Tuesday, 24 June 2014

I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I Love Lucy
ILoveLucyTitleScreen.jpg
FormatSitcom
Written byJess Oppenheimer
Madelyn Davis
Bob Carroll, Jr.
Bob Schiller
Bob Weiskopf
StarringLucille Ball
Desi Arnaz
Vivian Vance
William Frawley
Keith Thibodeaux
Theme music composerEliot Daniel
Harold Adamson
Composer(s)Eliot Daniel
Wilbur Hatch
Marco Rizo
Country of originUnited States
Originallanguage(s)English
No. of seasons6
No. of episodes181 (including the "lost" Christmas episode and original pilot) (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)Jess Oppenheimer
Desi Arnaz
Location(s)Desilu Studios
Los Angeles, California
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time24–26 minutes unedited, including opening and closing credits
Productioncompany(s)Desilu Productions
DistributorCBS Television Distribution
Broadcast
Original channelCBS
Picture format480i (SDTV)
Black-and-white
Audio formatMonaural
Original runOctober 15, 1951 – April 1, 1960
Chronology
Followed byThe Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour
I Love Lucy is a landmark 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.
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 theNielsen ratings (an accomplishment later matched by The Andy Griffith Show and Seinfeld). The show is still syndicated in dozens of languages across the world. 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.[1]
The show 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 George Foster Peabody Award for "recognition of distinguished achievement in television."[2] In 2002, it ranked second on TV Guide's list of television's greatest shows, behind Seinfeldand ahead of The Honeymooners.[3] In 2007, it was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME."[4] I Love Lucyremains popular, with an American audience of 40 million each year.[5]

Premise[edit]

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.[6]
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 stereotypical female traits that were standard for comedy at the time, including being secretive about her age and true hair color, and being careless with money. 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 and 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 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 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[edit]


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 regularly in bit parts.[citation needed]
Many of the characters' names were after family members or close friends of Lucille Ball's; for example, Marion Strong was one of her best friends and roommate for a time in New York, and also set Lucy and Ricky 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[edit]

Background and development[edit]

Lucille Ball had come to Hollywood in 1933, when, 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 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, 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 called her.[7] 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. Being difficult to cast, MGM chose not to renew her contract when it expired in 1946.
Ball began working as a free-lancer in films and 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 situational 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, 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 comedienne. 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[edit]

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.

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 or16 mm film camera to record the show off a closed-circuit television monitor. As videotape had not yet been developed, (and would not be until the mid-fifties), kinescopes were the only practical, and affordable, 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. 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 doing. 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 pair offered to take a one-thousand-dollar 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.). Putting 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. Named after their ranch inChatsworth, California, the company was named Desilu.
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 laws 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. Lucy and Desi enlisted the services of Karl Freund, an Academy Award-winning 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. Although at first Freund did not want anything to do with television, it was the personal plea of both Lucy and Desi that convinced Freund 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.[8]
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 show's 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, though single-camera remained the technique of choice for sitcoms that did not use audiences. The process resulted in a much sharper quality of show in contrast to blurry kinescopes. 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. It also became the first television program to introduce English and Spanish.
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, and renamed 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 six million dollars, effectively owning the studio where they had started as contract players. Desilu acquired RKO's two studios located on Gower Street in Hollywood, and in Culver City, 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 RKO-Desilu Studio on Gower Street is now owned by Paramount while the Culver City studio has become the independently owned Culver Studios. The "Forty Acres" backlot was sold off by Gulf+Western in 1976 and redeveloped in the 1980s into an industrial tract.[9]

The Mertzes[edit]

As with My Favorite Husband, Lucy writers decided that the Ricardos needed an older couple to play off of. While doing 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 Burns and Allen, 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 scribe 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 1949 movie Miss Grant Takes Richmond, to play Frederick Hobart Edie Mertz, III. However, Gleason wanted nearly $3,500 per episode to play the role, a price that was far too steep. Sixty-four-year-old Bill 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 balked at the idea of Frawley, fearing that his excessive drinking—which was well known in Hollywood—would interfere with his doing 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 Lucy'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 that 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 to say the least. 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."[10] 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.[9]

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 of, and despite being her biggest success, she was becoming interested in doing more glamorous roles instead of playing 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 had been 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.
Years later, when Vance was on The Lucy Show and Frawley was on My Three Sons, Frawley would often bribe the eponymous sons to play practical jokes on Vance when she was rehearsing, as the two shows filmed on neighboring soundstages.

Pregnancy and Little Ricky[edit]

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.[11]
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.

