by HB Auld and AMAC Magazine
One of America’s favorite television shows of all time premiered 70 years ago tonight.
“The beloved sitcom, “I Love Lucy,” starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, debuted on CBS television on October 15, 1951. The series, which aired from 1951 to 1957, was the most popular show in America for four if its six primetime seasons.”
“The storyline centered on the lives of Lucy Ricardo and her bandleader husband, Ricky, who lived on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and later in Connecticut.
In the show, their best friends, Fred and Ethel Mertz, were former vaudevillians who were often involved in the Ricardos’ shenanigans. Ricky was played by Lucy’s real-life husband. The program won five Emmy Awards during its six-year run.” — The AMAC Magazine, October, 2021
The program, with its homespun “family-at-home” storyline, went on to be the formula for many of America’s family sitcoms, including “The Jeffersons,” “All in the Family,” “The Donna Reed Show,” “Father Knows Best,” and many others.
Even though the four primary actors, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, William Frawley (Fred Mertz), and Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz) have all passed on, the show, “I Love Lucy,” lives on in DVDs, in reruns, and in the hearts and memories of those who lived through the 1950s.
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