Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: How long did I Love Lucy run?
I Love Lucy is a popular 1950s American television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes spanning 6 seasons (including the 'lost' original pilot and Christmas episode). The show starred Lucille Ball, her real-life husband Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. It followed the life of Lucy Ricardo (Ball), a middle class housewife in New York City, who either concocted plans with her best friends (Vance & Frawley) to appear alongside her bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo (Arnaz) in his nightclub, or tried numerous schemes to mingle with, or be a part of show business. After the series ended in 1957, a modified version continued for three more seasons with 13 one-hour specials; it ran from 1957 to 1960. It was first known as The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show and later in reruns as The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour. Following the end of that, Ball divorced Arnaz and appeared in three other sitcoms into 1986.
I Love Lucy, a.k.a. I Love Lucy: The Movie is a 1953 American feature film spin-off of the sitcom "I Love Lucy". Except for one test screening in Bakersfield, California, the film was never theatrically released and was shelved.
After the conclusion of the sixth season of I Love Lucy, the Arnazes decided to cut down on the number of episodes that were filmed. Instead, they extended I Love Lucy to 60 minutes, with a guest star each episode. They renamed the show The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, also known as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. Thirteen hour-long episodes aired from 1957 to 1960. The main cast, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley and Little Ricky/Richard Keith (birth name Keith Thibodeaux) were all in the show. The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour is available on DVD, released as I Love Lucy: The Final Seasons 7, 8, & 9. On March 2, Desi's birthday, 1960, the day after the last hour-long episode was filmed, Lucille Ball filed for divorce from Desi Arnaz. It made that playful, yet passionate kiss at the end of the final episode, which aired April 1, "Lucy Meets the Moustache", all the more poignant, as the world already knew that this storied Hollywood marriage was all but over, and also lent extra meaning to the use of the song "That's All" (performed by guest star Edie Adams) in that episode.
Of course, Monte can't win without Lucy's help. He arrives at Lucy's apartment, where the two girls are asleep. He wakes them up and discovers they have serious hangovers. Worried that they won't help him, Monte makes up a story, 'Cecil and Dante know about the robbery... I don't know how they found out... There's still hope. I made a deal- a bet-a bet with Cecil and Dante: if we win, they drop all charges, like nothing ever happened... [If we lose,] 20 years hard labour'. Vivian and Monte believe that they can train Lucy, but quickly, for the stunt is to be performed the following night. Lucy trains for hours, and before long, the three fall asleep, exhausted. Vivian wakes up in the early hours of the morning and leaves, which, in turn, causes Monte and Lucy to wake up. Lucy wants to get up and train, but Monte convinces her to stay, and the two make love in Lucy's apartment.
A test screening in Bakersfield, California, went very well and Desilu (through distributor United Artists) prepared to release the film. But Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer demanded the film be shelved because they felt it would diminish interest in the upcoming MGM film, "The Long, Long Trailer", in which Lucy and Desi co-starred and were contractually bound to promote. The "I Love Lucy" movie was ultimately forgotten.
Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet, supporting cast members on My Favorite Husband, were originally approached for the roles of Fred and Ethel, but neither could accept owing to previous commitments. Gordon did appear as a guest star in three episodes, playing Ricky's boss, Mr. Littlefield, in two episodes, and later in an hour-long episode as a civil court judge. Gordon was a veteran from the classic radio days in which he perfected the role of the exasperated character, as in Fibber McGee and Molly and Our Miss Brooks. He would go on to co-star with Ball in all of her post–I Love Lucy series (The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life with Lucy). Benaderet was a guest star in one episode as elderly Miss Lewis, a neighbor of the Ricardos.
"I travelled among unknown men" is a love poem completed in April 1801 by the English poet William Wordsworth and originally intended for the "Lyrical Ballads" anthology, but it was first published in "Poems, in Two Volumes" in 1807 (see 1807 in poetry). The third poem of Wordsworth's "Lucy series", "I travelled..." was composed after the poet had spent time living in Germany in 1798. Due to acute homesickness, the lyrics promise that once returned to England, he will never live abroad again. The poet states he now loves England "more and more". Wordsworth realizes that he did not know how much he loved England until he lived abroad and uses this insight as an analogy to understand his unrequited feelings for his beloved, Lucy.
It is based on three of the Lucy poems by William Wordsworth. The song starts with "I travelled among unknown men", in which the poet tells us of his two-fold love for England and for an Englishwoman called Lucy. The second poem, "She dwelt among the untrodden ways", is about a woman the poet loved called Lucy, who is now dead. The last poem, "A slumber did my spirit seal", is about the deceased Lucy.
A scene in which Lucy and Ricky practice the tango, in the episode "Lucy Does The Tango", evoked the longest recorded studio audience laugh in the history of the show — so long that the sound editor had to cut that section of the soundtrack in half.[49] During the show's production breaks, Lucy and Desi starred together in two feature films: The Long, Long Trailer (1954) and Forever, Darling (1956). After I Love Lucy ended its run in 1957, the main cast continued to appear in occasional hour-long specials under the title The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour until 1960.
