List of I Love Lucy episodes
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 the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). All 180 episodes aired on Mondays.
The pilot, which was not made for broadcast and did not air as part of the show's original run, is generally not counted as one of the episodes and therefore is not listed below. It is, however, included on DVD and Blu-ray releases of the first season.
Series overview
| 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 | |
Episodes
Season 1 (1951–52)
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Film date | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 15, 1951 | October 15, 1951 |
| The Ricardos and the Mertzes agree to celebrate the Mertzes' wedding anniversary together. The girls decide on The Copacabana. The men opt for the prize fights. An old friend helps the girls play a trick on their husbands, but the men see through the ruse and turn the tables. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Be a Pal" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 21, 1951 | October 22, 1951 |
| Lucy thinks Ricky is losing interest in her. Ethel finds a book full of advice on how to rekindle the flame, and insists that Lucy take up Ricky's hobbies. Her attachment quickly becomes very annoying after failed attempts at seducing Ricky and joining his card game. Determined to remind Ricky of his childhood in Cuba, Lucy puts on a performance as Carmen Miranda. | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "The Diet" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 28, 1951 | October 29, 1951 |
| Ricky provides an incentive for Lucy's diet by telling her she can appear in his show if she can fit into a size 12. Can Lucy resist the temptations of eating? | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 8, 1951 | November 5, 1951 |
| Lucy can't put down a murder mystery novel she is reading, which features a man who kills his wife to remarry. When Ethel tells Lucy's fortune with a deck of cards and predicts death in the future, Lucy fears that Ricky is planning to murder her--especially after she overhears Ricky talking about "replacing" a girl (actually one of the dancers in his show). | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "The Quiz Show" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 5, 1951 | November 12, 1951 |
| Desperate to win a $1000 jackpot to balance her household accounts, Lucy agrees to a quiz show stunt in which she has to introduce a stranger to Ricky as her "long lost husband." Frank Nelson makes the first of several appearances as game show emcee "Freddie Fillmore". | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "The Audition" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 12, 1951 | November 19, 1951 |
| Ricky tries to keep Lucy away from the club while he does a TV audition, but when a clown has an accident and can't make it, Lucy shows up in his place. (This is a remake of an original unaired pilot that was considered "lost" until 1990.) | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "The Séance" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 19, 1951 | November 26, 1951 |
| Lucy is on a superstitious kick, studying numerology and astrology. This hobby almost destroys Ricky's career, as Lucy tells an important talent agent, Mr. Merriweather, that Ricky cannot appear in a show because of his horoscope. That problem is resolved when Mr. Merriweather reveals that he is also interested in the occult. To please him, Lucy arranges a to show up at a séance that evening featuring "Madame Rhea" (Ethel). But when both Lucy and Ricky decide to imitate a spirit, things quickly get confusing. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Men Are Messy" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 25, 1951 | December 3, 1951 |
| Tired of Ricky's messy habits, Lucy divides the apartment in half—-he can be a slob in his half, but not hers. Lucy gets the door and kitchen, while Ricky gets the bathroom and bedrooms. Unfortunately, Ricky--and his apartment--are going to appear in a magazine spread, and the photographer comes to the apartment! | ||||||
| 9 | 9 | "The Fur Coat" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 9, 1951 | December 10, 1951 |
| Ricky borrows a mink coat for an act at the club, but Lucy thinks it's for her, and won't take it off. He arranges for Fred to pose as a burglar and "steal", it, but when a real thief comes in, Lucy manages to hang on to it! | ||||||
| 10 | 10 | "Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 16, 1951 | December 17, 1951 |
| Lucy, upset by a gossip column item that links Ricky's name with a girl at the club, dons a disguise and heads for the Tropicana. | ||||||
| 11 | 11 | "Drafted" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 2, 1951 | December 24, 1951 |
| Lucy intercepts a letter for Ricky that asks him to appear at a local Army station. She becomes convinced that he has been drafted (although the station just wants Ricky to "appear" in a nightclub act). When Ricky asks Fred to join him, Ethel thinks the same, and they begin knitting their husbands going away presents. Ricky and Fred, however, think the girls are pregnant and decide to organize a baby shower. | ||||||
| 12 | 12 | "The Adagio" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 23, 1951 | December 31, 1951 |
| Lucy hears that Ricky needs a dancer for the Parisian Apache dance number at the club, and thinks she can fill the bill. But her Parisian dance teacher has more than dancing in mind. | ||||||
| 13 | 13 | "The Benefit" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 30, 1951 | January 7, 1952 |
|
Ethel wants Ricky for the club's benefit show, but Lucy thinks a husband and wife team would be more appropriate. Note: This episode was edited together with the episodes "Breaking the Lease" and "The Ballet", along with twenty minutes of new footage to create the unreleased I Love Lucy movie in 1953. | ||||||
| 14 | 14 | "The Amateur Hour" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | December 7, 1951 | January 14, 1952 |
| Lucy makes an unexpected leap into show business when she takes care of a young boy who is to appear in an amateur hour. His desperate mother drops off his twin brother without telling Lucy, leaving her to take care of both rambunctiously rude children. | ||||||
| 15 | 15 | "Lucy Plays Cupid" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | December 13, 1951 | January 21, 1952 |
|
Lucy's neighbor, Miss Lewis, has her eye on Mr. Ritter, the grocer. Lucy tries her hand at playing Cupid, but Mr. Ritter thinks that her dropped hints mean that she is attracted to him! Lucy must make herself a little less desirable to scare Mr. Ritter off. Guest Stars: Bea Benaderet as Miss Lewis and Edward Everett Horton as Mr. Ritter. Benaderet was one of the original choices to play Ethel Mertz but was unavailable. | ||||||
| 16 | 16 | "Lucy Fakes Illness" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | December 18, 1951 | January 28, 1952 |
| Lucy fears that if Ricky keeps refusing to hire her as part of his night club act, she may just have a nervous breakdown. She suffers from the "three stages" of one--amnesia, delusions of being Tallulah Bankhead and regression to childish behavior. Ricky learns of the trick and quickly turns the tables by inviting a "doctor" to the house to examine Lucy! Hal March appears as "himself". | ||||||
| 17 | 17 | "Lucy Writes a Play" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | December 22, 1951 | February 4, 1952 |
| Playwright Lucy pens a drama with a Cuban locale. She figures Ricky for the star. The hitch: he refuses the part. So she changes her play from Cuba to England and has Fred take Ricky's spot. However, Ricky has decided to surprise Lucy and appear in the play...only problem is he has the wrong script. | ||||||
| 18 | 18 | "Breaking the Lease" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | January 5, 1952 | February 11, 1952 |
|
Everyone is having fun at a mirth-filled "at home" evening with the Ricardos and Mertzes. But when the Ricardos continue singing after Fred and Ethel go back downstairs to their apartment, the Mertzes, as landlords, decide that the Ricardos' merrymaking has gone too far. This leads to a battle between the couples: the Ricardos try to break their lease, while the Mertzes resist. Notes: I Love Lucy was briefly a radio program, also, and this episode, retitled "The Lease Breakers," was broadcast on February 27, 1952. Also, this episode was edited together with the episodes "The Benefit" and "The Ballet" to create the unreleased I Love Lucy movie. | ||||||
| 19 | 19 | "The Ballet" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | January 11, 1952 | February 18, 1952 |
|
Lucy performs an unexpected stint as a ballerina, then has a lesson in burlesque from a professional comic. Included is the classic routine "Slowly I Turned". Mary Wickes appears as the ballet teacher. Notes: This episode was edited together with the episodes "The Benefit" and "Breaking the Lease" to create the unreleased I Love Lucy movie. | ||||||
| 20 | 20 | "The Young Fans" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | January 18, 1952 | February 25, 1952 |
| A teenager (Janet Waldo) has a crush on Ricky. Lucy tries pairing her up with another teenager (Richard Crenna) by attempting to teach the boy to dance--but her good intentions backfire when he falls for her! The "old" couple decide to make themselves appear a bit longer in the tooth to fool their admirers. | ||||||
