What began as a nice fun to watch show about 2 single moms and their children ultimately devolved into the Lucy & Mr. Mooney show losing the charm of the earlier seasons.

Five years after I Love Lucy ended, Lucille Ball returned to TV in her second sitcom, titled The Lucy Show. Unlike Lucy Ricardo, she played a widowed mother of a daughter named Chris, played by Candy Moore and a son named Jerry, portrayed by Jimmy Garrett. Also adding to the hysteria was her former I Love Lucy sidekick Vivian Vance, a divorced mother of a son named Sherman, who was played by Ralph Hart. As the show progressed, the kids were no longer seen on the show and Vance left after the third season. Also adding to the mayhem were Gale Gordon as Mr. Mooney and Mary Jane Croft. Ball and Gordon had outstanding chemistry that would last until Here's Lucy went off the air in 1974. Just like I Love Lucy, the show featured the slapstick and physical comedy that made ball one of the funniest female sit=com actresses of all time. I saw Lucy Gets Caught Up in the Draft and she constantly gives her commanding officer a hard time. It was also a very funny episode. There were also numerous episodes with guest stars, including several with Ann Sothern as The Countess. From the cute animated opening in the first season to the full color episodes in it's sixth and final season, the Lucy show is laugh out loud funny and Ball doesn't miss a beat.

I have fond memories of watching that one famous episode where Lucy and Viv get stuck in the shower. Now, I don't know about any of you, but my mom was making dinner in the kitchen the first time I was watching that episode, and she thought I'd gotten hurt and was crying, when in reality, I was laughing my butt off! I know some people will have problems on the last three seasons, in color, and without Viv, but I know for a fact she guest starred later on. Vivian Vance was extremely underrated an should have been given more credit. She also spoke what I believe to be one of the first swear words Ever aired on television. Lucy: You have to admit, I've done some crazy things in life, but at least they were sensible! Viv: Sensible? Honey, sensible my ass! This must not have been scripted, because Lucy turned to the audience, half shocked, half laughing her sensible butt off. Overall, an underrated installment to the Lucille Ball saga.

This was Lucy's first series after the Lucy-Desi break-up. In many ways though it followed the same formula as I Love Lucy in that the comedy was set up just as well and Lucy is just as funny. Her character was developed as one that actually hit the times well. Lucy was portrayed here as a single woman and still energetic enough to pull it off. Folks like Garry Marshall were among the talented writers enlisted to do scripts and many of the scripts were very funny. Lucy with her talent added to all of them.Famous guest stars littered the shows, from her second encounter with legend John Wayne to Jack Benny and the first physical sighting of his famous vault where he squeezed his first dime. Gale Gordon was a great support actor as Lucy's boss at the bank she worked at during the series. That was the difference between this series & I Love Lucy is that most of the time Lucy was trying to keep her bank job with Mr. Mooney instead of trying to be a star.It is a subtle change but important to note that Lucy could still be funny in different situations. Viven Vance is always a delight when she is on this show. She could not be on all the time due to some health problems she had but she did appear a lot. Ratings for this show were number 1 until it's last season when NBC stripped a gear & Laugh-In came on board.