Supermanepisode
CBS would not allow I Love Lucy to use the word "pregnant", so "expecting" was used instead.[12] 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. 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.[6] "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 Dwight Eisenhower's 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. (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!"[13]

Episodes[edit]

Main article: List of I Love Lucy episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedDVD release date
Season premiereSeason finaleRegion 1
135October 15, 1951June 9, 1952September 23, 2003[14]
231September 15, 1952June 29, 1953August 31, 2004[15]
331October 5, 1953May 24, 1954February 1, 2005[16]
430October 4, 1954May 30, 1955May 3, 2005[17]
526October 3, 1955May 14, 1956August 16, 2005[18]
627October 1, 1956May 6, 1957May 2, 2006[19]
Comedy
Hour 1		5November 6, 1957April 14, 1958March 13, 2007[20]
Comedy
Hour 2		5October 6, 1958June 5, 1959
Comedy
Hour 3		3September 25, 1959April 1, 1960
Most episodes take place in the Ricardos' modest brownstone apartment at (the fictitious address) 623 East 68th Street (40.763087°N 73.952788°W) 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:
  • "The Audition": Parts of it were filmed in color by an audience member on 8mm film.[21][22] See here
  • "Lucy Does a TV Commercial": Lucy is hired to act as the "Vitameatavegamin girl" in a television commercial, to promote a patent medicine that contains healthy amounts ofvitamins, meat, vegetables, minerals – and a less-than-healthy dose of 23% alcohol (46 proof; see, for instance, the similarly formulated and contemporary remedy Hadacol). Lucy becomes progressively drunker throughout rehearsal, but gamely keeps on pitching the product, eventually leading to a completely flubbed live performance for "this stuff." In October 2005, fans voted this episode as their favorite, during a 60th anniversary I Love Lucy television special. TV Guide and Nick at Nite ranked it the secondgreatest television episode of all time, after the Mary Tyler Moore Show episode "Chuckles Bites the Dust". (original air date May 5, 1952)
  • "Job Switching" (Season 2, episode 39):[23] 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. In the 2013 Paley Center for Media television special TV's Funniest of the Funniest, the candy factory scene was ranked first among the 30 funniest moments in TV history,[24]with only one moment eligible per TV series. The skit, a variation of an old vaudeville routine, has been parodied numerous times. (original air date Sep 15, 1952)
  • "Lucy and Superman": Lucy tries to get George Reeves, star of the 1950s Adventures of Superman television 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. As Superman brings Lucy back to the window of her apartment, Ricky is furious, and at one point yells, "...In all of the fifteen years we've been married..." Then Superman says, "You mean to tell me that you've been married to her for fifteen years?" Ricky answers, "Yeah, fifteen years." Superman replies, "And they call me superman!" Reeves stays in the character of Superman throughout the episode. (original air date Jan 14, 1957)
  • "L.A. At Last!": Lucy, Fred, and Ethel have lunch at The Brown Derby, a restaurant frequented by Hollywood film stars. A nervous 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. This episode was reportedly Lucille Ball's favorite episode. (original air date Feb 7, 1955)
  • "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.[25] (original air date May 9, 1955)
  • "Lucy's Italian Movie": In this episode, Lucy spontaneously decides to visit a local Italian winery. She is completely taken aback when she arrives at the winery, is mistaken for one of the workers—a wine stomper—and ends up in a gigantic grape vat where she has the fight of her life. She literally "gets some local color!" (original air date April 16, 1956)
  • "Lucy Does the Tango": The Ricardos' and the Mertzes' chicken business is not 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. Unbeknown to Ricky, Lucy's blouse is filled with chicken eggs. The climax of this scene provoked the longest laugh from a studio audience in the history of the show.[26] (original air date Mar 11, 1957)
  • "The Black Wig": Lucy thinks Ricky is not paying enough attention to her and might be tempted to see other women. Lucy's hairdresser, Eve McVeagh, fixes her up in an Italian style black wig. Lucy uses this opportunity to pretend to be someone else that can tempt Ricky. Ricky recognizes her in this poor attempt at a disguise but acts as if he believes she really is another woman and asks her on a date. The joke is on Lucy, and her plan does not work out the way she wants. (original air date April 19, 1954)

Broadcast history[edit]

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 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.[27] This special attracted 8.7 million people.[28]

Nielsen ratings[edit]

I Love Lucy ranked highly in the Nielsen ratings throughout its entire run.[citation needed]
SeasonRankRating
1) 1951–1952350.9[citation needed]
2) 1952–1953167.3[citation needed]
3) 1953–195458.8[citation needed]
4) 1954–195549.3[citation needed]
5) 1955–1956246.1[citation needed]
6) 1956–1957143.7[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] 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).[citation needed] I Love Lucy continues, however, to have the highest average rating for a TV show for any season.[citation needed]

Opening[edit]

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, wereProcter & 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.

Theme song[edit]

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 thenHow 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[edit]

Radio[edit]

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[edit]

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.
  • I Love Lucy doll
    •  
  • I Love Lucy bedroom set
    •  
  • I Love Lucy pajamas

Comic book and comic strip[edit]

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).[33] 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.[34][35] Eternity Comics in the early 1990s issued comic books that reprinted the strip and Dell comic book series.