| 21 | 21 | "New Neighbors" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | January 25, 1952 | March 3, 1952 |
| Lucy can't resist snooping in the apartment of the building's newest renters. When she hides herself to avoid discovery, she overhears the couple talking about murdering her and Ricky; stealing their identities; and then blowing up the Capitol. Little does Lucy realize that the new tenants are rehearsing a scene for their job. Lucy sneaks out of the apartment and puts the apartment on lock-down as the Ricardos and Mertzes prepare to defend themselves. Hayden Rorke and K.T. Stevens guest star as the new tenants. | ||||||
| 22 | 22 | "Fred and Ethel Fight" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | January 30, 1952 | March 10, 1952 |
| The Mertzes have a row, and Lucy makes an attempt to patch up their marriage. In the end, it isn't their marriage that's in trouble; it's her own. | ||||||
| 23 | 23 | "The Moustache" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | February 8, 1952 | March 17, 1952 |
| When Ricky grows a moustache, Lucy decides to fight fire with fire—she acquires a white beard. Things go bad when the beard won't come off and a movie agent decides to visit Ricky at the apartment. | ||||||
| 24 | 24 | "The Gossip" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | February 15, 1952 | March 24, 1952 |
| The boys try to prove that women are bigger gossips than men. | ||||||
| 25 | 25 | "Pioneer Women" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | February 22, 1952 | March 31, 1952 |
| The Mertzes and the Ricardos bet they can live the same pioneer existence as their ancestors. This episode contains the classic moment when Lucy's loaf of bread explodes from the oven. | ||||||
| 26 | 26 | "The Marriage License" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | February 28, 1952 | April 7, 1952 |
| After taking another look at her marriage license, Lucy is not sure that she and Ricky are man and wife. | ||||||
| 27 | 27 | "The Kleptomaniac" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 7, 1952 | April 14, 1952 |
| Ricky finds some extra money and silverware in the apartment and jumps to the conclusion that Lucy is a kleptomaniac. Joseph Kearns guest stars. | ||||||
| 28 | 28 | "Cuban Pals" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 14, 1952 | April 21, 1952 |
| A visiting Cuban dance troupe asks Ricky to do a number with "Little Renita Perez"—a little girl he used to dance with in Havana. Lucy's all for it—until she finds out that "Little Renita" isn't so "little" anymore. She takes Renita's place at the club--but Ricky switches numbers, and Lucy is chased by a man in full voodoo garb! | ||||||
| 29 | 29 | "The Freezer" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 21, 1952 | April 28, 1952 |
| Lucy and Ethel have a meat freezer installed in the basement and celebrate by buying two sides of beef, unaware of how much a side is. Now they must try to get rid of the excess before Ricky and Fred find out. They first try by peddling it to customers outside a grocery, but this fails when management shows up. Their next attempt involves hiding the beef in the apartment's furnace--but when Lucy tries to start moving the meat, she learns the hard way how cold the freezer is when she gets locked inside it and is frozen stiff! | ||||||
| 30 | 30 | "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 28, 1952 | May 5, 1952 |
|
Ricky needs a girl to act in a commercial for his television debut. Lucy immediately volunteers, but Ricky denies her. Irrepressible Lucy goes to the set anyway, and ends up in the sponsor's "Vitameatavegamin" health tonic commercial. As the tonic is 23% alcohol, Lucy soon ends up completely drunk. In 1997, TV Guide ranked this episode #2 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.[1] In 2009, it moved to #4.[2] | ||||||
| 31 | 31 | "The Publicity Agent" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 4, 1952 | May 12, 1952 |
| Feeling that Ricky's publicity has fallen off, Lucy dreams up a stunt which involves her posing as the "Maharincess of Franistan." | ||||||
| 32 | 32 | "Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 11, 1952 | May 19, 1952 |
| Lucy is so impressed at Ricky's correct answers to a radio quiz show that she gets him on the show as a contestant. | ||||||
| 33 | 33 | "Lucy's Schedule" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 18, 1952 | May 26, 1952 |
| After being late for dinner with his new boss (Gale Gordon), Ricky is determined to teach Lucy the importance of punctuality, so he puts her on a rigid time schedule. Gordon was one of the early choices to play Fred Mertz but was unavailable. He later starred with Lucille Ball in each of her later series. | ||||||
| 34 | 34 | "Ricky Thinks He's Getting Bald" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 25, 1952 | June 2, 1952 |
| Ricky's receding hairline is giving him much concern, so Lucy decides to give him painful scalp treatments. | ||||||
| 35 | 35 | "Ricky Asks for a Raise" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | May 2, 1952 | June 9, 1952 |
| At Lucy's insistence, Ricky tries to pressure his boss (Gale Gordon's second appearance as "Mr. Littlefield") into giving him a raise...only to get him fired. Determined to make things right, Lucy, with the Mertzes' help, decides to book up every table at the Tropicana to make Ricky appear popular. Fred and Ethel then point out that they need to make it clear that it is Ricky the customers want to see. With the help of Fred's old vaudeville friend and his quick-change cabinet, Lucy, Ethel, and Fred don various disguises and pose as clubgoers who become irate and storm out when they hear Ricky has been let go. | ||||||
Season 2 (1952–53)
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Film date | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 1 | "Job Switching" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | May 30, 1952 | September 15, 1952 |
|
Ricky and Fred think doing housework is much easier than earning money. Lucy and Ethel feel the opposite. So the boys try doing the housework while the girls attempt to hold down a job at a candy factory. Problems soon arise on both fronts. Ricky and Fred cause a huge mess in the apartment by burning the clothes with irons and getting food all over the kitchen. Lucy and Ethel find themselves fighting against a speedy conveyor belt of chocolate. Elvia Allman guest stars. 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,[4] with only one moment eligible per TV series. | ||||||
| 37 | 2 | "The Saxophone" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | June 6, 1952 | September 22, 1952 |
| Lucy plots to join Ricky's band for a series of one-night engagements by trying to play a saxophone. There's only one problem: she can't play a single note. | ||||||
| 38 | 3 | "The Anniversary Present" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | May 9, 1952 | September 29, 1952 |
| Ricky asks a neighbor, Grace Foster (Gloria Blondell), to help him surprise Lucy with an anniversary present, but Lucy gets the wrong idea. | ||||||
| 39 | 4 | "The Handcuffs" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | May 16, 1952 | October 6, 1952 |
| One of Lucy's practical jokes backfires when she and Ricky are locked without a key in a pair of antique handcuffs. | ||||||
| 40 | 5 | "The Operetta" | Marc Daniels | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | May 23, 1952 | October 13, 1952 |
| Lucy and Ethel decide to write an operetta, and Lucy pays for the costumes and scenery with a post-dated check. Meanwhile, Ethel and Ricky persuade the chorus to join in whenever Lucy, playing "Camille, Queen of the Gypsies," starts to sing. | ||||||
| 41 | 6 | "Vacation from Marriage" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | August 1, 1952 | October 27, 1952 |
| Bored with married life, Lucy and Ethel decide that a few days away from their husbands would be a welcome change. | ||||||
| 42 | 7 | "The Courtroom" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | August 8, 1952 | November 10, 1952 |
| The Ricardos buy the Mertzes a new TV set for their wedding anniversary. When Ricky tries hooking it up, the picture tube explodes! In retaliation, Fred marches up to the Ricardo apartment and kicks in their own picture tube. The whole issue ends up with both couples in court. | ||||||
| 43 | 8 | "Redecorating" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | August 15, 1952 | November 24, 1952 |
| Ricky decides to fool Lucy into thinking she's won a new home furnishings contest. But the joke backfires when Lucy sells all their furniture. | ||||||
| 44 | 9 | "Ricky Loses His Voice" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | August 22, 1952 | December 1, 1952 |
| Ricky catches a cold and loses his voice during rehearsals for a new show, prompting Lucy to secretly stage the show herself. Arthur Q. Bryan appears as Ricky's new boss. | ||||||
| 45 | 10 | "Lucy Is Enceinte" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 3, 1952 | December 8, 1952 |
| Lucy feels strange, and tells Ethel. She responds by suggesting Lucy might be pregnant! Lucy laughs...but comes back from a doctor's visit and reveals that Ethel was right. Lucy tries to prepare the "perfect" moment to tell Ricky, but his business at the club keeps him away. Eventually, Lucy anonymously requests that Ricky perform his song "We're Having A Baby" at the club. Ricky gets quite a surprise when he finds out who requested the song! | ||||||
