CBS began this 'series' of I Love Lucy specials in 2013. The colorized Christmas special drew 8.7 million viewers and was that week's most-watched holiday program. The network re-aired the same special this past holiday season, and it was once again successful, only falling behind NBC's run of It's A Wonderful Life. Thanks, George Bailey.
It will be interesting to see how this upcoming special and its ratings pan out. Is it really the color that drew viewers to the previous special, or was it merely the holiday spirit?
Don't get me wrong, I do love Lucy. Will I record the special to watch later? Sure. But, will I eagerly wait to watch episodes that I've already seen in real time? Will I live tweet like CBS is encouraging me to with the hastags #superman and #ILoveLucySuperstarSpecial? Not likely. However, I'm sure many viewers will tune in to see how red Lucy's hair really is and that "additional footage not broadcast in 60 years" that CBS promises to deliver.
With the popularity of these specials, it will be interesting to see how far CBS takes them. Will we eventually see the series entirely in color? I think that the A.V. Club says it best: "Who knows, maybe if this keeps working out for CBS, it'll go all the way and just re-cut old Lucy episodes into a new version of CSI."
It's funny. I love Lucy so so so much. I can't even begin to describe how much I love that show, but part of what I love about it is the black and white. I have no idea why. I just find it charming or something. I will tune into this (via) DVR because of my intense love for all things Lucy, but I don't know if colorizing it will provide me with a brand new viewer experience. It might be interesting to see how red Lucy's hair is, but I almost wonder if colorizing it will take me out of the show.
ReplyDeleteIt's strange how Lucy doesn't quite feel like Lucy when it's not in black and white. I think it somehow it feels more like a product out of it's natural habitat the way you find a Lucy lunchbox in a specialized store and it's always in color instead of black and white.
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