Some TV had existed before I Love Lucy. But this all time classic paved the way for sitcoms to become a successful genre. Queen of comedy Lucille Ball made sure it would last insisting on being videotaped. She also insisted on real life Cuban husband Desi Arnaz playing her husband on the show. They starred as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. Landlords and best friends Fred and Ethel Mertz (William Frawley and Vivian Vance) made up the other half of the cast. At first I Love Lucy was set in New York and featured the nightclub where Ricky was bandleader. Later it had long vacation arcs in Hollywood and Europe. Then near the end they all moved to Connecticut. The I Love Lucy portion lasted 6 years from 1951-1957 on CBS. That was followed by The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour which aired 13 episodes from 1957-1960 with the same cast of characters. In later seasons Richard Keith played Lucy and Ricky's son Little Ricky.
How it got this far
1st Round: defeated The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet 4-2
2nd Round: defeated DAG 9-3

The Partridge Family was not a real music family, but was based on the Cowsills. Only Shirley Jones and David Cassidy did their own singing. Shirley played single mother of five Shirley Partridge. David played the oldest Keith, and Susan Dey played the oldest girl Laurie. Also starring Danny Bonaduce as Danny, Suzanne Crough as Tracy, Jeremy Gelbwaks and Brian Forster as Chris, and Dave Madden as the Partridges' manager Reuben Kincaid. The Partridge Family aired four seasons on ABC from 1970-1974.
How it got this far
1st Round: defeated Family Affair (1966) 7-4
2nd Round: defeated WKRP in Cincinnati 12-10

I Love Lucy/The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour defeats The Partridge Family 6-4 and will advance to the top 10 quarterfinals.