| 46 | 11 | "Pregnant Women Are Unpredictable" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 10, 1952 | December 15, 1952 |
| With the baby coming, Ricky decides that Lucy should stay in bed while he does the chores.Lucy thinks it is just because of the baby. | ||||||
| 47 | 12 | "Lucy's Show Biz Swan Song" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 17, 1952 | December 22, 1952 |
| Even with motherhood fast approaching, Lucy still wants to be in Ricky's "Gay 90's Revue." | ||||||
| 48 | 13 | "Lucy Hires an English Tutor" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 24, 1952 | December 29, 1952 |
| Lucy wants her baby to be raised in the "proper vocal environment," so she hires a tutor (Hans Conried) to teach Ricky proper English diction. The tutor turns out to be a struggling actor, and hopes that Ricky will give him a break. Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel all sing a ridiculous song composed by the tutor. | ||||||
| 49 | 14 | "Ricky Has Labor Pains" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 31, 1952 | January 5, 1953 |
| With all the attention that mother-to-be Lucy has been getting, father-to-be Ricky feels neglected. | ||||||
| 50 | 15 | "Lucy Becomes a Sculptress" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 7, 1952 | January 12, 1953 |
| No child should grow up without artistic influence, so Lucy takes up sculpting. When Ricky scoffs, Lucy arranges for an art critic to arrive and judge her work. When her sculpture accidentally breaks, though, she ends up disguising herself as a bust to fool the critic. | ||||||
| 51 | 16 | "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 14, 1952 | January 19, 1953 |
|
With the baby due at any moment, Ricky and the Mertzes carefully rehearse the trip to the hospital. But when the fateful moment actually comes, things don't go quite so smoothly. When they eventually get there, Lucy stays in labor for quite a while, so Ricky goes to do a show at the club. He is in full tribal face makeup when the call comes from the hospital, and he rushes over still in costume! 1This episode aired the same day Lucille Ball's son Desi Arnaz, Jr. was born. For five episodes after this one, any scene featuring Lucy was filmed in advance to accommodate Ball's leave, with bookending scenes featuring only the other cast members filmed closer to the actual airdate. | ||||||
| 52 | 17 | "Sales Resistance" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | August 29, 1952 | January 26, 1953 |
| When Lucy buys yet another new gadget, Ricky complains that she's "got no sales resistance." Sheldon Leonard guest stars as the salesman. | ||||||
| 53 | 18 | "Inferiority Complex" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 6, 1952 | February 2, 1953 |
| A handsome psychiatrist might be the cure for Lucy's "inferiority complex." Gerald Mohr guest stars as "Dr. Molin" (aka "Chuck Stewart"). | ||||||
| 54 | 19 | "The Club Election" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 12, 1952 | February 16, 1953 |
| It's Lucy versus Ethel for President of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League. | ||||||
| 55 | 20 | "The Black Eye" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 19, 1952 | March 9, 1953 |
| The Mertzes won't accept Lucy's truthful explanation of how she got a black eye. | ||||||
| 56 | 21 | "Lucy Changes Her Mind" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 26, 1952 | March 30, 1953 |
| Whether it's getting dressed or ordering dinner at a restaurant, Lucy seems unable to finish anything without changing her mind. Ricky loses his temper, so Lucy tries to play a trick with an old, unfinished love letter to a beau from high school. Fred warns Ricky of Lucy's plot, and Lucy is soon in over her head. | ||||||
| 57 | 22 | "No Children Allowed" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 20, 1953 | April 20, 1953 |
| The Ricardos' lease says no children allowed, and the squalling new baby doesn't help matters with the landlord. This episode marked the beginning of a recurring character- Mrs. Trumbull (Elizabeth Patterson). | ||||||
| 58 | 23 | "Lucy Hires a Maid" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 27, 1953 | April 27, 1953 |
| Ricky hires a maid because Lucy keeps falling asleep during the day from staying up nights with the new baby. Verna Felton guest stars as the pushy, demanding maid. | ||||||
| 59 | 24 | "The Indian Show" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 3, 1953 | May 4, 1953 |
| Ricky is planning an Indian number for his nightclub act, and assumes that motherhood has ended Lucy's show business ambitions. No such luck, as Lucy persuades the girl singer in the number to switch places with her. | ||||||
| 60 | 25 | "Lucy's Last Birthday" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 10, 1953 | May 11, 1953 |
| When it seems that everyone has forgotten Lucy's birthday, she becomes depressed and wanders around town. She meets the "Friends of the Friendless" in the park, and joins the ranks of the unhappy mob. They all march to Ricky's club to protest-where a surprise party is waiting for the birthday girl! This episode features Ricky singing "I Love Lucy", a version of the show's theme song with lyrics. | ||||||
| 61 | 26 | "The Ricardos Change Apartments" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 16, 1953 | May 18, 1953 |
| Lucy thinks they need a bigger apartment, but Ricky says they can't afford it. | ||||||
| 62 | 27 | "Lucy Is Matchmaker" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 25, 1953 | May 25, 1953 |
| Lucy tries to fix up her girlfriend with a bachelor friend of the Mertzes but ends up as an unwitting third party in a love triangle. Hal March guest stars. | ||||||
| 63 | 28 | "Lucy Wants New Furniture" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | May 1, 1953 | June 1, 1953 |
| When Lucy buys a new sofa and coffee table without Ricky's permission, he says she'll have to pay for it out of her allowance. To save money, Lucy attempts to make her own clothes and gives herself a home perm. | ||||||
| 64 | 29 | "The Camping Trip" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | May 8, 1953 | June 8, 1953 |
| Lucy develops an annoying attachment to Ricky. She finally goes too far when she decides to join him and his friends on a camping trip. Fred suggests that Ricky take Lucy into the wilderness for some "camping practice" to scare her, but Lucy and Ethel team up to thwart their husbands. | ||||||
| 65 | 30 | "Ricky and Fred Are TV Fans" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | May 22, 1953 | June 22, 1953 |
| Ricky and Fred are excited about watching a big fight on TV. Lucy and Ethel claim that they will have a wonderful time away from their husbands. While Ricky and Fred stay glued to the set, Lucy and Ethel are mistaken for jewel thieves. Frank Nelson and Allen Jenkins guest star. | ||||||
| 66 | 31 | "Never Do Business With Friends" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | May 29, 1953 | June 29, 1953 |
| A beautiful friendship is almost ruined when the Ricardos sell their old washing machine to the Mertzes, who find that it needs repairs and demand their money back, but then change their mind again. In the ensuing argument over who owns the machine, the couples push the washer off the balcony. Herb Vigran guest stars. | ||||||
Season 3 (1953–54)
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Film date | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67 | 1 | "Ricky's 'Life' Story" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | May 15, 1953 | October 5, 1953 |
| A magazine does a picture story on Ricky's life, but Lucy's not in it. Lucy decides to upstage Ricky during his "Lady in Spain" number at the club. | ||||||
| 68 | 2 | "The Girls Go Into Business" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 11, 1953 | October 12, 1953 |
| Lucy and Ethel buy a dress shop on a shoestring, but they wind up in the red. | ||||||
| 69 | 3 | "Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 17, 1953 | October 19, 1953 |
| The girls are going to appear on TV with their club, having chosen to sing Cole Porter's "Friendship" in celebration of their bond. Everybody's pleased, until the two women buy the same dress for the occasion. | ||||||
| 70 | 4 | "Equal Rights" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 24, 1953 | October 26, 1953 |
| Tired of Ricky and Fred's attitude towards them, the girls demand equal rights. Ricky and Fred turn the tables on them when, out to dinner, they call for separate checks, and Ethel and Lucy, lacking any money in their purses, must wash dishes to pay for their meals. | ||||||
| 71 | 5 | "Baby Pictures" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 1, 1953 | November 2, 1953 |
| The Ricardos have decided they're not going to brag about their new baby. | ||||||
| 72 | 6 | "Lucy Tells the Truth" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 8, 1953 | November 9, 1953 |
| Ricky bets Lucy that she can't go twenty-four hours without telling a fib. Problems begin when Lucy starts being brutally frank with everyone. | ||||||
| 73 | 7 | "The French Revue" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 15, 1953 | November 16, 1953 |
