52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week 6

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History - Week 6 - Radio and Television. What was my favorite radio or television show from my childhood? What was the program about and who was in it?

One of my favorite television shows as I grew up was I Love Lucy. I was born in 1959 and the I Love Lucy show began airing on October 15, 1951 so I was watching re-runs and didn't know it. For me, Lucy and Ricky were really living in New York.

She and Ethel reminded me of my mother and her sister, Judy. Later, my relationship with my two younger sisters is close like Lucy and Ethel. I'm surprised at how much the show influenced me. All I ever wanted to be was a homemaker like Lucy (and like my Mom, Grandmothers and Aunts).


The show aired on CBS until May 6, 1957 but it continued for three more seasons with 13 one-hour specials, running from 1957 to 1960 as The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show. It was the most watched series and was shot before a live studio audience.



Set in New York City, I Love Lucy centers on Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball), and her singer/bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz), along with their best friends and landlords Fred Mertz (William Frawley) and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance). During the second season, Lucy and Ricky have a son named Little Ricky. Cuban Bandleader Ricky would be happy if his wife, Lucy, would just be a housewife. Instead she constantly tries to become a star like her husband. She constantly and innocently got into wacky situations and it was so funny! Such a difference between modern TV comedy shows which feature sexual innuendo and bathroom jokes. They knew how to be funny back then without resorting to dirty jokes. The writers were brilliant: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Davis, Bob Carroll, Jr., Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf.