I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy

Iconic title shot from syndicated edition of series.
Written by Jess Oppenheimer
Madelyn Davis
Bob Carroll, Jr.
Bob Schiller
Bob Weiskopf
Starring Lucille Ball
Desi Arnaz
Vivian Vance
William Frawley
Richard Keith
Theme music composer Eliot Daniel
Harold Adamson
Composer(s) Eliot Daniel
Wilbur Hatch
Marco Rizo
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 6
No. of episodes 181 (including the "lost" Christmas episode and original pilot) (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s) Jess Oppenheimer
Desi Arnaz (executive)
Location(s) Desilu Studios
Los Angeles, California
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time 23–26.5 minutes unedited, including opening and closing credits
Production company(s) Desilu Productions
Distributor CBS Television Distribution
Release
Original network CBS
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
Black-and-white
Audio format Monaural
Original release October 15, 1951 (1951-10-15) – May 6, 1957 (1957-05-06)[1]
Chronology
Followed by The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour

I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom 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. After the series ended in 1957, however, a modified version continued 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.

The show, which was the first scripted television program to be shot on 35 mm film in front of a studio audience, won five Emmy Awards and received numerous nominations. Another award that the show won was the coveted Peabody Award for "recognition of distinguished achievement in television."[2]

I Love Lucy 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 Nielsen ratings (an accomplishment later matched only by The Andy Griffith Show in 1968 and Seinfeld in 1998). The show is still syndicated in dozens of languages across the world and remains popular with an American audience of 40 million each year.[3] A colorized version of its Christmas episode attracted more than 8 million viewers when CBS aired it in prime time in 2013 – 62 years after the show premiered.[4] A second colorized special, featuring the "L.A. At Last!" and "Lucy and Superman" episodes, aired on May 17, 2015, attracting 6.4 million viewers.[5]

I Love Lucy is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential sitcoms in history. In 2012, it was voted the 'Best TV Show of All Time' in a survey conducted by ABC News and People Magazine.[6]

Premise

Originally set in an apartment building 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 best friends and landlords Fred Mertz (William Frawley) and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance). During the second season, Lucy and Ricky have a son named Ricky Ricardo, Jr. ("Little Ricky"), whose birth was timed to coincide with Ball's real-life delivery of her son Desi Arnaz Jr.[7]

Lucy is naïve and ambitious, with an undeserved zeal for stardom and a knack for getting herself and her husband into trouble whenever Lucy yearns to make it in show business. The Ricardos' best friends, Fred and Ethel, are former vaudevillians and this only strengthens Lucy's resolve to prove herself as a performer. Unfortunately, she has few marketable performance skills. She does not seem to be able to carry a tune or play anything other than off-key renditions of songs such as "Glow Worm" or "Sweet Sue" on the saxophone, and many of her performances devolve into disaster. However, to say she is completely without talent would be untrue, as on occasion, she is shown to be a good dancer and a competent singer. She is also at least twice offered contracts by television or film companies—first in "The Audition" when she replaces an injured clown in Ricky's act, and later in Hollywood when she dances for a studio benefit using a rubber Ricky dummy as her dancing partner.

The show provided Ball ample opportunity to display her considerable skill at clowning and physical comedy. Character development was not a major focus of early sitcoms, so little was offered about her life before the show. A few episodes mentioned that she was born in Jamestown, New York (Lucille Ball's real-life home town), later corrected to West Jamestown, that she graduated from Jamestown High School, that her maiden name was "McGillicuddy" (indicating a Scottish or Irish ethnicity at least on her father's side, though she once mentioned her grandmother was Swedish; there are sizable Irish and Swedish communities in Jamestown), and that she met Ricky on a boat cruise with her friend from an agency she once worked for. Her family was absent, other than occasional appearances by her bird-brained mother (Kathryn Card), who could never get Ricky's name right. Lucy also exhibited many traits that were standard for female comedians at the time, including being secretive about her age and true hair color, and being careless with money, along with being somewhat materialistic, insisting on buying new dresses and hats for every occasion and telling old friends that she and Ricky were wealthy. She was also depicted as a devoted housewife and attentive mother.

Lucy and Ricky are mountain climbing in the Alps during their 1956 European vacation.

Lucy's husband, Ricky Ricardo, is an up-and-coming Cuban American singer and bandleader with an excitable personality. His patience is frequently tested by his wife's antics. When exasperated, he often reverts to speaking rapidly in Spanish. As with Lucy, not much is revealed about his past or family. Ricky's mother (played by actress Mary Emery) appears in two episodes; in another Lucy mentions that he has five brothers. Ricky also mentions that he had been "practically raised" by his uncle Alberto (who was seen during a family visit to Cuba), and that he had attended the University of Havana.

An extended flashback segment in the 1957 episode "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana" of The Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Show filled in numerous details of how Lucy and Ricky met and how Ricky came to the United States. The story, at least insofar as related to newspaper columnist Hedda Hopper, is that the couple met in Havana when Lucy and the Mertzes vacationed there in 1940. Despite his being a university graduate, proficient in English, Ricky is portrayed as a driver of a horse-drawn cab who waits for fares at a pier where tourists arrive by ship. Ricky is hired to serve as one of Lucy's tour guides and the two fall in love. Having coincidentally also met popular singer Rudy Vallée on the cruise ship, Lucy arranges an audition for Ricky who is hired to be in Vallée's orchestra, thus allowing him to immigrate to the United States on the very ship on which Lucy and the Mertzes were returning. Lucy later states that Ricky played for Vallée only one night before being traded to Xavier Cugat's orchestra.

Lucy is usually found with her sidekick and best friend Ethel Mertz. A former model from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ethel tries to relive her glory days in vaudeville. Ricky is more inclined to include Ethel in performances at his nightclub because, unlike Lucy, she can actually sing and dance rather well.

Ethel's husband Fred served in World War I, and lived through the Great Depression. He is very stingy with money and is an irascible, no-nonsense type. However, he also shows that he can be a soft touch, especially when it comes to Little Ricky. Fred can also sing and dance and often performs duets with Ethel.

The Manhattan building they all lived in before their move to Westport, Connecticut, was addressed at a fictional 623 East 68th Street, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The addresses only go up to the 500s before the street terminates at the East River.

Cast

Cast members from left, standing: William Frawley, Desi Arnaz, seated: Vivian Vance and Lucille Ball.
Mike (left) and Joe Mayer both played Little Ricky as a toddler.

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 owing 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 hour-long 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 and Our Miss Brooks. He would go on to co-star with Ball in all of her post–I Love Lucy series (The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life with Lucy). Benaderet was a guest star in one episode as elderly Miss Lewis, a neighbor of the Ricardos.