The story of how Frawley was hired to play "Fred Mertz" in "I Love Lucy" is told in "I Love Lucy: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom", a comedy that had its world premiere in Los Angeles on July 12, 2018. The play, from Gregg Oppenheimer (son of I Love Lucy creator-producer-head writer Jess Oppenheimer), was recorded in front of a live audience for nationwide public radio broadcast and online distribution.
Unlike most movie adaptations, "I Love Lucy: The Movie" is presented as a "show within a show within a show". The film is framed around a plot involving a young married couple (played by Ann Doran and Benny Baker) attending the filming of an episode of "I Love Lucy". After an opening sequence of the couple arriving at the studio, there is a brief introduction by the show's announcer, Roy Rowan, as he introduces Desi Arnaz, who speaks to the studio audience and introduces the cast (something Arnaz would do throughout the run of the series).
The story of how Vance was hired to play "Ethel Mertz" in "I Love Lucy" is told in "I Love Lucy: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom", a comedy that had its world premiere in Los Angeles on July 12, 2018. The play, from Gregg Oppenheimer (son of I Love Lucy creator-producer-head writer Jess Oppenheimer), was recorded in front of a live audience for nationwide public radio broadcast and online distribution.
Critics have generally regarded the series as a rather pallid continuation of "I Love Lucy", with not enough of the original show's brisk pace and memorable sketchwork, and an excessive use of celebrity guest-stars. Still, many fans enjoy the series because of the cast, which remained intact from the original. "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" is occasionally seen on nostalgia outlets like TV Land in its original hour-long format, or in edited thirty-minute installments (beginning in 1987) as "We Love Lucy" and run directly after the sixth season of "I Love Lucy" the additional 'episodes' broadcast as a 7th season of "I Love Lucy". Me-TV broadcast the program in the original one-hour format during the summer of 2012. The Decades Channel ran a weekend binge marathon of "Lucy-Desi" in August 2015. With just 13 episodes produced and broadcast during its 3-year run the series was released as one DVD box collection separate from the "I Love Lucy" sets.
I Love Lucy's Zany Road Trip: California Here We Come!, a compilation of 27 episodes, released by CBS/FOX Video on VHS in 1992[91] "I Love Lucy – Season 1" (9 separate discs labeled "Volumes", first volume released July 2, 2002, final volume released September 23, 2003) "I Love Lucy – Season 1" (9 Volumes in box set, released September 23, 2003) "I Love Lucy – 50th Anniversary Special" (1 disc, released October 1, 2002) "I Love Lucy: The Movie and Other Great Rarities" (1 disc, released April 27, 2010)[92] (Also included as a bonus disc in the complete series set.) "The Best of I Love Lucy" (2 discs: 14 episodes, released in June 2011 in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the series and Lucille Ball's 100th birthday; sold exclusively through Target.)[93]
In a 2005 interview with the "St. Petersburg Times", Carroll discussed the fact that he and his writing partner Pugh did not receive any compensation for the "I Love Lucy" re-runs, as would be standard for writers today. He did, however, keep his sense of humor over the situation telling a reporter: "Do you think I'd be sitting here if I'd had residuals? I'd have flown you down to Cuba for this interview if I had."
He co-authored Madelyn Pugh Davis' memoir, "Laughing with Lucy", released September 2005.
I love Lucy and she loves me. We're as happy as two can be. Sometimes we quarrel but then How we love making up again. Lucy kisses like no one can. She's my missus and I'm her man, And life is heaven you see, 'Cause I love Lucy, Yes I love Lucy, and Lucy loves me!
"I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this," said McCarthy. "I thought he would love this racetrack. Backing up to one turn, where his best races were, I thought he would run away, and (he) did just that."
In 1957, I Love Lucy was re-tailored into an hour-long show originally titled The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show that was to be part of an anthology series called the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. The hour-long Lucy-Desi show was to alternate on a monthly basis with other hour long Playhouse shows. The new series put a much heavier emphasis on big name guest stars as being part of the plot and although the Mertz characters continued into the new series, their roles became somewhat diminished. Although a lighter workload was welcomed by Frawley, Vance came to somewhat resent the change. Arnaz, in an effort to please Vance, for whom he had much respect, proposed doing a spin-off from I Love Lucy called The Mertzes. Seeing a lucrative opportunity and the chance to star in his own show, Frawley was enthused. Vance, however, declined for a number of reasons, the biggest factor being that she felt she and Frawley could barely work together on the ensemble show they were doing at the time, so it would be much less likely the two could work together on their own series. Vance also felt that the Mertz characters would not be as successful without the Ricardos to play off of, and despite being her biggest success, she was becoming interested in playing more glamorous roles rather than Ethel. In fact, during the thirteen-episode run of the Lucy-Desi hour-long shows, Vance was given a lot more latitude to look more attractive as Ethel Mertz, something she was denied during the run of the I Love Lucy episodes. Frawley's resentment of Vance intensified after she declined to do the spin-off show and the two rarely talked to each other outside of their characters' dialogue with one another.
