It's so much fun starting off watching the eps one by one. I'm amazing at HOW FUNNY each is. Lucy of course screws something up again. In this ep its the checkbook and the bills--many not paid for 5+ months. Why they still have the light on, the gas, the water & the telephone still on is beyond me. Because Lucy owes mucho. Well, Ricky puts his foot down and Lucy has to raise some $$$. So she goes on the Quiz Show. They test her out with My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean and splash water on her everytime a body of H2O is mentioned. "Do I get the 1K now Lucy sez" Not yet. This was just a test to see if you qualify. The winner from last week comes out all in a cast--she took a little trip down the Niagara. Well Lucy takes the bait and she has to introduce a man from the show to Ricky as her first husband. Only she mistakes a pushy bum who comes to the door for the game show employee. After Ethel comes up & shoos him away the REAL ee comes. And things don't look good for Lucy. But fortunately she passes the time needed to win the prize and Ricky doesn't leave her. After all 'spenses are paid, Lucy ends up with something like 50 cents. BUT THE BILLS ARE PD NOW. And now... I'm dying to know all the fun things I missed.:crazy:

This episode irks me. Don't get me wrong, I love the episode, but rather the way the joke plays out is surreal to me. Why didn't Lucy simply tell Ricky IN ADVANCE that she had to pretend to introduce him to her forgotten husband? Have Ricky in on the plan so they could win the money? It sure didn't seem to bother Ricky once they had the money in their (Ricky's) hands.

I agree. I didn't like it as much as some as the other eps. Didn't she have to keep the show's challenge secret? Not sure--I'll have to rewatch.

This ep is still fun of course. But what amazes me is that even shows not popularly regarded as the creme de la creme like Lucy Does A Commercial, Switching Jobs etc. ARE STILL VERY FUNNY. I love the physicality and outrageousness of her comedy. Like in The Million Dollar Idea when she and Ethel get on roller skates with the carts to deliver the salad dressing orders, or she gets under the table with the dog in the ep where she;s trying to diet.

It's amazing how Lucy just plunged ahead and did THIS in the early 50's--compare I.L.L. to the many lumbering shows of the early 50s--and you realize what a peak I.L.L. was.

You are so right. The physical comedy is what made this show so darn funny. To this day, that show holds up. Which is why it is my fave show of all time. I never get tired of it.

You know, she had nearly five hundred dollars in unpaid bills? What bills other than the gas, electricity and phone, cost so damn much? She was left with fifty cents. I mean, this was the 50's era, I am sure it couldn't have been so darn much, even though it was five months of unpaid bills.

It's pretty far-fetched to have 5 months of unpaid utility bills. Everything would have been shut off a long time ago. Lucy would have had to hide all the late notices from Ricky. And I agree, Lucy should have told Ricky about the setup to win $1000. I am sure Ricky would have gone along with it and kept quiet.

I did like the water routine at the quiz show. Lucy removed her false eyelashes for this scene and she almost looked naked!

Notice the Ricardos had bottles of booze on the shelf by the shutters. Another one-time-wonder! The bottles were there because of the scene with the bum. When the bum left Ethel's house it seemed they were on the ground floor. The Mertzes actually lived on the third floor.

Also, in the final scene, Ricky sure added up the numbers quickly to come to $999.50! In "The Million Dollar Idea," when Ricky added up the salad dressing ingredients with pencil and paper, he got it wrong!

No wonder the two of them needed a business manager! ;)