Lucy and Danny Thomas had guested on each other's shows before but this episode is notable for several other reasons. It is the last time Danny and Hans Conried work together having shared a history dating back to Make Room for Daddy in the 1950s. It is also the last season-premiere of a successful Lucille Ball vehicle (the dreadful Life with Lucy doesn't count). Finally, it is one of the rare instances of a more adult storyline being part of a Lucy episode.
Danny plays an aging, bitter artist whom Lucy meets after taking up painting as a hobby. He feels underappreciated so she helps him fake his own death so his works will fetch higher prices on the collector's market. It's a plot that could have easily come from her previous series, except the ending fits in better with the more liberated early 1970s. It has been written that Lucy disliked the Norman Lear shows that were eclipsing her popularity by this time, as she considered them vulgar. The fact that we actually get to see a nude painting of Lucy at the end of this episode is surprising. Of course it's all tastefully done, but surprising nonetheless.
Aside from the nude painting, this is just as average episode of Here's Lucy and they should have chose a better one to open the last season.
Danny plays an aging, bitter artist whom Lucy meets after taking up painting as a hobby. He feels underappreciated so she helps him fake his own death so his works will fetch higher prices on the collector's market. It's a plot that could have easily come from her previous series, except the ending fits in better with the more liberated early 1970s. It has been written that Lucy disliked the Norman Lear shows that were eclipsing her popularity by this time, as she considered them vulgar. The fact that we actually get to see a nude painting of Lucy at the end of this episode is surprising. Of course it's all tastefully done, but surprising nonetheless.
Aside from the nude painting, this is just as average episode of Here's Lucy and they should have chose a better one to open the last season.