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 did, however, turn up in at least nine episodes of I Love Lucy in bit parts.[8]

Many of the characters' names were after Lucille Ball's family members or close friends; for example, Marion Strong was one of her best friends and roommate for a time in New York, and also set Lucy and Desi up on their first date. Lillian Appleby was a teacher of Lucy's when she was in an amateur production on the stage. Pauline Lopus was a childhood friend, Fred was also her brother and grandfather's name. Lucy and Desi had a business manager by the name of Mr. Andrew Hickox, and in the first episode of season 4, called the "The Business Manager" Lucy and Ricky hire a man named Mr. Hickox.

Primary production team

Background and development

Lucille Ball had come to Hollywood after a successful stint as a New York model. She was chosen by Sam Goldwyn to be one of sixteen Goldwyn Girls to co-star in the picture Roman Scandals (1933) with film star Eddie Cantor. Enthusiastic and hard-working Ball had been able to secure film work briefly at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio and Columbia Pictures and then eventually at RKO Radio Pictures. It was at RKO that Ball received steady film work, first as an extra and bit player and eventually working her way up to co-starring roles in feature films and starring roles in second rate B pictures, collectively earning the nickname "Queen of the B's". During her run at RKO, Ball gained the reputation for doing physical comedy and stunts that most other actresses avoided, keeping her steadily employed. In 1940, Lucy met Desi Arnaz, a Cuban bandleader who had just come off a successful run in the 1939–40 Broadway show Too Many Girls. RKO had bought the film rights to the show and cast Ball as Arnaz's love interest in the picture. The duo began a whirlwind courtship leading to their elopement to Connecticut in November 1940. Despite being madly in love, however, their careers kept them separated, with Lucy's film work keeping her anchored in Hollywood, while Desi's nightclub engagements with his orchestra kept him on the road.

Despite steadily working in pictures, Lucy's movie career never advanced to the level of a headlining feature-film actress; nevertheless she remained popular with movie audiences. After receiving critical acclaim for her starring role in the 1942 Damon Runyon film The Big Street (with Henry Fonda), Ball came to the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which bought out her contract. It was at MGM that Ball, who had been a blonde, dyed her hair red to complement the Technicolor features that MGM had planned to use her in. MGM used Ball in a variety of films, but it was her work with funny man Red Skelton in the 1942 film DuBarry Was a Lady that brought Ball's physical comedy into the forefront, earning her the reputation as "that crazy redhead", as Ricky would later call her.[9] Nonetheless, Ball's striking beauty was in sharp contrast to physical antics she did in her films; thus, MGM tried to use her in an array of different film genres that did little to highlight her skills. Given their difficulties in casting her, MGM chose not to renew her contract when it expired in 1946.

Ball began working as a free-lancer in films and also began to explore other venues. Before and during World War II, Lucy had made several notable and successful guest appearances on several radio programs, among them Jack Haley's radio show and bandleader Kay Kyser's radio program. These appearances brought Lucy to the attention of CBS, which in 1948 enlisted Ball to star in one of two new half-hour situation comedies in development, Our Miss Brooks and My Favorite Husband. Choosing the latter, Lucy portrayed Liz Cugat (later anglicized to Cooper), the frustrated and scheming housewife of a Minneapolis banker, played originally by actor Lee Bowman in the series pilot, and later by actor Richard Denning. Based on the novel Mr. and Mrs. Cugat by Isabel Scott Rorick, My Favorite Husband was produced by Jess Oppenheimer, and written by Oppenheimer, plus scribes Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr.. Premiering on July 23, 1948 and sponsored by General Foods, Husband became a hit for CBS. During the run of the radio program Lucy appeared in two feature films with Bob Hope, Sorrowful Jones in 1949, and Fancy Pants in 1950. Both films were box office and critical successes, further cementing Ball's reputation as a top notch first-rate comedian. They also showed her continuing popularity with audiences, enticing CBS to further use her skills.

In 1950, CBS asked Ball to take My Favorite Husband to television with co-star Richard Denning. She, however, saw a television show as a great opportunity to work with Desi as it would keep them both in Hollywood, and perhaps save their shaky marriage. Lucy insisted that Desi play her husband, much to the dismay of CBS, which was reluctant because Arnaz was Cuban. Network executives believed that audiences would not believe the marriage between an all-American girl and a Latin man. To prove CBS wrong, the couple developed a vaudeville act, written by Carroll and Pugh, that they took on the road with Arnaz's orchestra. The act was a hit and convinced CBS executive Harry Ackerman that a Ball-Arnaz pairing would be a worthwhile venture. At the same time, rival networks NBC, ABC, and DuMont were showing interest in a Ball-Arnaz series, which Ackerman used to convince CBS to sign the duo.

A pilot was ordered and kinescoped in Hollywood in March 1951, which coincided with Lucy's first pregnancy, and the ending of Husband, which aired its last radio show on March 31, 1951. Ball and Arnaz used the same radio team of Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll to create the television series that was named I Love Lucy. After showing the pilot to several advertising agencies, at first with not much luck, CBS was able to sell the series to the Milton Biow agency, which was able to convince one of their clients, cigarette giant Philip Morris, to sponsor the show.

Production

During the spring and summer of 1951, I Love Lucy moved into production. Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll began fine-tuning the premise of the show and writing the series' first scripts. The trio had the good graces of having a backlog of storylines from My Favorite Husband to adapt for use on television. In addition, the series' ensemble cast and crew were assembled. Desi Arnaz retained his orchestra, which was used in the series musical numbers and to score the show's background and transitional music. Arnaz's childhood friend Marco Rizo arranged the music and played the piano for the show, while Wilbur Hatch was used to conduct the orchestra. Two problems arose, however, after Philip Morris signed on to sponsor the show, that would ultimately change the fate of I Love Lucy.

Lucy with John Wayne in an episode

Lucy and Desi had originally decided that the series would air on a biweekly basis, much like The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. Philip Morris, however, was insistent that the show air weekly, thus diminishing the possibility of Lucy continuing her film career alongside a television show. Another problem lay in the fact that Philip Morris wanted the series to originate from New York rather than Hollywood. At the time, most television shows were produced from New York with live broadcasts of the show airing for eastern and Midwest audiences. West Coast viewers were able to view live programs only through low-quality kinescopes, which derived their images by using a 35 mm or 16 mm film camera to record the show from a television monitor. As videotape had not yet been developed, kinescopes seemed to be the only practical means to allow a live show to reach television markets on the West Coast. Complicating matters was that kinescopes were not available for immediate re-broadcast as in 1951 no coast-to-coast cable system was yet in service. Shows had to be sent to Hollywood, which delayed their airings for West Coast audiences by nearly a week. The process operated in the reverse for the few programs that originated live in Hollywood, such as The Ed Wynn Show, thus making blurry kinescopes of these shows the only available print for eastern audiences. Most sponsors, including Philip Morris, found this to be undesirable as most of the television audience lived east of the Mississippi at the time.

