User Reviews

Lucy visits the small town of Bancroft and becomes so enchanted with it that she organizes a musical protest against the new highway that Mooney is helping to fund.

Those looking for zany Lucy antics will be disappointed with this episode, which is light on laughs but heavy on warmth and sentimentality. The "Main Street USA" song will be stuck in your head for days. It was written by Mel Torme, who shows up in this episode as Lucy's friend Mel Tinker, whom we met in Season 4's "Lucy in the Music World". It is great to have this bit of continuity in the series.

The biggest laughs come in the opening scene when Lucy and Mooney arrive and he is thrilled to be greeted by a large brass brand... of protestors. The town's performance of Tink's ode to Bancroft is so catchy even Mooney is seen signing the petition by episode's end.

The story continues in the following episode, but it is nowhere near as endearing as this one because of a silly idea that takes up a large chunk of it.

This is an excellent episode from "The Lucy Show", its finale almost a mini-musical in itself. The small-town "Main St." set is a refreshing change from the usual office/house environments. It's fairly elaborate and quite colorful. With Lucy leading the way, it actually does convey affection for the old-fashioned, small-towns of yore. I have only the vaguest recollection of seeing this episode when first aired in 1967 but had forgotten all the details. I clearly recalled Mel Torme's presence but he may've been in more than one episode of the series--I could be thinking of another. If you're a baby-boomer such as myself, you may like to view TV shows of years past thru the lens of history--that is to say, when this episode aired, many small-towns across the nation were in fact being threatened with extinction and/or reduced to ghost-town status as a result of all the freeway and interstate-highway construction going all, drastically changing the American landscape, not always with desirable consequences. This entry probably struck a very contemporary-chord with audiences of the day. Anyway, it's a fine episode from the series, something a little different, with the usual good lines, and cute, charming storyline. Ms. Ball is at her best here!