How long did I Love Lucy run?

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.”

Marco Rizo

Marco Rizo Ayala (November 30, 1920 – September 8, 1998) was a Cuban-born pianist, composer, and arranger. He mastered the 19th Century works of composers Manuel Saumell and Ignacio Cervantes. He is best known for his role as pianist, arranger and orchestrator for the American television sitcom "I Love Lucy" which aired from October 15, 1951 to May 6, 1957 on CBS, Columbia Broadcasting System.

Throughout his career which combined the techniques of his classical training with Afro-Cuban and jazz rhythms, Rizo recorded nearly 30 albums. He was born in Santiago de Cuba, Oriente, Cuba.

Rizo’s father, Sebastian, a flutist with the Santiago Symphony Orchestra, served as his son’s first musical instructor. In 1932, Marco moved to Havana to attend the National Conservatory of Music, where he studied under the tutelage of Spanish composer Pedro San Juan. He remained there for six years, and in 1938 was named the official pianist of the Havana Philharmonic Orquestra, performing under the direction of Ernesto Lecuona. In 1939, he performed duo piano recitals with Ernesto Lecuona. Rizo was considered Cuba's most important concert pianist by the age of 16. Rizo became interested in jazz through his work with his father's Rizo-Ayala Jazz Band.

In 1940, he migrated to the United States, having received a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. There, he studied under Rosina Lhévinne. During World War II, Rizo performed and worked with the 2nd Army Military Band.

While in Los Angeles, he attended UCLA and studied under Igor Stravinsky and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Rizo composed motion picture music for Columbia, Paramount and MGM Studios. He continued his concert career in 1960, playing the music of Lecuona and other Cubans.

In the early 1970s, Rizo worked as the musical director for the Royal Viking Sea cruise ship. Throughout his career, he arranged for hundreds of top artists: Carmen Miranda, Danny Kaye, Xavier Cugat, Yma Sumac, and Paquito D’Rivera, among many others. Some of his most memorable piano and orchestral compositions include “Suite Campesina,” “Ñañigo,” “Danzas Cubanas,” “Jose Marti-Sinfonia Cubana,” “Broadway Concerto,” “Suite of the Americas,” “Suite Española,” and “Visions of New York.”

In the early 1980s, he founded the non-profit organization “The Marco Rizo Latin American Music Project” (SAMPI), which aimed to spread appreciation for Latin music and culture to students in universities, colleges, high schools, and public schools.

In 1989, Rizo won the Silver Medal of the French Academy of the Arts, Sciences and Letters.

He died of a heart attack in 1998 at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. His sister, Vilma Rizo, donated many of his papers, files, and compositions to the Music Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts located at Lincoln Center in New York City. Among the various items in the collection is an unpublished biography that Rizo wrote of his longtime friend Desi Arnaz entitled “The Desi I Knew” (1991).

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

"I Love Lucy" became the most watched show in the United States in four of its six seasons, and it was the first to end its run at the top of the Nielsen ratings (an accomplishment later matched only by "The Andy Griffith Show" in 1968 and "Seinfeld" in 1998). As of 2011, episodes of the show have been syndicated in dozens of languages across the world and remain popular with an American audience of 40 million each year. A colorized version of its Christmas episode attracted more than 8 million viewers when CBS aired it in prime time in 2013 – 62 years after the show premiered.

The show, which was the first scripted television program to be shot on 35 mm film in front of a studio audience, won five Emmy Awards and received numerous nominations and honors. It was the first show ever to feature an ensemble cast. It is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential sitcoms in history. In 2012, it was voted the 'Best TV Show of All Time' in a survey conducted by ABC News and "People" magazine.

Originally set in an apartment building 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 Ricky Ricardo Jr. ("Little Ricky"), whose birth was timed to coincide with Ball's real-life birth of her son Desi Arnaz Jr.

Lucy is naïve and ambitious, with an undeserved zeal for stardom and a knack for getting herself and her husband into trouble whenever Lucy yearns to make it in show business. The Ricardos' best friends, Fred and Ethel, are former vaudevillians and this only strengthens Lucy's resolve to prove herself as a performer. Unfortunately, she has few marketable performance skills. She does not seem to be able to carry a tune or play anything other than off-key renditions of songs such as "Glow Worm" on the saxophone, and many of her performances devolve into disaster. However, to say she is completely without talent would be untrue, as on occasion, she is shown to be a good dancer and a competent singer. She is also at least twice offered contracts by television or film companies—first in "The Audition" when she replaces an injured clown in Ricky's act, and later in Hollywood when she dances for a studio benefit using a rubber Ricky dummy as her dancing partner.

The show provided Ball ample opportunity to display her considerable skill at clowning and physical comedy. Character development was not a major focus of early sitcoms, so little was offered about her life before the show. A few episodes mentioned that she was born in Jamestown, New York (Lucille Ball's real-life home town), later corrected to "West" Jamestown, that she graduated from Jamestown High School, that her maiden name was "McGillicuddy" (indicating a Scottish or Irish ethnicity at least on her father's side, though she once mentioned her grandmother was Swedish; there are sizable Irish and Swedish communities in Jamestown), and that she met Ricky on a boat cruise with her friend from an agency she once worked for. Her family was absent, other than occasional appearances by her scatter-brained mother (Kathryn Card), who could never get Ricky's name right. Lucy also exhibited many traits that were standard for female comedians at the time, including being secretive about her age and true hair color, and being careless with money, along with being somewhat materialistic, insisting on buying new dresses and hats for every occasion and telling old friends that she and Ricky were wealthy. She was also depicted as a devoted housewife and attentive mother. As part of Lucy's role was to care for her husband, she stayed at home and took care of the household chores while her husband Ricky went to work. During the post war era Lucy took jobs outside of the home but in these jobs she was portrayed as being inept outside of her usual domestic duties.
Lucy's husband, Ricky Ricardo, is an up-and-coming Cuban American singer and bandleader with an excitable personality. His patience is frequently tested by his wife's antics trying to get into showbiz, and exorbitant spending on clothes or furniture. When exasperated, he often reverts to speaking rapidly in Spanish. As with Lucy, not much is revealed about his past or family. Ricky's mother (played by actress Mary Emery) appears in two episodes; in another Lucy mentions that he has five brothers. Ricky also mentions that he had been "practically raised" by his uncle Alberto (who was seen during a family visit to Cuba), and that he had attended the University of Havana.

An extended flashback segment in the 1957 episode "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana" of "The Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Show" filled in numerous details of how Lucy and Ricky met and how Ricky came to the United States. The story, at least insofar as related to newspaper columnist Hedda Hopper, is that the couple met in Havana when Lucy and the Mertzes vacationed there in 1940. Despite his being a university graduate, proficient in English, Ricky is portrayed as a driver of a horse-drawn cab who waits for fares at a pier where tourists arrive by ship. Ricky is hired to serve as one of Lucy's tour guides and the two fall in love. Having coincidentally also met popular singer Rudy Vallée on the cruise ship, Lucy arranges an audition for Ricky who is hired to be in Vallée's orchestra, thus allowing him to immigrate to the United States on the very ship on which Lucy and the Mertzes were returning. Lucy later states that Ricky played for Vallée only one night before being traded to Xavier Cugat's orchestra.

Note that the extended flashback segment "Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana" and the story of how Lucy and Ricky met is inconsistent with Season 4, Episode 18 entitled, "Don Juan and the Starlets" (1955). In that episode, Lucy mistakenly believes that Ricky stayed out all night after his publicity agent, Ross Elliott, sent him to a movie premiere accompanied by young starlets who were appearing in his movie. As a comeback in the ensuing argument, Lucy bemoans that she made a mistake fifteen years before when Marion Strong asked her if she would like to go on a blind date with a Cuban drummer and she said "yes."

