I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy
File:ILoveLucyTitleScreen.jpg I Love Lucy logo
Created by	Desi Arnaz
Starring	Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Vivian Vance William Frawley Richard Keith
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	6 (9 including Media:The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour)
No. of episodes	194 (including the "lost" Christmas episode, original pilot and 13 Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours)
Production
Running time	30 minutes per episode
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	October 15, 1951 – May 6, 1957

I Love Lucy is a popular and influential American situation comedy, starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15 1951 to May 6 1957 on CBS. The show continued on for three more seasons with 13 one-hour specials, running from 1957 to 1960, known first as The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show and later in reruns as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.

"I Love Lucy" was the first television show whose main star was a woman. It was the most-watched show in the United States in four of its six seasons, and was the first to end its run at the top of the ratings (to be matched only by The Andy Griffith Show and Seinfeld), although it did not have a formal series finale episode. I Love Lucy is still syndicated in dozens of languages across the world.

The show won five Emmy Awards and received numerous nominations. In 2002, it was ranked second on TV Guide's top-50 greatest shows, behind Seinfeld and ahead of The Honeymooners. In 2007, it was placed on Time magazine's unranked list of the 100 best TV shows. The same year, the Washington Post named it the second best TV rerun, attesting to its longevity and sustained popularity.

Premise

Set mostly in New York City, I Love Lucy centers on Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball), and her singer/bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz), along with their friends and landlords Fred Mertz (William Frawley) and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance). In later seasons, Lucy and Ricky had a son named Little Ricky.

Lucy is somewhat naïve and ambitious, with an overactive imagination and a knack for getting herself into trouble. Primarily she is obsessed with joining her husband in show business. Fred and Ethel are former vaudevillians and this only strengthens her resolve to prove herself as a performer. Unfortunately, she cannot carry a tune or play anything other than an off-key rendition of "Glow Worm" (or "Sweet Sue") on the saxophone and has little other discernible ability(although to say she completely without any sort of talent would be untrue as she has on occasion proven to be a good dancer and a competent singer in some cases). The show provided Ball ample opportunity to display her considerable skill at clowning and physical comedy, with Lucy's determination to get into the act in any way possible, resulting in numerous wacky situations. Character development was not a major focus of early sitcoms, so not much was ever learned about her life prior to the show. A few episodes mentioned that she was born in Jamestown, New York, (later corrected to West Jamestown), and that she met Ricky on a blind date. Besides occasional appearances by her mother (Kathryn Card), who annoyed Ricky to no end by constantly mispronouncing his name as "Mickey" and mistaking him for fellow bandleader Xavier Cugat, hardly any mention was ever made of any other family members.

Lucy's husband, Ricky Ricardo (the character initially was named Larry Lopez), is an up-and-coming Cuban American singer and bandleader with an excitable personality. His patience is frequently tested, sometimes to the breaking point, by his wife's antics. When exasperated, he often reverts to speaking rapidly in Spanish. As with Lucy, not much was ever learned about his past or family. Ricky's mother appeared in two episodes and in another Lucy mentioned that he had five brothers. He also mentioned that he'd been "practically raised" by his uncle Alberto (who was seen during a family visit to Cuba) and that he'd attended Havana University.

Lucy's best friend, confidant and accomplice in her crazy schemes is Ethel Mertz. A former model from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ethel tries to relive her glory days in vaudeville. She usually gets more chances to perform at Ricky's nightclub, because, unlike Lucy, she can actually sing and dance. Ethel, although she is Lucy's ally, often tries to reason with her, providing common sense advice.

Ethel's husband Fred served in World War I and lived through the Great Depression. He is very stingy with money and a very no-nonsense type of guy. However, he also shows that he can be a soft touch, especially when it comes to Little Ricky, the Ricardos' son. Fred performed in vaudeville, so like his wife Ethel, he can also sing and dance.

Lucy and Ricky often play tricks on each other; for example, when Lucy tricked Ricky into thinking she was a compulsive thief; or when Ricky tricked Lucy into thinking she was not legally married to him, based on a mistake in their license. Although they may disagree at times, and despite their age differences (not only the Mertzes' and Ricardos', but Lucy and Desi's, with Lucy six years Desi's senior), the four main characters are very close and loving.

The Manhattan building they all lived in before their move to Connecticut was addressed at 623 E. 68th Street, which in reality would be located in the East River.