| Ricky's going to stage a French Revue at his club and Lucy bets him fifty dollars that she can get into the act no matter what he does to stop her. | ||||||
| 74 | 8 | "Redecorating the Mertzes' Apartment" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 22, 1953 | November 23, 1953 |
| The Ricardos help the Mertzes redecorate their apartment. They paint the walls and cover the furniture - in typical Ricardo fashion. | ||||||
| 75 | 9 | "Too Many Crooks" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 29, 1953 | November 30, 1953 |
| The police are looking for "Madame X," the mysterious cat burglar. Due to mutual misunderstandings, Lucy is suspected by the Mertzes, and Ethel is suspected by the Ricardos. | ||||||
| 76 | 10 | "Changing the Boys' Wardrobe" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 5, 1953 | December 7, 1953 |
| Ricky and Fred infuriate the girls by wearing their oldest clothes in public. So Lucy and Ethel secretly sell their husbands' clothes to a second-hand clothes dealer. Hans Conried guest stars. | ||||||
| 77 | 11 | "Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 12, 1953 | December 14, 1953 |
| A visit to the eye doctor leaves Lucy's vision hopelessly blurred for the rest of the day. But that doesn't stop her from auditioning a jitterbug number at the club. | ||||||
| 78 | 12 | "Ricky's Old Girlfriend" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 19, 1953 | December 21, 1953 |
| Lucy wants to know about Ricky's old girlfriends, so he invents one named Carlotta Romero. Then a singer with that name shows up in town. | ||||||
| 79 | 13 | "The Million-Dollar Idea" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 26, 1953 | January 11, 1954 |
| Lucy concocts a delicious salad dressing, and Fred tells her she ought to sell it. Marketing the product as "Aunt Martha's Old Fashioned Salad Dressing," the girls manage to receive hundreds of orders. The problem: they've priced the product so cheaply that it will cost them rather than make them money. | ||||||
| 80 | 14 | "Ricky Minds the Baby" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | December 3, 1953 | January 18, 1954 |
| Ricky decides that Lucy deserves a rest, so he offers to take care of Little Ricky, who wanders into the Mertzs' apartment while he is distracted. | ||||||
| 81 | 15 | "The Charm School" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | December 10, 1953 | January 25, 1954 |
| After seeing the boys give a pretty girl the eye, Lucy and Ethel decide to go to charm school. Future Gilligan's Island star Natalie Schafer appears as the charm school instructor. | ||||||
| 82 | 16 | "Sentimental Anniversary" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | December 17, 1953 | February 1, 1954 |
| It's the Ricardos' wedding anniversary, and they plan to spend it alone, together. That's the plan, anyway. | ||||||
| 83 | 17 | "Fan Magazine Interview" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | January 7, 1954 | February 8, 1954 |
| The Ricardos prepare for an interview with a reporter from a fan magazine by putting on their best clothes and manners. | ||||||
| 84 | 18 | "Oil Wells" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | January 14, 1954 | February 15, 1954 |
| Lucy and Ethel learn that their new neighbors own stock in a Texas oil well. | ||||||
| 85 | 19 | "Ricky Loses His Temper" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | January 21, 1954 | February 22, 1954 |
| Lucy has a scheme that's sure to net her a new hat. All she has to do is get Ricky to lose his temper. | ||||||
| 86 | 20 | "Home Movies" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | January 28, 1954 | March 1, 1954 |
| Ricky's home movies inspire Lucy to become a professional moviemaker, with disastrous results when Ricky's TV pilot is shown with Lucy's footage (which was a disaster to begin with) spliced in. | ||||||
| 87 | 21 | "Bonus Bucks" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | February 4, 1954 | March 8, 1954 |
| Lucy has the winning dollar bill in the newspaper's "Bonus Buck" contest, but lets it slip through her fingers. Now she has only a few hours left to get it back. | ||||||
| 88 | 22 | "Ricky's Hawaiian Vacation" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | February 11, 1954 | March 22, 1954 |
| Ricky's band gets an offer to play in Honolulu. Lucy disguises herself as her mother and goes on a TV game show to try to raise enough money so she and Mertzes can go along. | ||||||
| 89 | 23 | "Lucy Is Envious" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | February 16, 1954 | March 29, 1954 |
| After Lucy inadvertently pledges a five-hundred dollar donation to the charity run by her rich high-school pal, she and Ethel pose as "women from Mars" to earn the money. Herb Vigran guest stars. | ||||||
| 90 | 24 | "Lucy Writes a Novel" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 4, 1954 | April 5, 1954 |
| Lucy reads about a housewife who makes a fortune writing a novel in her spare time, so she takes a crack at it by writing her first novel, "Real Gone with the Wind." However, Ricky, Ethel, and Fred don't like the way Lucy has portrayed them and try to stop the book from being published. | ||||||
| 91 | 25 | "Lucy's Club Dance" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 11, 1954 | April 12, 1954 |
| The girls decide to raise money for their Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League by sponsoring a dance. | ||||||
| 92 | 26 | "The Black Wig" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 25, 1954 | April 19, 1954 |
| Lucy dons a black wig, believing it changes her appearance enough to test Ricky's marital fidelity. Eve McVeagh guest stars. | ||||||
| 93 | 27 | "The Diner" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 18, 1954 | April 26, 1954 |
| Ricky decides to quit show business, and the Ricardos and the Mertzes decide to open up a diner. The Mertzes struggle with all the difficult cooking, while Ricky only has to be the greeter. And because of a road detour, there are very few customers. | ||||||
| 94 | 28 | "Tennessee Ernie Visits" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 1, 1954 | May 3, 1954 |
| Tennessee Ernie Ford shows up in the big city with his guitar and a letter of introduction to the Ricardos. | ||||||
| 95 | 29 | "Tennessee Ernie Hangs On" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 8, 1954 | May 10, 1954 |
| Ernie is still boarding at the Ricardos', to their annoyance. They try to get resources to pay for his travel home. | ||||||
| 96 | 30 | "The Golf Game" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 15, 1954 | May 17, 1954 |
| The girls take up golf, and in an attempt to scare them off, Ricky and Fred complicate the game's rules and regulations. Golf champion Jimmy Demaret guest stars as himself. | ||||||
| 97 | 31 | "The Sublease" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 22, 1954 | May 24, 1954 |
| The Ricardos have sublet their apartment. But Lucy, deciding they were too hasty, decides to frighten away the new tenant. After discovering that the new tenant was a witness in a murder trial, Lucy and Ethel decide to stage a murder in front of him. | ||||||
Season 4 (1954–55)
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Film date | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 98 | 1 | "The Business Manager" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | June 17, 1954 | October 4, 1954 |
| Ricky hires a business manager (Charles Lane), and Lucy finds him tighter with money than Ricky. | ||||||
| 99 | 2 | "Mertz and Kurtz" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | July 1, 1954 | October 11, 1954 |
| To help Fred impress his ex-vaudeville partner, Barney Kurtz (Charles Winninger), Lucy agrees to pose as the Mertzes' maid. | ||||||
| 100 | 3 | "Lucy Cries Wolf" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | June 3, 1954 | October 18, 1954 |
| To find out how much Ricky really loves her, Lucy calls him during a rehearsal and says there's a burglar in the apartment. It's only after two attempts that Lucy finds herself tied and gagged by two local crooks. | ||||||
| 101 | 4 | "The Matchmaker" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | June 10, 1954 | October 25, 1954 |
| Matchmaker Lucy invites girlfriend Dorothy and her beau to a cozy dinner at the Ricardos' apartment, hoping to present an example of marital bliss. | ||||||
| 102 | 5 | "Mr. and Mrs. TV Show" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | June 24, 1954 | November 1, 1954* |
|
Ricky has a chance to do an "at-home" TV show, and Lucy wants to be in it. Things go well until Lucy discovers Ricky only let her do the show because the sponsor insisted. (*) This episode's original scheduled network broadcast was pre-empted. It eventually aired on Monday, April 11, 1955. | ||||||
| 103 | 6 | "Ricky's Movie Offer" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 16, 1954 | November 8, 1954 |
| A Hollywood talent scout (Frank Nelson) wants Ricky to audition, and everyone wants to get into the act. | ||||||
| 104 | 7 | "Ricky's Screen Test" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 23, 1954 | November 15, 1954 |
| Ricky gets an unsolicited assist from Lucy when he appears as Don Juan in a screen test. | ||||||
| 105 | 8 | "Lucy's Mother-In-Law" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | September 30, 1954 | November 22, 1954 |