Although the pilot had been made as a kinescope, for the series itself, the process was rejected. Owing to the impending birth of their first child, both Lucy and Desi insisted on staying in Hollywood and producing the show on film, something a few Hollywood-based series had begun to do. Both CBS and Philip Morris initially balked at the idea, because of the higher cost that filming the show would incur, yet acquiesced only after the couple offered to take a $1,000 a week pay cut in order to cover the additional expense. In exchange, Lucy and Desi demanded, and were given, 80% ownership in the I Love Lucy films (the other 20% went to producer Jess Oppenheimer who then gave 5% to writer Madelyn Pugh and 5% to writer Bob Carroll, Jr.). Shooting the show on film, however, would require that Lucy and Desi become responsible for producing the series themselves. Union agreements at the time stipulated that any production filmed in a studio use film studio employees. CBS staff were television and radio employees and thus fell under different union agreements. Thus, Arnaz reorganized the company he created to manage his orchestra bookings and used it as the corporation that would produce the I Love Lucy shows. The company was named Desilu, after their ranch in Chatsworth, California.

Though some television series were already being filmed in Hollywood, most used the single-camera format familiar from movies, with a laugh track added to comedies to simulate audience response. Arnaz and I Love Lucy creator Jess Oppenheimer decided, however, that Lucy needed to work in front of an audience to create the kind of comic energy she had displayed on radio. The idea of a film studio that could accommodate an audience was a new one for the time, as fire safety regulations made it difficult to allow an audience in a studio. Arnaz and Oppenheimer were lucky enough to find the financially struggling General Service Studios located on Las Palmas Avenue in Hollywood. Studio owner Jimmy Nasser was eager to accommodate the Desilu company and allowed them, with financial backing of CBS, to renovate two of his studios so that they could accommodate an audience and be in compliance with local fire laws.

Cinematographer Karl Freund in 1915

Another component to filming the show came when it was decided to use three 35 mm film cameras to simultaneously film the show. The idea had been pioneered by Ralph Edwards on the game show Truth or Consequences, and had subsequently been used on Amos 'n' Andy as a way to save money, though Amos n' Andy did not use an audience. Edwards's assistant Al Simon was hired by Desilu to help perfect the new technique for the series. The process lent itself to the Lucy production as it eliminated the problem of requiring an audience to view and react to a scene three or four times in order for all necessary shots to be filmed. Multiple cameras would also allow scenes to be performed in sequence, as a play would be, which was unusual at the time for filmed series. Retakes were rare and dialogue mistakes were often played off for the sake of continuity.

Ball and Arnaz enlisted the services of Karl Freund, a cinematographer who had worked on such films as Metropolis (1927), Dracula (1931), and The Good Earth (1937), as well as directing The Mummy (1932), to be the series cinematographer. Although at first Freund did not want anything to do with television, it was the personal plea of the couple that convinced him to take the job.

Freund was instrumental in developing a way to uniformly light the set so that each of the three cameras would pick up the same quality of image. Freund noted that a typical episode (20–22 min.) was shot in about 60 minutes, with one constant concern being the shades-of-gray contrast in the final print, as each stage of transmission and broadcast would exaggerate the contrast.[10]:22 Among other non-standard techniques used in filming the show, cans of paint (in shades ranging from white to medium-gray) were kept on set to "paint out" inappropriate shadows and disguise lighting flaws.[11][12] Freund also pioneered "flat lighting," in which everything is brightly lit to eliminate shadows and the need for endless relighting.

As mentioned, audience reactions were live, thus creating a far more authentic laugh than the canned laughter used on most filmed sitcoms of the time. Regular audience members were sometimes heard from episode to episode, and Arnaz's distinctive laugh could be heard in the background during scenes in which he did not perform, as well as Ball's mother, DeDe, whose distinctive "Uh Oh" could be heard in many of the episodes. In later years, CBS would devise a laugh track from several I Love Lucy audiences and use them for canned laughter on shows done without a live audience.

I Love Lucy's pioneering use of three cameras led to it becoming the standard technique for the production of most sitcoms filmed in front of an audience.[13] Single-camera setups remained the technique of choice for sitcoms that did not use audiences. This led to an unexpected benefit for Desilu during the series's second season when it was discovered that Lucy was pregnant. Not being able to fulfill the show's 39-episode commitment, both Desi and Jess Oppenheimer decided to rebroadcast popular episodes of the series's first season to help give Lucy the necessary rest she needed after she gave birth, effectively allowing fewer episodes to be filmed that season. Unexpectedly the rebroadcasts proved to be ratings winners, effectively giving birth to the rerun, which would later lead to the profitable development of the rerun syndication market.[14] It also became the first television program to introduce English and Spanish.

The show's original opening and commercial bumpers were animated caricatures of Lucy and Desi. They were designed and animated by MGM character designer and future "Flintstones" cartoonist, Gene Hazelton (1917-2005) and were produced secretly under a contract producer William Hanna had secured privately. The program sponsor, Phillip Morris cigarettes was incorporated into many of these sequences, so when I Love Lucy went into repeats, they were replaced by the now familiar heart logo. However Gene Hazelton's original animation survives, and can be seen in the DVD boxed set as originally presented.

Desilu Productions, jointly owned by Ball and Arnaz, would gradually expand to produce and lease studio space for many other shows. For seasons 1 and 2 (1951–1953), Desilu rented space and filmed I Love Lucy at General Service Studios, which eventually became known as Hollywood Center Studios. In 1953, it leased the Motion Picture Center at 846 Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood, renaming it Desilu Studios, to shoot seasons 3–6 (1953–1957) of I Love Lucy. After 1956, it became known as Desilu-Cahuenga Studios to avoid confusion with other acquired Desilu locations. In an effort to keep up with the studio's growth, and need for additional sound stages, Desi and Lucy purchased RKO Radio Pictures from General Tire in 1957 for over $6 million, effectively owning the studio where they had started as contract players. Desilu acquired RKO's two studio complexes located on Gower Street in Hollywood, and in Culver City (now part of the Paramount lot and Culver Studios respectively), along with the Culver City back lot nicknamed "Forty Acres". The sale was achieved by the duo selling their ownership of the once-thought-worthless I Love Lucy films back to CBS for over four million dollars.

