MeTV Celebrates 75 Years of ‘I Love Lucy’ With 10-Episode Marathon
“Lucy, I’m home!” shouted Desi Arnaz‘s Ricky Ricardo many times to his wife, Lucy (Lucille Ball), on I Love Lucy, which first premiered on October 14, 1951. Now, MeTV is here to help you relive some of the best episodes of television’s most enduring sitcom for the show’s 75th anniversary. It will be celebrated with a special five-hour marathon of I Love Lucy on Sunday, October 4, from 11am-4pm ET/PT.
The anniversary event features a collection of the series’ most memorable and hilarious episodes, showcasing the timeless comedy and legendary performances that made I Love Lucy a cultural touchstone and includes fan favorites like “Lucy and Superman” and “Lucy Does a TV Commercial.”
The sitcom that helped set the standard for the genre, I Love Lucy stars Lucille Ball as the irrepressible Lucy Ricardo, a scatterbrained housewife whose harebrained schemes routinely land her in hilarious trouble. Joined by husband Ricky (Desi Arnaz), a nightclub bandleader, and the couple’s best friends and landlords, Fred and Ethel Mertz (William Frawley and Vivian Vance), Lucy and her antics captivated generations of audiences, making her one of television’s most iconic and beloved characters.
MeTV Presents “I Love Lucy” 75th Anniversary — Featured Episodes:
Sunday, October 4, from 11am-4pm (all times ET/PT)
11 am — “Lucy’s Italian Movie”
In Rome, a film producer asks Lucy if she’d be interested in auditioning for his new film entitled Bitter Grapes. Thinking that the film has something to do with the production of wine, she goes to the only non-automated winery left in the area.
11:30 am — “L.A. at Last!”
When the Ricardos and the Mertzes arrive in Hollywood, Lucy goes to the Brown Derby restaurant, where her sighting of William Holden turns catastrophic.
12 pm — “The Million Dollar Idea”
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Lucy and Ethel go into business making salad dressing based on Lucy’s Aunt Martha’s recipe. Their advertising on a local TV show looks like a success, but when Ricky finds that they’re losing money on each jar, the girls have to find a way to get their customers to cancel their orders.
12:30 pm — “Lucy and John Wayne”
To avoid bad publicity for the upcoming opening of his Don Juan movie, Ricky calls Grauman’s Chinese Theatre to explain how John Wayne‘s footprints went missing. The manager of Grauman’s promises not to call the police if the footprints are returned by that evening’s opening of John Wayne’s film Blood Alley (1955). Having broken the footprints, that is obviously impossible, so Ricky convinces John Wayne to provide a new set of footprints.
1 pm — “Lucy Is Enceinte”
When Lucy learns that she’s going to have a baby, she tries to find the right way to tell this to Ricky.
1:30 pm — “Lucy and Superman”
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Lucy competes with her friend Carolyn Appleby over invitations and scheduling for Little Ricky’s birthday party. When Ricky mentions that Superman is in town, Lucy tries to get Superman to come to Little Ricky’s party, sure that this will make it a much bigger draw than the one Carolyn is hosting. Ricky tries, but Superman can’t make the party. So Lucy disguises herself as Superman, but gets herself into great peril. Fortunately, the real Superman does show up to save the day.
2 pm — “The Freezer”
Lucy and Ethel decide to make some money by buying a used walk-in freezer. When they unwittingly buy 700 pounds of beef, they try to sell it to customers at the butcher shop.
2:30 pm — “Lucy and Harpo Marx”
Lucy dresses as various Hollywood celebrities to impress a vision-impaired Carolyn Appleby; this episode features guest star Harpo Marx.
3 pm — “Job Switching”
Ricky and Fred think doing housework is much easier than earning money, but Lucy and Ethel feel the opposite, so the boys try doing the housework while the girls attempt to hold down a job on a conveyor belt at a candy factory.
3:30 pm — “Lucy Does a TV Commercial”
Everett Collection
Lucy has angled her way onto Ricky’s special as the show’s pitch girl. She advertises a medicine called “Vitameatavegamin.” Believing it contains only vitamins, minerals, meat and vegetables, Lucy does not know that it also contains 23% alcohol.
MeTV is available on broadcast television over the air in 98% of the country, on select cable and satellite systems, and streaming on Frndly TV, Philo, Fubo and Sling TV. Viewers can find where to watch MeTV here.
For the complete MeTV network schedule, click here.
I Love Lucy airs regularly on Sundays at 12:30 pm ET/PT on MeTV.
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