Lucy is usually found with her sidekick and best friend Ethel Mertz. A former model from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ethel tries to relive her glory days in vaudeville. Ricky is more inclined to include Ethel in performances at his nightclub because, unlike Lucy, she can actually sing and dance rather well.

Ethel's husband Fred served in World War I, and lived through the Great Depression. He is very stingy with money and is an irascible, no-nonsense type. However, he also shows that he can be a soft touch, especially when it comes to Little Ricky. Fred can also sing and dance and often performs duets with Ethel.

The Manhattan building they all lived in before their move to Westport, Connecticut, was addressed at a fictional 623 East 68th Street, at first in apartment 4A, then moving to the larger apartment 3B (subsequently re-designated 3D; the Mertzes’ apartment is then numbered 3B), on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. In actuality, the addresses go up only to the 500s before the street terminates at the East River.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.

Barbara Pepper (later featured as Doris Ziffel in the series "Green Acres") was also considered to play Ethel, but Pepper had been drinking very heavily after the death of her husband, Craig W. Reynolds. Her friendship with Ball dated back to the film "Roman Scandals", in which both appeared as Goldwyn Girls. She did, however, turn up in at least nine episodes of "I Love Lucy" in bit parts.

Many of the characters' names were after Lucille Ball's family members or close friends; for example, Marion Strong was one of her best friends and roommate for a time in New York, and also set Lucy and Desi up on their first date. Lillian Appleby was a teacher of Lucy's when she was in an amateur production on the stage. Pauline Lopus was a childhood friend, Fred was also her brother and grandfather's name. Lucy and Desi had a business manager by the name of Mr. Andrew Hickox, and in the first episode of season 4, called "The Business Manager" Lucy and Ricky hire a man named Mr. Hickox.Lucille Ball had come to Hollywood after a successful stint as a New York model. She was chosen by Sam Goldwyn to be one of sixteen Goldwyn Girls to co-star in the picture "Roman Scandals" (1933) with film star Eddie Cantor. Enthusiastic and hard-working Ball had been able to secure film work briefly at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio and Columbia Pictures and then eventually at RKO Radio Pictures. It was at RKO that Ball received steady film work, first as an extra and bit player and eventually working her way up to co-starring roles in feature films and starring roles in second rate B pictures, collectively earning her the nickname "Queen of the B's". During her run at RKO, Ball gained the reputation for doing physical comedy and stunts that most other actresses avoided, keeping her steadily employed. In 1940, Lucy met Desi Arnaz, a Cuban bandleader who had just come off a successful run in the 1939–40 Broadway show "Too Many Girls". RKO had bought the film rights to the show and cast Ball as Arnaz's love interest in the picture. The duo began a whirlwind courtship leading to their elopement to Connecticut in November 1940. Despite their marriage, however, their careers kept them separated, with Lucy's film work keeping her anchored in Hollywood, while Desi's nightclub engagements with his orchestra kept him on the road.

Despite steadily working in pictures, Lucy's movie career never advanced to the level of a headlining feature-film actress; nevertheless she remained popular with movie audiences. Ball came to the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after receiving critical acclaim for her starring role in the 1942 Damon Runyon film "The Big Street", which bought out her contract. It was at MGM that Ball, who had been a blonde, dyed her hair red to complement the Technicolor features that MGM had planned to use her in. MGM used Ball in a variety of films, but it was her work with funny man Red Skelton in the 1942 film "DuBarry Was a Lady" that brought Ball's physical comedy into the forefront, earning her the reputation as "that crazy redhead", as Ricky would later call her. Nonetheless, Ball's striking beauty was in sharp contrast to physical antics she did in her films; thus, MGM tried to use her in multiple different film genres that did little to highlight her skills. Given their difficulties in casting her, MGM chose not to renew her contract when it expired in 1946.

Ball began working as a free-lancer in films and also began to explore other venues. Before and during World War II, Lucy had made several notable and successful guest appearances on several radio programs, among them Jack Haley's radio show and bandleader Kay Kyser's radio program. These appearances brought Lucy to the attention of CBS, which in 1948 enlisted Ball to star in one of two new half-hour situation comedies in development, "Our Miss Brooks" and "My Favorite Husband". Choosing the latter, Lucy portrayed Liz Cugat (later anglicized to Cooper), the frustrated and scheming housewife of a Minneapolis banker, played originally by actor Lee Bowman in the series pilot, and later by actor Richard Denning. Based on the novel "Mr. and Mrs. Cugat" by Isabel Scott Rorick, "My Favorite Husband" was produced by Jess Oppenheimer, and written by Oppenheimer, plus scribes Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. Premiering on July 23, 1948, and sponsored by General Foods, "Husband" became a hit for CBS. During the run of the radio program Lucy appeared in two feature films with Bob Hope, "Sorrowful Jones" in 1949, and "Fancy Pants" in 1950. Both films were box office and critical successes, further cementing Ball's reputation as a top notch first-rate comedian. They also showed her continuing popularity with audiences, enticing CBS to further use her skills.

In 1950, CBS asked Ball to take "My Favorite Husband" to television with co-star Richard Denning. She, however, saw a television show as a great opportunity to work with Desi, so Lucy insisted that Desi play her husband, much to the dismay of CBS, which was reluctant because Arnaz was Cuban. CBS executives believed that audiences would not believe the marriage between an all-American girl and a Latin man. To prove CBS wrong, the couple developed a vaudeville act, written by Carroll and Pugh, that they performed at the Newburgh's historic Ritz Theater with Arnaz's orchestra. The act was a hit and convinced CBS executive Harry Ackerman that a Ball-Arnaz pairing would be a worthwhile venture. At the same time, rival networks NBC, ABC, and DuMont were showing interest in a Ball-Arnaz series, which Ackerman used to convince CBS to sign the duo.

A pilot was ordered and kinescoped in Hollywood in March 1951, which coincided with Lucy's first pregnancy, and the ending of "Husband", which aired its last radio show on March 31, 1951. Ball and Arnaz used the same radio team of Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll to create the television series that was named "I Love Lucy". After showing the pilot to several advertising agencies, at first with not much luck, CBS was able to sell the series to the Milton H. Biow agency, which was able to convince one of their clients, cigarette giant Philip Morris, to sponsor the show.

During the spring and summer of 1951, "I Love Lucy" moved into production. Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll began fine-tuning the premise of the show and writing the series' first scripts. The trio had the good graces of having a backlog of storylines from "My Favorite Husband" to adapt for use on television. In addition, the series' ensemble cast and crew were assembled. Desi Arnaz retained his orchestra, which was used in the series musical numbers and to score the show's background and transitional music. Arnaz's childhood friend Marco Rizo arranged the music and played the piano for the show, while Wilbur Hatch was used to conduct the orchestra. Two problems arose, however, after Philip Morris signed on to sponsor the show, that would ultimately change the fate of "I Love Lucy".