After Lucy and legacy[edit]

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 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 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 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,[36] which co-starred Gale Gordon.
"Weird Al" Yankovic's debut album features a song called "Ricky" (a parody of Toni Basil's "Mickey"), detailing the plot of I Love Lucy.
In 1986, Ball tried another sitcom, Life with Lucy. The series aired on ABC for eight episodes before being canceled owing to low ratings. However, the show debuted to very high ratings, landing in Nielsen's Top 20 for that week.
In the 1986 film "Crocodile" Dundee, after their move from Australia to New York City, where they move to an apartment, Mick (Paul Hogan) finds out from Sue (Linda Kozlowski) that there is a television for his interest. He turns the TV on and sees the (syndicated) opening sequence, and then turns it off. During production of the film, the opening and theme were out of sync from the screen and the speaker.
Rat Race features the bus full of Lucy-like fans.
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.
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 continuously in the Los Angeles area, almost 50 years after production ended. However, the series is currently aired on KTTV on weekends and now KCOP on weekdays because both stations are aduopoly, of which KTTV had given up the CBS affiliation several months before I Love Lucy premiered.[citation needed] 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 of all-time on December 31, 2008 on 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, 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 Reba McEntire special aired in 1994 parodies I Love Lucy in which Reba herself parodied Lucy.
A 1995 Pepsi commercial featuring Shaquille O'Neal parodied the "Job Switching" episode, in which Shaq makes a cameo in place of the woman shouting "Speed it up a little!".
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).[37]
The 7th Heaven season 7 episode "I Love Lucy" was named after the TV show.
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 drastically "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.
An episode of That '70s Show has a segment with Donna and Fez as Lucy and Ricky, and Red and Kitty as Fred and Ethel.

Primetime Emmy Awards and nominations[edit]

1952
1953
  • Best Situation Comedy—Won
  • Best Comedienne: Lucille Ball—Won
1954
1955
1956
1957
  • Best Continuing Performance by a Comedienne in a Series: Lucille Ball—Nominated (Winner: Nanette Fabray for Caesar's Hour)
  • Best Supporting Performance by an Actor: William Frawley—Nominated (Winner: Carl Reiner for Caesar's Hour)
  • Best Supporting Performance by an Actress: Vivian Vance—Nominated (Winner: Pat Carroll for Caesar's Hour)
1958
  • 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: Lucille Ball—Nominated (Winner: Dinah Shore for The Dinah Shore Show)
  • Best Continuing Supporting Performance by an Actor in a Dramatic or Comedy Series: William Frawley—Nominated (Winner: Carl Reiner for Caesar's Hour)
  • Best Continuing Supporting Performance by an Actress in a Dramatic or Comedy Series: Vivian Vance—Nominated (Winner: Ann B. Davis for The Bob Cummings Show)

Honors[edit]

  • In 1990, I Love Lucy became the first television show to be inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.[38]
  • In 1997, the episodes "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" and "Lucy's Italian Movie" were respectively ranked No. 2 and No. 18 on TV Guide's list of the 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.[39]
  • In 1999, Entertainment Weekly ranked the birth of Little Ricky as the fifth greatest moment in television history.[40]
  • In 2002, TV Guide ranked I Love Lucy No. 2 on its list of the 50 greatest shows, behind Seinfeld and ahead of The Honeymooners[3] (According to TV Guide columnist Matt Roush, 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.[41])
  • In 2007, Time magazine placed the show on its unranked list of the 100 best television shows.[4]
  • In 2012, I Love Lucy was ranked the Best TV Comedy and the Best TV Show in Best in TV: The Greatest TV Shows of Our Time.[42][43]
  • In 2013, TV Guide ranked I Love Lucy as the third greatest show of all time.[44]

DVD and Blu-ray releases[edit]

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. [45]
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.[46]
ReleaseEp #DVD release dateBlu-ray release date
The Complete 1st Season35September 23, 2003
(re-released June 7, 2005)
(re-released October 9, 2012)		May 6, 2014
The Complete 2nd Season31August 31, 2004
(re-released October 9, 2012)
The Complete 3rd Season31February 1, 2005
(re-released October 9, 2012)
The Complete 4th Season[47]30May 3, 2005
(re-released October 9, 2012)
The Complete 5th Season26August 16, 2005
(re-released November 6, 2012)
The Complete 6th Season27May 2, 2006
(re-released November 6, 2012)
The Final Seasons 7, 8 & 913March 13, 2007
(re-released November 6, 2012)
The Complete Series[48]194October 23, 2007

Other releases[edit]

  • I Love Lucy's Zany Road Trip: California Here We Come!, a compilation of 27 episodes, released by CBS/FOX Video on VHS in 1992[49]
  • "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)
  • "I Love Lucy: The Movie and Other Great Rarities" (1 disc, released April 27, 2010) [50] (Also included as a bonus disc in the complete series set.)
  • "The Best of I Love Lucy" (2 discs: 14 episodes, released in June 2011 in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the series and Lucille Ball's 100th birthday; sold exclusively through Target.)[51]
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 for lack of shelf space and because the slimpacks are more popular.
Episodes feature English closed-captioning, but only Spanish subtitles.
In Australia, The first three season 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 and it states that some episodes may be edited from their original network versions.


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