Cast

Regular cast

• Lucille Ball as Lucille "Lucy" Esmeralda McGillicuddy Ricardo (in "The Marriage License" and "Fred and Ethel Fight")
• Desi Arnaz as Enrique 'Ricky' Alberto Ricardo y de Acha III (in "Lucy Raises Tulips")
• Vivian Vance as Ethel May Potter (maiden name), Ethel Roberta Mertz (in "Million Dollar Idea"), Ethel Louise Mertz (in "Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress"), Ethel Mae Mertz in ("Ethel's Hometown" and subsequent episodes)
• William Frawley as Frederick 'Fred' Hobart Edie Mertz
• Keith Thibodeaux (billed as Richard Keith) as Ricky Ricardo, Jr., "Little Ricky" (1956-1957)

Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet, supporting cast members on My Favorite Husband, were originally approached for the roles of Fred and Ethel, but neither could accept due to previous commitments. Gordon did appear as a guest star in three episodes, playing Ricky's boss, Mr. Littlefield, in two episodes, and later in an hourlong episode as a civil court judge. Gordon was a veteran from the classic radio days in which he perfected the role of the exasperated character, as in Fibber McGee and Molly. He would go on to co-star with Ball in most of her post–I Love Lucy series. Benaderet was a guest star in one episode as the Ricardos' neighbor, the elderly Miss Lewis.

Barbara Pepper (later featured as Doris Ziffel in the series Green Acres) was also considered to play Ethel, but Pepper had been drinking very heavily after the death of her husband, Craig W. Reynolds. Her friendship with Ball dated back to the film Roman Scandals, in which both appeared as Goldwyn Girls. She turned up regularly in bit parts.

Supporting cast

• Kathryn Card as Mrs. McGillicuddy, Lucy's mother (1955–1956) (also earlier appearance as "Minnie Finch" in 1954)
• Mary Jane Croft as Betty Ramsey (1957) (earlier appearances in various roles)
• Ross Elliot in various roles
• Jerry Hausner as Jerry, Ricky's agent (1951–1954) (also the show's announcer in early seasons)
• Bob Jellison as Bobby, the Hollywood bellboy (1955) (earlier appearances in various roles)
• Doris Singleton as Caroline Appleby (1953–1957) (earlier appearance as Lillian Appleby and various other roles)
• Shirley Mitchell as Marion Strong (1953–1954)
• Frank Nelson as Ralph Ramsey (1957) (many earlier appearances in various roles, including Freddie Filmore, a game show host)
• Elizabeth Patterson as Mrs. Matilda Trumbull (1953–1956) (earlier appearance as "Mrs. Willoughby" in 1952)
• Joseph D. and Michael Mayer as Ricky Ricardo, Jr. (baby) (1953–1954)
• Richard and Ronald Lee Simmons as Ricky Ricardo, Jr. (baby) (1954–1955)
• Charles Lane as various characters, often-timed short-tempered. (Throughout series)
• Barbara Pepper as various characters. (Throughout Series)

Lucille Ball liked naming supporting characters after real-life people. For instance, Carolyn Appleby had been one of her teachers, and Marion Strong was a friend in Jamestown, New York.

Primary production team

• Producers: Jess Oppenheimer (150 episodes); Desi Arnaz (150 episodes)
• Writers: Madelyn Pugh Davis, Bob Carroll, Jr. (All Seasons including Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour), Jess Oppenheimer (Seasons 1-5), Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf (Seasons 5-6 and Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour)
• Original Music: Wilbur Hatch (33 episodes, 1951-54); Eliot Daniel (135 episodes, 1952-57)
• Cinematography: Karl Freund (149 episodes, 1951-56)
• Costume Design: Elois Jenssen (57 episodes, 1953-55)
• Editor: Dann Cahn

Radio

When Desi was 33, CBS asked Lucy to take her popular radio show to television, but Lucy insisted that the man playing the role of husband be her own husband, who had been on the road as a bandleader touring, and away from Lucy for months at a time. When CBS refused because he was foreign-born, Lucy decided to create a television series of her own to bring her husband back home, and "I Love Lucy" was brought to television. I Love Lucy was somewhat similar to My Favorite Husband, a 1948-51 CBS comedy radio series in which Lucille Ball (as zany housewife Liz Cooper) starred with Richard Denning. Some of the My Favorite Husband scripts were rewritten as TV scripts for I Love Lucy by the same writers, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr.. Based on the novel Mr. and Mrs. Cugat by Isabel Scott Rorick, My Favorite Husband was broadcast from July 23, 1948 to March 31, 1951, sponsored by General Foods.

On February 27, 1952, an I Love Lucy radio show was produced, but it never aired. This was a pilot episode, created by editing the soundtrack of the television episode "Breaking the Lease", with added Arnaz narration. It included commercials for Philip Morris, which sponsored the TV series. While it never aired on radio at the time in the 1950s, copies of this radio pilot episode have been circulating among "old time radio" collectors for years, and this radio pilot episode has aired in more recent decades on numerous local radio stations which air some "old time radio" programming.

