I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy
The I Love Lucy logo
Created by	Desi Arnaz
Starring	Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Vivian Vance William Frawley Richard Keith
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	181 (including the "lost" Christmas episode and original pilot) 13 Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours
Production
Running time	30 minutes per episode
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	October 15, 1951 – May 6, 1957

I Love Lucy is a television situation comedy, starring Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, also featuring Vivian Vance and William Frawley. The series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on CBS (181 episodes, including the "lost" Christmas episode and original pilot). Then, the show introduced three more seasons, running from 1957 to 1960, known as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. It won four Emmy Awards and received numerous nominations. In 2002, I Love Lucy was ranked #2 on TV Guide's top 50 greatest shows of all time, behind Seinfeld and ahead of The Honeymooners. In 2007, it was placed on Time Magazine's (unranked) list of "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME".

It was the most-watched show in the United States in four of its six seasons, and was the first to end its run at the top of the ratings (to be matched only by The Andy Griffith Show and Seinfeld). Episodes of I Love Lucy are still syndicated in dozens of languages across the world.

Premise

File:Lucy ricky.jpg

"Oh, Ricky, you're wonderful!"

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

Lucy is somewhat naïve and ambitious, with an overactive imagination and a knack for getting herself into trouble. In particular, she is obsessed with joining her husband in show business. That Fred and Ethel are former vaudevillians only strengthens her resolve to prove herself as a performer. Unfortunately, she cannot carry a tune or play anything other than an off-key rendition of "Glow Worm" (or "Sweet Sue") on the saxophone and has little other discernible ability. The show provided Ball ample opportunity to display her considerable skill at clowning and physical comedy, with Lucy's determination to get into the act in any way possible resulting in numerous wacky situations. Character development was not a major focus of early sitcoms, so not much was ever learned about her life prior to the show. A few episodes made mention that she was born in Jamestown, New York, (later explained to actually be West Jamestown), and that she met Ricky on a blind date. Besides occasional appearances by her mother (Kathryn Card), who annoyed Ricky to no end by constantly mispronouncing his name as "Mickey" and mistaking him for fellow bandleader Xavier Cugat, hardly any mention was ever made of any other family (Though she said in one episode that her grandmother was Swedish).

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

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

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

Although they may disagree at times, and despite their age differences, the four main characters are very close and loving.

The building they all lived in before their move to Connecticut was addressed at 623 E. 68th St. (An address which, if it actually existed, would put them in the middle of the East River.)

Cast

Regular cast

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

Supporting cast

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

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

Many character actors were featured numerous times on the show. Actress Barbara Pepper (later featured as Doris Ziffel on the series Green Acres), frequently had one or two lines in a crowd scene. Her friendship with Ball dated back to the film Roman Scandals, in which both appeared as Goldwyn Girls.

Casting

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

Barbara Pepper was originally chosen to play Ethel, but Ms. Pepper had been drinking very heavily after the death of her husband, Craig W. Reynolds. She turned up regularly in bit parts.

Production

I Love Lucy was heavily based on a CBS radio show Lucille Ball had starred in from 1948 to 1951, My Favorite Husband, and many of the show's scripts were rewritten for television using the same writers (Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr.). On radio, Richard Denning starred opposite Ball.

At the time, most television shows were broadcast live from New York City, and a low-quality 35mm or 16mm kinescope print was made of the show to broadcast it in other time zones. But Ball was pregnant at the time, and she and Arnaz therefore insisted on filming the show in Hollywood. The duo, along with co-creator Jess Oppenheimer, then decided to shoot the show on 35 mm film in front of a studio audience, with three cameras, a technique now standard for most present-day sitcoms. The result was a much sharper image than other shows of the time, and the audience reactions were far more authentic than the "canned laughter" used on most filmed sitcoms of the time. The technique was not completely new — another CBS comedy series, Amos 'n' Andy, which debuted four months earlier, was already being filmed at Hal Roach Studios with three 35mm cameras to save time and money. But I Love Lucy was the first show to use this technique with a studio audience.

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

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

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

Many real-life facts about Arnaz and Ball made it into the series. Like Ball, Lucy Ricardo was born on August 6 in Jamestown, New York, and attended high school in Celoron, New York. Also, the Ricardos were married at the Byram River Beagle Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, just as the Arnazes had been.

