I Love Lucy: The Complete Sixth Season

The 1956-57 sixth and final season of I Love Lucy is a blend of old, still-funny formulas and fresh storylines. Orson Welles, Bob Hope, and George "Superman" Reeves star in celebrity-driven episodes in which ditzy if well-meaning housewife Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) gets in over her head with various schemes involving bandleader husband Ricky's (Desi Arnaz) famous pals (the show with Welles is particularly good, as the legendary actor must cope with Lucy's long-repressed aspirations to perform Shakespeare). Several of the 27 episodes collected here concern the Ricardos' cute son “Little Ricky” (Keith Thibodeaux): in one show, the tyke takes up drumming just like pops, but is soon fraying everyone's nerves; while in another the lad's stage fright during a school concert leads Lucy to suggest that Ricky Sr. let his son play at the club, leading to unexpected problems. Classic I Love Lucy mayhem is on hand in "The Ricardos Visit Cuba," in which Lucy's nervousness over meeting Ricky's tough Uncle Alberto results in her destroying the man's hat and cigars…and then spilling a drink all over his white suit. The second half of season six, however, ushers in a big change when Lucy and Ricky decide it's time to pull up stakes in Manhattan and move to the Connecticut suburbs. Fred (William Frawley) and Ethel (Vivian Vance) soon follow, and television's most famous sitcom's final episodes take on a distinctly country club feel, replete with barbecues, weekend dances, and gardening. DVD extras include audio commentaries (by Thibodeaux and actress Barbara Eden, among others), flubs, deleted scenes, and five episodes from Ball's radio show, My Favorite Husband. Highly recommended. (T. Keogh)