Did Gale Gordon ruin Lucille Ball?

He was not even marginally funny. Vivian Vance was a big reason, in my opinion, for Lucy's success. Things really went downhill after Vivian quit.

I heard he ruined her asshole - -

I loved him. I thought he was great.

Gale Gordon seemed like a BIG QUEEN to me.

I agree OP. I never found him to be funny and he was a completely a one note character.

If he were alive he'd be posting on DL.

But he was married to a woman.

None of the post-Desi Lucy shows interested me. I wasn't a fan of the screwball comedy but the idea of living in an apartment in New York City and being married to an Afro-Cuban band leader who owned a nightclub was so glamorous.

I can't watch anything with Desi or Vivian. I don't know if it's them or if it's the black and white or if the humor changed, but I can only watch The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy. I love Lucy with her kids and Gale Gordon.

What is this, National Dump on Everybody Named Gale Day?

It was Lucy not Gale. She was too egocentric and protected from naysayers to do a good show after I Love Lucy. She also just seemed unhappy in all of the post-Desi shows. Her screwball comedy style just didn’t work with the ego/power trip personality.

I’ve read Gale was not happy with always having to be angry. He wanted more nuance - but was forced into a monotone two dimensional angry man.

I loved Mr. Mooney. Uncle Harry, less so.

But I think Gale Gordon made a good foil for Lucy.

She needed a buddy, though. Vivian Vance set a high bar. Mary Jane never came close.

r6 Why on earth would you think Desi/Ricky was "Afro-Cuban?"

r9 the screwball act didn't age well either. The 1970s saw intelligent sitcoms like MTM, Maude, and All in the Family. Times changed. Her ratings tanked between 1970-1975.

I wouldn't call it screwball. "Screwball comedy" in the movies was quick and often witty as well as surreal.

Lucy just did the same predictable stuff over and over again with a tiresome character. She ruined Lucy by having the old familiar like Gordon doing the same stuff over and over again. Vivian was a great foil. Ann Sothern probably wanted the spotlight too much to be a good second banana, but was probably the closest she came to finding a real contender. May Jane had been a wacky neighbor on Ozzie and Harriet and elsewhere, she could do it in her sleep and that's pretty much what she was asked to do.

R13: Some of the worst episodes of the Norman Lear shows were outright cringeworthy. Those are as much products of their time as the color Lucy shows were products of the time immediately before it.

That's my point, though r15. 1970s sitcoms looked a lot different than 1960s sitcoms and especially 1950s sitcoms. I'm not comparing any of those decades to today

And you still had other 1960s holdovers like [italic]The Brady Bunch[/italic] running concurrently.

Lucy was fine when she had actors who could hold their own with her. She needed a "Ricky" or and "Ethel" as foils. They gave as good as they got. Although her follow-up shows were ratings winners, they were just horrible to watch. Constant screaming, mugging, pratfalls, over-the-top acting. Just awful. The worst touch was the constant use of celebrities.

I still can't imagine Gale Gordon as Fred Mertz.

The subtle nuances between Mr. Mooney & Uncle Harry are a master class in acting. Gale Gordon was a chameleon.

Again, the idiot who posts, Did Such and such ruin Such and such? And the answer is No! Be more creative!

Gale Gordon was a good foil for Lucy's wacky character. But the problem is that sometimes he got bigger laughs and better lines than she did - NEVER let a supporting character take over. But at times his mugging, angry outbursts, and pratfalls got too predictable and a tad tiresome/formulated.

Gale Gordon did a mean cartwheel right up until his elder years and it was really him, no stunt double

Gale wanted to ruin Lucy, but Gary talked him out of it.

He may not have ruined Lucy but he sure ruined me!

Gale, Lucy and her kids even did their own version of The Long Long Trailer. They did four entire episodes traveling around in an RV, that's another entire movie.

I thought Gale Gordon WAS Vivian Vance...post-transition.

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