Comedy’s First Lady
Lucy, Ricky (played by Desi Arnaz), Ethel (played by Vivian Vance) and Fred (played by William Frawley) have been loved by television watching people for generations now. It is with releases like this that you can continue laughing and loving Lucy (Lucille Ball). Like most good comedies the premise is a simple one with Lucy being a housewife married to bandleader Ricky Ricardo. Lucy wants to also get into show business but Ricky keeps denying her. Not one to let anything go Lucy keeps trying and it leads to a heap of funny situations.
Episode 1: The “I Love Lucy” Pilot: This first aired on CBS on April 30, 1990. It was thought to be lost and once found underwent a full digital restoration.
Episode 2: The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub: It is the Mertzes’ anniversary and a fight crops up over where to go to celebrate. It ends with the men and women going to different places.
Episode 3: Be a Pal: Lucy goes to great lengths to rekindle the romance between her and Ricky. She does everything from playing a poker game, dressing up and turning the apartment into Little Havana.
Episode 4: The Diet: Ricky finally agrees to allow Lucy into the show. The only condition is that she lose enough weight to fit into the size 12 costume.
Episode 5: Lucy Thinks Ricky is Trying to Murder Her: Lucy is in the process of reading a murder mystery. Combined with Ethel’s fortune telling Lucy begins to believe that Ricky is planning to kill her.
Episode 6: The Quiz Show: In order to win $1,000 on a television show, Lucy has to lie to her husband. Lucy has to introduce a stranger to Ricky as her long-lost husband.
Episode 7: The Audition: Ricky has to try and keep Lucy away from his television audition. She finds a way in when a clown cannot show up and decides to take his place.
Episode 8: The Séance: Ricky tries to convince a Broadway producer to hire him for a show. In order to do just that the Ricardos and Mertzes host a phony séance.
Episode 9: Men Are Messy: Lucy has grown very tired of Ricky’s messy ways. To teach him a lesson Lucy divides the apartment in two, a his and hers side.
Episode 10: This Fur Coat: For an act at the club Ricky borrows an expensive mink coat. Lucy mistakenly believes it is for her and won’t take it off.
Episode 11: Lucy is Jealous of a Girl Singer: A gossip column has linked Ricky with a girl at the club. Even though it is a phony story put in the papers by his agent Lucy finds herself jealous.
Episode 12: Drafted: Lucy and Ethel mistakenly believe that their husbands have been drafted. As such they start knitting going-away gifts.
Episode 13: The Adagio: In order to be in a number at the club Lucy starts taking dance lessons. It becomes tricky when her Parisian teacher has more than dance on his mind.
Episode 14: The Benefit: Ricky agrees to perform a vaudeville routine with Lucy for Ethel’s Women’s Club Benefit. After realizing that Ricky has all the good lines Lucy decides to make some changes.
Episode 15: The Amateur Hour: Lucy decides to take a job babysitting. She realizes that she is in over her head when it turns out to be twins who are terrors.
Episode 16: Lucy Plays Cupid: To help out her shy, elderly neighbour Lucy is to invite the grocer over to Miss Lewis’s (played by Bea Benaderet) for a romantic dinner. Things get fouled up when the grocer falls for Lucy.
Episode 17: Lucy Fakes Illness: After Ricky’s latest move to keep her out of show business Lucy feigns a nervous breakdown. After realizing what she is up to Ricky brings home a friend posing as a doctor who tells Lucy she has a rare disease.
Episode 18: Lucy Writes a Play: Lucy writes a play to star herself and Ricky for her club’s playwright competition. Ricky refuses to do it until he finds out a famous producer will be there.
Episode 19: Breaking the Lease: Lucy and Ricky get into a fight with Ethel and Fred over noise and decide to move out. To do so, however, they are going to have to break their lease.
Episode 20: The Ballet: Lucy begins training as a ballerina in order to get into Ricky’s show. Things get confusing when she also takes burlesque lessons from a comic.
Episode 21: The Young Fans: Ricky has a teenage fan named Peggy (played by Janet Waldo) who follows him around obsessively. In order to rid him of that burden Lucy teaches Peggy’s classmate Arthur (played by Richard Crenna) to dance to have him go to the dance with Peggy.
Episode 22: New Neighbors: Lucy and Ethel are very interested in the couple who have moved into the building. After some snooping, Lucy mistakenly believes that they are planning to murder Lucy, Ricky, Ethel and Fred.
Episode 23: Fred and Ethel Fight: Lucy gets Fred and Ethel back together after a big fight. While doing so she and Ricky get into a fight and now they are not talking.
Episode 24: The Moustache: Lucy hates Ricky’s new moustache. To teach him a lesson Lucy glues on a white beard.
Episode 25: The Gossip: Ricky and Fred bet Lucy and Ethel that they cannot give up gossiping. In order to make sure they win Ricky and Fred dole out some juicy gossip in their sleep.
Episode 26: Pioneer Women: The guys bet the girls that they cannot live like their grandmothers’ did years ago. This leads to Lucy and Ethel trying to bake bread from scratch and churn their own butter.
Episode 27: The Marriage License: Lucy realizes that an error was made on hers and Ricky’s marriage license. Convince they are not legally married Lucy makes Ricky bring her back to Connecticut to propose to her all over again.
Episode 28: The Kleptomaniac: Lucy does not want Ricky to know that she is in charge of the Women’s Club Bazaar. To keep it a secret she stashes the goods and money around the apartment but when Ricky finds it he believes Lucy is a thief.
Episode 29: Cuban Pals: Lucy is jealous of Ricky’s new dance partner. She comes up with a plan to take her place in the show.
Episode 30: The Freezer: Lucy installs a walk in freezer in the basement. She then learns the hard way how cold it really is.
Episode 31: Lucy Does a TV Commercial: Lucy wrangles her way onto a commercial for Vitameatavegamin health tonic. After a few takes the product, which contains alcohol, begins to have an effect on Lucy.
Episode 32: The Publicity Agent: Ricky is worried as his name is no longer in the papers. Lucy comes up with a scheme involving the Maharincess of Franistan that is sure to get him some publicity.
Episode 33: Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio: The fact that Ricky knows all the answers to a radio quiz show really impresses Lucy. So much so that she gets them on the show as contestants.
Episode 34: Lucy’s Schedule: Ricky is tired of Lucy’s chronic lateness he comes up with a schedule for her. To teach him a lesson Lucy serves a speed dinner to his boss, Mr. Littlefield (played by Gale Gordon).
Episode 35: Ricky Thinks He’s Getting Bald: Ricky believes that his hairline is receding. To show him how ridiculous he is being Lucy decides to give him scalp treatments.
Episode 36: Ricky Asks For a Raise: Lucy talks Ricky into asking for a raise and he ends up with no job. Lucy comes up with a scheme to get Ricky rehired at the club.
Special Features: I Love Lucy Costume + Make Up Tests, Photo Gallery, Take a Bow, Guest Cast Profiles, Special Slide Shows (Audio + Photos), Behind the Scenes (Audio Book Featurette), “I Love Lucy: The Very First Show” (1990), 1951 Promo, Production Notes, Before and After, Flubs, Lucy on the Radio (Audio Only), Sponsor Talent, On-Set Colour Home Movies, The Sunday Lucy Show, Clowning Around, Fancy Editing
