https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wBZkSKlEjM
We might be days away from 2018, but CBS is turning the clock back over 50 years tonight. They will air two hours of classic comedies and these shows will do better than almost all the other shows did this week in the ratings. That is because no matter how much time has passed, I Love Lucy and The Dick Van Dyke Show still feel fresh and make everyone laugh out loud.
At 8p, we get a retrospect Christmas episode of I Love Lucy that shows us some sweet moments for the Ricardos. Like the time when Lucy told Ricky she was pregnant and then when she went into labor. They are two moments that will forever be etched in television history, so to see them in color makes them even more special.
Then at 8:30p, Lucy left NYC for Hollywood and she wants to dress like a star. Ricky gives her $100 to buy a dress and she goes to a fancy shoppe to buy one. While she is there, she overhears that there is going to be a fashion show at the store tomorrow and the models are celebrities’ wives. Of course, Lucy finagles her way into the show and buys a dress. A dress that cost 5X more than she was allowed to spend. Ethel and her come up with a way that Ricky cannot get mad at her, but it comes at a cost. One that makes it perfect for a colorized version of the black and white classic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoI4k41e1Hg
Then at 9p, it is time for The Dick Van Dyke Show to be seen in living color. I recently read that the classic sitcom was the last one to be shot entirely in black and white. Had it gone on another season, that one would have been filmed in color.
Anyways, in the first episode, Laura feels that her marriage to Rob might be in trouble and she needs to do something to save it. Millie tells her whenever she wants to spice up her marriage, she bleaches her hair. Laura gets some peroxide and goes blonde. Then Rob calls her and tells her he loves her as a brunette. She gets some hair dye to go back to her natural color, but Rob comes home early and she was only able to dye half of her hair. Seeing this moment in color makes a funny scene even more hysterical. Black and white just didn’t do it justice.
Just like the episode at 9:30p, when Sally goes to an art show and sees a painting of Laura naked. Now Rob and Laura have to come up with a way to make that painting go away before anyone they know sees it. Their biggest obstacle is that the now renowned painter doesn’t want to give it to them and several people have offered to buy it for more money than they can afford. Will they be able to get that painting before everyone in NYC sees it?
Back in the ’80s, Ted Turner tried to colorize classic movies and it was ugly. CBS has done such a beautiful job retouching these shows, you would never know that were not originally shot in color. Therefore, it is like watching these beloved classics, that we have seen hundreds of times, for the first time. What is a better Christmas gift than that?
