I Love Lucy's impact on society in the 1950s

[Contortionist]

Hey guys!

I'm doing a research paper that includes television sitcom's influences on society. For the 50s, I've picked I Love Lucy, and unfortunately, I don't know TOO much about the show (nor was I born in the 50s . Anyone have any insight onto how I Love Lucy influenced the way people went about their daily lives in the 50s, or how society influenced what went on in the show?

Thanks!

[Freddy Fillmore]

The show changed television of the 1950's. More people bought televisions to watch the show and more situation comedies like "I Love Lucy" soon were being broadcast on television. Radio and studio films were starting to feel the competition of this new media in the way of media recognition. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz became more famous on television than in their film careers. The impact of television in the home in the 1950's had the same impact that videos had for home entertainment in the 1980's.

[Contortionist]

Originally Posted by Freddy Fillmore

The show changed television of the 1950's. More people bought televisions to watch the show and more situation comedies like "I Love Lucy" soon were being broadcast on television. Radio and studio films were starting to feel the competition of this new media in the way of media recognition. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz became more famous on television than in their film careers. The impact of television in the home in the 1950's had the same impact that videos had for home entertainment in the 1980's.

Thanks for the response!

Anyone else have any thoughts, I'd really appreciate you sharing them .

[tv star collector]

At first, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had a hard time convincing CBS that people
would believe them as husband and wife (despite the fact that they were
married in real life). So, in the summer of 1950, the two of them went on tour performing before live audiences, and early in 1951 they produced a film pilot with $5,000 of their own money. I LOVE LUCY was given a fall time slot and the rest is history.

I LOVE LUCY was an immediate smash it and, during its six years on the air,
never ranked lower than No. 3 in popularity among all TV shows. The show's
success is unparalleled in the history of television. The decision to film it,
rather than do it live, made it possible to have a high-quality print of each
episode available for endless reruns, as opposed to the poor-quality kinescopes of live shows from the period. Those reruns, translated into
virtually every language for foreign distribution, made millions. This set the
patter for all of television. The appeal of film, all started by LUCY, resulted
in the shift of TV production from New York to Hollywood. LUCY was
practically unique in that it was filmed before a live audience, something
that did not become widespread until the 1970s. The technique of using
three cameras was also a LUCY first. (Source: THE COMPLETE DIRECTORY
TO PRIME TIME NETWORK & CABLE TV SHOWS)

P.S. Further proof of the popularity of I LOVE LUCY: the U.S. Postal Service
honored the show with a commemorative stamp, in 1998, as part of its
Celebrate the Century series.

[tv star collector]

Originally Posted by Contortionist

Hey guys!

I'm doing a research paper that includes television sitcom's influences on society. For the 50s, I've picked I Love Lucy, and unfortunately, I don't know TOO much about the show (nor was I born in the 50s . Anyone have any insight onto how I Love Lucy influenced the way people went about their daily lives in the 50s, or how society influenced what went on in the show?

Thanks!

Some more I LOVE LUCY info:

The title of the series created a problem. CBS wanted to call it THE LUCILLE
BALL SHOW, because, well, who knew who Desi Arnaz was anyway? Lucy got
upset and told CBS to forget the whole thing. She didn't even want to call it
THE LUCILLE BALL AND DESI ARNAZ SHOW because his name was listed last.
Finally, someone from the ad agency came up with an offbeat title: I LOVE
LUCY. She agreed, because "I" referred to Desi, and so he was mentioned
first.

Says Lucille Ball: "The believability of all our unbelievable situations is what
made it funny. People could identify with my problems, my zaniness, my
wanting to do everything, my scheming and plotting, the way I cajoled my
husband. People identified with the Ricardos because we had the same
problems they had. Paying the rent, getting a new dress, getting a stale
fur collar on an old cloth coat, or buying a piece of furniture were all worth
a story."

She goes on to say: "We just took ordinary situations and exaggerated
them. I don't think people would buy it now. Too tame. If we were starting
out now, how could we compete with all the sex and explicit language now
on the air? Still, I could be wrong." (Source: THE GREAT TV SITCOM BOOK
by Rick Mitz (1980))

[NostalgiaAce777]

Let's not forget that she was the first woman to be pregnant in a series and incorporate the situation into the story on television,(withrestrictions by the censors of course); which later on led the way for other actresses to do the same in their shows. (later on,& nowadays there aren't that many censored restrictions obviously)

She was also married to Desi, who was not a Natural citizen of the U.S, later he did get his citizenship, but still at the time nobody accepted, shall we say for lack of better terms a "mixed marriage". But Lucy said No Desi, I won't do it. So Lucy and Desi were also the first inter-racial family on TV.