In 1962, two years after their marriage dissolved, Lucy bought out Desi's shares of Desilu, becoming the studio's sole owner. She eventually sold off Desilu in 1967 to Gulf+Western, owners of Paramount Pictures. After the sale, Desilu-Cahuenga became a private production company and was known as Ren-Mar Studios till 2010, when it was acquired by the Red Digital Cinema Camera Company and renamed Red Studios – Hollywood.

The Mertzes

As with My Favorite Husband, Lucy writers decided that the Ricardos needed an older couple to play off of. While performing in Husband, veteran character actors Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet had played Rudolph and Iris Atterbury, an older, more financially stable couple as Mr. Atterbury had been George Cooper's boss. Ball had initially wanted both actors to reprise their roles on television; however, both were unavailable at the time the show went into production as Benaderet was already playing Blanche Morton on The Burns and Allen Show, and Gordon was under contract by CBS to play Mr. Conklin on the radio and television versions of Our Miss Brooks.

William Frawley in 1951

Casting the Mertzes, as they were now called (the surname taken from a doctor that Lucy scriptwriter Madelyn Pugh knew as a child in Indianapolis), proved to be a challenge. Ball had initially wanted character actor James Gleason, with whom she appeared in Columbia Pictures film Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949), to play Fred Mertz. However, Gleason wanted nearly $3,500 per episode to play the role, a price that was far too high to sustain.

Sixty-four-year-old William Frawley, a seasoned vaudevillian and movie character actor with nearly 100 film credits to his name, was a long shot to play Fred Mertz and only came into consideration after he telephoned Ball personally to ask if there was a role for him on her new show. Ball, who had only briefly known Frawley from her days at RKO, suggested him to both Arnaz and CBS. The network objected to the idea of casting Frawley, fearing that his excessive drinking—which was well known in Hollywood—would interfere with a commitment a live show. Arnaz nonetheless liked Frawley and lobbied hard for him to have the role, even to the point of having Lucy scribes re-tailor the role of Fred Mertz to be a less financially successful and more curmudgeonly (in contrast to Gale Gordon's Mr. Atterbury) character to fit Frawley's persona. CBS relented only after Arnaz contractually bound Frawley to complete sobriety during the production of the show, and reportedly told the veteran actor that if he ever appeared on-set more than once in an intoxicated state he would be fired. Not once during Lucy's nine seasons did Frawley's drinking ever interfere with his performance, and over time Arnaz became one of Frawley's few close friends.

Vivian Vance in 1948

Casting the Ethel Mertz character was also some work. One choice was actress Barbara Pepper, who was a close friend of Ball's. The two had a long history together, as Pepper had been of the Goldwyn Girls who came to Hollywood with Lucy in 1933. Pepper was favored by Lucy herself; however, CBS refused on the grounds that Pepper suffered from a drinking problem too, which was far more severe than Frawley's. Nonetheless Pepper did appear in several bit parts during the run of the show.

Vivian Vance became a consideration on the recommendation of Lucy director Marc Daniels. Daniels had worked with Vance in New York on Broadway in the early 1940s. Vance had already been a successful stage star performing on Broadway for nearly 20 years in variety of plays, and in addition, after relocating to Hollywood in the late 1940s, had two film roles to her credit. Nonetheless, by 1951, she was still a relatively unknown actress in Hollywood. Vance was performing in a revival of the play The Voice of the Turtle in La Jolla, California. Arnaz and Jess Oppenheimer went to see her in the play and hired her on the spot. Vance was reluctant about giving up her film and stage work for a television show, yet was convinced by Daniels that it would be a big break in her career. Ball, however, had many misgivings about hiring Vance, who was younger and far more attractive than the concept of Ethel as an older, somewhat homely woman. Ball was also a believer in the Hollywood adage at the time that there should be only one pretty woman on the set and Ball, being the star of the show, was it. Arnaz, however, was impressed by Vance's work and hired her. The decision was then made to dress Vance in frumpier clothing to tone down her attractiveness. Ball and Vance's relationship during the series' early beginnings were lukewarm at best. Eventually realizing that Vance was no threat and was very professional, Ball began to warm to her. In 1954, Vance would become the first actress to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress. Vance and Ball would develop a lifelong close friendship. Ball would go on to ask Vance to co-star in Ball's new series The Lucy Show after the end of I Love Lucy.

Vance and Frawley's off-screen relationship was less successful. In spite of this, they were always professional and exhibited exceptional chemistry while performing on the show. In fact, their acrimonious personal relationship may have helped their onscreen marriage be that much funnier. Frawley derisively described Vance's appearance as "a sack of doorknobs."[15] It was reported that Vance, who was 22 years younger than Frawley, was not really keen on the idea that her character Ethel was married to a man that was old enough to be her father. Vance also complained that Frawley's song-and-dance skills were not what they once were. Frawley and Vance would have an adversarial relationship during the entire run of the show.[16]

Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley

In 1957, I Love Lucy was re-tailored into an hour-long show originally titled The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show that was to be part of an anthology series called the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. The hour-long Lucy-Desi show was to alternate on a monthly basis with other hour long Playhouse shows. The new series put a much heavier emphasis on big name guest stars as being part of the plot and although the Mertz characters continued into the new series, their roles became somewhat diminished. Although a lighter workload was welcomed by Frawley, Vance came to somewhat resent the change. Arnaz, in an effort to please Vance, for whom he had much respect, proposed doing a spin-off from I Love Lucy called The Mertzes. Seeing a lucrative opportunity and the chance to star in his own show, Frawley was enthused. Vance, however, declined for a number of reasons, the biggest factor being that she felt she and Frawley could barely work together on the ensemble show they were doing at the time, so it would be much less likely the two could work together on their own series. Vance also felt that the Mertz characters would not be as successful without the Ricardos to play-off each other, and despite being her biggest success, she was becoming interested in playing more glamorous roles rather than Ethel. In fact, during the thirteen episode run of the Lucy-Desi hour-long shows, Vance was given a lot more latitude to look more attractive as Ethel Mertz, something she was denied during the run of the I Love Lucy episodes. Frawley's resentment of Vance intensified after she declined to do the spin-off show and the two rarely talked to each other outside of their characters' dialogue with one another.

Pregnancy and Little Ricky

Just before filming the show, Lucy and Desi learned that Lucy was once again pregnant (after multiple miscarriages earlier in their marriage) with their 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. This was because CBS thought that talk of pregnancy might be in bad taste and because an ad agency told Desi not to show a pregnant woman.[17]

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. (Contrary to popular belief, Lucy's pregnancy was not television's first on-screen pregnancy, a distinction belonging to Mary Kay on the late 1940s sitcom Mary Kay and Johnny.)