Production

At the time, most television shows were broadcast live from New York City, and a low-quality 35mm or 16mm kinescope print was made of the show to broadcast it in other time zones. But Ball was pregnant at the time, and she and Arnaz therefore insisted on filming the show in Hollywood. The duo, along with co-creator Jess Oppenheimer, then decided to shoot the show on 35 mm film in front of a studio audience, with three cameras, a technique now standard for most present-day sitcoms. The result was a much sharper image than other shows of the time, and the audience reactions were far more authentic than the "canned laughter" used on most filmed sitcoms of the time. The technique was not completely new — another CBS comedy series, Amos 'n' Andy, which debuted four months earlier, was already being filmed at Hal Roach Studios with three 35mm cameras to save time and money. Hal Roach Studios was also used for filming at least two other TV comedies as early as 1950, both airing on ABC, namely Stu Erwin's "The Trouble with Father", and the TV version of "Beulah"; and the original 1949/50 Jackie Gleason TV version of "The Life of Riley" on NBC was also done on film, not live. There were also some dramatic TV shows pre-dating I Love Lucy which were also filmed, not live. But I Love Lucy was the first show to use this film technique in front of a studio audience.

Arnaz persuaded Karl Freund, cinematographer of such films as Metropolis (1927), Dracula (1931), and The Good Earth (1937), as well as director of The Mummy (1932), to be the series' cinematographer.

Scenes were often performed in sequence, as a play would be, which was unusual for comedies at that time. Retakes were rare and dialogue mistakes were often played off for the sake of continuity.

Desilu, the company jointly owned by Ball and Arnaz, produced I Love Lucy as well as other shows. It rented space at General Service Studios in Hollywood from 1951 to 1954, when it bought the Motion Picture Center, also in Hollywood, and renamed it Desilu Studios.

Many real-life facts about Arnaz and Ball made it into the series. Like Ball, Lucy Ricardo was born on August 6 in Jamestown, New York, and attended high school in Celoron, New York. Also, the Ricardos were married at the Byram River Beagle Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, just as the Arnazes had been. In one particular episode Lucy and Ricky are fighting over whether or not the bedroom window should be open or closed while they slept.

The opening familiar to most viewers, featuring the credits superimposed over a "heart on satin" image, was created specifically for syndication. As originally broadcast, the episodes opened with animated matchstick figures of Arnaz and Ball making reference to whomever the particular episode's sponsor was. These sequences were created by the animation team of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, who declined screen credit because they were technically under exclusive contract to MGM at the time.

The original sponsor was cigarette maker Philip Morris, so the program opened with a cartoon of Lucy and Ricky climbing down a pack of Philip Morris cigarettes. In the early episodes, Lucy and Ricky, as well as Ethel and Fred on occasion, were shown smoking Phillip Morris cigarettes. Since the original sponsor references were no longer appropriate when the shows went into syndication, a new opening was needed, which resulted in the classic heart on satin opening. The original openings, with the sponsor names edited out, are now used on TV Land showings, with a TV Land logo superimposed to obscure the original sponsor's logo. Ironically, this has led some people to believe that the restored introduction was created specifically for TV Land as an example of kitsch.

Pregnancy and Little Ricky

Just before filming the show, Lucy became pregnant with her and Desi's first child, Lucie Arnaz. They actually filmed the original pilot while Lucy was "showing", but did not include any references to the pregnancy in the episode.

Later, during the second season, Lucy was pregnant again with second child Desi Arnaz, Jr., and this time the pregnancy was incorporated into the series' storyline. Despite popular belief, Lucy's pregnancy was not television's first on-screen pregnancy. That distinction belongs to Mary Kay on the late 1940s sitcom, Mary Kay and Johnny.

CBS would not allow I Love Lucy to use the word "pregnant", so "expecting" was used instead. The episode "Lucy Is Enceinte" first aired on December 8, 1952 ("enceinte" being French for "expecting" or "pregnant"). The episode in which Lucy gives birth, "Lucy Goes to the Hospital," first aired on January 19, 1953. To increase the publicity of this episode, the original air date was chosen to coincide with Lucille Ball's real-life delivery of Desi, Jr. by Caesarean section. "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" was watched by more people than any other TV program up to that time, with 68% of all American television sets tuned in.

America saw Little Ricky as an infant in the 1952-53 season, a toddler from 1953 to 1956, and finally a young school-age boy from 1956 to 1960. However, five actors played the role, two sets of twins and later Keith Thibodeaux.

When Jess Oppenheimer was trying to consider the sex of the child he asked Desi what he wanted. Desi replied that he wants a boy because this might be his only chance to get a son out of Lucy. So from then on no matter what the sex of Lucy Ball's real baby was, Lucy Ricardo would have a boy.

