Evening star., 1953-12-17
On theAH
On the AIT
A Devotee Deserts Lucy;
Can a Trend Be Setting In?
By Harry Macarthur

hNA'y
Could it be that NBC execu-
tives are right about IT Love
Lucy" and its prospects for the
future? Some of them. you know,
foresaw declining popularity for
the top-ranking comedy show
this season. It would not be
due, they felt, to that disclosure
that Lucille Ball had registered
as Communist a long time ago.
That was, after all, a long time
ago and the only thing red about
Lucy is her orange-pink hair,
which is spectacular.
It was merely getting to be
time, some at NBC felt, for the
law of diminishing returns to
set in. That was one reason
Dennis Day was scheduled in the
opposition time period. It seemed
quite likely that "I Love Lucy"
wouldn't be the stiff competi-
.tion it was in the fresh glow of
Its youth.
Well, the TV critics sub-teen
daughter gave pop quite a turn
the other night. She COM
mitted what she would have con-
sidered a gross injustice, if it
had been done to her a few
weeks ago. She switched the
channel-selector knob in mid
gprogram, turning from Lucy to
Dennis.
You'd howl the house down
If did that" she was told.
What gives?"
"Ah. I'm not going to watch
that program any more" she
replied. 'It's stupid. It's always
about Lucy trying to get on
Ricky's show and doing some
thing silly to do it,"
The man on the other side of
the partition was aWestruck when
he heard of this. What he could
foresee was the law of diminish
Ing returns setting in for tele-
vision itself.
1--WE have generation coming
along" he declared, "who will
grow up hating everything"
This probably is true. Tots
jaded with plots will make it
tough for writer's, not to men
ton sponsors. The fed-up young
may desert television and never
be won over to the cigarette
habit.
The more immediate problem
Is the one of parental discipline.
Parents who use television pro-
grams for this purpose, most
homes not coming equipped with
razor strops and woodsheds these
days, face growing Illustrations.
1t does no good to threaten to
withhold favored program
when all you get is a shrug and
a bored reply, $50 who needs
'Lucy'?"
CHANNEL HOPPING - TIL e
most disappointing comic this
season, to me at least, has been
Bob Hope. Maybe he'd bet
ter. as Sheilah Graham said he'd
promised the other day, ease up
on his busy schedule. He
seems so aloof on television, ap-
pears to be listening only to be
prepared to insert gag line at
the first pause. :. He even seems
to be aloof from the studio au-
dience. aware of it only when
listening for a laugh to die so
he can top the line that got it.
The most surprising comic
of the season has been Milton
Berle, who has been a pleasure
at every TV meeting. Never
did I expect to be watching him
when it wasn't absolutely neces-
sary. ;. But channel 4 on Tues
day nights is getting to be a
habit. (That may explain
Hope: Berle's now the toughest
act he ever had to follow)
The most satisfying enter
tainer of the season has been
Danny Thomas. This Is a
man who wears wonderfully
well. . If he's had a bad show
on that Tuesday night Make
Room for Daddy" on WMAL-TV.
it's the one missed. Missed
unavoidably, that is. Dinah
Shore is another who continues
to delight, show after show.
Her Tuesday-Thursday WNBW
song sessions get q little over
elaborate in production now and
then, but Dinah stays high on
the list of best-liked TV per-
formers.
Dave Garroway was come upon
yesterday on To-day" for the
first time in a long while. /. At
the precise moment when the
picture locked into place he was
being served an order of caviar
and blini by a man whose name
I didn't catch. Obviously an
ami d'ESeoffler. Even though