| Lucy's trying desperately to perfect her Spanish-speaking skills in preparation for meeting her Cuban mother-in-law for the first time. | ||||||
| 106 | 9 | "Ethel's Birthday" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 7, 1954 | November 29, 1954 |
| Fred asks Lucy to choose something special for him to give Ethel for her birthday. Ethel opens the gift, then complains that Fred's choice of presents is getting worse every year. | ||||||
| 107 | 10 | "Ricky's Contract" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 14, 1954 | December 6, 1954 |
|
Ricky's still waiting for the results of his screen test, to later find out he got the job. This episode was, according to a CBS press release of August 14, 1954, to be broadcast in color, but ultimately plans to film it in color were abandoned. | ||||||
| 108 | 11 | "Getting Ready" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 21, 1954 | December 13, 1954 |
| The Ricardos and the Mertzes are all ready to leave for California, until they see the antique car Fred has just bought for the trip. | ||||||
| 109 | 12 | "Lucy Learns To Drive" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | October 28, 1954 | January 3, 1955 |
| Ricky makes the mistake of teaching Lucy to drive his brand new car. It's only after showing Ethel how the car works that she crashes into another car and has to get them unhooked and fixed in time. | ||||||
| 110 | 13 | "California, Here We Come!" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 4, 1954 | January 10, 1955 |
| Lucy and Ricky are all ready to start their trek to Los Angeles when complications develop: Lucy's mother decides to join them. The car is also extremely overloaded with baggage strapped precariously on all sides. | ||||||
| 111 | 14 | "First Stop" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 11, 1954 | January 17, 1955 |
| After a long day of non-stop driving, the Ricardos and the Mertzes pull into a run-down cafe somewhere near Cincinnati that has nothing but frozen cheese sandwiches. The bunk beds in their ugly cabin, with spongy sagging mattresses, scoot back and forth across the floor every time a noisy train passes nearby. | ||||||
| 112 | 15 | "Tennessee Bound" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 18, 1954 | January 24, 1955 |
| Lucy's rush to California lands the Ricardos and the Mertzes in jail in Bent Fork, Tennessee, the home town of their favorite "peapicker", Tennessee Ernie Ford. Future TV producer Aaron Spelling has a bit role as a gas station attendant. | ||||||
| 113 | 16 | "Ethel's Home Town" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | November 25, 1954 | January 31, 1955 |
| The Ricardos and the Metzes arrive in Ethel's home town: Albuquerque, New Mexico and visit her parents. Lucy, Ricky, and Fred are shocked when the town-folk give Ethel a big welcome since Ethel told everybody she was the aspiring star. | ||||||
| 114 | 17 | "L.A., At Last" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | December 2, 1954 | February 7, 1955 |
| Arriving in Hollywood, Lucy goes star hunting at the Brown Derby restaurant, and finds William Holden and Eve Arden, annoying Holden by staring at him from behind a potted plant. | ||||||
| 115 | 18 | "Don Juan and the Starlets" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | December 9, 1954 | February 14, 1955 |
| Ricky leaves Lucy at home and goes out for an evening of publicity with four gorgeous starlets. | ||||||
| 116 | 19 | "Lucy Gets Into Pictures" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | December 16, 1954 | February 21, 1955 |
| Lucy finally gets her chance - she lands a part as a murdered showgirl in a major MGM musical. | ||||||
| 117 | 20 | "The Fashion Show" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | December 23, 1954 | February 28, 1955 |
| Lucy is determined to have a beautiful Don Loper gown for her very own and winds up being part of a "Hollywood Wives" fashion show. | ||||||
| 118 | 21 | "The Hedda Hopper Story" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | February 3, 1955 | March 14, 1955 |
| Ricky's agent concocts a publicity stunt designed to land Ricky in Hedda Hopper's celebrity gossip column. They plan to "save" Lucy from drowning in the hotel pool. | ||||||
| 119 | 22 | "Don Juan Is Shelved" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | February 10, 1955 | March 21, 1955 |
| When producer Dore Schary decides to shelve Ricky's film, "Don Juan," Lucy schemes to create public demand for Ricky's talent. Vivian Vance's then-husband, Philip Ober, appears as Schary. | ||||||
| 120 | 23 | "Bull Fight Dance" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | February 17, 1955 | March 28, 1955 |
| Asked to appear in a Spanish dance number on Ricky's "Heart Fund" show, Lucy envisions herself as an exotic Senorita. But Ricky has something altogether different in mind. | ||||||
| 121 | 24 | "Hollywood Anniversary" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | February 24, 1955 | April 4, 1955 |
| Ricky has forgotten the date of their anniversary, but he has a scheme to convince Lucy that he knew it all along. | ||||||
| 122 | 25 | "The Star Upstairs" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 3, 1955 | April 18, 1955 |
| Lucy poses as a bellboy to gain entrance to movie star Cornel Wilde's hotel room. It's getting out of the room that proves to be tougher with dangling down off the balcony to his room. | ||||||
| 123 | 26 | "In Palm Springs" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 17, 1955 | April 25, 1955 |
| Upset by a quarrel with their husbands, Lucy and Ethel leave for a weekend in Palm Springs, where they encounter Rock Hudson. | ||||||
| 124 | 27 | "Dancing Star" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 31, 1955 | May 2, 1955 |
| Carolyn Appleby, a friend of Lucy's, visiting from New York, wants to meet some of the stars that Lucy has befriended, starting with Van Johnson, who is appearing at the Ricardos' hotel. | ||||||
| 125 | 28 | "Harpo Marx" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | March 24, 1955 | May 9, 1955 |
| Lucy promised Carolyn Appleby she'd produce some real Hollywood celebrities. Now she's got to deliver. Dressing up as Clark Gable, Gary Cooper and other celebrities, she manages to fool the near-sighted Carolyn. However, the real Harpo Marx shows up only to discover Lucy dressed up as him. | ||||||
| 126 | 29 | "Ricky Needs an Agent" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 7, 1955 | May 16, 1955 |
| Lucy pretends to be Ricky's agent and tries to bluff a studio executive (Parley Baer) into casting Ricky in a film, only to get him released from his contract. | ||||||
| 127 | 30 | "The Tour" | William Asher | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr. | April 14, 1955 | May 30, 1955 |
| Lucy and Ethel take a bus tour of movie stars' homes in Beverly Hills, and Lucy winds up picking grapefruit in Richard Widmark's backyard. | ||||||
Season 5 (1955–56)
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Film date | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 128 | 1 | "Lucy Visits Grauman's" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | September 9, 1955 | October 3, 1955 |
| Lucy discovers that the cement slab with John Wayne's footprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater has come loose. Lucy talks Ethel into helping her steal the slab, and they make their get-away, Lucy gets her foot caught in a bucket of cement. | ||||||
| 129 | 2 | "Lucy and John Wayne" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | September 15, 1955 | October 10, 1955 |
| Lucy and Ethel have made off with the cement slab of John Wayne's footprints. Now the police are called in to investigate. John Wayne guest stars. | ||||||
| 130 | 3 | "Lucy and the Dummy" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | September 22, 1955 | October 17, 1955 |
| MGM asks Ricky to help entertain executives at a studio party. Ricky has plans to go deep-sea fishing, but as far as Lucy is concerned, "the show must go on"—and she ends up being offered a contract. | ||||||
| 131 | 4 | "Ricky Sells the Car" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | September 29, 1955 | October 24, 1955 |
| Ricky sells the car and buys train tickets for the trip back East, but he forgets about Fred and Ethel. | ||||||
| 132 | 5 | "The Great Train Robbery" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | October 6, 1955 | October 31, 1955 |
| Lucy gets mixed up with a jewel thief on a cross-country rail trip that marks the end of the series' Hollywood sojourn. That's not the only reason it's a bumpy ride. Another is that Lucy keeps pulling the emergency-brake cord. Sanka Coffee was a background image with the credits. Frank Nelson guest stars. | ||||||
| 133 | 6 | "Homecoming" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | October 20, 1955 | November 7, 1955 |
| Back in Manhattan, Ricky is surrounded by excited friends wanting to know about his picture. Soon all the attention goes to his head. Sanka Coffee was a background image with the credits. | ||||||
| 134 | 7 | "Face to Face" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | October 20, 1955 | November 14, 1955 |
| Lucy and Ricky are scheduled to appear on Ed Warren's (Elliott Reid) TV interview show, "Face to Face", at their home. But Ricky's new agent says the apartment is a "dump," and urges them to move into ritzier quarters. | ||||||