Episodes

Main article: List of I Love Lucy episodes

Most episodes take place in the Ricardos' modest brownstone apartment at 623 East 68th Street or at the downtown "Tropicana" nightclub where Ricky is employed, though other parts of the city are sometimes used. Later episodes take the Ricardos and the Mertzes to Hollywood for Ricky to shoot a movie, and to Europe, when Ricky and his band tour the continent. There is also a trip to Miami Beach for the two couples, with a side trip to Ricky's homeland of Cuba. Eventually, the quartet move to Westport, Connecticut.

Some especially memorable episodes:

• "Lucy Does a TV Commercial". Lucy is hired to act as the "Vitameatavegamin girl" in a TV commercial, to promote a health tonic that contains healthy amounts of vitamins, meat, vegetables, minerals — and a less-than-healthy dose of 23% alcohol. Lucy becomes progressively more drunk, but gamely keeps on pitching the product. In November 2001, fans voted this episode as their favorite, during a 50th anniversary I Love Lucy television special. TV Guide and Nick at Nite ranked it the second greatest television episode of all time, after the Mary Tyler Moore Show's "Chuckles Bites the Dust".

• "Job Switching". Lucy and Ethel get jobs packaging candy that is delivered on a conveyor belt. The work seems easy enough when they are shown what to do by their supervisor, but then the pace picks up and the women soon fall further and further behind. In desperation, they resort to comical means to try to keep up. The skit, a variation of an old vaudeville routine, has been parodied numerous times.

• "Lucy and Superman". Lucy tries to get George Reeves, star of the 1950s Adventures of Superman TV series, to appear at little Ricky's birthday party. When she fails, she dresses up as Superman herself, only to have Reeves turn up in costume at the last minute and rescue her after she traps herself on the ledge of her apartment.

• "L.A. At Last". Lucy, Fred, and Ethel have lunch at The Brown Derby, where Lucy accidentally causes a waiter to heave a pie in William Holden's face. Later at the hotel, Ricky has a surprise for her. He has brought one of her favorite actors to meet her — none other than William Holden. Fearing that the actor will recognize her, she puts on a disguise that includes a putty nose which catches on fire when she lights a cigarette.

• "Lucy and Harpo Marx". While living in Hollywood, Lucy is visited by Carolyn Appleby, a friend who is under the impression that Lucy knows numerous celebrities. After Lucy and Ethel get Carolyn's glasses away from her, Lucy pretends to be various stars. Meanwhile, Ricky and Fred invite Harpo Marx to the Ricardos' apartment. When he shows up, Lucy is disguised as him; seeing the real Harpo, she hides in a kitchen doorway. Harpo is perplexed when he sees what he thinks is his reflection, forcing Lucy to mimic his every move to avoid detection. This was a tribute to Harpo and Groucho's famous mirror scene in the Marx Brothers comedy classic, Duck Soup.

• "Lucy Does the Tango". The Ricardos and the Mertzes chicken business isn't doing very well. Lucy and Ethel come up with a scheme to fool the boys into thinking the hens are laying lots of eggs by smuggling some, hidden underneath their clothes, into the henhouse. On one such trip, Ricky insists that he and Lucy rehearse their tango number for a local benefit. Unbeknownst to Ricky, Lucy's blouse is filled with chicken eggs.

Feature films

Arnaz and Ball capitalized on the series' popularity by starring in Vincente Minnelli's 1954 film The Long, Long Trailer as Tacy and Nicky Collini, two characters very similar to Lucy and Ricky. Also during this time, Desilu produced a feature film version of the show in 1953, consisting of three first-season episodes edited together: "The Benefit", "Breaking the Lease" and "The Ballet". New scenes featuring the cast were filmed and put between the episodes to tie them into one cohesive story. MGM, however, demanded the I Love Lucy movie be shelved because they felt it would diminish interest in the The Long, Long Trailer. Although I Love Lucy was never theatrically released and had been forgotten, it has since been found and has been released on the bonus disc in the Complete Series collection, available now.

In 1956 Lucy and Desi starred in the feature film Forever, Darling with James Mason.

After Lucy and Legacy

After the conclusion of the sixth season of I Love Lucy, Lucy and Desi decided to cut down on the number of episodes that were filmed. Instead, they extended I Love Lucy to 60 minutes, with a guest star each episode. They renamed the show the The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show and later changed for syndication to The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. Thirteen hour-long episodes aired from 1957 to 1960. The main cast, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley were all in the show. The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour is available on DVD, released as I Love Lucy: The Final Seasons 7, 8, & 9. On March 2, Desi's birthday, 1960, the day after the last hour-long episode was filmed, Lucille Ball filed for divorce from Desi Arnaz.

When the series ended, Vance and Frawley were said to have been offered a chance to take their characters to their own spin-off series. Frawley was willing, but Vance refused to ever work with Frawley again since the two did not get along. Frawley did appear once more with Lucille Ball--in an episode of The Lucy Show.

