The topic seems to be whether Lucille Ball would be a success in 1977 as she was in 1951. The other panel members all think Lucy would be just as big a hit as she was then. She says that she's done two or three special and that they haven't been all that successful. Viewers and networks want Lucy to return to the sitcom format, but she feels conflicted.
Lucy says that if she was taking her show for the first time to Freddy Silverman (thumbs down gesture). Preminger insists if Lucy made a good show, Silverman would be the first to hire her. Lucy says that he actually wanted to be the first one to fire her, getting rid of the 'oldies' like Jack Benny and herself. Kup interjects to tell viewers who Silverman is, telling them he was an executive with CBS, then ABC. A couple of years after this interview, Silverman moved to NBC, where he actually hired Lucy. In the special "Lucy Moves To NBC" Silverman was played by Gary Coleman.
Preminger says he had to go to court to defend the use of the words 'virgin,' 'pregnant,' and 'seduced.' Lucy is about to tell the story of when she was pregnant on television and couldn't use the word 'pregnant,' but Preminger interrupts and the conversation takes another direction.
Mamet mentions a 1976 book by Chicagoan Bruno Bettelheim called "The Uses of Enchantment." The book also inspired playwright James Lapine and composer Stephen Sondheim to create the 1987 musical "Into The Woods." Mamet compares violent fairy stories with violence in television and films.
Kup says Lucy's been quoted as saying that her success is one of the biggest flukes in show business. Lucy clarifies that it happened as a fluke. She wanted to get out of pictures and have children. Television just happened to come along at the right time. She remarks on the intimacy of television with the fans and says she loved being typed.