“The Lucy Show” ~ Season 5

A handy dandy guide to helping you find your favorite episode blogs here at Papermoon Loves Lucy. Click on the hyperlinks to be taken directly to that episode’s trivia, background, and bloopers!

“Lucy with George Burns” (S5;E1) ~ September 12, 1966

“Lucy and the Submarine” (S5;E2) ~ September 19, 1966

“Lucy the Bean Queen” (S5;E3) ~ September 26, 1966

“Lucy and Paul Winchell” (S5;E4) ~ October 3, 1966

“Lucy and the Ring-a-Ding Ring” (S5;E5) ~ October 10, 1966

“Lucy Flies to London” (S5;E6) ~ October 17, 1966

“Lucy Gets a Roommate” (S5;E7) ~ October 31, 1966

“Lucy and Carol in Palm Springs” (S5;E8) ~ November 7, 1966

“Lucy Gets Caught Up in the Draft” (S5;E9) ~ November 14, 1966

“Lucy and John Wayne” (S5;E10) ~ November 21, 1966

“Lucy and Pat Collins” (S5;E11) ~ November 28, 1966

“Lucy and the Monkey” (S5;E12) ~ December 5, 1966

“Lucy and Phil Silvers” (S5;E13) ~ December 12, 1966

“Lucy’s Substitute Secretary” (S5;E14) ~ January 2, 1967

“Viv Visits Lucy” (S5;E15) ~ January 9, 1967

“Lucy the Babysitter” (S5;E16) ~ January 16, 1967

“Main Street U.S.A.” (S5;E17) ~ January 23, 1967

“Lucy Puts Main Street on the Map” (S5;E18) ~ January 30, 1967

“Lucy Meets the Law” (S5;E19) ~ February 13, 1967

“Lucy the Fight Manager” (S5;E20) ~ February 20, 1967

“Lucy and Tennessee Ernie Ford” (S5;E21) ~ February 28, 1967

“Lucy Meets Sheldon Leonard” (S5;E22) ~ March 6, 1967

SEASON SUMMARY

• Regular Cast: Lucille Ball (Lucy Carmichael), Gale Gordon (Theodore J. Mooney), Mary Jane Croft (Mary Jane Lewis)
• Recurring Characters: Vivian Vance (Vivian Bunson), Roy Roberts (Mr. Cheever),

  Mel Torme (Mel Tinker)

• Guest Cast playing Characters: Sid Gould, Roy Roberts, Ed Begley, Lucie Arnaz, Pat Priest, Carol Burnett, Dan Rowan, Ben Gage, Jim Nabors, Hal March, Lew Parker, Phil Silvers, Ruta Lee, Mary Wickes, Elvia Allman, Paul Winchell, Burt Mustin, Carole Cook, Hal Smith, Claude Akins, Don Rickles, Tennessee Ernie Ford
• Guest Cast playing Themselves: George Burns, Jack Benny, Paul Winchell, The Vagabonds, John Wayne, Milton Berle, Georgia Holt, Pat Collins, John Bubbles, The Back Porch Majority, Sheldon Leonard
• Live Animal Cast: The Marquis Chimps, baby elephant 
• There were 22 new episodes. This is the shortest season of “The Lucy Show” and of any Lucille Ball sitcom except “Life With Lucy”
• Episodes Written by: Richard Bensfield, Perry Grant,

  Bob O’Brien, Phil Leslie, Milt Josefsberg, Ray Singer, Sam Locke, Joe Rapp, Vic McLeod, 

  Alan J. Levitt, Ronald Axe, Les Roberts

• All episodes Directed by Maury Thompson
• All episodes filmed and aired in color
• Filmed at Stage 21, Desilu Studios, Hollywood
• Total Binge Hours: 11 hours (with commercials)
• Papermoon’s Full Moon Pick: “Viv Visits Lucy” (E15)
• Papermoon’s Half Moon Pick: “Lucy and the Monkey” (E12)
• Season 5 was #4 in the ratings (down from #3) with a 26.2 share (down from 27.7)

• An opening credit sequence was created that featured Lucille Ball as an animated jack-in-the-box. Ball reportedly hated it, and it was only used in a handful of episodes at the start of the season before being replaced by a revamped version of the kaleidoscope opening.

• “Lucy Flies to London” (E6) served as the set-up for a standalone one-hour special called “Lucy in London”, which featured Ball as Lucy Carmichael traveling to England. Much of “Lucy Flies to London” was based on an unsold pilot written and shot in 1960. “Lucy in London” is not included in “The Lucy Show” syndication package. 
• Lucille Ball won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Comedy Series. Gale Gordon was nominated but lost to Don Knotts of “The Andy Griffith Show”.  Director Maury Thompson was nominated but lost to James Frawley for “The Monkees”.  
• Somehow, all episodes except “Lucy Puts Main Street on the Map” (E18), likely because of the music rights, fell out of copyright protection, allowing them to be reproduced on low-quality, inexpensive videos. 
• Season 5 was released on DVD on

  December 6, 2011