Lucy and Desi had originally decided that the series would air on a biweekly basis, much like "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show". Philip Morris, however, was insistent that the show air weekly, thus diminishing the possibility of Lucy continuing her film career alongside a television show. Another problem lay in the fact that Philip Morris wanted the series to originate from New York rather than Hollywood. At the time, most television shows were produced from New York with live broadcasts of the show airing for eastern and Midwest audiences. West Coast viewers were able to view live programs only through low-quality kinescopes, which derived their images by using a 35 mm or 16 mm film camera to record the show from a television monitor. As videotape had not yet been developed, kinescopes seemed to be the only practical means to allow a live show to reach television markets on the West Coast. Complicating matters was that kinescopes were not available for immediate re-broadcast as in 1951 no coast-to-coast cable system was yet in service. Shows had to be sent to Hollywood, which delayed their airings for West Coast audiences by nearly a week. The process operated in the reverse for the few programs that originated live in Hollywood, such as "The Ed Wynn Show", thus making blurry kinescopes of these shows the only available print for eastern audiences. Most sponsors, including Philip Morris, found this to be undesirable as most of the television audience lived east of the Mississippi at the time.

Although the pilot had been made as a kinescope, for the series itself, the process was rejected. Owing to the impending birth of their first child, both Lucy and Desi insisted on staying in Hollywood and producing the show on film, something a few Hollywood-based series had begun to do. Both CBS and Philip Morris initially balked at the idea, because of the higher cost that filming the show would incur, yet acquiesced only after the couple offered to take a $1,000 a week pay cut in order to cover the additional expense. In exchange, Lucy and Desi demanded, and were given, 80% ownership in the "I Love Lucy" films (the other 20% went to producer Jess Oppenheimer who then gave 5% to writer Madelyn Pugh and 5% to writer Bob Carroll Jr.). Shooting the show on film, however, would require that Lucy and Desi become responsible for producing the series themselves. Union agreements at the time stipulated that any production filmed in a studio use film studio employees. CBS staff were television and radio employees and thus fell under different union agreements. Thus, Arnaz reorganized the company he created to manage his orchestra bookings and used it as the corporation that would produce the "I Love Lucy" shows. The company was named Desilu, from the combination of both their first names "Desi" and "Lucille".

Though some television series were already being filmed in Hollywood, most used the single-camera format familiar from movies, with a laugh track added to comedies to simulate audience response. Arnaz and "I Love Lucy" creator Jess Oppenheimer decided, however, that Lucy needed to work in front of an audience to create the kind of comic energy she had displayed on radio. The idea of a film studio that could accommodate an audience was a new one for the time, as fire safety regulations made it difficult to allow an audience in a studio. Arnaz and Oppenheimer were lucky enough to find the financially struggling General Service Studios located on Las Palmas Avenue in Hollywood. Studio owner Jimmy Nasser was eager to accommodate the Desilu company and allowed them, with financial backing of CBS, to renovate two of his studios so that they could accommodate an audience and be in compliance with local fire laws.

Another component to filming the show came when it was decided to use three 35 mm film cameras to simultaneously film the show. The idea had been pioneered by Ralph Edwards on the game show "Truth or Consequences", and had subsequently been used on "Amos 'n' Andy" as a way to save money, though "Amos n' Andy" did not use an audience. Edwards's assistant Al Simon was hired by Desilu to help perfect the new technique for the series. The process lent itself to the "Lucy" production as it eliminated the problem of requiring an audience to view and react to a scene three or four times in order for all necessary shots to be filmed. Multiple cameras would also allow scenes to be performed in sequence, as a play would be, which was unusual at the time for filmed series. Retakes were rare and dialogue mistakes were often played off for the sake of continuity.

Ball and Arnaz enlisted the services of Karl Freund, a cinematographer who had worked on such films as "Metropolis" (1927), "Dracula" (1931), and "The Good Earth" (1937), as well as directing "The Mummy" (1932), to be the series cinematographer. Although at first Freund did not want anything to do with television, it was the personal plea of the couple that convinced him to take the job.

Freund was instrumental in developing a way to uniformly light the set so that each of the three cameras would pick up the same quality of image. Freund noted that a typical episode (20–22 min.) was shot in about 60 minutes, with one constant concern being the shades-of-gray contrast in the final print, as each stage of transmission and broadcast would exaggerate the contrast. Among other non-standard techniques used in filming the show, cans of paint (in shades ranging from white to medium-gray) were kept on set to "paint out" inappropriate shadows and disguise lighting flaws. Freund also pioneered "flat lighting," in which everything is brightly lit to eliminate shadows and the need for endless relighting.

Audience reactions were live, thus creating a far more authentic laugh than the canned laughter used on most filmed sitcoms of the time. Regular audience members were sometimes heard from episode to episode, and Arnaz's distinctive laugh could be heard in the background during scenes in which he did not perform, as well as Ball's mother, DeDe, whose distinctive "Uh Oh" could be heard in many of the episodes. In later years, CBS would devise a laugh track from several "I Love Lucy" audiences and use them for canned laughter on shows done without a live audience.

"I Love Lucy"'s pioneering use of three cameras led to it becoming the standard technique for the production of most sitcoms filmed in front of an audience. Single-camera setups remained the technique of choice for sitcoms that did not use audiences. This led to an unexpected benefit for Desilu during the series's second season when it was discovered that Lucy was pregnant. Not being able to fulfill the show's 39-episode commitment, both Desi and Jess Oppenheimer decided to rebroadcast popular episodes of the series's first season to help give Lucy the necessary rest she needed after she gave birth, effectively allowing fewer episodes to be filmed that season. Unexpectedly the rebroadcasts proved to be ratings winners, effectively giving birth to the rerun, which would later lead to the profitable development of the rerun syndication market.

The show's original opening and commercial bumpers were animated caricatures of Lucy and Desi. They were designed and animated by MGM character designer and future "Flintstones" cartoonist, Gene Hazelton (1917-2005) and were produced secretly under a contract producer William Hanna had secured privately. The program sponsor, Phillip Morris cigarettes was incorporated into many of these sequences, so when I Love Lucy went into repeats, they were replaced by the now familiar heart logo. However Gene Hazelton's original animation survives, and can be seen in the DVD boxed set as originally presented.

Desilu Productions, jointly owned by Ball and Arnaz, would gradually expand to produce and lease studio space for many other shows. For seasons 1 and 2 (1951–1953), Desilu rented space and filmed "I Love Lucy" at General Service Studios, which eventually became known as Hollywood Center Studios. In 1953, it leased the Motion Picture Center at 846 Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood, renaming it "Desilu Studios", to shoot seasons 3–6 (1953–1957) of "I Love Lucy". After 1956, it became known as "Desilu-Cahuenga Studios" to avoid confusion with other acquired Desilu locations. In an effort to keep up with the studio's growth, and need for additional sound stages, Desi and Lucy purchased RKO Radio Pictures from General Tire in 1957 for over $6 million, effectively owning the studio where they had started as contract players. Desilu acquired RKO's two studio complexes located on Gower Street in Hollywood, and in Culver City (now part of the Paramount lot and Culver Studios respectively), along with the Culver City back lot nicknamed "Forty Acres". The sale was achieved by the duo selling their ownership of the once-thought-worthless "I Love Lucy" films back to CBS for over four million dollars.

In 1962, two years after their marriage dissolved, Lucy bought out Desi's shares of Desilu, becoming the studio's sole owner. She eventually sold off Desilu in 1967 to Gulf+Western, owners of Paramount Pictures. After the sale, Desilu-Cahuenga became a private production company and was known as Ren-Mar Studios till 2010, when it was acquired by the Red Digital Cinema Camera Company and renamed Red Studios – Hollywood.