| 135 | 8 | "Lucy Goes to a Rodeo" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | October 27, 1955 | November 28, 1955 |
| Ricky is dismayed to learn that he signed up to do not a radio show, but a rodeo show. | ||||||
| 136 | 9 | "Nursery School" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | November 3, 1955 | December 5, 1955 |
| Lucy is not happy about being separated from Little Ricky, but Ricky insists the lad must start nursery school. | ||||||
| 137 | 10 | "Ricky's European Booking" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | November 10, 1955 | December 12, 1955 |
| Ricky's band gets booked in Europe, and the girls can only go if they can come up with enough money to pay their own way. They run a raffle benefitting a made-up charity called "Ladies Overseas Aid" and nearly get arrested for it until the president of the real charity shows up to collect the proceeds. Barney Phillips guest stars as the TV store owner who had donated the raffle prize. (Desi and The Pied Pipers take some time and sing "Forever, Darling," the theme song of the upcoming Ball-Arnaz picture of the same name, released three months after this episode to critical lambasting and audience indifference.) | ||||||
| 138 | 11 | "The Passports" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | November 17, 1955 | December 19, 1955 |
| Lucy needs her birth certificate in order to get her passport, but Jamestown has no record of her being born. She devises a way to sneak to Europe with the others: hide in a large steamer trunk. Naturally, she ends up locked in the trunk, and no one has a key. (The place of her birth is an injoke; Lucille Ball was really born in Jamestown, New York.) | ||||||
| 139 | 12 | "Staten Island Ferry" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | November 24, 1955 | January 2, 1956 |
| The Ricardos and Mertzes are all ready to leave for Europe, until Fred announces that he gets seasick easily. Charles Lane guest stars. | ||||||
| 140 | 13 | "Bon Voyage" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | December 1, 1955 | January 16, 1956 |
| After boarding the ocean liner SS Constitution, Lucy goes ashore just one more time to kiss Little Ricky goodbye, and misses the boat. Future Chico and the Man star Jack Albertson appears as a helicopter dispatcher. This episode inspired the later Desilu series Whirlybirds, with Kenneth Tobey. NOTE: Desi Arnaz claims in several interviews that this was the most expensive episode produced! | ||||||
| 141 | 14 | "Second Honeymoon" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | December 8, 1955 | January 23, 1956 |
| Lucy plans to make the ocean voyage a second honeymoon, but Ricky has previous shipboard engagements with his band. | ||||||
| 142 | 15 | "Lucy Meets the Queen" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | December 15, 1955 | January 30, 1956 |
| Lucy and Ethel go looking for Queen Elizabeth II on their first day in London, but no luck. When they arrive back at the hotel, Ricky tells her she's going to be presented to the Queen the next evening. Future Beverly Hillbillies star Nancy Kulp appears as a chambermaid. | ||||||
| 143 | 16 | "The Fox Hunt" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | December 22, 1955 | February 6, 1956 |
| Lucy wants to spend a weekend on a British estate, but Ricky makes her promise not to try to wangle an invitation out of Sir Clive Richardson, with whom Ricky is scheduled to talk business. Hillary Brooke guest stars. | ||||||
| 144 | 17 | "Lucy Goes to Scotland" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | January 6, 1956 | February 20, 1956 |
| In this Brigadoon-inspired episode, complete with musical numbers, Lucy finds herself in her ancestral village in Scotland. The villagers are delighted at her arrival, as it is once again the year when they must sacrifice a McGillicuddy to a man-eating, two-headed dragon (Fred and Ethel)--and until Lucy showed up, the clan was believed to be extinct. Will "Scotty McTavish McDougal McCardo" (Ricky) fight the dragon to save Lucy's life? {Goof: McGillicuddy is an Irish surname!} | ||||||
| 145 | 18 | "Paris at Last" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | January 12, 1956 | February 27, 1956 |
| The Ricardos and the Mertzes arrive in Paris only to find themselves locked up in jail for passing counterfeit francs. | ||||||
| 146 | 19 | "Lucy Meets Charles Boyer" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | January 19, 1956 | March 5, 1956 |
| Ricky has a luncheon engagement with Charles Boyer, and he wants to keep Lucy away from him. | ||||||
| 147 | 20 | "Lucy Gets a Paris Gown" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | February 16, 1956 | March 19, 1956 |
| After much begging, Ricky buys Lucy a Paris "original"...or so she thinks. | ||||||
| 148 | 21 | "Lucy in the Swiss Alps" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | February 23, 1956 | March 26, 1956 |
| The Ricardos and the Mertzes go mountain climbing in the Swiss Alps, and are stuck in a cabin with little to eat, after an avalanche. | ||||||
| 149 | 22 | "Lucy Gets Homesick in Italy" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | March 1, 1956 | April 9, 1956 |
| Lucy, while in Florence, gets homesick for Little Ricky on his birthday, makes a lengthy, expensive phone call, and then hosts an impromptu party for several Italian children who all claim it's their birthday too. | ||||||
| 150 | 23 | "Lucy's Italian Movie" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | March 8, 1956 | April 16, 1956 |
|
En route to Rome, an Italian producer offers Lucy a role in a film called Bitter Grapes. So she decides to take a job in a vineyard to absorb a little "local color." This episode contains the famous scene in which Lucy stomps grapes and picks a fight with her fellow stomper. However, by being away, she misses being selected for the role. In 1997, TV Guide ranked this episode #18 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.[5] | ||||||
| 151 | 24 | "Lucy's Bicycle Trip" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | March 22, 1956 | April 23, 1956 |
| Lucy organizes the Ricardos and the Mertzes for a bicycle trip from the Italian Riviera to Nice. But she doesn't know about the rough terrain, the aches and pains—or where she put her passport. The border guard refuses to let her through the checkpoint. | ||||||
| 152 | 25 | "Lucy Goes to Monte Carlo" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | March 29, 1956 | May 7, 1956 |
| Ricky has declared the Monte Carlo Casino out-of-bounds for Lucy, but she and Ethel "just happen" to eat dinner there. | ||||||
| 153 | 26 | "Return Home from Europe" | James V. Kern | Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | April 5, 1956 | May 14, 1956 |
| Homeward-bound from Europe, Lucy tries to get out of paying duties by disguising a big piece of Italian cheese as a swaddled baby—much to the consternation of the new mother seated next to her on the plane. Frank Nelson and Mary Jane Croft guest star. | ||||||
Season 6 (1956–57)
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Film date | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 154 | 1 | "Lucy and Bob Hope" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | June 5, 1956 | October 1, 1956 |
| Sighting Bob Hope at Yankee Stadium, Lucy hopes to persuade him to appear at Ricky's club. To get close enough to him, she disguises herself first as a hot-dog vendor, then as a tobacco-chewing baseball player, and she joined Bob and Ricky to perform at Ricky's nightclub. | ||||||
| 155 | 2 | "Little Ricky Learns to Play the Drums" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | June 28, 1956 | October 8, 1956 |
| Little Ricky's non-stop drum playing threatens the Ricardos' and Mertzes' friendship. | ||||||
| 156 | 3 | "Lucy Meets Orson Welles" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | June 14, 1956 | October 15, 1956 |
| Lucy wangles a job as Orson Welles's assistant when he appears at Ricky's club. He's doing a magic act, but Lucy's doing Shakespeare. | ||||||
| 157 | 4 | "Little Ricky Gets Stage Fright" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | June 21, 1956 | October 22, 1956 |
| Little Ricky gets stage fright before his first school music recital. Howard McNear guest stars. | ||||||
| 158 | 5 | "Visitor from Italy" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | September 24, 1956 | October 29, 1956 |
| When the Venetian gondolier the Ricardos met in Europe shows up in New York, a series of mishaps result in Lucy's working at a pizza parlor. | ||||||
| 159 | 6 | "Off to Florida" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | September 13, 1956 | November 12, 1956 |
| Driving to Miami to meet their husbands, the girls share the drive with a strange lady (Elsa Lanchester) they suspect is an ax murderess. Character actor Strother Martin appears as a store clerk. | ||||||
| 160 | 7 | "Deep-Sea Fishing" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | September 27, 1956 | November 19, 1956 |
| On a deep-sea fishing trip, the boys bet the girls that they'll catch bigger fish. To win the bet, the men and the women each buy large tunas to pass off as their catch...the only problem is hiding the fish from their spouses. | ||||||
| 161 | 8 | "Desert Island" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | October 4, 1956 | November 26, 1956 |