Superman episode

CBS would not allow I Love Lucy to use the word "pregnant", so "expecting" was used instead.[18] The episode "Lucy Is Enceinte" first aired on December 8, 1952 ("enceinte" being French for "expecting" or "pregnant"). One week later, on December 15, 1952, the episode titled "Pregnant Women Are Unpredictable" was aired (although the show never displayed episode titles on the air). The episode in which Lucy gives birth, "Lucy Goes to the Hospital", first aired on January 19, 1953, which was the day before the inauguration of Dwight Eisenhower as President of the United States. 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.[7] "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" was watched by more people than any other television program up to that time, with 71.7% of all American television sets tuned in, topping the 67.7 rating for the inauguration coverage the following morning.

Unlike some programs that advance the age of a newborn over a short period of time, I Love Lucy at first allowed the Little Ricky character to grow up in real time. America saw Little Ricky as an infant in the 1952–53 season and a toddler from 1953 to 1956. However, for the 1956-57 season, Little Ricky suddenly aged by two years, becoming a young school-age boy from 1956 to 1960. Five actors played the role, two sets of twins and later Keith Thibodeaux, whose stage name when playing Ricky Ricardo, Jr. was Little Ricky. (In the Superman episode, Little Ricky is mentioned as being five years old but it had been less than four years since the birth-of-Little-Ricky episode.)

Jess Oppenheimer stated in his memoir, Laughs, Luck...and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time, that the initial plan was to match the sex of the Ricardo baby with Lucille Ball's real baby, inserting one of two alternate endings into the broadcast print at the very last minute. When logistical difficulties convinced Oppenheimer to abandon this plan, he advised Desi that as head writer, he would have Lucy Ricardo give birth to a boy. Desi agreed, telling Oppenheimer that Lucy had given him one girl, and might give him another—this might be his only chance to get a son. When the baby was born, Desi immediately called Oppenheimer and told him, "Lucy followed your script. Ain't she something?", to which Oppenheimer replied "Terrific! That makes me the greatest writer in the world!"[19]

Episodes

Season Episodes Originally aired
First aired Last aired
1 35 October 15, 1951 June 9, 1952
2 31 September 15, 1952 June 29, 1953
3 31 October 5, 1953 May 24, 1954
4 30 October 4, 1954 May 30, 1955
5 26 October 3, 1955 May 14, 1956
6 27 October 1, 1956 May 6, 1957
Comedy
Hour 1		 5 November 6, 1957 April 14, 1958
Comedy
Hour 2		 5 October 6, 1958 June 5, 1959
Comedy
Hour 3		 3 September 25, 1959 April 1, 1960

Most episodes take place in the Ricardos' modest brownstone apartment at (the fictitious address) 623 East 68th Street (40°45′47″N 73°57′10″W / 40.763087°N 73.952788°W / 40.763087; -73.952788) 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, like millions of other Americans in the late 1950s, the friends move to the suburbs, in this case, to Westport, Connecticut.

Some especially memorable episodes:

Broadcast history

Unlike most television shows, which often rerun after a brief hiatus, I Love Lucy has never stopped airing on television from the date of its initial broadcast. As of June 2012, it airs on TV Land, Hallmark Channel and Me-TV networks, and scores of television stations in the U.S. and around the world.

I Love Lucy aired Mondays from 9 to 9:30 p.m. ET on CBS during its entire run.

CBS re-aired a colorized, digitally remastered version of the I Love Lucy Christmas special along with "Lucy's Italian Movie," also in color, on December 20, 2013.[23] This special attracted 8.7 million people.[24] CBS reran the Christmas special, this time with "Job Switching" as the companion episode, in 2014.[25] Two additional colorized episodes, “L.A. At Last!” and “Lucy and Superman,” aired on May 17, 2015, attracting 6.4 million viewers.[5][26] On December 23, 2015, the Christmas special will be re-aired once again, along with "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" as its new companion episode.

Nielsen ratings

I Love Lucy ranked highly in the Nielsen ratings throughout its entire run.

Season Episodes Originally aired Television Season Viewers
(millions)		 Rank
First aired Last aired
1 35 October 15, 1951 June 9, 1952 1951–1952 50.9 #3
2 31 September 15, 1952 June 29, 1953 1952–1953 67.3 #1
3 31 October 5, 1953 May 24, 1954 1953–1954 58.8 #1
4 30 October 4, 1954 May 30, 1955 1954–1955 49.3 #1
5 26 October 3, 1955 May 14, 1956 1955–1956 46.1 #2
6 27 October 1, 1956 May 6, 1957 1956–1957 43.7 #1

The episode "Lucy Goes to the Hospital", which first aired on Monday, January 19, 1953, garnered a record 71.7 rating, meaning 71.7% of all television households at the time were tuned in to view the program. That record is surpassed only by Elvis Presley's first of three appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, which aired on September 9, 1956 (82.6% rating). I Love Lucy continues, however, to have the highest average rating for a TV show for any season.

Opening

Shot of an original introduction to I Love Lucy, as sponsored by Philip Morris. There were as many as 13 different animations;[27] the animation this shot was taken from was the opening for the first 20 episodes of the first season.[28]

The opening familiar to most viewers, featuring the credits superimposed over a "heart on satin" image, was created specifically for the 1959–67 CBS daytime network rebroadcasts, and subsequent syndication. As originally broadcast, the episodes opened with animated matchstick figures of Arnaz and Ball making reference to whoever the particular episode's sponsor was. These sequences were created by the animation team of William Hanna and Joseph 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 Philip Morris cigarettes. Lucy even went so far as to parody Johnny Roventini's image as the Philip Morris "bellhop" in the May 5, 1952, episode, "Lucy Does a TV Commercial". 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. Other sponsors, whose products appeared during the original openings, were Procter & Gamble for Cheer and Lilt Home Permanent (1954–57), General Foods for Sanka (1955–57), Ford Motor Company (1957–58), and Westinghouse company (1958–60).

The original openings, with the sponsor names edited out, were revived on TV Land showings, with a TV Land logo superimposed to obscure the original sponsor's logo. However, this has led some people to believe that the restored introduction was created specifically for TV Land as an example of kitsch.

The animated openings, along with the middle commercial introductory animations, are included, fully restored, in the DVDs. However, the openings are listed as special features within the disks with the "heart on satin" image opening the actual episodes.

