Monday, September 07, 2009

Happy Labor Day; TV Rebels: Desi Arnaz - More Than Just a Bongo Player

Happy Labor Day everyone! Most of you are probably outdoors spending this last "unofficial" last day of summer with your family & friends, but for those of you who are in needs of some TV marathons...you've come to the right place as usual!
We have mentioned many of these already, but it's a good reminder if you have forgotten! The Golden Girls will get the most play this holiday! Hallmark Channel will air a marathon from 8am-12am, while WE tv will air a marathon also from 1pm-7pm. BET is airing a marathon of The Game all-day today, while TBS goes to The Office this Labor Day from 4pm-8pm.
Other notable marathons are for dramas...Criminal Minds on A&E, NCIS on USA Network, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family. Both TNT and SOAPnet have short stunts of Law & Order and One Tree Hill from 11am-5pm, while The N has what else...Degrassi all-day. And on network TV, ABC has a three episode block of Castle from 8-11pm, as the season premiere is two weeks from tonight. TV Land has a movie marathon from 9am-6:30pm.
Reality wise we have Supernanny on style, 16 and Pregnant on MTV, Cops on G4, Catch 21 on GSN, and Dirty Jobs on Discovery. Hope you all find something!

It's time for the return of TV Rebels. We originally had special permission to publish the first 6 essays on TV shows and actors that will be featured in the upcoming book TV Rebels: 100 People and Programs That Shaped the Medium by authors Lou Orfanella and Oscar De Los Santos...and then last year we got rights to 6 additional essays (for a total of 12!), so including today's three essays are left. Upcoming TV Rebel columns will be about Rod Serling and TV Dinners. The book is in the works and will be released in 2010...so stay tuned for that and look for a review of the book right here before it comes out!

So without further adieu, we bring you the tenth essay of TV Rebels:

Desi Arnaz: More Than Just a Bongo Player
by Lou Orfanella

In 1950 when CBS was interested in bringing Lucille Ball's My Favorite Husband radio program to television Ball demanded that her real life husband Desi Arnaz play her husband. The network turned her down feeling that the viewing public would not accept Arnaz with his heavy accent as her husband. She held out, the network acquiesced and Mr. and Mrs. Desi Arnaz forever became Lucy and Ricky Ricardo in popular culture history.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had been married since 1940. By 1950 she was doing her radio show and periodic big screen projects in a mostly unnoticed film career. Arnaz was travelling the country with his band and their marriage was strained. By insisting they do what would become I Love Lucy together Ball hoped to solidify their domestic life. "Richard Denning, Lucy's radio hubby, comments: 'She said it would help her marriage. Also the show. And, of course, she was right'" (Andrews 22).

Ball was determined that Arnaz not be seen as playing second fiddle to her. The title, I Love Lucy, in fact was an effort to include Desi in the title and indeed since he is the "I" give him top billing. "The general impression seems to be that he was a lucky Cuban who was handsome, charming, played the bongo, and happened to be married to the funniest lady in the whole world. Well, this was all true, but there was a lot more to Desi than that. He may have only been that when he started, but he had an amazing ability for learning things and he was an astute businessman" (Davis 55).

It was Arnaz' business acumen that changed the traditional method of producing situation comedies. Traditionally shows were broadcast live and "preserved" on low quality kinescopes, which were essentially copies made by aiming a movie camera at a television monitor and which were used to broadcast programs outside of the eastern time zone where sponsors were less likely to view them and challenge the quality. When production was set to begin on I Love Lucy for its premier season, Lucy and Desi lived on the west coast and had no intention of moving to New York where the show could be done live for what was then the largest audience, and the sponsors as well. Desi's solution was to film the show like a motion picture resulting in high quality prints. It would be an expensive proposition requiring three or four cameras, special sound and lighting techniques, and potentially multiple sets which would increase the costs. The network only agreed after the Arnazs agreed to a pay cut to help defray the production costs. "The burden of planning this new method fell heavily on Desi's shoulders. No one had attempted a situation comedy on film, shot before a live studio audience: he was plowing virginal fields" (Andrews 32).

Arnaz was not only successful in changing the way sitcoms were filmed and preserved for the lucrative rerun syndication market, but was shrewd enough to acquire an ownership percentage in the series which he and Lucy parlayed into Desilu Production, at one time, the most successful in the business.