| Lucy and Ethel's scheme to prevent the boys from judging a beauty contest leaves the Ricardos and the Mertzes marooned on a desert island. Claude Akins guest stars as himself. | ||||||
| 162 | 9 | "The Ricardos Visit Cuba" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | October 18, 1956 | December 3, 1956 |
| Lucy is bent on impressing Ricky's family when they visit Havana, Cuba, but she can't seem to say or do anything right. | ||||||
| 163 | 10 | "Little Ricky's School Pageant" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | October 25, 1956 | December 17, 1956 |
| The Ricardos and the Mertzes sign on as extra cast members in Little Ricky's class play, "The Enchanted Forest". | ||||||
| 164 | 11 | "I Love Lucy Christmas Show" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Pugh Davis, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | November 22, 1956 | December 24, 1956 |
|
Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel reminisce (via flashbacks of previous episodes) as they trim the tree on Christmas Eve. The flashbacks were all from season 2, include Lucy telling Ricky about her pregnancy in "Lucy Is Enceinte," Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel singing in a barbershop quartet in "Lucy's Showbiz Swan Song," and Ricky, Fred and Ethel franctically preparing for Lucy's impending labor in "Lucy Goes to the Hospital." Note: CBS would re-broadcast this episode in primetime on December 18, 1989. The "wraparound" segments (the non-flashback parts) were broadcast in color in 1990, and these color scenes are available on the season's DVD release. Because this was a "special episode," it was never re-broadcast in syndication. On December 20, 2013, some 24 years after last having been broadcast, CBS yet again rebroadcast this episode (now packaging it with the "Lucy's Italian Movie" episode) as part of "The I Love Lucy Christmas Special" in which both episodes aired were colorized. On December 7, 2014, once more CBS aired the "The I Love Lucy Christmas Special" (with an encore showing on December 24, 2014 [Exactly 58 years later from the original airing]), this time around pairing the episode up with a newly colorized showing of a Season 2 episode, "Job Switching". Most recently, CBS continued their newly annual tradition of airing the special on December 23, 2015, now finding itself paired with still another colorized I Love Lucy episode: From the series first season, "Lucy Does a TV Commercial". And on Dec. 2, 2016, the classic Christmas episode would be paired with the Season 4 episode "Lucy Gets Into Pictures." | ||||||
| 165 | 12 | "Lucy and the Loving Cup" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | November 1, 1956 | January 7, 1957 |
| Lucy jokingly dons a loving cup Ricky is supposed to present to jockey Johnny Longden, but then she can't get it off her head. | ||||||
| 166 | 13 | "Lucy and Superman" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | November 15, 1956 | January 14, 1957 |
|
Lucy promises to produce Superman (George Reeves) for Little Ricky's fifth birthday party, but must make alternate plans when he is unable to attend. She hastily tries to impersonate Superman, but gets locked out on the balcony with the pigeons. Note: George Reeves did originally receive voice-over screen credit for this episode, although it was subsequently cut from the syndicated version. After the closing credits, the disclaimer appeared on the screen that said: Superman Character, Feats and Narrative Copyrighted by National Comics Publications, Inc., 1956 | ||||||
| 167 | 14 | "Little Ricky Gets a Dog" | James V. Kern | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | November 8, 1956 | January 21, 1957 |
| Little Ricky's new puppy prompts complaints by another tenant. | ||||||
| 168 | 15 | "Lucy Wants to Move to the Country" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | December 6, 1956 | January 28, 1957 |
| Fed up with city life, Lucy yearns for the suburban life. Ricky buys a house in suburban Westport, Connecticut. The house is an old Colonial and sits on 2 acres of land, with a guest house and barn. The selling price is never mentioned, but Ricky placed a $500 deposit down on it. | ||||||
| 169 | 16 | "Lucy Hates to Leave" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | December 13, 1956 | February 4, 1957 |
| The Ricardos find themselves, and all their belongings, boarding with the Mertzes while they wait to move into their new Westport, Connecticut home. | ||||||
| 170 | 17 | "Lucy Misses the Mertzes" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | December 20, 1956 | February 11, 1957 |
| Lucy and Ricky miss the Mertzes so much that they decide to take the train to New York to surprise them. But Fred and Ethel have the same idea, and are on their way to Connecticut! Little Ricky spends the night with the Munsons, the first in a series of babysitters which runs up to the last episode of The Lucy Desi Comedy hour in 1960. At that time his age is around 9 years old. In this episode Ethel mentions Elvis Presley, the only time he is noted on the show. | ||||||
| 171 | 18 | "Lucy Gets Chummy With the Neighbors" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | January 10, 1957 | February 18, 1957 |
| Lucy's new neighbor, Betty Ramsey, talks Lucy into buying all new furniture. Frank Nelson and Mary Jane Croft make their initial appearance as the Ramseys. | ||||||
| 172 | 19 | "Lucy Raises Chickens" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | January 17, 1957 | March 4, 1957 |
| Lucy and Ricky decide to raise chickens to help make ends meet. Soon the house is overrun with a flock of baby chicks, on the day a fashion magazine photographer is due to visit. | ||||||
| 173 | 20 | "Lucy Does the Tango" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | February 7, 1957 | March 11, 1957 |
| Lucy "boosts" egg production by buying several dozen eggs and pretending they are homegrown. But her plan to hide them in her blouse goes awry when Ricky asks her to help him rehearse a tango number. This resulted in one of the longest sustained audience laughter sequences in sitcoms. | ||||||
| 174 | 21 | "Ragtime Band" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | February 14, 1957 | March 18, 1957 |
| Lucy promises that Ricky will play at a local benefit, but he refuses. So she and the Mertzes put together their own combo—featuring Ricky Ricardo, Jr. | ||||||
| 175 | 22 | "Lucy's Night in Town" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | February 21, 1957 | March 25, 1957 |
| In Manhattan for dinner and a hit Broadway show ("The Most Happy Fella"), Lucy discovers that their tickets were instead for the matinée performance. Joseph Kearns has a minor role. Desilu Productions owned a large portion of the show, and was cross-promoting in this episode. | ||||||
| 176 | 23 | "Housewarming" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | February 28, 1957 | April 1, 1957 |
| Ethel is jealous of Lucy's friendship with Betty Ramsey. But when Betty reveals that she's from Ethel's home town of Albuquerque, the two become fast friends, and now it's Lucy who feels left out. | ||||||
| 177 | 24 | "Building a B-B-Q" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | March 14, 1957 | April 8, 1957 |
| Lucy and Ethel decide that the only way to get Ricky to build the backyard brick barbecue is to start the project themselves. Things go bad when Lucy can't find her wedding ring and decides to take apart the entire brick barbecue. | ||||||
| 178 | 25 | "Country Club Dance" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | March 21, 1957 | April 22, 1957 |
| At a club dance, Ricky, Fred, and Ralph Ramsey shower attention on a sultry young blonde (portrayed by a then-unknown Barbara Eden in an early role), much to the chagrin of their wives. | ||||||
| 179 | 26 | "Lucy Raises Tulips" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | March 28, 1957 | April 29, 1957 |
| Lucy is determined to beat Betty Ramsey in Westport's "best-looking garden" contest, and she accidentally runs over Betty's tulip garden with a lawn mower. | ||||||
| 180 | 27 | "The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue" | William Asher | Madelyn Martin, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf | April 4, 1957 | May 6, 1957 |
| Ricky has been chosen to dedicate a new Revolutionary War statue in the Westport Town Square. There's a problem: Lucy has accidentally destroyed the one-of-a-kind sculpture. | ||||||
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour episodes
After season six, the series was renamed The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show for its original broadcast run and rather than airing as weekly half hour series, hour-long episodes were produced to run occasionally during the year. There were thirteen hour-long shows. The first five were broadcast as specials during the 1957-58 television season. The other eight episodes were broadcast as part of the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse from October 6, 1958, to April 1, 1960. The series was subsequently broadcast in syndication as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour and We Love Lucy. This show had the same cast as I Love Lucy, employed many of the other same actors, and featured many famous guest stars. Of the original I Love Lucy cast, besides the principals, only Lucy's mother appeared in any Comedy Hour episode. She appears in season 3, episode 2 'The Ricardos Go To Japan' as Little Ricky's babysitter.
