Loving Lucy

This weekend, October 15th, marked the 71st anniversary of the first airing on CBS of one of the favorite TV shows ever made…I Love Lucy. It was an instant success!

This was one of the most popular shows ever produced. In its heyday 60 million people watched “I Love Lucy“. It has been reported that so many people tuned in each week when it aired, that between 1951 -1957, water usage would plummet every Monday night at 9 pm.

There were many firsts and significant contributions that Lucy and Desi made to television and the culture in general. In 1955 the show achieved a significant first when it became the first TV series to broadcast reruns. This was due to the genius of Desi Arnaz, who produced the show on film, rather than the grainier kinescope as most other shows of the time were produced. According to the-take.com “With a hard copy the footage and the rights to its distribution, they were able to sell the series into syndication and play reruns during the series, changing the industry forever.” They began showing reruns while Lucy was pregnant. She was the first woman to be shown while pregnant on network television as it was not generally believed to be acceptable in that time to show a pregnant woman. They referred to her as “expecting” in the show instead of using the word “pregnant”.

And one of the most significant firsts was having a mixed racial couple portrayed on network TV. Television executives didn’t think the American audience would accept a white woman married to a Cuban man. But Lucy and Desi convinced the CBS executives to give that relationship in the story line a chance and television history was again made.

Here is a video collection of some of the best episodes of America’s favorite redhead and funniest moments in the 6 year run of the show:

The shenanigans of Lucy, Ricky (Desi), Ethel and Fred have been aired across the world consistently since the show first aired and continue to delight people of all ages and all nationalities because these stories and situations, and dilemmas they create are universal. Your Two Chums have been known to refer to each other as “Lucy and Ethel”.

If you haven’t watched I Love Lucy recently you can catch episodes on Hulu, The Roku Channel, Paramount Plus, Apple TV and Prime video. And on local channels in some areas. Audiences have been loving Lucy for 71 years, still are, and certainly will be for years to come. We can say wholeheartedly, WE LOVE LUCY! 🙂