CBS to Air Colorized I Love Lucy Special on May 22nd

CBS has announced its latest colorized I Love Lucy special, to air Sunday, May 22nd from 8-9PM. The “New I Love Lucy Superstar Special” will feature two colorized episodes: “Lucy Visits Grauman’s” (originally broadcast October 3rd, 1955) and “Lucy and John Wayne” (originally broadcast October 10th, 1955). As was the case with several of the network’s earlier specials, the special will feature only one set of opening and closing credits.

Here’s an overview of the colorized I Love Lucy specials CBS has aired over the past few years:

December 2013
“The I Love Lucy Christmas Special”
“Lucy’s Italian Movie”

December 2014
“The I Love Lucy Christmas Special”
“Job Switching”

May 2015
“L.A. At Last!”
“Lucy and Superman”

December 2015
“The I Love Lucy Christmas Special”
“Lucy Does a TV Commercial”

May 2016
“Lucy Visits Grauman’s”
“Lucy and John Wayne”

At this rate, it will be decades before CBS colorizes and airs all 180 episodes of I Love Lucy.

Although colorization remains somewhat controversial, perhaps CBS should be commended for continuing to broadcast 60-year-old episodes of I Love Lucy. Last December, the network also aired a pair of colorized episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. Are there any other sitcoms you’d like to see CBS colorize and air in prime time? Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing My Living Doll in living color–especially if CBS can dig up some of the missing episodes.


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8 Replies to “CBS to Air Colorized I Love Lucy Special on May 22nd”

  1. I just have one thing to say about CBS colorizing shows: NO, NO,NO NO!!!

    ENOUGH ALREADY!!! Soon MBC, ABC, FOX and the other networks will start if CBS keeps doing it!!! They have a good reason for it, most parents want their kids to see these classic sitcoms like I LOVE LUCY, THE HONEYMOONERS, THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW etc, but most kids won’t watch them just because they’re in black-and-white bujt just the fact they do it is wrong!

    1. I couldn’t disagree with you more. While I appreciate any art in its original form one has to realize there can be many interpretations of it. Adding Colorado to a black and white Tv show while keeping the rest of the show intact is not altering the spirit of the show. Its adding a different perspective on the show. Afterall people in the 40s and 50s had Color in their everyday lives why not show people today what a 1950s living room really looked like. I think the Lucy specials have done a great job capturing 50s Colors. I look forward to each one they do. If it brings in a new generation of fans to the show then it has served its purpose. I say the more the merrier

  2. I hope CBS (or WB) colorizes the first season of Gilligan’s Island. I would think seasons 2 and 3 would provide a great reference for the actual colors, and in the bonus features of the show’s DVD release Sherwood Schwartz himself said that the show was meant to be in color. I’d love to be able to buy a colorized DVD set of the first season to have alongside the B&W version I already own. This was done for I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched so there is precedent for releasing both colorized and black and white versions of a show on DVD.

      1. And they’re doing it again now with the current prime time run as part of the Summer of Me. With the recent advancements and improvements in colorization though (the original Season One colorization now being shown was done by Turner), Warner ought to consider doing an improved colorization of Season One for future release in syndication and on DVD.

  3. Unlike the naysayers, I am keeping an open mind about colourized I Love Lucy episodes. However I would appreciate obtaining more information about the process. are there original notes from the costumers that are used as a reference? If it is being as closely replicated as possible to what their clothing, set decorations, looked like when originally filmed,… it adds a real warmth to the programs. I haven’t seen any others than the one I just finished watching; when Lucy goes to Grauman’s theatre. enjoyed it very much! the colours didn’t look brassy or phoney as some colourized do. my comments are not to disrespect the black and white art form, I love it and appreciate it. Why so often do we feel we have to ‘make a choice’ when there is nothing wrong with enjoying both styles. take a stand on issues that are viscerally more important. Thank you for reading my comments. I wish viewing enjoyment, peace and fun to you. ☮

  4. If they colorized them all and put them on the air in prime time, they would beat out most of the shows that are on prime time now…..A whole new and old audience would watch decent tv instead of most of the smut on the air now…..keep them coming….one comment….release the episodes on dvd sooner…..I want them then for my collection so I may watch them daily

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