Theme song

The title music was written by Eliot Daniel as an instrumental.[29] Lyrics were written by Harold Adamson, who was nominated five times for an Oscar. The lyrics to "I Love Lucy" were sung by Desi Arnaz in the episode "Lucy's Last Birthday":[30]

I love Lucy and she loves me.
 We're as happy as two can be.
 Sometimes we quarrel but then
 How we love making up again.
Lucy kisses like no one can.
 She's my missus and I'm her man,
 And life is heaven you see,
 'Cause I love Lucy, Yes I love Lucy, and Lucy loves me!

"I Love Lucy" sung by Desi Arnaz with Paul Weston and the Norman Luboff Choir was released as the B-side of "There's A Brand New Baby (At Our House)" by Columbia Records (catalog number 39937) in 1953.[31] The song was covered by Michael Franks on the album Dragonfly Summer (1993). In 1977, the Wilton Place Street Band had a Top 40 hit with a disco version of the theme, "Disco Lucy".

In other media

Radio

There was some thought about creating an I Love Lucy radio show to run in conjunction with the television series as was being done at the time with the CBS hit show Our Miss Brooks. On February 27, 1952, a sample 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 television series. While it never aired on radio at the time in the 1950s (Philip Morris eventually sponsored a radio edition of My Little Margie instead), 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 that air some "old time radio" programming.[32]

Merchandise

Ball and Arnaz authorized various types of I Love Lucy merchandise. Beginning in November 1952, I Love Lucy dolls were sold. Adult-size I Love Lucy pajamas and a bedroom set were also produced; all of these items appeared on the show.[33][34][35]

Comic book and comic strip

Dell Comics published 35 issues of an I Love Lucy comic book between 1954 and 1962 including two try-out Four Color issues (#535 and #559). King Features syndicated a comic strip (credited to "Bob Lawrence" but actually written by Lawrence Nadel and drawn by Bob Oksner) from 1952 to 1955.[36][37] Eternity Comics in the early 1990s issued comic books that reprinted the strip and Dell comic book series.

After Lucy

Hour-long format

After the conclusion of the sixth season of I Love Lucy, the Arnazes 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 Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, also known as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. Thirteen hour-long episodes aired from 1957 to 1960. The main cast, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley and Little Ricky/Richard Keith (birth name Keith Thibodeaux) 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. It made that playful, yet passionate kiss at the end of the final episode, which aired April 1, "Lucy Meets the Moustache", all the more poignant, as the world already knew that this storied Hollywood marriage was all but over, and also lent extra meaning to the use of the song "That's All" (performed by guest star Edie Adams) in that episode.

As already mentioned, Vance and Frawley were 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 1965, which did not include Vance (who by then had ceased to be a regular on that show). However, this was his last screen appearance with his longtime friend. He died in Hollywood on March 3, 1966, of a heart attack at age 79.

In 1962, Ball began a six-year run with The Lucy Show, followed immediately in 1968 by six more years on a third sitcom, Here's Lucy, finally ending her regular appearances on CBS in 1974. Both The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy included 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,[38] which co-starred Gale Gordon.

In 1986, Ball tried another sitcom, Life with Lucy. The series debuted on ABC to very high ratings, landing in Nielsen's top 20 for that week. Its ratings quickly declined, however, and resulted in a cancellation after eight episodes.

In 1989, the never-seen pilot episode was discovered and revealed in a CBS television special, hosted by Lucie Arnaz, becoming the highest rated program of the season.

Legacy

I Love Lucy continues to be held in high esteem by television critics, and remains perennially popular. For instance, it was one of the first American programs seen on British television — which became more open to commerce with the September 1955 launch of ITV, a commercial network that aired the series. As of January 2015, it remains the longest-running program to air continuously in the Los Angeles area, almost 60 years after production ended. However, the series is currently aired on KTTV on weekends and now KCOP on weekdays because both stations are a duopoly, of which KTTV had given up the CBS affiliation several months before I Love Lucy premiered. In the US, reruns have aired nationally on TBS (1980s–1990s), Nick at Nite (1994–2001) and TV Land (2001–2008) in addition to local channels. TV Land ended its run of the series by giving viewers the opportunity to vote on the show's top 25 greatest episodes on December 31, 2008 through the network's website. 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. Hallmark Channel is now the home for I Love Lucy in the United States, with the show having moved to the network on January 2, 2009, while the national version of Weigel Broadcasting's Me-TV digital subchannel network has carried the program since its debut in December 15, 2010, depending on the market (in markets where another station holds the rights, The Lucy Show is substituted). The show is seen on Fox Classics in Australia.

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).[39]

On May 4, 2003, CBS aired a television movie titled Lucy that portrayed the life of Lucille Ball, and during the I Love Lucy days, showed clips of I Love Lucy episodes. Numerous clips were remade, most notably "Lucy Does a TV Commercial", "Lucy Is Enceinte", and "Job Switching". Near the end of the movie, there are a selection of TV Guide covers in the hallway showing I Love Lucy franchises on their cover. Also, there was a close up of a New York Post article that tells the birth of Little Ricky.

In 2012, Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club wrote retrospectively:[40]

I Love Lucy […] is one of the two foundational texts of American TV comedy, along with The Honeymooners. The series is legitimately the most influential in TV history, pioneering so many innovations and normalizing so many others that it would be easy to write an appreciation of simply, say, the show’s accidental invention of the TV rerun.

Primetime Emmy Awards and nominations

1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958

Honors

'Lucy' in Color

To date, a total of six classic episodes of I Love Lucy have been colorized to the happiness of younger fans who prefer color programming over original black and white. While there are many TV "purists" who have expressed opposition to colorizing as they indicate that the show was never "meant" to be seen in color, it is known that star and producer Desi Arnaz had expressed interest in airing the show in color as early as 1955, but the cost of such a presentation was prohibitive at the time.

The first episode that was colorized was the Christmas special. The special episode itself had been feared "lost" for many years as it was not included in the regular syndication package with the rest of the series. A copy was discovered in 1989, and was aired by CBS during December of that year in the original Black and White format. In 1990, the episode was again aired in the days prior to Christmas, but this time in full color. The special performed surprisingly well in the ratings during both years, and aired on CBS each December through 1994.

In 2007, as the "Complete Series" DVD set was being prepared for release, DVD producer Gregg Oppenheimer decided to have the episode "Lucy Goes to Scotland" digitally colorized, making it the first I Love Lucy episode to be fully colorized (the Christmas special from the 1990s was only partially colorized). This time, the color was a little more exact, featuring a "vintage Technicolor" style appearance. Four years later, Time Life released the "Lucy's Italian Movie" episode for the first time in full color as part of their "Essential 'I Love Lucy'" collection, apparently having used the same process as the 'Scotland' episode.