In 1962, Ball began a six-year run with The Lucy Show, followed immediately in 1968 by six more years on yet another sitcom, Here's Lucy, finally ending her long run as a CBS sitcom star in 1974. Both The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy are notable for having Vance as recurring characters named Viv (Vivian Bagley Bunson on The Lucy Show and Vivian Jones on Here's Lucy), so named because she was tired of being recognized on the street and addressed as Ethel. Vance was a regular during the first three seasons of The Lucy Show but continued to make guest appearances through the years on The Lucy Show, and on Here's Lucy. In 1977, Vance and Ball were reunited one last time in the CBS special, Lucy Calls the President, which co-starred Gale Gordon.

In 1986, Ball tried another sitcom, Life with Lucy. The series aired on ABC for eight episodes before being cancelled due to low ratings. Oddly enough, the show debuted to very high ratings, landing in Nielson's Top 20 for that week.

I Love Lucy has remained perennially popular. For instance, it was one of the first programs made in the USA seen on British television, which became more open to commerce with the launch of ITV, a commercial network that aired the series, in September 1955. As of July 2007, it remains the longest-running program to air continually in the Los Angeles area, almost 50 years after production ended. Ironically, the series is currently aired on KTTV, which had given up the CBS affiliation several months before I Love Lucy premiered. In the US, reruns have aired nationally on Nick at Nite and TV Land in addition to local channels. This is particularly notable because, unlike some shows to which a cable channel is given exclusive rights to maximize ratings, Lucy has been consistently—and successfully—broadcast on multiple channels simultaneously.

The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, New York is a museum memorializing Lucy and I Love Lucy, including replicas of the NYC apartment set (located in the Desilu Playhouse facility in the Rapaport Center. (See also SaveLucyDesiCenter.org.)

Nielsen Ratings

I Love Lucy consistently ranked very high in the Nielsen Ratings throughout its run.

• 1951-52: #3
• 1952-53: #1
• 1953-54: #1
• 1954-55: #1
• 1955-56: #2
• 1956-57: #1

The episode "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" first aired on Monday, January 19, 1953. It garnered a record 71.7 rating, meaning 71.7% of all television households at the time were tuned in to the program. To this day, that record is surpassed only by Elvis Presley's appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 (82.6% rating).

Emmy Awards

Wins

• Best Situation Comedy, 1953, 1954
• Best Comedienne, Lucille Ball, 1953
• Best Series Supporting Actress, Vivian Vance, 1954
• Best Actress - Continuing Performance, Lucille Ball, 1956

Nominations

I Love Lucy

• Best Situation Comedy, 1952
• Best Written Comedy Material: Madelyn Pugh Davis, Jess Oppenheimer, Robert G. Carroll, 1955
• Best Situation Comedy, 1955
• Best Comedy Writing: Bob Carroll Jr., Madelyn Davis, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf for the episode "L.A. At Last", 1956

Lucille Ball

• Best Comedian or Comedienne, 1952
• Most Outstanding Personality, 1953
• Best Female Star of Regular Series, 1954
• Best Actress Starring in a Regular Series, 1955
• Best Comedienne, 1956
• Best Continuing Performance by a Comedienne in a Series, 1957
• Best Continuing Performance (Female) in a Series by a Comedienne, Singer, Hostess, Dancer, M.C., Announcer, Narrator, Panelist, or any Person who Essentially Plays Herself, 1958

Vivian Vance

• Best Supporting Actress in a Regular Series, 1955
• Best Supporting Performance by an Actress, 1957
• Best Continuing Supporting Performance by an Actress in a Dramatic or Comedy Series, 1958

William Frawley

• Best Series Supporting Actor, 1954
• Best Supporting Actor in a Regular Series, 1955
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role, 1956

Honors

• In 1999, Entertainment Weekly ranked the birth of Little Ricky as the fifth greatest moment in TV history.
• In 2002, TV Guide ranked I Love Lucy #2 on its list of the 50 greatest shows, behind Seinfeld and ahead of The Honeymooners (According to TV Guide columnist Matt Rousch, there was a "passionate" internal debate about whether I Love Lucy should have been first instead of Seinfeld. He stated that this was the main source of controversy in putting together the list.)
• In 2007, Time magazine placed the show on its unranked list of the 100 best TV shows.

