Lucille Ball Specials: Lucy Moves to NBC in Bloomington, MN

The title was self-explanatory: after years of closely-knit ties to CBS, including four of its blockbuster television series (
I Love Lucy
,
The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
The Lucy Show
and
Here's Lucy
), comedienne Lucille Ball jumped ship and headed to NBC for this one-off musical comedy special that features an all-star cast. Participants included Gary Coleman, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Jack Klugman, Gale Gordon, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Robert Alda. The premise finds NBC president Fred Silverman phoning Lucy and asks her to begin working on a series entitled
The Music Mart
. Per Ball's usual shtick, nothing goes right and mayhem ensues. The entire special appears here as it originally aired on February 8, 1980.