As with "My Favorite Husband", "Lucy" writers decided that the Ricardos needed an older couple to play off of. While performing in "Husband", veteran character actors Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet had played Rudolph and Iris Atterbury, an older, more financially stable couple as Mr. Atterbury had been George Cooper's boss. Ball had initially wanted both actors to reprise their roles on television; however, both were unavailable at the time the show went into production as Benaderet was already playing Blanche Morton on "The Burns and Allen Show", and Gordon was under contract by CBS to play Mr. Conklin on both the radio and television versions of "Our Miss Brooks".

Casting the Mertzes, as they were now called (the surname taken from a doctor that "Lucy" scriptwriter Madelyn Pugh knew as a child in Indianapolis), proved to be a challenge. Ball had initially wanted character actor James Gleason, with whom she appeared in Columbia Pictures film "Miss Grant Takes Richmond" (1949), to play Fred Mertz. However, Gleason wanted nearly $3,500 per episode to play the role, a price that was far too high to sustain.

Sixty-four-year-old William Frawley, a seasoned vaudevillian and movie character actor with nearly 100 film credits to his name, was a long shot to play Fred Mertz and only came into consideration after he telephoned Ball personally to ask if there was a role for him on her new show. Ball, who had only briefly known Frawley from her days at RKO, suggested him to both Arnaz and CBS. The network objected to the idea of casting Frawley, fearing that his excessive drinking—which was well known in Hollywood—would interfere with a commitment to a live show. Arnaz nonetheless liked Frawley and lobbied hard for him to have the role, even to the point of having Lucy scribes re-tailor the role of Fred Mertz to be a less financially successful and more curmudgeonly (in contrast to Gale Gordon's Mr. Atterbury) character to fit Frawley's persona. CBS relented only after Arnaz contractually bound Frawley to complete sobriety during the production of the show, and reportedly told the veteran actor that if he ever appeared on-set more than once in an intoxicated state he would be fired. Not once during "Lucy"'s nine seasons did Frawley's drinking ever interfere with his performance, and over time Arnaz became one of Frawley's few close friends.

Casting the Ethel Mertz character was also some work. One choice was actress Barbara Pepper, who was a close friend of Ball. The two had a long history together, as Pepper had been one of the Goldwyn Girls who came to Hollywood with Lucy in 1933. Pepper was favored by Lucy herself; however, CBS refused on the grounds that Pepper suffered from a drinking problem too, which was far more severe than Frawley's. Nonetheless Pepper did appear in several bit parts during the run of the show.

Vivian Vance became a consideration on the recommendation of "Lucy" director Marc Daniels. Daniels had worked with Vance in New York on Broadway in the early 1940s. Vance had already been a successful stage star performing on Broadway for nearly 20 years in a variety of plays, and in addition, after relocating to Hollywood in the late 1940s, had two film roles to her credit. Nonetheless, by 1951, she was still a relatively unknown actress in Hollywood. Vance was performing in a revival of the play "The Voice of the Turtle" in La Jolla, California. Arnaz and Jess Oppenheimer went to see her in the play and hired her on the spot. Vance was reluctant about giving up her film and stage work for a television show, yet was convinced by Daniels that it would be a big break in her career. Ball, however, had many misgivings about hiring Vance, who was younger and far more attractive than the concept of Ethel as an older, somewhat homely woman. Ball was also a believer in the Hollywood adage at the time that there should be only one pretty woman on the set and Ball, being the star of the show, was it. Arnaz, however, was impressed by Vance's work and hired her. The decision was then made to dress Vance in frumpier clothing to tone down her attractiveness. Ball and Vance's relationship during the series' early beginnings were lukewarm at best. Eventually realizing that Vance was no threat and was very professional, Ball began to warm to her. In 1954, Vance would become the first actress to win an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actress". Vance and Ball would develop a lifelong close friendship. Ball would go on to ask Vance to co-star in Ball's new series "The Lucy Show" after the end of "I Love Lucy".

Vance and Frawley's off-screen relationship was less successful. In spite of this, they were always professional and exhibited exceptional chemistry while performing on the show. In fact, their acrimonious personal relationship may have helped their onscreen marriage be that much funnier. Frawley derisively described Vance's appearance as "a sack of doorknobs." It was reported that Vance, who was 22 years younger than Frawley, was not really keen on the idea that her character Ethel was married to a man that was old enough to be her father. Vance also complained that Frawley's song-and-dance skills were not what they once were. Frawley and Vance would have an adversarial relationship during the entire run of the show.

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.

Just before filming the show, Lucy and Desi learned that Lucy was once again pregnant (after multiple miscarriages earlier in their marriage) with their first child, Lucie Arnaz. They filmed the original pilot while Lucy was "showing", but did not include any references to the pregnancy in the episode. This was because CBS thought that talk of pregnancy might be in bad taste and because an ad agency told Desi not to show a pregnant woman.

Later, during the second season, Lucy was pregnant again with second child Desi Arnaz Jr., and this time the pregnancy was incorporated into the series' storyline. (Contrary to popular belief, Lucy's pregnancy was not television's first on-screen pregnancy, a distinction belonging to Mary Kay on the late 1940s sitcom "Mary Kay and Johnny".)

CBS would not allow "I Love Lucy" to use the word "pregnant", so "expecting" was used instead. In addition, sponsor Philip Morris made the request that Lucy not be seen smoking during the pregnancy episodes. The episode "Lucy Is Enceinte" first aired on December 8, 1952 ("enceinte" being French for "expecting" or "pregnant"). One week later, on December 15, 1952, the episode titled "Pregnant Women Are Unpredictable" was aired (although the show never displayed episode titles on the air). The episode in which Lucy gives birth, "Lucy Goes to the Hospital", first aired on January 19, 1953, which was the day before the inauguration of Dwight Eisenhower as President of the United States. To increase the publicity of this episode, the original air date was chosen to coincide with Lucille Ball's real-life delivery of Desi Jr. by Caesarean section. "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" was watched by more people than any other television program up to that time, with 71.7% of all American television sets tuned in, topping the 67.7 rating for the inauguration coverage the following morning.

Unlike some programs that advance the age of a newborn over a short period, "I Love Lucy" at first allowed the Little Ricky character to grow up in real time. America saw Little Ricky as an infant in the 1952–53 season and a toddler from 1953 to 1956. However, for the 1956-57 season, Little Ricky suddenly aged by two years, becoming a young school-age boy from 1956 to 1960. Five actors played the role, two sets of twins and later Keith Thibodeaux, whose stage name when playing Ricky Ricardo Jr. was Richard Keith. (In the Superman episode, Little Ricky is mentioned as being five years old but it had been less than four years since the birth-of-Little-Ricky episode.)

Jess Oppenheimer stated in his memoir, "Laughs, Luck...and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time", that the initial plan was to match the sex of the Ricardo baby with Lucille Ball's real baby, inserting one of two alternate endings into the broadcast print at the very last minute. When logistical difficulties convinced Oppenheimer to abandon this plan, he advised Desi that as head writer, he would have Lucy Ricardo give birth to a boy. Desi agreed, telling Oppenheimer that Lucy had given him one girl, and might give him another—this might be his only chance to get a son. When the baby was born, Desi immediately called Oppenheimer and told him, "Lucy followed your script. Ain't she something?", to which Oppenheimer replied "Terrific! That makes me the greatest writer in the world!"

"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.

In fall 1967, CBS began offering the series in off-network syndication;, the reruns air on the Hallmark Channel and MeTV networks, and scores of television stations in the U.S. and around the world, including Fox's KTTV/KCOP in Los Angeles until December 31, 2018.

In addition, CBS has run numerous specials, including a succession of annual specials which feature episodes which have been newly colorized.

