines, or characters from I Love Lucy? Leave a comment and let me know!
Married in real life, Ball and Arnaz were looking for a project to keep them together instead of traveling around making films or doing concerts. When the idea for the series fell in their lap, they jumped at the opportunity, taking the initial concept on the road to see how it was received by audiences. Assured that they had a workable idea, the show was developed into I Love Lucy.
I Love Lucy Theme
I Love Lucy was also the birth of Desilu Productions, which would produce many notable series, including The Lucy Show, Mission: Impossible, and Star Trek. Following Lucy and Desi’s divorce, Lucille Ball would take the reins of Desilu, becoming the first female studio president in Hollywood.
Seven decades after its premiere, Lucy is as popular as ever and is an ever-present staple in pop culture. Generations of families have sat down to enjoy the antics of Lucy Ricardo in black-and-white and in color; on small tube TVs and giant OLED screens; on DVD and streaming.
Lucille Ball was a comedic genius; her influence on other female comedians over the decades is a tribute to her skills and talents as a genuine comedienne. I Love Lucy was a vehicle to showcase Ball’s talents, but we can't overlook the comic contributions of her three fantastic co-stars. Desi Arnaz, who doesn’t get enough credit for his role as Ricky, was a great straight man and a powerhouse behind the scenes. Vivian Vance, the world’s greatest second-banana, Ethel Mertz, was a talented woman who brought her comic and singing talents to the role. William Frawley, the cranky and cheap Fred Mertz, was a character actor that never missed an opportunity to deliver a one-liner.
Despite any off-camera drama that may have occurred over the show’s production, these four collectively created some of the most memorable moments in TV history. Their chemistry on-camera is undeniable, and it’s still evident 70 years later.
Classic Lucy Clip 1
But Lucy Ricardo remains silent and with no crazy ideas without the geniuses who gave her and the other characters that populated I Love Lucy life. Throughout its six seasons and 180 episodes, five writers delivered the scripts that would be turned into comedy gold by Ball, Arnaz, Vance, and Frawley each week. We owe as much to these five writers as we do to the actors who brought I Love Lucy to life.
Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller, and Bob Weiskopf are the writers whom Lucille Ball has credited many times for giving her comedy gold to work with throughout the series' run. I can only imagine the pressure these five were under to create a fresh, creative, and funny script each week that would please Ball and Arnaz, who weren't just the stars of the show but their employers as well. And they did it, creating comedy gold week after week, giving Lucy new motivations to get into Ricky's show, taking the gang to Hollywood, Europe, and the country. One-liners, slapstick, physical gags, sight gags, big guest stars, and some of the best facial expressions in the business.
Classic Lucy Clip 2
Lucille Ball had previously worked with Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll, Jr. on her radio series, My Favorite Husband, where Ball played housewife Liz Cugat (later Cooper) for 124 episodes. Liz was a devoted, loving, and zany woman who got into comedic situations every week (sound familiar?). The series ended its run in March 1951, the same year I Love Lucy would hit the airwaves in October.
With Husband ending and Ball and Arnaz needing writers for their new series, it was common sense to use writers familiar with Ball’s comic sensibility and who came with a vast knowledge of the situation comedy formula. Obviously, bringing this trio along was a choice that helped keep I Love Lucy so widely known seven decades later.
Classic Lucy Clip 3
Seasons one through four came from the creative minds of Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll, Jr. Seasons five and six would see the addition of Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf, with Jess Oppenheimer leaving after season five. All five writers would continue to write in the sitcom genre for decades to come on series like Alice, All in the Family, Maude, The Carol Burnett Show, Here’s Lucy, and Get Smart.
Sadly, while these talented writers were nominated for Emmys for their work on I Love Lucy, they never won. However, I think the longevity of the series and the legacy of their work is an even greater reward.
Needless to say, I’m a huge fan of I Love Lucy. No matter what’s going on in the real world, the antics of Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel, always manage to bring a smile to my face and make me laugh even if I’ve seen the episode dozens of times. I’m sure they had no clue when director Marc Daniel yelled action seventy years ago that I Love Lucy would still be on the air today; on TVs worldwide, translated into dozens of languages, and still enjoyed by millions.
Classic Lucy Clip 4
Thank you, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley; Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf; directors Marc Daniels and William Asher; and the hundreds of other people who brought I Love Lucy into homes in the 1950s so that we could still enjoy the show today. Your legacies, talents, and positive contribution to the world have not gone unnoticed.
Classic Lucy Clip 5
Check back this weekend for a few more posts about the writers of I Love Lucy! Stay tuned!
What are your favorite episodes, moments, lines, or characters from I Love Lucy? Leave a comment and let me know!
An Interview with “I Love Lucy” Writers Bob Schiller & Bob Weiskopf from The Archive of American Television
Writing team Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf joined the I Love Lucy writing staff during the show’s fifth and sixths seasons, which saw the Ricardos and Mertzes wrapping up their trip to Hollywood, travelling to Europe, and moving to the country.
Prior to their work on Lucy, Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf worked in radio, writing their first script together for the radio series, Our Miss Brooks. Their writing partnership would lead them to write for Make Room for Daddy and The Bob Cummings Show, which would lead to their hiring on I Love Lucy.
If you’re familiar with the sitcoms of Norman Lear, the names Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf are frequently credited for their comedy writing, especially on the Bea Arthur series, Maude. They also were involved with All in the Family and its spin-off, Archie Bunker’s Place.