Works Cited
Andrews, Bart. "Lucy&Ricky&Fred&Ethel: The Story of I Love Lucy." New York: Dutton, 1976.
Davis, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. "Laughing with Lucy." Cincinnati Emmis, 2005.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Saturday, July 12

Mind Your Business - "Love Child" (Bounce TV, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Alfonso and Aaliyah's world is flipped upside down when their mother's secret love child comes into town, while Mia tries to figure out who is sending her gifts every hour on the hour.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of July 7)

Friday, July 11

  • Aparna Nancherla (The Great North/Fairview/Corporate) and Whitney Cummings (Whitney) - Aparna and Whitney are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Malachi Barton (Stuck in the Middle) and Meg Donnelly (American Housewife) - Malachi and Meg discuss Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires and perform on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am. They will also be on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
  • Jean Smart (Hacks/Samantha Who?/Center of the Universe/In-Laws/Style & Substance/Designing Women) - Jean chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Patton Oswalt (A.P. Bio/The Goldbergs/The King of Queens) - Patton talks about Black Coffee and Ice Water on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
  • Margaret Cho (All-American Girl) and Joel Kim Booster (Loot/Shrill) - CBS News contributor Lisa Ling talks with Margaret and Joel on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
  • Krysten Ritter (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) - Tamron Hall (repeat) has a DAYTIME EXCLUSIVE sitdown with actress/director/author Krysten Ritter who recently released her new thriller/mystery novel Retreat, so check your local listings.
  • Maggie Q (Pivoting) - Maggie Q talks about Prime's Ballard on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
  • Tisha Campbell (Act Your Age/Uncoupled/Outmatched/Dr. Ken/Rita Rocks/My Wife and Kids/Martin) and Wendy Raquel Robinson (Poppa's House/The Game/Here We Go Again/The Steve Harvey Show/Minor Adjustments) - Tisha and Wendy chat about their film Operation: Aunties on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings. They will also be on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:30am.
  • David Zayas (The Bear/Saint George) - David appears on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:40am.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series Frasier (2023) - Season Two Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered) Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)

01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive


Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts

07/11 - The Office Spinoff The Paper Premieres September 4; Upload Season 4 Returns August 25
07/10 - The Big Bang Theory's Stuart Spinoff Ordered by HBO Max; Long Story Short Premieres August 22 on Netflix
07/09 - New Girl Summer on Hulu; Vir Das Gets Brand New Netflix Special
07/08 - Tubi Comedy Series Demascus Premieres in August; LEGO Masters Jr. Lines Up Celebs for 4-Week Event
07/07 - Digman! Season Premiere Moved to July 23; Hulu's Reasonable Doubt Returns September 18
07/06 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of July 7, 2025)
07/05 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Comedy Central Delays South Park and Digman! Season Premieres; Jackée to Appear in Guest Role in Netflix Series
07/04 - Happy 4th of July; Antenna TV's McHale's Navy Red, White and Navy Independence Day Marathon
07/03 - The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder Season 3 Premieres August 6; South Park New Season Moves by Two Weeks
07/02 - FETV Acquires The Rookies; Hulu Renews The Bear for Season 5
07/01 - Bert Kreischer Gets Netflix Sitcom; NBC Gets Into Survival Mode This Summer
06/30 - The Comeback Makes Another...Comeback; First Look at Black Rabbit at Netflix
06/29 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of June 30, 2025)
06/28 - SitcomsOnline Digest: The Comeback Returning for a Third and Final Season; South Park to Remain on HBO Max
06/27 - The White Lotus Star Teams Up with Netflix; Remembering Bobby Sherman, Lynn Hamilton, and Rick Hurst
06/26 - The CW's Fall Movie of the Week; First Look at New York Comic Con 2025
06/25 - Netflix Renews Ransom Canyon for Season 2; My Life with the Walter Boys First Look for Season 2
06/24 - Marc Maron Gets Second HBO Comedy Special; Outlander Prequel Renewed for Season 2 Ahead of Series Premiere
06/23 - MeTV Summer Changes, Adds Adventures of Superman; Jimmy Kimmel Live! Summer Guest Hosts
06/22 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of June 23, 2025)
06/21 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Night Court Officially Dead After Not Finding New Home; Weigel Announces New WEST Network
06/20 - Great American Media Announces New Danica McKellar Movie; Jennifer Love Hewitt ID True Crime Series
06/19 - Bad Thoughts Renewed for Season 2 at Netflix; Zarna Garg Gets Hulu Special This July
06/18 - Weigel Broadcasting Announces WEST Network with Classic TV Westerns; Hulu's Season 2 of Such Brave Girls
06/17 - Gary Coleman's Ex-Wife on A&E Series; Digman! Returns July 9 on Comedy Central
06/16 - Hulu's Chad Powers Teaser; Prime Video's Jesse Williams Series
06/15 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of June 16, 2025)
06/14 - SitcomsOnline Digest: NBC Mulls Airing The Paper on Primetime Lineup; Fox Revives Baywatch Reboot Talk
06/13 - My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman Renewed for 2 More Seasons; Hanna-Barbera Developing Adult Animated Series
06/12 - Comedy Superstar Jack Black Is the King of Comedy at Nickelodeon; Doc Adds Felicity Huffman
06/11 - Celebrities for Celebrity Family Feud Season 11; Netflix's Little House on the Prairie Starts Production