Did Little Ricky serve a purpose on this show? Did he change Lucy's outlandish behavior? It seems to me that the show would function nicely without him, and they wouldn't have to write those awkward lines explaining where he was. What if there wasn't a character like Mrs. Trumbull so handy? Lucy would have had to drag him along to her gig on the Empire State Building. We never see Lucy show up at the club during the day with Little Ricky by her side. Usually a mother is seen with her kids. They could have at least written him in occasionally playing on the floor while the adults did their talking scenes.

Don't get me wrong, I like Little Ricky, especially when he wore that little striped jacket and played the drums. I just think the show would have been the same without him.

Here is my thought.

Maybe Little Ricky was seen on the show because in real life, Lucille and Desi had a son, and the fans wanted to see that for themselves. Yes, I do agree he really doesn't seem that important; and he seems to spend much more time with Mrs. Trumbull than Lucy and Ricky.
I also agree that it would have seemed natural to have Little Ricky just playing on the floor or whatever during a seen in the Living Room or whatever.

But overall, I think it has more to do with the fact that Lucy was pregnant in real life.

But overall, I think it has more to do with the fact that Lucy was pregnant in real life.

I think so too. If they were going to use her pregnancy in the show (which they did pretty well), then they should have come up with some better material for Little Ricky (Keith) as a growing child and a member of the family. After all, the Ricardos had a child 3-1/2 seasons out of five.

They could have done some good episodes with Little Ricky and Fred and also Little Ricky spending the night with the Mertzes. At least Ricky could have built a model with him or the family could have played a game. Maybe Little Ricky could have refused to eat a vegetable or told a lie like Beaver.

Try to think of a time when Little Ricky even ate with his parents! :crazy:

I liked Little Ricky!! I am currently rereading the autobiography of his portrayer, Keith Thibodeaux. I would recommend it highly to anyone! It's called Life After Lucy.

I liked Little Ricky!! I am currently rereading the autobiography of his portrayer, Keith Thibodeaux. I would recommend it highly to anyone! It's called Life After Lucy.

Cat- Don't get me wrong! I liked Little Ricky too! What do you have to say about the rest of my post, where I had ideas to use him more? :)

I would have loved to have seen more of him. ;)

I would have loved to have seen more of him. ;)

Me too! He was the cutest little boy! Seemed to me like every time Little Ricky was around..two seconds later he was either told to go play in his room or someone was putting him down for a nap. Poor kid!
The episode where Ricky and Fred are suppose to be watching him and end up losing him is one of my favorites. Seeing Ricky interacting with Little Ricky was just the cutest thing & I would have liked to have seen some more of that.

Cat- Don't get me wrong! I liked Little Ricky too! What do you have to say about the rest of my post, where I had ideas to use him more? :)

I would have loved to have seen more of him. ;)
I would've liked to see more of him, too. Little Ricky added more plots to the show - just as Tabitha added more plots to Bewitched, so I think it was a good thing that the ILL brain trust wrote Lucy's pregnancy into the show.

I too would have liked to see more of him. It would be nice to see Lucy have more shows or at least moments where maybe Little Ricky was in the background somewhere.

I can only surmise that the Little Ricky character was added simply for the fact that it was the first time a pregnant actress was on a hit show and they didn't have the idea abt "hiding a pregnancy". It would have been too hard I think to even try and hide it since the show centered around Lucy doing these outlandish things and she couldn't be seen sitting behind the counter or behind a large pillow.

And another point, many of the ILL plotlines were adapted from Lucys radio show "My favorite husband" and i believe there werent any parts for children on that show*, meaning that Little Ricky had to be shoehorned into the script, for the TV show, and im sure it was easier to simply have him in his room, most of the time

* Wikipedia lists the Coopers as childless on "My favorite Husband" so, my point seems valid

I liked little ricky i agree that they probably put him in the show because lucy was pregnant, and how could they hide that on the show.
my fave episode with him in is, little rickys school pageant hes so adorable in that. :)

I actually don't care for the school pageant episode. It runs second to the infamous Scotland episode. I loved watching Little Ricky in the birthday episode featuring Superman.

I liked the superman birthday also, so funny when lucys on the ledge with the pigeons! :lol:

I liked the superman birthday also, so funny when lucys on the ledge with the pigeons! :lol:
She looked so ridiculously funny in that outfit. A football helmet??? :brent

And the amazing part was, you couldnt TELL her from the "real" Superman! :rolleyes:

And the amazing part was, you couldnt TELL her from the "real" Superman! :rolleyes:
For sure. I mean, the uncanny resemblance. :crazy:

:lol: hehehe

She looked so ridiculously funny in that outfit. A football helmet??? :brent

And don't forget the plaid shorts and snow boots! :rolleyes:

Lucy had me completely fooled.

And don't forget the plaid shorts and snow boots! :rolleyes:

Lucy had me completely fooled.
:brent snow boots...:rofl:

Yeah, so how did the neighbor recognize her as Lucy???? :lol:

I would have enjoyed seeing more of Little Ricky too. What if he had done some of the things like Beaver did, like telling a lie? Something tells me he would have gotten a spanking, and I doubt the audience would have wanted to see that. (Obviously it would have had to be either fake or off camera.) Maybe they would have handled it a different way, but it did seem like spanking was the punishment of choice in that family. He even asked if he would get a spanking when he hid the chickens.

Something just dawned on me after all these years: the drum-playing Little Ricky we all know and love (Keith Thibodeaux), was only on ILL for the final season. I tended to think of him being there longer than that! So when I complained about him not being involved in the storylines more, there really wasn't much time.

Keith did continue on the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour for three more seasons, but those shows haven't run repeatedly in syndication like ILL. It is amazing we all think of Keith as Little Ricky, but he didn't really have that much exposure.

Something just dawned on me after all these years: the drum-playing Little Ricky we all know and love (Keith Thibodeaux), was only on ILL for the final season. I tended to think of him being there longer than that! So when I complained about him not being involved in the storylines more, there really wasn't much time.

Keith did continue on the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour for three more seasons, but those shows haven't run repeatedly in syndication like ILL. It is amazing we all think of Keith as Little Ricky, but he didn't really have that much exposure.
I can understand that.
When I referenced in my post on page one abt Little Ricky, I was thinking of the younger one. He always seemed to be "taking a nap" or Mrs. Trumbell was watching him.

I can understand that.
When I referenced in my post on page one abt Little Ricky, I was thinking of the younger one. He always seemed to be "taking a nap" or Mrs. Trumbell was watching him.

You're right. We hardly see the younger one either (played by Joseph and Michael). Usually there would be a crib, playpen, highchair, etc. around the living room or kitchen while the mom was doing housework. There weren't even the usual baby things around the house. When you go into someone's house who has a kid, there is usually some evidence.

You wouldn't know there was a baby there, that's for sure. You'd have to go into the nursery to see that kid. :rofl: