What’s Not to Love About Lucy?

It may be hard to believe, but “I Love Lucy” is still funny—as millions who have seen it on TVLand (I still call it Nick at Nite) can tell you. Back in the 50s, it was the first television show to feature a woman it its main role. (Hey, it was even eponymous.) My folks never missed an episode of “Lucy”–or the Ed Sullivan show. In the days before cable, almost everybody watched these shows. They used more slapstick than most contemporary shows, but it was good slapstick.

I didn’t know that producer Desi Arnaz (Lucy’s husband at the time the show first aired and who played her Cuban bandleader hubby, Ricky Ricardo) invented the re-run. He did it during Lucy’s (Lucille Ball) pregnancy. In those days, you couldn’t say “pregnant,” you had to say “expecting.”

Watch the old episodes closely and you’ll catch references to Phillip Morris cigarettes, the show’s sponsor. In one of the funniest episodes from this memorable early TV comedy, “Lucy Does a TV Commercial,” Ms. Ball dresses up as Johnny the Bellhop, the Phillip Morris icon.

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