DVD releases

CBS Home Entertainment has released all six seasons of I Love Lucy on DVD in Region 1, as well as all 13 episodes of The Lucy and Desi Comedy Hour (as I Love Lucy: The Final Seasons - 7, 8, & 9). Bonus features include rare on-set color footage, the "Desilu/Westinghouse" promotional film, as well as deleted scenes and on-air flubs.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date
The Complete 1st Season	36	June 7th 2004
The Complete 2nd Season	31	August 31st 2004
The Complete 3rd Season	31	February 1st 2005
The Complete 4th Season	30	May 3rd 2005
The Complete 5th Season	26	August 16th 2005
The Complete 6th Season	27	May 2nd 2006
The Final Seasons 7, 8 & 9	13	March 13th 2007
The Complete Series	194	October 23rd 2007

Other releases

• "I Love Lucy - Season 1" (9 separate discs labeled "Volumes", first volume released July 2, 2002, final volume released September 23, 2003)
• "I Love Lucy - Season 1" (9 Volumes in box set, released September 23, 2003)
• "I Love Lucy - 50th Anniversary Special" (1 disc, released October 1, 2002)

The DVD releases feature the syndicated heart opening, and offer the original broadcast openings as bonus features. Season 6 allows viewers to choose whether to watch the episodes with the original opening or the syndicated opening. The TV Land openings are not on these DVDs.

Initially, the first season was offered in volumes, with four episodes per disc. After the success of releasing seasons 2, 3, and 4 in slimpacks, the first season was re-released as a seven disc set, requiring new discs to be mastered and printed to include more episodes per disc so there would be fewer discs in the set. The individual volume discs for the first season are still in print, but are rare due to lack of shelf space.

Episodes feature English closed-captioning, but only Spanish subtitles.

Bloopers

During the course of "I Love Lucy," several bloopers were seen. Most were based upon contradictory facts (something that was revealed in one episode, but was completely different in another episode) while others were slip up's in the lines by the actors (since most of the scenes were recorded only one time). Several errors by the producers and camera men were made as well throughout the course of the show.

• In the episode "Lucy Fakes Illness" it is said that the Ricardo's have been living the the Mertz building for 5 years (having moved in during 1948). Just episodes later, they had lived there 9 years and by 1954, they had lived there 12 years.

• In the episode "The Ballet" Ted Kurtz was identified as Fred's ex vaudeville partner but in "Mertz and Kurtz," his partner was identified as Barney Kurtz.

• In the episode "The Marriage License," Elizabeth Patterson played Mrs. Willoughby (mother) yet was later hired to play Mrs. Trumbull.
• In the episode "Ricky Loses His Voice," pianist Marco Rizo makes an error when talking to Ricky by saying "okay, Des!"

• In the episode "The Club Election," Lucy's friend was identified as Lillian Appleby, but from then on she was referred to as Caroline. This was due to the producers feeling that the name "Lillian" resembled the name "Lucy" too much.

• In the episode "No Children Allowed," Ethel accidentally refers to neighbor Mrs. Trumbull as Mrs. Turnbull.

• In the episode "Sales Resistance," Fred purchases a new washing machine for Ethel, but in a later episode, he buys the Ricardo's old washing machine.

• In the episode "Lucy Tells the Truth," the Ricardo's apartment number was identified as 3D. In every episode before and after it, their apartment number was 3B.

• In the episode "Redecorating the Mertzes' Apartment," Lucy slips up and says "Lets paint the furniture and reupholster the old furniture."

• In the episode "The Camping Trip," Ethel knows how to drive, but mysteriously does not in the episode "Lucy Learns to Drive."

• West Jamestown, the town Lucy claims to be from, does not exist.

• In the episode "Paris at Last," a bottle of wine from California is seen on the sidewalk restaurant scene.

• In the episode "Lucy and Superman," Ricky should have only been four years old, but he was celebrating his fifth birthday party.

• The 'no pets' rent policy was enforced strictly in "Little Ricky Gets a Dog," but is not enforced for Mrs. Trumbull who has a cat.

• In the episode "The Saxophone," Lucy says she only knows how to play "Glow Worm" on the saxophone, but plays "Sweet Sue" in a later episode.

• In the episode "Lucy thinks Ricky is Trying to Murder Her," the bedroom set is visible when Lucy and Ricky are dancing.

• In the episode "The Seance," the production crew's shadows are visible for most of the seance.

• Bill and Grace Foster are mentioned to live in apartments 3B and 2A.

• In the episode "Lucy Does a TV Commercial," Lucy is seen watching Ricky sing in the apartment. She is not suppose to be in the scene.

• Ethel's middle name was mentioned as being Louise, Roberta, and Mae in various episodes during the show.

• In the episode "Sales Resistance" we aren't quite sure how much Lucy paid for the Handy Dandy Kitchen Helper because she says it cost $7.95 and $7.98 at various points during the episode.

• In the episode "Breaking the Lease," Fred and Ethel leave the Ricardo's apartment only to go opposite ways once in the hallway.

• In the episode "The Handcuffs," while Ricky goes to the phone and pulls Lucy, the strongly locked handcuffs come undone. Lucy discretely refastens them. They are supposedly in handcuffs that are "unbreakable" forcing them to call a locksmith.