The episode "Lucy Goes to the Hospital", which first aired on Monday, January 19, 1953, garnered a record 71.7 rating, meaning 71.7% of all households with television sets at the time were tuned in to view the program. That record is surpassed only by Elvis Presley's first of three appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show", which aired on September 9, 1956 (82.6% rating). The overall rating of 67.3 for the entire 1952 season of "I Love Lucy" continues to be the highest average rating for any single season of a TV show.

The opening familiar to most viewers, featuring the credits superimposed over a "heart on satin" image, was created specifically for the 1959–67 CBS daytime network rebroadcasts, and subsequent syndication. As originally broadcast, the episodes opened with animated matchstick figures of Arnaz and Ball making reference to whoever the particular episode's sponsor was. These sequences were created by the animation team of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who declined screen credit because they were technically under exclusive contract to MGM at the time.

The original sponsor was cigarette maker Philip Morris, so the program opened with a cartoon of Lucy and Ricky climbing down a pack of Philip Morris cigarettes. In the early episodes, Lucy and Ricky, as well as Ethel and Fred on occasion, were shown smoking Philip Morris cigarettes. Lucy even went so far as to parody Johnny Roventini's image as the Philip Morris "bellhop" in the May 5, 1952, episode, "Lucy Does a TV Commercial". Since the original sponsor references were no longer appropriate when the shows went into syndication, a new opening was needed, which resulted in the classic "heart on satin" opening. Other sponsors, whose products appeared during the original openings, were Procter & Gamble for Cheer and Lilt Home Permanent (1954–57), General Foods for Sanka (1955–57), and Ford Motor Company (1956–57). The later "Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show" was sponsored by Ford Motor Company (1957–58) and Westinghouse Electric Corporation (1958–60), as part of the "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse".

The original openings, with the sponsor names edited out, were revived on TV Land showings, with a TV Land logo superimposed to obscure the original sponsor's logo. However, this has led some people to believe that the restored introduction was created specifically for TV Land as an example of kitsch.

The animated openings, along with the middle commercial introductory animations, are included, fully restored, in the DVDs. However, the openings are listed as special features within the disks with the "heart on satin" image opening the actual episodes.

The complete original broadcast versions of Seasons 1 and 2, as seen in 1951-1953 with intros, closings, and all commercials, are included on their respective Ultimate Season Blu-ray editions.

The title music was written by Eliot Daniel as an instrumental. Lyrics were written by Harold Adamson, who was nominated five times for an Oscar. The lyrics to "I Love Lucy" were sung by Desi Arnaz in the episode "Lucy's Last Birthday":

"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 Love Lucy" sung by Desi Arnaz with Paul Weston and the Norman Luboff Choir was released as the B-side of "There's A Brand New Baby (At Our House)" by Columbia Records (catalog number 39937) in 1953. The song was covered by Michael Franks on the album "Dragonfly Summer" (1993). In 1977, the Wilton Place Street Band had a Top 40 hit with a disco version of the theme, "Disco Lucy".

There was some thought about creating an "I Love Lucy" radio show to run in conjunction with the television series as was being done at the time with the CBS hit show "Our Miss Brooks". On February 27, 1952, a sample "I Love Lucy" radio show was produced, but it never aired. This was a pilot episode, created by editing the soundtrack of the television episode "Breaking the Lease", with added Arnaz narration (in character as Ricky Ricardo). It included commercials for Philip Morris, which sponsored the television series. While it never aired on radio at the time in the 1950s (Philip Morris eventually sponsored a radio edition of "My Little Margie" instead), copies of this radio pilot episode have been circulating among "old time radio" collectors for years, and this radio pilot episode has aired in more recent decades on numerous local radio stations that air some "old time radio" programming.

Ball and Arnaz authorized various types of "I Love Lucy" merchandise. Beginning in November 1952, "I Love Lucy" dolls, manufactured by the American Character Doll Company, were sold. Adult-size "I Love Lucy" pajamas and a bedroom set were also produced; all of these items appeared on the show.

Dell Comics published 35 issues of an "I Love Lucy" comic book between 1954 and 1962 including two try-out Four Color issues (#535 and #559). King Features syndicated a comic strip (credited to "Bob Lawrence" but actually written by Lawrence Nadel and drawn by Bob Oksner) from 1952 to 1955. Eternity Comics in the early 1990s issued comic books that reprinted the strip and Dell comic book series.

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.

As already mentioned, Vance and Frawley were offered a chance to take their characters to their own spin-off series. Frawley was willing, but Vance refused to ever work with Frawley again since the two did not get along. Frawley did appear once more with Lucille Ball — in an episode of "The Lucy Show" in 1965, which did not include Vance (who by then had ceased to be a regular on that show). However, this was his last screen appearance with his longtime friend. He died in Hollywood on March 3, 1966, of a heart attack at age 79.

In 1962, Ball began a six-year run with "The Lucy Show", followed immediately in 1968 by six more years on a third sitcom, "Here's Lucy", finally ending her regular appearances on CBS in 1974. Both "The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy" included Vance as recurring characters named "Viv" (Vivian Bagley Bunson on "The Lucy Show" and Vivian Jones on "Here's Lucy"), so named because she was tired of being recognized on the street and addressed as "Ethel". Vance was a regular during the first three seasons of "The Lucy Show" but continued to make guest appearances through the years on "The Lucy Show", and on "Here's Lucy". In 1977, Vance and Ball were reunited one last time in the CBS special, "Lucy Calls the President", which co-starred Gale Gordon (whom Ball had known for very many years by 1977 and who had appeared as a regular on her television shows since 1963; becoming even more prominent once Vivian Vance left "The Lucy Show" in 1965.)

In 1986, Ball tried another sitcom, "Life with Lucy". The series debuted on ABC to very high ratings, landing in Nielsen's top 20 for that week. Its ratings quickly declined, however, and resulted in a cancellation after eight episodes.

In 1989, the never-seen pilot episode was discovered and revealed in a CBS television special, hosted by Lucie Arnaz, becoming the highest rated program of the season.

"I Love Lucy" continues to be held in high esteem by television critics, and remains perennially popular. For instance, it was one of the first American programs seen on British television — which became more open to commerce with the September 1955 launch of ITV, a commercial network that aired the series; in 1982, the launch of a second terrestrial TV station devoted to advertising funded broadcasting (Channel 4) saw the show introduced to a new generation of fans in the UK, with the "Channel 4" network repeating the program several times between 1983 and 1994. As of January 2015, meanwhile, it remains the longest-running program to air continuously in the Los Angeles area, almost 60 years after production ended. However, the series is currently aired on KTTV on weekends and now KCOP on weekdays because both stations are a duopoly. Ironically, KTTV was the original CBS affiliated station in Los Angeles until 1951, just before "I Love Lucy" premiered on KNXT Channel 2 (now KCBS-TV) when CBS bought that station the same year. In the US, reruns have aired nationally on TBS (1980s–1990s), Nick at Nite (1994–2001) and TV Land (2001–2008) in addition to local channels. TV Land ended its run of the series by giving viewers the opportunity to vote on the show's top 25 greatest episodes on December 31, 2008 through the network's website. This is particularly notable because, unlike some shows to which a cable channel is given exclusive rights to maximize ratings, "Lucy" has been consistently — and successfully — broadcast on multiple channels simultaneously. Hallmark Channel is now the home for "I Love Lucy" in the United States, with the show having moved to the network on January 2, 2009, while the national version of Weigel Broadcasting's MeTV digital subchannel network has carried the program since its debut in December 15, 2010, depending on the market (in markets where another station holds the rights, "The Lucy Show" is substituted). The show is seen on Fox Classics in Australia.

The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, New York is a museum memorializing Lucy and "I Love Lucy", including replicas of the NYC apartment set (located in the Desilu Playhouse facility in the Rapaport Center).

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.

In 2012, Todd VanDerWerff of "The A.V. Club" wrote retrospectively:"I Love Lucy" […] is one of the two foundational texts of American TV comedy, along with "The Honeymooners". The series is legitimately the most influential in TV history, pioneering so many innovations and normalizing so many others that it would be easy to write an appreciation of simply, say, the show’s accidental invention of the TV rerun.

"I Love Lucy: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sitcom", a comedy about how Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz battled to get their sitcom on the air, had its world premiere in Los Angeles on July 12, 2018, starring Sarah Drew as Lucy, Oscar Nuñez as Desi, and Seamus Dever as series creator-producer-head writer Jess Oppenheimer. The play, from Gregg Oppenheimer (son of Jess Oppenheimer), was recorded in front of a live audience for nationwide public radio broadcast and online distribution.
Several classic episodes of "I Love Lucy" have been colorized. Star and producer Desi Arnaz had expressed interest in airing the show in color as early as 1955, but the cost of such a presentation was prohibitive at the time.

The first episode to be colorized was the Christmas special. This special episode had been feared "lost" for many years, as it was not included in the regular syndication package with the rest of the series. A copy was discovered in 1989 in the CBS vaults, and was aired by CBS during December of that year in its original black-and-white format. In 1990, this episode was again aired in the days prior to Christmas, but this time the framing sequence was in color, while the clips from earlier episodes remained in black and white. The special performed surprisingly well in the ratings during both years, and aired on CBS each December through 1994.

In 2007, as the "Complete Series" DVD set was being prepared for release, DVD producer Gregg Oppenheimer decided to have the episode "Lucy Goes to Scotland" digitally colorized (referencing color publicity stills and color "home movies" taken on the set during production), making it the first "I Love Lucy" episode to be fully colorized. Four years later, Time Life released the "Lucy's Italian Movie" episode for the first time in full color as part of their "Essential 'I Love Lucy'" collection.

To date, the colorized "Lucy in Scotland" episode has never aired on television, but that episode, along with the Christmas special and "Lucy's Italian Movie," have been packaged together on the 2013 "I Love Lucy Colorized Christmas" DVD. In 2014, Target Corporation stores sold an exclusive version of this DVD that also included "Job Switching".

On December 20, 2013, CBS revived an annual holiday tradition when it re-aired the Christmas special for the first time in nearly two decades. The Christmas special's framing sequence was re-colorized at this time. The network paired this special with the color version of "Lucy's Italian Movie" episode. This special attracted 8.7 million people. Nearly a year later, on December 7, 2014, the Christmas special was again aired on CBS, but this time paired with the popular episode "Job Switching," which was newly colorized for that broadcast. That episode appeared on the "I Love Lucy: The Ultimate Season 2" Blu-ray edition on August 4, 2015. CBS aired the Christmas special again on December 23, 2015, with the flashback scenes being colorized for the first time, and with a colorized "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" replacing "Job Switching". It is currently unknown if these will also be added to a new DVD. CBS next aired the Christmas special on December 2, 2016. This time the Christmas episode was paired with the newly colorized "Lucy Gets in Pictures". On December 22, 2017, the Christmas episode was aired again, followed by a newly-colorized episode, "The Fashion Show". On December 14, 2018, the Christmas episode was re-aired, paired with a newly-colorized episode, "Pioneer Women"

On May 17, 2015, CBS began a new springtime tradition when it aired two newly colorized episodes in an "I Love Lucy Superstar Special." The special consisted of "L.A. at Last" and "Lucy and Superman" and attracted 6.4 million viewers. A DVD of this special was released on October 4, 2016. A second "Superstar Special" containing the newly colorized two-part episode "Lucy Visits Grauman's" and "Lucy and John Wayne", aired May 20, 2016. and was released on DVD on January 17, 2017. A third "Superstar Special" aired on May 19, 2017. It featured two more newly colorized Hollywood-based episodes: "The Dancing Star" featuring Van Johnson, and "Harpo Marx".

Beginning in the summer of 2001, Columbia House Television began releasing "I Love Lucy" on DVD in chronological order. They began that summer with the pilot and the first three episodes on a single DVD. Every six weeks, another volume of four episodes would be released on DVD in chronological order. During the summer of 2002, each DVD would contain between five and seven episodes on a single DVD. They continued to release the series very slowly and would not even begin to release any season 2 episodes until the middle of 2002. By the spring of 2003, the third season on DVD began to be released with about six episodes released every six weeks to mail order subscribers. All these DVDs have the identical features as the DVDs eventually released in the season box sets in retail.

By the fall of 2003, season four episodes began to be offered by mail. By the spring of 2004 season five DVDs with about six episodes each began to be released gradually. Columbia House ended the distribution of these mail order DVDs in the Winter of 2005. They began releasing complete season sets in the Summer of 2004 every few months. They stated that Columbia House Subscribers would get these episodes through mail before releasing any box sets with the same episodes. They finally ended gradual subscriptions in 2005, several months before season 5 became available in retail. Columbia House then began to make season box sets available instead of these single volumes.

CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) has released all six seasons of "I Love Lucy" on DVD in Region 1, as well as all 13 episodes of "The Lucy and Desi Comedy Hour" (as "I Love Lucy: The Final Seasons – 7, 8, & 9"). Bonus features include rare on-set color footage and the "Desilu/Westinghouse" promotional film, as well as deleted scenes, original openings and interstitials (before they were altered or replaced for syndication) and on-air flubs. These DVDs offered identical features and identical content to the mail order single sets formerly available until 2005.
In December 2013, the first high-definition release of "I Love Lucy" was announced, with the Blu-ray edition of the first season, scheduled for May 5, 2014. The Second Season Ultimate Blu-ray was released on August 4, 2015.The DVD releases feature the syndicated heart opening, and offer the original broadcast openings as bonus features. Season 6 allows viewers to choose whether to watch the episodes with the original opening or the syndicated opening. The TV Land openings are not on these DVDs.

Initially, the first season was offered in volumes, with four episodes per disc. After the success of releasing seasons 2, 3, and 4 in slimpacks, the first season was re-released as a seven disc set, requiring new discs to be mastered and printed to include more episodes per disc so there would be fewer discs in the set. For the complete series box set, the first season would be redone again, this time to six DVDs, retaining all bonus features. The individual volume discs for the first season are still in print, but are rare for lack of shelf space and because the slimpacks are more popular. In 2012, all season sets were reissued in slipcovered clear standard-sized amaray DVD cases, with season 1 being the 6-disc version as opposed to the 7-disc version.

Episodes feature English closed-captioning, but only Spanish subtitles.

In Australia and the UK, the first three seasons were finally released in Region 2 & Region 4 on August 3, 2010, by CBS, distributed by Paramount. Season 1 includes the pilot and all 35 Season 1 episodes in a 7-disc set. Season 2 includes all 31 Season 2 episodes in a 5-disc set. Season 3 includes all 31 Season 3 episodes in a 5-disc set. Season 2 and 3 are in a slimline pack. All three seasons have been restored and digitally remastered. All episodes appear in order of their original air dates, although it states that some episodes may be edited from their original network versions. It is unknown if the remaining seasons will be released individually. A complete series box set titled "I Love Lucy: Complete Collection" was scheduled for release on April 6, 2016, and in the UK on May 30, 2016. This collection contains 34 DVDs with all six seasons of "I Love Lucy" and all 13 episodes of "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour".


