Here's Lucy

Here's Lucy
Created by	Bob O'Brien Milt Josefsberg
Starring	Lucille Ball Gale Gordon Lucie Arnaz Desi Arnaz, Jr. Mary Jane Croft
Theme music composer	Wilbur Hatch
Composer(s)	Wilbur Hatch (1968-1969) Marl Young (1969-1974)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	144 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Gary Morton
Producer(s)	Tommy Thompson (Season 1) Cleo Smith (Season 2-6)
Running time	25 minutes
Production company(s)	Lucille Ball Productions (in association with Paramount Television, 1968-1969)
Distributor	Telepictures (original) Paul Brownstein Productions (current)
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	September 23, 1968 – March 18, 1974
Chronology
Preceded by	The Lucy Show
Followed by	Life with Lucy

Here's Lucy is an American sitcom starring Lucille Ball. The series co-starred her long-time partner Gale Gordon and her real-life children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr.. It was broadcast on CBS from 1968 to 1974. It was Ball's third network sitcom following I Love Lucy (1951–57) and The Lucy Show (1962–68).

Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the 1967–68 season, finishing in the top five of the ratings (at #2), Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season, as there were enough episodes for syndicated reruns. Ball did not wish to continue to star in a show unless her two children agreed to co-star, and thus an entirely new show was written for this purpose.Here's Lucy was produced by Ball's newly created production company, Lucille Ball Productions. Desilu's successor Paramount Television (PTV) co-produced the first season, but sold its stake in the show to Ball afterwards.

Unlike most sitcoms of the era, Here's Lucy was filmed before a live audience; standard practice at the time was to film an episode on a closed set and add a laugh track during post-production. However, a laugh track was still used to fill any gaps in audience reactions or missed punchlines. The live format was requested by Ball herself, as she performed better in the presence of an audience.

The program's premise changed from The Lucy Show. Unlike Ball's character on the previous program (Lucy Carmichael, who originally lived in New York and later moved to California), in her third sitcom, Ball's character of Lucy Carter was already living in Los Angeles, and once again bore a name containing "ar" in tribute to her ex-husband Desi Arnaz. In this new incarnation, Lucy was a widow with two children named Kim and Craig, played by her real life children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. (who was part of the teen pop band Dino, Desi & Billy). She was employed at 'Carter's Unique Employment Agency' by her bachelor brother-in-law Harry, played by Gale Gordon in a role similar to his Mr. Mooney role from The Lucy Show. Mary Jane Croft, who had been a regular featured player on the last three seasons of The Lucy Show, also became a semi-regular on the new series. Character actress Vanda Barra, who had played small parts on The Lucy Show, was also added to this sitcom and gradually was upgraded. Towards the end of the run of Here's Lucy, Barra became part of the ensemble cast. Ball's longtime costar Vivian Vance also made six guest appearances as Vivian Jones through the series' run. The series was created by Milt Josefsberg and Bob O'Brien in 1968. They wanted to comically present the "generation gap" struggle between a working mother and her two increasingly independent teenagers. They wanted change this time around and to escape the shows for which Lucy had previously been so well known. They touched upon current events (civil rights, rock music, the sexual revolution and changing gender/sexual mores).

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Wikipedia