On December 20, 2013, CBS decided to re-air the Christmas special for the first time in nearly two decades. The Christmas special was re-colorized with the same process as the other two 2000s era colorized efforts, making the episode more appealing to viewers who were first opposed to colorizing due to the process's early woes. The network also aired the aforementioned "Lucy's Italian Movie" episode to make the Christmas Special a full hour. Nearly a year later, on December 7, 2014, the Christmas special was again aired on CBS, but this time paired with the popular "Job Switching" episode featuring Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory, which was newly colorized just for the CBS broadcast.[50][51][52] This episode appeared on the Second Season Ultimate Blu-ray edition on August 4, 2015.

To date, the colorized "Lucy in Scotland" episode has never aired on television, but the episode, along with the Christmas special and "Lucy's Italian Movie", have been packaged together on the 2013 "I Love Lucy Colorized Christmas" DVD.[53] In 2014, Target Corporation stores sold an exclusive version of this DVD that also included "Job Switching".[54]

In 2015, CBS aired two new colorized episodes in a "Superstar Special" on May 17. They were "L.A. at Last" and "Lucy Meets Superman". It is currently is unknown if these will also be added to a new DVD.[55] CBS also aired the Christmas Special on December 23, 2015, with the flashbacks also colorized for the first time, and "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" replacing "Job Switching". It is also currently is unknown if these will also be added to a new DVD.[56]

DVD and Blu-ray releases

Beginning in the summer of 2001, Columbia House Television began releasing I Love Lucy on DVD in chronological order. They began that summer with the pilot and the first three episodes on a single DVD. Every six weeks, another volume of four episodes would be released on DVD in chronological order. During the summer of 2002, each DVD would contain between five and seven episodes on a single DVD. They continued to release the series very slowly and would not even begin to release any season 2 episodes until the middle of 2002. By the spring of 2003, the third season on DVD began to be released with about six episodes released every six weeks to mail order subscribers. All these DVDs have the identical features as the DVDs eventually released in the season box sets in retail.

By the fall of 2003, season four episodes began to be offered by mail. By the spring of 2004 season five DVDs with about six episodes each began to be released gradually. Columbia House ended the distribution of these mail order DVDs in the Winter of 2005. They began releasing complete season sets in the Summer of 2004 every few months. They stated that Columbia House Subscribers would get these episodes through mail before releasing any box sets with the same episodes. They finally ended gradual subscriptions in 2005, several months before season 5 became available in retail. Columbia House then began to make season box sets available instead of these single volumes.

CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) 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 and the "Desilu/Westinghouse" promotional film, as well as deleted scenes, original openings and interstitials (before they were altered or replaced for syndication) and on-air flubs. These DVDs offered identical features and identical content to the mail order single sets formerly available until 2005. [57]

In December 2013, the first high-definition release of I Love Lucy was announced, with the Blu-ray edition of the first season, scheduled for May 5, 2014.[58] The Second Season Ultimate Blu-ray as released on August 4, 2015.

Release Ep # DVD release date Blu-ray release date
The Complete 1st Season 35 September 23, 2003
(re-released June 7, 2005)
(re-released October 9, 2012)		 May 6, 2014
The Complete 2nd Season 31 August 31, 2004
(re-released October 9, 2012)		 August 4, 2015[59]
The Complete 3rd Season 31 February 1, 2005
(re-released October 9, 2012)
The Complete 4th Season[60] 30 May 3, 2005
(re-released October 9, 2012)
The Complete 5th Season 26 August 16, 2005
(re-released November 6, 2012)
The Complete 6th Season 27 May 2, 2006
(re-released November 6, 2012)
The Final Seasons 7, 8 & 9 13 March 13, 2007
(re-released November 6, 2012)
The Complete Series[61] 193 October 23, 2007
(re-released November 3, 2015)

Other releases

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. For the complete series box set, the first season would be redone again, this time to six DVDs, retaining all bonus features. The individual volume discs for the first season are still in print, but are rare for lack of shelf space and because the slimpacks are more popular. In 2012, all season sets were reissued in slipcovered clear standard-sized amaray DVD cases, with season 1 being the 6-disc version as opposed to the 7-disc version.

