I Love Lucy: Season 3

Although the 1953-54 episodes of this groundbreaking sitcom lack the manic quality of their best-known predecessors, the third season of I Love Lucy (which finally saw the show reach number one in the ratings) featured its share of classic moments. In “Lucy and Ethel Buy a New Dress,” for example, the pals perform their memorable duet of Cole Porter's “Friendship,” while in “Lucy Tells the Truth,” the madcap redhead manages to insult her friends and get into all kinds of trouble when she wagers that she can go 24 hours without telling a lie. “The French Revue” uses Ricky's new show as the latest backdrop for Lucy's ongoing efforts to crack show business; this time she disguises herself as a chorus girl and winds up on stage, and in “Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined,” she actually wrangles her way into the floorshow, but the drops she's been taking for eye strain make her vision blurry and her Jitterbug number goes hilariously awry. “Ricky Minds the Baby” rates special mention as the only show in the run not performed before a live audience. (This was because the producers were afraid that the twin toddlers playing Little Ricky wouldn't be able to perform on cue.) The third season is light on guest stars, but “The Charm School” provides a marvelous part to Natalie Schafer, who would play “Lovey” on Gilligan's Island, and Tennessee Ernie Ford, then just beginning his ascent to stardom, turns up in a two-parter as Lucy's country-bumpkin cousin. By the end of this year the sitcom's formula would show signs of aging--and the fourth season would bring a change of locale when the Ricardos and Mertzes moved to California--but a good number of these 31 episodes are first-rate, and the series still holds up as the best of the early sitcoms. DVD extras include flubbed and lost scenes, a "behind the scenes" audio featurette, promos, and five episodes of Lucy's radio show My Favorite Husband. Recommended. (E. Hulse)