Season 1 (1957–58)
| # | Title | Film Date | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucy Takes A Cruise To Havana | June 28, 1957 | November 6, 1957 |
| How did Lucy and Ricky meet? Well that's what Hollywood columnist (and special guest star) Hedda Hopper wants to know. In a flashback to 1940 we find Lucy McGillicuddy and her best friend Susie MacNamara (guest star Ann Sothern whose character makes a crossover appearance from her CBS show Private Secretary) cruising Havana, where they encounter two tour guides, Ricky Ricardo and his pal, Carlos Garcia (guest star Cesar Romero). Plenty of Havana high-jinks soon ensue, with second honeymooners Fred and Ethel Mertz and popular crooner Rudy Vallee (as himself) along for the wild ride!
Note: This was originally shown as a 75-minute episode. All future repeats were edited to an hour's length, with the original opening and closing sequences (featuring Hedda Hopper) deleted, replaced by Desi's brief narration at the beginning and end. | |||
| 2 | The Celebrity Next Door | September 27, 1957 | December 3, 1957 |
| Who's the new resident moving into the house next to the Ricardos? None other than stage and screen star Tallulah Bankhead! Once Lucy discovers that a celebrity is in her midst, she tries to win her friendship by inviting her to an elegant dinner party—with Fred and Ethel Mertz posing as hired help. Before long Lucy has gotten Ms. Bankhead and the entire gang involved with a local PTA show.
Bette Davis was originally booked as the next-door celebrity, but suffered a horseback riding accident. Bankhead was the producers' second choice.[6] | |||
| 3 | Lucy Hunts Uranium | November 15, 1957 (Studio Portions) | January 3, 1958 |
| Ricky and his band have been booked to play at the Sands Casino in Las Vegas, and Lucy hopes the trip will allow her an opportunity to go uranium hunting. Fred and Ethel are keen on the idea but Ricky forbids it, until mysterious headlines put the entire town in a uranium uproar. Soon the Ricardos, the Mertzes, and (special guest) actor Fred MacMurray set out together to strike it rich. (Also appearing in this show is MacMurray's wife, June Haver.) | |||
| 4 | Lucy Wins a Race Horse | Unknown | February 3, 1958 |
| Lucy wins a race horse for Little Ricky. In order to keep the horse, Lucy enters the horse in a race at Roosevelt Raceway with the help of Betty Grable. Harry James, Betty's husband, also guest stars. | |||
| 5 | Lucy Goes To Sun Valley | February 1958 | April 14, 1958 |
| Lucy and Ethel go to Sun Valley without Ricky and Fred. While in Sun Valley, the girls meet Fernando Lamas. | |||
Season 2 (1958–59)
| # | Title | Film Date | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucy Goes to Mexico | June 16, 1958 (Completed) | October 6, 1958 |
| Lucy and the gang go with Ricky to Mexico, where he is scheduled to appear in a show with Maurice Chevalier. Meanwhile, Lucy just happens to find herself in a bullfight. | |||
| 2 | Lucy Makes Room for Danny | September 19, 1958 | December 1, 1958 |
| The Williams family from The Danny Thomas Show (Danny Thomas, Marjorie Lord, Rusty Hamer and Angela Cartwright) rent Lucy's and Ricky's house because Lucy and Ricky are going to Hollywood. When the Hollywood trip is cancelled, Lucy has to 'Make Room For Danny.' Gale Gordon also guest stars as a civil court judge who is forced to clean up the mess resulting from a snowball fight between the two families. | |||
| 3 | Lucy Goes To Alaska | December 19, 1958 (Completed) | February 9, 1959 |
| The Ricardos and Merztes go to Alaska, where Lucy does a show with Red Skelton. Lucy repeatedly falls out of a hammock in their overcrowded bedroom, and panics while flying a small bush airplane with Red. | |||
| 4 | Lucy Wants A Career | March 6, 1959 (Copyrighted) | April 13, 1959 |
| Lucy does not want to be a housewife any longer and appears on Paul Douglas' "Early Bird Show" as his "Girl Friday."
Note: This episode mirrored life for the Arnazes in the 1940s, as Lucy would meet Desi at the train station as she was leaving for work at a movie studio, while Desi would be headed home after working at a nightclub. | |||
| 5 | Lucy's Summer Vacation | May 5, 1959 (Copyrighted) | June 8, 1959 |
| Lucy and Ricky go on a vacation and end up sharing their cabin with Howard Duff and Ida Lupino. | |||
Season 3 (1959–60)
| # | Title | Film Date | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milton Berle Hides Out at The Ricardos | June 1959 | September 25, 1959 |
| Lucy tries to let Milton Berle work on his book in peace while he's at the Ricardos' house. | |||
| 2 | The Ricardos Go To Japan | September 1959 | November 27, 1959 |
| Lucy wants real pearls while in Tokyo, Japan, and finds herself dressing up as a geisha to see that she gets them. Bob Cummings guest stars. | |||
| 3 | Lucy Meets The Mustache | March 2, 1960 (Completed) | April 1, 1960 |
| Ricky is depressed because he has not been getting any TV offers lately, so Lucy, Fred, and Ethel try to cheer him up. Ernie Kovacs and his wife Edie Adams guest star.
Note: This is the final episode of the show due to the divorce of Ball and Arnaz, which occurred 2 months after this episode aired. Many people who worked on I Love Lucy said that they had a feeling this would be the last episode because of the constant fighting between the two even though more episodes were planned to be produced. | |||
References
- ↑ "Special Collector's Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time". TV Guide (June 28-July 4). 1997.
- ↑ "TV Guide's Top 100 Episodes". Rev/Views. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
- ↑ TV Guide June 29-July 5, 1996. pg. 66.
- ↑ Hughes, Jason (2013-09-02). "Betty White Counts Down 'TV's Funniest Of The Funniest': Who Came Out On Top?". The Huffington Post.
- ↑ "Special Collector's Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time". TV Guide (June 28-July 4). 1997.
- ↑ Kanfer, Stefan (2003). Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 198. ISBN 0-375-41315-4.
Further reading
- Andrews, Bart (1985). The "I Love Lucy" Book. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-19033-6.
- Edwards, Elisabeth (2010) [2001]. I love Lucy: Celebrating 50 Years of Love and Laughter. Philadelphia: Running Press. ISBN 978-0-7624-3983-6.
External links
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