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

In Australia, The first three seasons were finally released in Region 4 on August 3, 2010 by CBS, distributed by Paramount. Season 1 includes 'The Pilot and all 35 Season 1' episodes in a 7 disc set. Season 2 includes 'all 31 Season 2' episodes in a 5 disc set. Season 3 includes 'All 31 Season 3' episodes in a 5 disc set. Season 2 and 3 are in a slimline pack. All three seasons have been 'Magnificently Restored and Digitally Remastered'. All episodes appear in order of their original air dates although it states that some episodes may be edited from their original network versions. It is unknown if the remaining seasons will be released individually. A complete series box set titled I Love Lucy: Complete Collection is scheduled for release on 6 April 2016.[65] This collection contains 34 DVD's with all six seasons of I Love Lucy and all 13 episodes of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ List of I Love Lucy episodes#Season 6 .281956.E2.80.9357.29
  2. ↑ Andrews, Bart (1976). Lucy and Ricky and Fred and Ethel. Toronto and Vancouver: Clarke, Irwin & Company Limited. p. 4.
  3. ↑ "I Love Lucy Goes Live! – Today's News: Our Take". TVGuide.com. September 14, 2011. Retrieved November 22, 2012.
  4. ↑ Kozinn, Allan (Dec 23, 2013). "Viewers Found Much to Love in ‘Lucy’ Christmas Show". NYTimes.com. Retrieved Dec 23, 2013.
  5. 1 2 Sunday Final Ratings: 'The Simpsons' & 'Billboard Music Awards' Adjusted Up
  6. ↑ "I Love Lucy Voted the Best TV Show of All Time". ABC News. September 18, 2012. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Birth of a Memo". Time magazine. January 26, 1953. Retrieved January 16, 2008.
  8. ↑ Filmography: Barbara Pepper, retrieved 2015-10-16
  9. ↑ Marla Brooks (2005). The American family on television: a chronology of 121 shows, 1948-2004. McFarland & Co. Page 25.
  10. ↑ "Filming 'Lucy'" (PDF). Freund, Karl, Television Magazine, Volume IX, Number 7, July 1952. Retrieved 2014-08-06.
  11. ↑ "Desi Arnaz". Lucille Ball Info. Retrieved April 2, 2008. Arnaz revolutionizes television
  12. ↑ Sanders & Gilbert 2001, pp. 72–81.
  13. ↑ Adir, Karin (2001). The Great Clowns of American Television (McFarland Classics). Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Company. pp. 4–10. ISBN 0-7864-1303-4.
  14. ↑ citation needed
  15. ↑ Carman, John (November 7, 2001). "A poignant look at Lucy's last days". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  16. ↑ Sanders, Coyne Steven; Gilbert, Tom (1993). Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. William Morrow & Company, ISBN 978-0-688-11217-2
  17. ↑ McClay, Michael (2001). The complete picture history of the most popular TV show ever "I Love Lucy". Barnes & Noble, Inc. p. 68.
  18. ↑ Bianco, Robert (February 9, 2004). "10 turning points for television". USA Today. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
  19. ↑ Laughs, Luck...and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time, by Jess Oppenheimer with Gregg Oppenheimer, p. 210
  20. ↑ <http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/15-11/st_nyquil
  21. ↑ Hughes, Jason (September 2, 2013). "Betty White Counts Down 'TV's Funniest of the Funniest': Who Came Out on Top?". The Huffington Post.
  22. ↑ I Love Lucy, Viacom Entertainment Group, retrieved March 9, 2014
  23. ↑ "‘I Love Lucy’ Christmas Special To Air On CBS « CBS Los Angeles". Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  24. ↑ Kissell, Rick (December 21, 2013). "America Still Loves 'Lucy' As 8.7 Million Watch Colorized CBS Special". Variety.
  25. ↑ CBS's holiday programming highlighted by the 50th anniversary of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Press release. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  26. ↑ CBS Dusts Off And Colorizes ‘I Love Lucy’ Episodes For May Sweep Tryout. Deadline.com. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  27. ↑ http://www.lucyfan.com/ontheball2.html
  28. ↑ I Love Lucy: The Complete Series (disc four). 2015.
  29. ↑ "Eliot Daniel; Composer of 'I Love Lucy' Theme Song". Los Angeles Times. December 10, 1997.
  30. ↑ "I Love Lucy" theme song with less-well known Lyrics on YouTube
  31. ↑ "There's A Brand New Baby (At Our House)/I Love Lucy 78 RPM". Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  32. ↑ A film clip I Love Lucy: Breaking the Lease OTR is available for free download at the Internet Archive
  33. ↑ I Love Lucy Slots (2002)
  34. ↑ Lucy's Grape Stomping Video Slots(2004)
  35. ↑ "I Love Lucy". Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  36. ↑ Steven Thompson. "BOOKSTEVE'S LIBRARY: I Love Lucy Comics". Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  37. ↑ Bob Oksner, R.I.P.
  38. ↑ Lucy Calls the President at the Internet Movie Database
  39. ↑ Fryling, Kevin (May 27, 2007). "UB faculty member loves Lucy". UB Reporter (buffalo.edu). Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  40. ↑ VanDerWerff, Todd (April 9, 2012). "Why does I Love Lucy endure after all these years?". Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  41. ↑ "Television Hall of Fame Honorees: Complete List".
  42. ↑ "Special Collector's Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time". TV Guide (June 28 – July 4). 1997.
  43. ↑ Connolly, Kelly (February 19, 1999). "The Top 100 Moments in Television". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 27, 2007.
  44. ↑ "TV Guide Names Top 50 Shows". CBS News. April 26, 2002. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
  45. ↑ "Ask Matt". TV Guide. April 22, 2005. Retrieved January 20, 2008.
  46. ↑ Poniewozik, James (September 6, 2007). "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME". Time (Time.com). Retrieved March 4, 2010.
  47. ↑ ABC News. "'I Love Lucy' Voted the Best TV Show of All Time". ABC News. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  48. ↑ ABC News. "'I Love Lucy' Voted the Best TV Show of All Time". ABC News. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  49. ↑ Fretts, Bruce; Roush, Matt. "The Greatest Shows on Earth". TV Guide Magazine 61 (3194-3195): 16–19.
  50. ↑ "CBS Sets Record Straight on its 'I Love Lucy' Christmas Special". October 22, 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  51. ↑ "Fans Not Quite in Love with Colorized 'I Love Lucy' Christmas Special". October 23, 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  52. ↑ "The 'I Love Lucy' Christmas Special Featuring Two Classic Episodes to Air Sunday, December 7 on CBS". November 11, 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  53. ↑ "CBS DVD Announces a Release of 'The I Love Lucy Christmas Special". August 5, 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  54. ↑ "CBS Press Release: The I Love Lucy Christmas Special: Colorized For Kids Of All Ages". December 1, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  55. ↑ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/04/16/new-i-love-lucy-superstar-special-with-2-colorized-classic-episodes-to-air-sunday-may-17-on-cbs/390232/
  56. ↑ "Ratings: I Love Lucy Easily Draws Biggest Audience on Quiet Wednesday". TVLine.
  57. ↑ "I Love Lucy Goes HD". Below the Line. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  58. ↑ "I Love Lucy: Ultimate Season 1 Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  59. ↑ http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Love-Lucy-Season-2/21194
  60. ↑ ISBN 978-1415711552 OCLC 84674312 and 59170060
  61. ↑ ISBN 978-1415729564 OCLC 226035428
  62. ↑ ISBN 0793934249 ISBN 978-0793934249 ISBN 0793934257 ISBN 978-0793934256 OCLC 222813918
  63. ↑ David Lambert (February 2, 2010). "I Love Lucy – Pricing and Early Cover Art for The Movie and Other Great Rarities". tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
  64. ↑ "The Best of ''I Love Lucy'' (Target Exclusive) : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". Dvdtalk.com. Retrieved November 22, 2012.
  65. ↑ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/DVD/i-love-lucy-complete-collection/dp/6172887

References

  • Garner, Joe (2002). Stay Tuned: Television's Unforgettable Moments (Andrews McMeel Publishing) ISBN 0-7407-2693-5
  • Andrews, Bart (1976). The 'I Love Lucy' Book (Doubleday & Company, Inc.)
  • Sanders, Coyne Steven; Gilbert, Tom (1993). Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (William Morrow & Company, Inc.)
  • McClay, Michael (1995). I Love Lucy: The Complete Picture History of the Most Popular TV Show Ever (Kensington Publishing Corp.)
  • Oppenheimer, Jess; with Oppenheimer, Gregg (1996). Laughs, Luck...and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time (Syracuse Univ. Press) ISBN 978-0-8156-0584-3
  • Karol, Michael; (2008). Lucy A to Z: The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia (iUniverse) ISBN 978-0-5952-9761-0

Edelman; Rob; Kupferberg, Audrey (1999). Meet the Mertzes (Renaissance Books)

External links

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