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

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

Pregnancies

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

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

In this era, saying the words "pregnant" or "pregnancy" on the air was prohibited, so they always described Lucy as "expecting" (or "'spectin'" in Ricky's case). When Lucy finds out she is pregnant, she announces to Ethel: "I am going to have a baby!" The episode "Lucy Is Enceinte" aired on December 8, 1952 ("enceinte" being French for "expecting" or "pregnant"). The episode "Lucy Goes To The Hospital" first aired on January 19, 1953, the same day Lucille Ball gave birth to Desi, Jr., and was watched by more people than any other TV program at that time. Sixty-eight percent of all American television sets were tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy when the time arrived for her to give birth.

Episodes

Main article: List of I Love Lucy episodes

Most episodes take place in the Ricardos' modest brownstone apartment at 623 East 68th Street—which in reality would be in the middle of the East River—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 Florida for the two couples, with a side trip to Ricky's homeland of Cuba. Eventually, the quartet move to a house in the town of Westport, Connecticut.

Some especially memorable episodes:

• "Lucy Does a TV Commercial". Lucy is hired to act as the "Vitameatavegamin girl" in a TV commercial, to promote a health tonic that contains healthy amounts of vitamins, meat, vegetables, minerals — and a less-than-healthy dose of 23% alcohol. After four rehearsals of saying "And it's so tasty too, just like candy!" and then drinking the foul-tasting tonic while trying unsuccessfully not to grimace, Lucy becomes progressively more drunk, but gamely keeps on pitching the product. Eventually, the alliterative, tongue-twisting product name and pitch become too hard for her to keep straight. "Do you pop out at parties? Are you unpoopular? Well, the answer to all your troubles is in this bittle lottle!" The three variations of "Vitameatavegamin" were "Mitameatamigimin," "Mitavatameatymat," and "Vitaveatyvigyvat". In November of 2001, fans voted this episode as their all-time favorite, during a 50th anniversary I Love Lucy television special.

• "Job Switching". Lucy and Ethel get jobs packaging candy that is delivered on a conveyor belt. The work seems easy enough when they are shown what to do by their supervisor, but then the pace picks up and the women soon fall further and further behind. In desperation, they resort to comical means to try to keep up. The classic candy-gobbling scene in this episode was a variation on an old vaudeville routine and has become an American cultural icon. This skit has been parodied numerous times. On Saturday Night Live, Dan Aykroyd played the foreman, while Gilda Radner had to deal with atomic bombs rather than candy. On Bewitched, Uncle Arthur and Serena are stripped of their magical powers and reduced to working in an ice cream shop, dipping chocolate covered bananas. Finally, more recently on the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh, Drake and Josh get jobs packing sushi to earn money to buy their parents new furniture.

• "Lucy and Harpo Marx". While living in Hollywood, New York friend Carolyn Appleby, who is under the impression that Lucy and Ethel have been rubbing elbows with all the celebrities, visits the Ricardos and Mertzes on her way to Hawaii. Lucy and Ethel manage to get Carolyn's glasses off and Lucy enters and exits the room many times dressed as different celebrities. Meanwhile, Ricky and Fred ask Harpo Marx to go up to the Ricardo's apartment and pay a visit to Carolyn. After Harpo has come into the Ricardo's place, Lucy, disguised as him, encounters the real Harpo and 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 bit was a tribute to Harpo and Groucho's famous mirror scene in the Marx Brothers comedy classic, Duck Soup.

• "Lucy and Superman". Among the many guest stars was George Reeves, star of the 1950s Adventures of Superman TV series. His real name is never mentioned on the show; instead, he is always referred to as Superman. Lucy tries to get him to appear at little Ricky's birthday party and fails, so she dresses up as Superman herself, only to have Reeves turn up in costume at the last minute. After many Lucy-caused misadventures, Reeves is informed by Ricky that he has been married to Lucy for 15 years, to which Reeves replies, "And they call ME Superman!"

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

• "Lucy Does the Tango". The Ricardos and the Mertzes move to Connecticut, but their chicken business does not do very well. Lucy and Ethel come up with a scheme to fool the boys into thinking the hens are laying lots of eggs by smuggling some, hidden underneath their clothes, into the henhouse. On one such trip, Ricky insists that he and Lucy rehearse their tango number for a local benefit. Unbeknownst to Ricky, Lucy's blouse is filled with chicken eggs. In the final dance step, the eggs break, saturating Lucy's shirt. She tries to act nonchalant. The skit resulted in the longest audience laughter in the show's history, 65 seconds.