When did Alfred die?

Alfred died on 10 March 1948. The press at the time speculated that ‘his pet hate got him in the end’, linking Alfred's dislike of aeroplanes with the passage of one over the zoo shortly before his death. The actual cause of his demise was tuberculosis which he contracted a year before and despite his keepers best efforts, he had been unable to recover. His death was mourned by many of the regular visitors to the zoo, some of whom were even inspired to compose poems in his honour.

Alfred the Gorilla

Alfred the Gorilla ( – 9 March 1948) arrived in Bristol Zoo, in England, in 1930 and became a popular attraction and animal celebrity. His fame grew to international proportions during World War II and after his death he remained an important mascot for the city of Bristol.

Alfred's distinct personality led to his popularity amongst younger visitors and he quickly became one of the zoo's main attractions. His profile was further increased during World War II when visiting soldiers took images and stories of Alfred back to their home countries with articles about him appearing in the US and Australian press. After Alfred died in 1948, his taxidermic form was put on display in Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery where he continued to act as a mascot for the city. Alfred's form was stolen from the museum in 1956 and was missing for a weekend before he was discovered and returned, a mystery that remained unsolved until the death of one of the perpetrators in 2010. He remains on display in Bristol today and served as part of the inspiration for the popular Wow! Gorillas trail in 2012.

Bristol's connection with gorillas dates back to the first gorilla bones ever brought to Britain. After being sent to Liberia as a missionary in 1836, the American naturalist Dr. Thomas Savage wrote to Professor Richard Owen in London, declaring,

" 'I have found the existence of an animal of extraordinary character in this locality, and which I have reason to believe is unknown to the naturalist. As yet I have been unable to obtain more than a part of a skeleton.' "

The letter included a sketch of a skull which Savage speculated might be related to a chimpanzee. Savage also wrote to Samuel Stutchbury of the Bristol Institution, a forerunner of the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. Stutchbury had more remains sought out and in 1847 Captain George Wagstaff obtained three skulls from the Gabon River in West Africa. When these arrived in Bristol, Stutchbury sent them to Owen who published a paper, on the specimens proposing to call the species Troglodytes Savagei after Thomas Savage. By the time the full paper was published in 1849, however, Dr. Jeffries Wyman of Harvard had already published a description of the bones with Savage's own preferred name of "Troglodytes gorilla". The skulls were returned to Stutchbury and can be found in Bristol Museum's collection today.

The first living gorilla reached Europe in the 1880s, although a ‘very unusual chimpanzee’ exhibited by a travelling showman in England in 1860 was later thought to be gorilla. Most of the early gorillas sent to Europe died within a couple of years, often from lung disease. One of the longest lived resided at Breslau Zoo and reached the age of seven. The first living gorilla to reach Bristol Zoo, purchased for £75, arrived in 1900 but died after a short period.

Alfred was initially found by an Expedition from the American Museum of Natural History, New York and Columbia University in 1928 in what was then Belgian Congo. The expedition members were told that a pair of gorillas had been shot for ‘raiding’ a farmer's field for food, afterwards a baby was discovered and suckled by a local woman. The baby gorilla was later sold to a Greek merchant and taken to the town of Mbalmayo in modern-day Cameroon, where the expedition encountered him playing in the streets. He was described by the Expedition as ‘the liveliest specimen of his kind we had ever seen’.

In 1930 Alfred was sold to an Italian who, after bringing him to Europe, sold him on to an animal dealer. Bristol Zoo, already successful in rearing chimpanzees, acquired Alfred for £350. Alfred spent a few months housed in Rotterdam in 1930 before continuing to Bristol Zoo. Alfred was named after Alfred Mosely, Companion of Honour,a benefactor of the zoo, it was his gift to the Nation Although during his life he was thought to be a mountain gorilla, it is more likely that he was a western lowland gorilla.

Alfred arrived at Bristol Zoo on 5 September 1930, which was thereafter celebrated as his birthday. His cage was positioned just inside one of the entrances and this prominent position, alongside his vibrant personality, meant that he quickly became one of the Zoo's main attractions. During his first two years at the zoo, Alfred regularly took walks around the grounds with his keeper Frank Guise. He did this on the end of a long collar and chain and was well known for wearing woollen jumpers.

During his third year at the zoo Alfred had grown to weigh eight stones. His increasing strength had become a concern to his keepers and when he broke a photographer's tripod during his birthday celebrations, his walks around the zoo were curtailed. Alfred also caught whooping cough during these early years but received medical help. This remained the only significant illness that he contracted until the end of his life.

Despite being confined to his enclosure Alfred continued to be a popular attraction and he was featured beating his breast on a radio broadcast from the zoo in 1937. Alfred became the oldest gorilla to survive in captivity in 1938 and later that year visitors were invited to guess his weight on a specially constructed machine. The closest guess the public managed was 20 stones, with Alfred actually coming in at 26 stones, four pounds. His diet was completely vegetarian which was an innovation in the practice of keeping captive gorillas and cost the zoo just £3 a week.

Alfred's status at the zoo led to him becoming something of a local celebrity with visitors, especially with children. Their recollections often refer to Alfred as having a number of distinct character traits and quirks that made up his personality. On occasion he would approach the children who stood around his cage and make what they perceived as friendly gestures and conversations with them.

Although Alfred's habits could occasionally be perceived as offensive by some of the zoo's visitors, many of the children who saw him regularly formed a deep bond with him. One visitor even going as far as to say that because of Alfred's ruder habits, he both ‘loved and hated him’ at the same time. Others recall simply enjoying the gorilla's company and would sit beside the cage for hours just to be close to him. His status as one of the zoo's main attractions is reflected by the fact that many of them recall that rather than ‘going to the zoo’, they would often think of their visits as ‘going to see Alfie’.

Other visitors made regular trips to the zoo on their way through Bristol to other destinations. One woman from the West Midlands recalls that they would drop in on the gorilla every year on their way to a campsite in Somerset. She also notes Alfred's habit of wearing a large hessian sack like a holiday maker wearing a handkerchief on their head which always amused her.

Alfred was allegedly offended by Rosie the Elephant being allowed to walk past his enclosure which would cause him to sulk. He also allegedly harboured a dislike of bearded men, double decker buses and aeroplanes. This stood in contrast for the affection he reciprocated towards his early keepers Frank Guise and Bert Jones, as well as to the sparrows who visited his enclosure to pick at breadcrumbs. He would sometimes be tickled by his keeper and a crowd would gather to watch. As fascism rose in Europe Alfred acquired the nickname, the ‘Dictator of Bristol Zoo’.

Alfred was also fond of making and throwing snowballs. At the age of three years he can be seen doing just that in the company of two young children in a photo from January 1931. His expertise at throwing however, was not limited to snowballs. Alfred, one visitor recalled, 'used to express his opinion of the human race by picking up large lumps of his droppings and hurling them accurately at the spectators in front of his cage. It was a delight for small schoolboys to be able to act as cheerleaders to this somewhat one-sided contest’. Alfred also had a habit of urinating on visitors after climbing the bars of his cage. One child was beckoned over by the gorilla and when she approached he urinated on her head, the story is still remembered by her grandchildren today who often ask to see the gorilla who ‘did a wee on great grandma’ when they visit the museum. Another writer described how Alfred was her favourite animal at the zoo and she has many memories but her favourite is of her aunt eating plums in front of Alfred. He kept asking her for some and when she simply laughed at him he went to the back of his cage and threw his dung at her. She continued to laugh and not feed him so he climbed the bars of his cage and urinated on her. The writer got in trouble for telling her aunt that the incident was her fault and she should have given Alfred the plums. Alfred was also fond of playing hide and seek with visitors. One visitor recalled how she once got her head stuck in the bars of Alfred's cage when she was ten. She was later rescued by a St. Johns ambulance worker. ‘How did Alfred react to my dilemma’, she recounted, ‘he just sat in the corner of his cage clapping his hands loudly and laughing’. She now tells the story to her grandchildren when they visit the zoo.