Fun fact: Fellow I Love Lucy writer, Jess Oppenheimer, was roommates with Bob Weiskopf in college 13 years before Oppenheimer hired Weiskopf and Schiller to work on the series.
Below is their interview with The Archive of American Television where they discuss their career in TV (the clips were not numbered, so I organized them the best I could).
Enjoy!
Schiller & Weiskopf 1
Schiller & Weiskopf 2
Schiller & Weiskopf 3
Schiller & Weiskopf 4
Schiller & Weiskopf 5
Schiller & Weiskopf 6
And as a bonus, here’s their interview with The Writers Guild Foundation:
Schiller & Weiskopf 7
Another day, another I Love Lucy writer. Stay tuned!
Prior to their work on Lucy, Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf worked in radio, writing their first script together for the radio series, Our Miss Brooks. Their writing partnership would lead them to write for Make Room for Daddy and The Bob Cummings Show, which would lead to their hiring on I Love Lucy.
If you’re familiar with the sitcoms of Norman Lear, the names Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf are frequently credited for their comedy writing, especially on the Bea Arthur series, Maude. They also were involved with All in the Family and its spin-off, Archie Bunker’s Place.
Fun fact: Fellow I Love Lucy writer, Jess Oppenheimer, was roommates with Bob Weiskopf in college 13 years before Oppenheimer hired Weiskopf and Schiller to work on the series.
Below is their interview with The Archive of American Television where they discuss their career in TV (the clips were not numbered, so I organized them the best I could).
Enjoy!
Schiller & Weiskopf 1
Schiller & Weiskopf 2
Schiller & Weiskopf 3
Schiller & Weiskopf 4
Schiller & Weiskopf 5
Schiller & Weiskopf 6
And as a bonus, here’s their interview with The Writers Guild Foundation:
Schiller & Weiskopf 7
Another day, another I Love Lucy writer. Stay tuned!
Writing Tip of the Week: A Conversation About Conflict – Part Two
Last time, we explored three aspects of conflict and how conflict impacts a narrative. Today, we’ll explore three more reasons conflict is essential to any story and ways to utilize it. Let’s continue.
Conflict Keeps Our Attention
Have you ever watched a movie or read a story where nothing interesting happens? Your eyes glaze over, you check your phone to see how long you have before the movie ends, or you close the book and find something else to read.
If there’s conflict, you’re more likely to draw a reader’s or viewer’s attention and keep it as things escalate during the scene or chapter. You want to keep them hooked and focused so they keep reading or watching to see how things are resolved.
In Captain America: Civil War, many conflicts are established early in the story. As these conflicts unfold, a series of related conflicts keeps us watching and curious about how things will ultimately play out by the end of the story: the final battle between Iron Man, Captain America, and the Winter Soldier.
Conflict Can Be Small or Large
Conflict can be as small as two characters disagreeing about where to spend the holidays, or as big as trying to stop Thanos from collecting all six Infinity Stones. The critical thing to remember is that opposing views or forces should lead to a conflict between characters in a story.
Whatever the size of the conflict, both sides have to feel strongly enough about their positions that it leads them to fight over it.
On All in the Family, Archie Bunker is in constant conflict with his son-in-law, Mike, about politics and social issues. This is a minor conflict when compared to a film like Dirty Harry, where the hunt is on to stop a serial killer who’s murdering people at random in San Francisco.
The conflict should be reasonable within the world of the story, and should be scaled up or down accordingly. The conflict in an episode of Frasier will be much smaller than in an episode of Game of Thrones, but there should still be enough conflict between the opposing viewpoints of the characters to keep things interesting.
Next Time…
We’re just getting started! More conflict-based posts are on the way, all throughout the month of May!
Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!
Conflict Keeps Our Attention
Have you ever watched a movie or read a story where nothing interesting happens? Your eyes glaze over, you check your phone to see how long you have before the movie ends, or you close the book and find something else to read.
If there’s conflict, you’re more likely to draw a reader’s or viewer’s attention and keep it as things escalate during the scene or chapter. You want to keep them hooked and focused so they keep reading or watching to see how things are resolved.
In Captain America: Civil War, many conflicts are established early in the story. As these conflicts unfold, a series of related conflicts keeps us watching and curious about how things will ultimately play out by the end of the story: the final battle between Iron Man, Captain America, and the Winter Soldier.
Conflict Can Be Small or Large
Conflict can be as small as two characters disagreeing about where to spend the holidays, or as big as trying to stop Thanos from collecting all six Infinity Stones. The critical thing to remember is that opposing views or forces should lead to a conflict between characters in a story.
Whatever the size of the conflict, both sides have to feel strongly enough about their positions that it leads them to fight over it.
On All in the Family, Archie Bunker is in constant conflict with his son-in-law, Mike, about politics and social issues. This is a minor conflict when compared to a film like Dirty Harry, where the hunt is on to stop a serial killer who’s murdering people at random in San Francisco.
The conflict should be reasonable within the world of the story, and should be scaled up or down accordingly. The conflict in an episode of Frasier will be much smaller than in an episode of Game of Thrones, but there should still be enough conflict between the opposing viewpoints of the characters to keep things interesting.
Next Time…
We’re just getting started! More conflict-based posts are on the way, all throughout the month of May!
Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!