• During the pilot episode, a mysterious shadow passes by the Ricardo's dresser in front of his bed before he wakes up.

• In the episode "Breaking the Lease," Ethel is quite talented at playing the piano. Yet in the episode "Ragtime Band" (which is later than "Breaking the Lease") Ethel can't play the piano.

• In the episode "Ricky Asks for a Raise," a table that is reserved for twelve only has four chairs.

• Its uncommon for a factual error to be made in the same episode, but in the episode "Vacation from Marriage," Lucy and Ethel are in the kitchen when Ethel mentions that Fred hasn't changed in the 22 years they have been together. Just three minutes later, Fred notes that they have been married for 25 years.

• In the episode "Redecorating," Fred can be seen on standby waiting for his cue in the hallway when Ricky goes to check out the progress of Ethel and Lucy's remodeling project.

• In the episode "Lucy's Show Biz Swan Song," Lucy is seen untying her dress to make her pants fall.

• In the episode "Ricky has Labor Pains," Lucy is reading a magazine...with an "I Love Lucy" picture on the cover page. She is reading an article about the show she is acting in.

• In the episode "Lucy Learns to Drive," a cable can be seen pulling the Ricardo's Pontiac crashing it into Fred's Cadillac when Ethel supposedly steps on the gas.

• In the episode "First Stop!" Lucys jacket is white when she gets out of the car to read a sign on a closed restaurant, but when she gets back in the car, her jacket is black.

• In the episode "First Stop!" a track can be seen moving the bed about the room. A passing train is supposedly causing the bed to move.

• In the episode "The Tour," Lucy and Ethel exit the tour bus (and are left by the bus driver) to get a grape fruit from Richard Widmark's tree, but when the bus is pulling away, Lucy and Ethel can be seen on the bus.

• In the episode "Tennessee Ernie Visits," Ricky bends over to pick up a ticket while imitating cousin Ernie. The camera pans to the floor and reveals a wire tracking across the room.

• In the episode "The Fox Hunt," as the horse takes off, someone is seen pulling the horse.

• In the episode "Lucy Meets Bob Hope," Lucy gets her cleats caught in the new floor and had 1'x1' tiles on her shoes. Seconds later (without anyone there to remove them) the tiles are gone.

• In the episode "Lucy Raises Chickens," when Little Ricky enters the house, someones hand is seen pushing him through the front door.

• The Ricardo's phone number changed frequently throughout the course of the show. Some of the numbers mentioned included Murray Hill 5-9975, Murray Hill 5-9099, and Circle 7-2099. Producers did this to keep people from calling these numbers (which could have happened had one number been used throughout the course of the show).

• In the episode "The Ricardo's Visit Cuba," Uncle Alberto destroys his hat while listening to Ricky and Little Ricky play the drums, but just a few seconds later, his hat is new.

• In the episode "Lucy Wants to Move to the Country," Lucy, Fred, and Ethel visit the new house that the Ricardo's purchased (which is still occupied by its old owners) and a Grandfather clock can be seen near the door. Later, the house is completely empty, and the Grandfather clock is not next to the door. In the following episodes, when the Ricardo's own the house, the clock is back by the front door.

• In the episode "Lucy Thinks Ricky is Going to Murder Her," Lucy can be seen purposely dropping the frying pan she was using to shield herself from Ricky.

• In the episode "The Marriage License," Ricky and Lucy make several references to their car. But in episodes prior to going to Hollywood (which were after "The Marriage License") Lucy claims she has never owned a car before.

• The living room couch seemed to magically change between the episodes "Lucy Thinks Ricky is Trying to Murder Her" and "The Girls Want to Go to A Nightclub" (which are episodes that aired next to one another). It is never mentioned that Lucy or Ricky purchased the new couch.

• In the episode "The Diet," Fred and Ethel have a dog named Butch. The dog is never seen after this episode. It is also strange because the building has a strict "no pets policy."

• In the episode "Lucy and John Wayne," Ethel asks Lucy if she had seen the morning paper. While Ethel is speaking, something flies out of Lucy's hand.

• In the episode "Redecorating the Mertzes Apartment," the foursome redecorate the Mertz apartment when feathers go flying everywhere. Back in the Ricardo apartment, a feather is seen drifting from the ceiling of the set. There shouldn't have been any feathers in the Ricardo apartment.

• In the episode "Too Many Crooks," Lucy messes up on her line saying "Ricky, have you seen your silvo-silver cigarette case?"

• In the episode "Dancing Star," Lucy refers to Ethel as "Viv" when they are in the dressing room.

• In the episode "Lucy Hates to Leave," Ricky is pacing his living room (at 2:00 AM as the clock in the living room showed) when Lucy puts a smoldering cigarette in an ashtray. Ricky lays down, and gets up in an hour (the living room clock is now showing 3:00 AM), but the cigarette is still smoldering.