I Love Lucy aired Mondays from 9:00 to 9:30 PM ET on CBS for its entire first run. Each year during its summer hiatus its timeslot was occupied by various summer replacement series. Beginning in April 1955 CBS added reruns from the show's early years to its early evening weekend schedule. This would be the first of several occasions when I Love Lucy reruns would become part of CBS's evening, prime time, and (later on) daytime schedules.[40]
When new shows are added to the lineup, they are usually accompanied by some kind of marathon that is sometimes hosted by a star from the show. For instance, when "Newhart" joined Nick at Nite in the early 1990s, the channel also acquired Bob Newhart's short-lived third sitcom "Bob", and ran a block branded "Bob's Bob, Bob Newhart, Newhart Marathon", featuring the two shows along with "The Bob Newhart Show" (which it already had the rights to broadcast), in an event hosted by Bob Newhart. Nick at Nite's debut of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was called the "Marython". When "I Love Lucy" joined Nick at Nite in 1994, a week-long marathon called "Nick at Nite Loves Lucy" aired, showcasing every one of Lucille Ball's sitcoms that aired between 1951 and 1986 ("I Love Lucy", "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour", "The Lucy Show", "Here's Lucy", and "Life With Lucy"). When some older shows were retired, Nick at Nite would also frequently have a marathon send-off. For instance, when "Mister Ed" was finally retired from the network in January 1993 after a seven-year run, Nick at Nite ran a weekend-long marathon of the show called "Au Revoir Mister Ed!"; a similar send-off for "The Donna Reed Show", which ran on the channel for nine years beginning with Nick at Nite's July 1985 debut, also ran that year. "My Three Sons" was sent off the night Daylight Saving Time ended in October 1991 with a marathon called "Nite of the Setting Sons," permitting two extra episodes in the marathon due to the one-hour time shift.
At the end of the war, his childhood friend Desi Arnaz asked Rizo to join him as the pianist and orchestrator for his band, the Desi Arnaz Orchestra. He toured the U.S. with the band until 1950. When Arnaz started production of "I Love Lucy", he once again turned to Rizo, hiring him to be the pianist and orchestrator for the show between 1951 and 1957. Rizo also made several on-camera appearances on the show throughout its run on television.
Contrary to popular belief he did not write the I Love Lucy theme by himself which had music by Rizo, Eliot Daniel and Desi Arnaz with lyrics by Harold Adamson. The lyrics were only heard once on the series in the Season three episode 'Lucy's Last Birthday' made in 1953.
After the "I Love Lucy" show ended, he remained with CBS and was the pianist-arranger for the “Bob Hope Radio Show.”
In total 180 episodes of "I Love Lucy" were produced, plus a pilot episode. The pilot, which was not made for broadcast and did not air as part of the show's original run, is generally not counted as one of the episodes and therefore is not listed below. It is, however, included on DVD and Blu-ray releases of the first season. Following "I Love Lucy", a further 13 hour-long episodes were produced under the title of "The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour".
After season six, the series was renamed "The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show" for its original broadcast run and rather than airing as weekly half hour series, hour-long episodes were produced to run occasionally during the year. There were thirteen hour-long shows. The first five were broadcast as specials during the 1957-58 television season. The other eight episodes were broadcast as part of the "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse" from October 6, 1958, to April 1, 1960. The series was subsequently broadcast in syndication as "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" and "We Love Lucy". This show had the same cast as "I Love Lucy", employed many of the other same actors, and featured many famous guest stars. Of the original "I Love Lucy" cast, besides the principals, only Lucy's mother appeared in any "Comedy Hour" episode. She appears in season 3, episode 2 'The Ricardos Go To Japan' as Little Ricky's babysitter.
On May 4, 2003, CBS aired a television movie titled Lucy that portrayed the life of Lucille Ball, and during the I Love Lucy days, showed clips of I Love Lucy episodes. Numerous clips were remade, most notably "Lucy Does a TV Commercial", "Lucy Is Enceinte", and "Job Switching". Near the end of the movie, there are a selection of TV Guide covers in the hallway showing I Love Lucy franchises on their cover. Also, there was a close up of a New York Post article that tells the birth of Little Ricky.
Carroll and Pugh helped develop and create a vaudeville act for Lucille Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz, which became the basis for the pilot episode of the "I Love Lucy" series. Together the team tackled 39 episodes per season for the run of the show. Pugh and Carroll were nominated for three Emmys for their work on it; that total would likely have been considerably higher, but the Academy did not award Emmys to writers until 1954. The pair also wrote episodes of Ball's subsequent series, "The Lucy Desi Comedy Hour", "The Lucy Show", "Here's Lucy", and, in 1986, her final sitcom, "Life With Lucy".
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