Well, of course I Love Lucy is a classic. The show simply put was great. Almost every episode was good. The acting and scripts were terrific. Lucy's next show The Lucy Show was also good. I would say the 1st year was superior and the next two were very good. The last three years of the show were good but didn't quite have it with the absence of Vivian Vance and the poorer quality in the scripts. Lucy got into some really absurd situations even for Lucy. Lucy's 3rd and final major show Here's Lucy was good. Lucy's daughter Lucie added alot to the show and proved she was a really good actress. Of course Lucy and Gale Gordon did a good job as well. The show had some really great esipodes too. Lucy and Elizabeth Taylor's ring is absolutely the best show Lucy ever made. Of course for the great and good episodes in the Here's Lucy series there were a few bad episodes as well due in large party to a poor script that didn't have a real premise to start with and that caused Lucy to be put in some really ridiculous situations similar to some of the episodes during the last 3 years of The Lucy Show. Most of these bad Here's Lucy episodes occured during the last couple of years.

I think you're right about Lucy getting herself into crazy situations on the Lucy Show- like when she ended up in the army because they mixed her up with "Lu C. Carmichael." Or when another Redheaded shoplifter dropped her stolen goods in Lucy's bag and Lucy ended up getting arrested. Or when Lucy got stuck in a submarine with Mr. Mooney and had to hide from the other men. Pretty crazy stuff, but still made for a few good laughs.

There were no bad Lucy episodes imo, Here's Lucy is my favorite of her shows. Of course I Love Lucy is the best, but Here's Lucy was from my era. I remember it being on Primetime Monday's at 9pm after Gunsmoke. My favorite Lucy shows are the b&w with Vivian Vance, it was like the old gang was still together even though the guys were not apart of the show.