• The room where Fred and Ethel stayed during their trip to Hollywood is the exact same room as seen when they leave Hollywood in "The Great Train Robbery."

• In the episode "Getting Ready," Fred drives off in the Cadillac. The camera man follows him in the car and accidentaly reveals the audience.

• The floorplan for the Ricardo's Connecticut house is extremely incorrect. The stairs in their kitchen clearly lead to nowhere because the upstairs is not situated in a way where the stairs off the kitchen would lead to anything. Furthermore, only two doors can be seen upstairs. Assuming one is Little Ricky's and one is the master bedroom, there is no bathroom.

• In the episode "Ricky Minds the Baby," Ricky tells Lucy that he had never heard "...a mice giggle so loud," but in reality, Lucy never made any noise.

• In the episode "Lucy's Schedule," Phoebe Littlefield messes up on her line saying "if my Alvin sees what he likes here tonight..." instead of saying "if my Alvin likes what he sees here tonight..."

• In the episode "Lucy Writes a Play," Lucy gives Ethel a second copy of her script just seconds after she finishes typing its conclusion.

• In the episode "California, Here we Come," Mrs. MacGillicuddy mentions that she will take her book to Dory Schary, but in a later episode she asks "Who's Dory Schary?"

• In the episode "Jealous of a Girl Dancer," Ricky has a bad acting moment when he clearly steps on Rosemary's dress tearing it on purpose. The tear was suppose to be an accident, but it is quite obvious that it was intentional.

• In the episode "The Operetta," the men are taking the props. But when they begin to take Ricky, one of the peasant girls is waiting to run out as if the men were in pursuit of her.

• In the episode "Dancing Star," Lucy messes up her line saying "I did-I vanced with Dan." The line should have read "I did-I danced with Van."

• In the episode "Lucy Goes to the Hospital," when Lucy says she is ready to go, Fred is seen purposely unlocking the suitcase to make all the articles of clothing fall out.

• In the episode "The Audition Show," when Buffo crashed through the kitchen door, it is quite obvious that the door he crashed through was fake because the real door is seen in the kitchen leaning against the wall.

• In the episode "Ricky's Hawaiian Vacation," when Freddy Fillmore asked Ethel & Fred whose mother she was, they said it was Ethel's mom. Ethel's last name was Potter. When Freddy told everyone that Mother Mertz was sick, it should have been Mother Potter.

• At least two different dates are given as the Ricardo's anniversary in "Hollywood Anniversary" and "Anniversary Present."

• In the episode "Ricky's Life Story," Ethel is reading an article about Ricky making arroz con pollo and mentions that he's made it dozens of times. But in the episode "Job Switching," he is unable to make arroz con pollo.

• In the episode "Paris at Last," Ethel bought a bag (a leopard print document case). However, in an earlier episode ("Passports") Lucy is seen with the same bag when she is visiting Helen Kaiser.

• In the episode "The Ballet," when Lucy's girdle falls off, you can see her untie it from behind.

• In the episode "The I Love Lucy Christmas Show," the lights on their tree don't work after briefly being on. Lucy is seen unplugging the lights just before they go off. The group seems puzzled as to why the lights do not work.

• In the episode "Lucy Goes to Alaska," Lucy throws blankets and pillows back onto the hammock after falling off, but in the very next scene the hammock's pillows and blanket are neatly arranged.

• The actor who plays Ethel's father is only eight years her senior, and is seventeen years younger than Fred.

• In the episode "Never Do Business With Friends," Lucy is seen pushing a washing machine just a few feet from her kitchen door to the Mertz's kitchen door. However, in every other episode, the Mertzes live one level below the Ricardo's.

• In the episode "New Neighbors" Lucy listens through the furnace pipe spying on the new neighbors, but in "The Freezer" she seems to be confused as to why you can hear people talking through the furnace while putting meat in the freezer.

References

• Joe Garner, Stay Tuned: Television's Unforgettable Moments (Andrews McMeel Publishing; 2002) ISBN 0-7407-2693-5
• Bart Andrews, The 'I Love Lucy' Book (Doubleday & Company, Inc.; 1976)
• Coyne Steven Sanders & Tom Gilbert, Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (William Morrow & Company, Inc.; 1993)
• Michael McClay, "I Love Lucy: The Complete Picture History of the Most Popular TV Show Ever" (Kensington Publishing Corp., 1995)

External links

• Colorized "I Love Lucy" episode "Lucy Goes To Scotland" commissioned by CBS. 12_2_07 Newsday article
• I Love Lucy's 50th Anniversary Special at IMDb
• The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour at IMDb
• Encyclopedia of Television
• Archive of American Television Video Interview with I Love Lucy writers Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Carroll, Jr.
• I Love Lucy on TVLand.com