Although some animals were moved from the zoo during the war years, Alfred remained in Bristol. His diet of fruit and vegetables became stretched however, and the zoo took to seeking sponsors in order to feed its animals. Alfred was sponsored by Albert Glisten, Fellow of the Zoological Society and Chairman of Southend United Football Club. The presence of US Army troops in Bristol allowed Alfred's popularity to spread further as soldiers sent images and stories featuring the gorilla across the Atlantic. Articles concerning Alfred were reproduced in American newspapers and he retained his celebrity status throughout the war. One visitor to the museum recalled that her late great-great-uncle Bill was Alfred's keeper in the 1940s. Alfred was fond of Bill and would comb his keeper's hair and eat chocolate from his teeth. Bill would occasionally be picked up and taken to the zoo on his days off as Alfred would sometimes not go into his night cage without him. She also noted the gorilla's dislike of bombs and anti aircraft guns.

The Home Guard of the 11th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment was based in the zoo's cafeteria during World War Two. One member based at the zoo recalled how they were not allowed to march and parade in front of Alfred's cage lest he become aggressive. At the time the troops discussed the causes of this, musing that it might be that their uniforms reminded Alfred of other primates. On reflection, as the keepers also wore uniforms, the writer concluded that it was more likely the marching itself which upset the gorilla. He also recalled how night watch at the zoo was his scariest experience during his time in the Home Guard. On the one hand, he was worried about Germans appearing out of the dark but he was equally concerned that if a bomb dropped near the zoo the animals might escape from their cages. ‘Often, 17 year olds like myself exchanged our fears about what one would do if, spare the thought, in such an event the monstrous form of Alfred were to lumber forward out of the darkness’, he recalled, ‘probably run towards the enemy!’ he concluded.

In 1946 Alfred became sluggish and overweight before being diagnosed with thyroid deficiency. He recovered from the illness after treatment however, and later returned to his former strength.

After Alfred's death gorillas were kept almost continuously at the zoo until the mid-1990s. An article in the Western Daily Press noted the departure of two gorillas in 1995 breaking this pattern of keeping gorillas at the zoo. The departing gorillas were named Diana and Jeremy, aged 23 and 12 respectively. They were sent to London Zoo to live with another female named Zaire. The author noted that the conditions in Bristol's ape house had been criticised, prompting a £5 million redevelopment of the building in order for it to house small animals. A new ape house, the article declared, was not likely to appear for at least four years and the gorillas were unlikely to return, much to the disappointment of the keeper Mike Colbourne.

Following his death Alfred was mounted by the taxidermists Rowland Ward of London in a pose representing him on all fours. He was returned to Bristol City Museum and was put on display near the heavily frequented museum cafe. His bones and organs were sent to the Anatomy Department at Bristol University.

At first, Alfred's interpretation in the museum was very minimal, detailing only a few key pieces of information about the gorilla. Despite this, his position near the cafe, combined with the fame he had been accorded during his life, made him one of the most visited and celebrated exhibits. Many of those who saw Alfred in the zoo as children continued to visit him once he became an exhibit in the museum. The feelings that they had for him when he was alive often carried over into his second ‘life’ as an exhibit, maintaining and sustaining his fame. Later encounters with his taxidermic form were particularly memorable for those who could remember Alfred from his time at the zoo. One visitor, for example, encountered the gorilla unexpectedly when visiting her granddaughter at Bristol University more than forty years after Alfred's demise.

Alfred was moved in 1988 to the World Wildlife gallery on the museum's first floor where his exhibit was now positioned alongside a number of different specimens and displays. His interpretation was expanded during this move and he began to appear more and more on publicity material for the museum in photographs as well as in cartoon form. These moves allowed Alfred's form to become a part of a larger narrative on biology and conservation whilst retaining his status as a celebrated local mascot and historical object.

In 1956 Alfred went missing from the museum after being stolen by a group of students as a prank. After three days he was found and returned to his case although the full story surrounding the theft took more than fifty years to come to light.

In 1993 people were asked to send in their memories about Alfred as part of a competition to win four free tickets to Bristol Zoo. This was part of the celebrations held to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Alfred's death which also included a series of talks and tours at the museum. The letters that were received added a great deal of anecdotal information about Alfred to the museum's archive

Alfred's eightieth birthday was celebrated at the museum in 2010 with a series of activities and events. Children drew him birthday cards showing the gorilla's continuing public appeal as part of the history of Bristol and as a curiousity for younger visitors to the museum. A bust of Alfred's head is also on display at Bristol's M Shed museum after formerly being displayed at the entrance to the gorilla enclosure at Bristol Zoo.

Alfred remains a prominent figure in the museum's collection appearing regularly in guides, trails and children's events. Alfred has also featured in a several films and plays. Tom Kelpie's award-winning short film spoof Who Stuffed Alfred the Gorilla as well as the original footage filmed by the American exhibition who first discover him playing the streets of Mbalmayo. Nick Jones and Toby Lucas also made a short documentary on Alfred in 2008.

Alfred featured in Peter Nichols’ 1979 light comedy Born in the Gardens. One of Alfred's kidnappers, Ron Morgan, also allegedly wrote a play about the incident.

Alfred's life and status are also often still used to promote discussion regarding the history and evolution of conservation techniques and the practice of keeping primates in captivity.

Alfred's status as a mascot for Bristol was further cemented in 2011 when the Wow! Gorillas project was launched across the city to raise awareness about the extinction crisis facing primates. The project was also held to mark the 175th anniversary of Bristol Zoo and raised over £420,000 for charity.


What is the fastest flying animal?

The fastest land animal is the cheetah, which has a recorded speed of. The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird and the fastest member of the animal kingdom with a diving speed of. The fastest animal in the sea is the black marlin, which has a recorded speed of.

Fastest animals

This is a list of the fastest animals in the world, grouped by types of animal.

While comparing between various classes of animals, a different unit is used, body length per second for organisms. The fastest organism on earth, relative to body length, is the South Californian mite "Paratarsotomus macropalpis", which has a speed of 322 body lengths per second. The equivalent speed for a human running as fast as this mite would be. This is far in excess of the previous record holder, the Australian tiger beetle, "Cicindela eburneola", the fastest insect in the world relative to body size, which has been recorded at or 171 body lengths per second. The cheetah, the fastest land mammal, scores at only 16 body lengths per second while Anna's hummingbird has the highest known length-specific velocity attained by any vertebrate

This is a list of the fastest flying birds in the world. A bird's velocity is necessarily variable; a hunting bird will reach much greater speeds while diving to catch prey than when gliding. The bird with the greatest airspeed velocity is the Peregrine falcon, able to exceed 321.8 km/h (200 mph) in its hunting dives. The greatest self-powered horizontal speed is achieved by Homing Racing Pigeons. They can fly 1100 km (700 miles) in a single day, and they have been recorded flying at 177 km/h (110 miles per hour), making them the birds with the fastest speed ever recorded on a self-powered flight, and the fastest endurance flight.

List of birds by flight speed