I Love Lucy

My letter I this time around is possibly the most popular global sitcom of all time, I Love Lucy. Running between 1951 and 1957, there were 181 episodes. Lucille Ball, her husband (in both fact & fiction) Desi Arnaz and their neighbours, landlords and friends Fred & Ethel Mertz.
Right from the pilot episode Lucy wants a bit of celebrity, in that episode she ends up standing in for a clown. Her attempts at fame include trying to be a dancer, writer, burlesque comic, operetta writer, a promoter, Shakesperean actress and any other scheme to help with her plan. They didn't ever work out too well.
I Love Lucy was created by Jess Oppenheimer who was behind Lucy's previous radio series My Favorite Husband, in that series her husband George was played by Richard Denning and he worked in a bank not in showbiz. Oppenheimer tried to encourage Lucy to be more extreme in her performances, according to Oppenheimer buying her tickets to a recording of Jack Benny's show did the trick and loosened her up in front of a studio audience. Her ability to perform in front of audiences led to the TV series being the first of the "recorded in front of a live studio audience" sitcoms.
Oppenheimer co-wrote with Bob Carrol Jr and Madelyn Pugh, who both continued to write for Lucy on many series and specials.
Lucille Ball had insisted that she would only do the programme with her real life husband playing her fictional one, CBS hesitated but eventually relented to a pilot with Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo. The pilot included a lot of material they had developed in live performances aided by the clown Pepito Perez who also appeared in the pilot.
Here's a memorable moment with guest star Harpo Marx


Lucy & Ethel work in a candy factory


and here Ricky prefers a barbershop quartet stays as a trio


I Love Lucy site run by Jess Oppenheimer's son Gregg.