Feature films

Arnaz and Ball capitalized on the series' popularity by starring in Vincente Minnelli's 1953 film The Long, Long Trailer as Tacy and Nicky Collini, two characters very similar to Lucy and Ricky.

Desilu produced a feature film version of the show. The film consisted of three first-season episodes edited together: "The Benefit", "Breaking the Lease" and "The Ballet". New scenes featuring the cast were filmed and put between the episodes to tie them into one cohesive story. A successful test screening was held in Bakersfield, California; however, MGM demanded the I Love Lucy movie be shelved because they felt it would diminish interest in the The Long, Long Trailer. Although I Love Lucy was never theatrically released and ultimately forgotten, in 2001, it was found and clips of it were featured in the I Love Lucy's 50th Anniversary Special. A screening was held in 2002 at a Lucy fan convention.

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

After Lucy

After the conclusion of the sixth season of I Love Lucy, Lucy and Desi decided to cut down on the number of episodes that were filmed. So, instead of the usual 30 minutes, they extended I Love Lucy to 60 minutes, with a guest star each episode. This did not run every week, it ran five times the first and second seasons and three in the final season. The main cast, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley were all in the show, which was renamed The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show and later changed for syndication to The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. Thirteen hour-long episodes aired from 1957 to 1960. Ball and Arnaz's eventual off-screen personal problems had a detrimental effect, contributing to the show's end. This affected the series' final episodes; Ball can be seen looking as if she had just been crying, even in supposedly funny scenes. On March 2, 1960, the day after the last episode was filmed, Lucille Ball filed for divorce from Desi Arnaz. The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour is available on DVD, released as I Love Lucy: The Final Seasons 7, 8, & 9.

When the series ended, Vance and Frawley were said to have been offered a chance to take their characters to their own spin-off series. Frawley was willing, but Vance refused to ever work with Frawley again since the two did not get along. Frawley did appear once more with Lucille Ball--in an episode of The Lucy Show that was filmed after Vance had retired from that series (Vance co-starred on The Lucy Show during the first three seasons, 1962-1965, and Frawley made his single guest appearance during the fourth season). In that episode, he appeared in a brief cameo as a stable attendant who encounters Lucy. As soon as Frawley's character exits the scene, Lucy turns to her friend (played by Ann Sothern) and comments, "You know, he reminds me of someone I used to know." to audience laughter. This 1965 cameo turned out to be his final television appearance; he died about four months after it aired.

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

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

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

The "I Love Lucy" lyrics

This was sung by Ricky in one episode ("Lucy's Last Birthday"), to the "I Love Lucy" theme music. This song can also be heard on the introduction on the VHS and DVD releases:

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 Mrs. and I'm her man

And life is Heaven, you see

'cause I love Lucy,

Yes, I love Lucy

and Lucy loves me

Emmy Awards

Wins

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

Nominations

I Love Lucy

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

Lucille Ball

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

Vivian Vance

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

William Frawley

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

DVD Releases

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

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

Other Releases

• "I Love Lucy - Season 1" (9 separate discs labeled "Volumes", first volume released July 2, 2002, final volume released September 23, 2003)
• "I Love Lucy - Season 1" (9 Volumes in box set, released September 23, 2003)
• "I Love Lucy - 50th Anniversary Special" (1 disc, released October 1, 2002)
• "I Love Lucy - The Complete Series 1-9 Plus The I Love Lucy Movie" (35 discs, will be released on October 23, 2007)

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

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

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

References

• Joe Garner, Stay Tuned: Television's Unforgettable Moments (Andrews McMeel Publishing; 2002) ISBN 0-7407-2693-5
• Bart Andrews, The 'I Love Lucy' Book (Doubleday & Company, Inc.; 1976)
• Coyne Steven Sanders & Tom Gilbert, Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (William Morrow & Company, Inc.; 1993)
• In the ninth episode of Seinfeld, (The Phone Message), Jerry mentions never having seen a single episode of I love Lucy.

External links

• Sitcoms Online "I Love Lucy" Message Board
• Long Live Lucy Blog
• East 68th Street - Everything "I Love Lucy"
• I Love Lucy at IMDb
• I Love Lucy's 50th Anniversary Special at IMDb
• The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour at IMDb
• Everything Lucy
• Encyclopedia of Television
• Archive of American Television Video Interview with I Love Lucy writers Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Carroll, Jr.
• I Love Lucy on TVLand.com
• I Love Lucy retrospective on TVWeek.com