The Forgotten Desi and Lucy TV Projects

<p>While Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball are most closely associated with the classic situation comedy <em>I Love Lucy</em> the production company they founded in the 1950s Desilu made several other television series – some memorable like <em>The Lucy Show</em> <em>The Untouchables</em> <em>Mission:</em> <em>Impossible</em> and <em>Star Trek</em> and many almost forgotten such as <em>Willy</em> and <em>Grand Jury</em>.</p><p>     This book focuses on another aspect of Desilu – the all but forgotten TV pilots and unproduced specials contemplated by Desi and Lucy. Chronicled in this work are projects like Desilu’s version of <em>Dallas</em> – not a soap opera but a Western an anthology series hosted by the artist Salvador Dali Gene Roddenberry’s cop dramas <em>Code 100</em> and <em>Police Story</em> parodies of <em>The Untouchables</em> and <em>The Flintstones</em> Desi’s unproduced sitcom comeback titled <em>Chairman of</em> <em>the Board</em> and a 1961 unproduced TV special that would have starred Lucy along with Vivian Vance and William Frawley and perhaps Desi Arnaz in a cameo role. These and many other such projects are chronicled for the first time in <em>The Forgotten Desi and Lucy TV Projects</em>: <em>The Desilu</em> <em>Series and Specials that Might Have Been</em>.</p><p>     Richard Irvin is the author of several books about television history including <em>Four Star</em> <em>Television Productions: A History of the Business Series and Pilots of the Iconic</em> <em>Television</em> <em>Production Company The Early Shows:</em> <em>A Reference Guide to Network and Syndicated Prime-Time Television Series from 1944 to 1949</em> and <em>Spinning Laughter: Profiles of 111 Proposed</em> <em>Comedy Spin-offs and Sequels that Never Became a Series</em> – all from BearManor Media.</p>