Let's not forget the RED SCARE of '53. By their second or third season theywere already well known and much adored by their plathora of fans, who also supported them. Lucy overcame the crisis and they have had a multiude of impact even more so, since then.

They were also the first tv couple to own their own studio, a major one at that time, and developed more well loved and adored shows using the methods and technique that they and their many "wondaful', talented and creative network of individuals working for them helped create.

Their divorce had a major impact on people then too. They divorced in 1960, but i can't think of anyother couple that touched the lives of so many other people. The fans, who CBS thought wouldn't accept them in the 1st place now could not accept the fact that they WEREN'T going to be together.

[cablejockey]

I know the research paper is long finished, but I had to add my 2 cents worth here. When you think that all the children born in the 40s 50s and 60s were first exposed to Lucy, and her style of humour was probably imbedded on their psyches. Also I think in a small way Lucy affected feminism. The sight of her and Ethel scheming, getting things they wanted, and trying to prove they were better than the men---werent seen much anywhere at that time.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...even though they tried to avoid it, by the time Lucy & Desi began their hour-long monthly series in November 1957, the title of those 'specials' became "THE LUCILLE BALL-DESI ARNAZ SHOW" (and after October 1958, "THE WESTINGHOUSE LUCILLE BALL-DESI ARNAZ SHOW"). And when CBS began repeating them in the summer of 1962 (and the next few seasons, until 1967), they were shown under the title we know today: "THE LUCY-DESI COMEDY HOUR". AND, Desi briefly toyed with the idea of calling Lucy's 1962 comeback series "THEY LOVE LUCY".....but it became "THE LUCY SHOW".

And some additional information, 'contortionist'- because "I LOVE LUCY" was scheduled at 9pm(et) on CBS' Monday night schedule, they were able to build the entire evening into the network's most-watched night on televison (Sundays- featuring "THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM" on alternate weeks, Ed Sullivan's "TOAST OF THE TOWN", "GENERAL ELECTRIC THEATER" and "WHAT'S MY LINE?"- running a close second).

This is what the "typical" CBS Monday night lineup was in the 1954-'55 season {all times Eastern}:

7:30 THE PERRY COMO SHOW [a brief musical interlude with "Mr. C"]
7:45 DOUGLAS EDWARDS WITH THE NEWS
8:00 THE GEORGE BURNS AND GRACIE ALLEN SHOW
8:30 ARTHUR GODFREY'S TALENT SCOUTS ["the original 'AMERICAN IDOL'"]
9:00 I LOVE LUCY
9:30 DECEMBER BRIDE [another great Desilu comedy that deserves a revival!]
10:00 WESTINGHOUSE STUDIO ONE [one of the most prestigious hour-long
LIVE drama anthologies of its time]

[treky]

also, Lucy & Desi insisted on doing the show in California, instead of New York which was where the vast majority of TV shows were done at the time. (most of the people who owned TVs at the time lived in the east).
The show also invented the rerun, without meaning to. When Lucy was pregnant and couldn't work a full schedule, they had little choice but to reapeat some episodes.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

This is what the 1954-'55 CBS Monday night schedule SHOULD have been (this time, with their sponsors):

7:30 DOUGLAS EDWARDS WITH THE NEWS {General Motors [Oldsmobile]}
7:45 THE PERRY COMO SHOW {Liggett & Myers [Chesterfield-L&M]}
8:00 THE GEORGE BURNS & GRACIE ALLEN SHOW {Carnation/B.F. Goodrich}
8:30 ARTHUR GODFREY'S TALENT SCOUTS {Lipton}
9:00 I LOVE LUCY {Philip Morris/Procter & Gamble}
9:30 DECEMBER BRIDE {General Foods [Maxwell House]}
10:00 WESTINGHOUSE STUDIO ONE {Westinghouse Electric}

And, yes, 'treky', "I LOVE LUCY" did repeat some episodes after the "expectancy" storyline, some filmed before Lucy got pregnant, and some
were repeats with new openings. But "THE LONE RANGER" began repeating its first two seasons worth of episodes in March 1951 (after 78 consecutive weeks of first-run episodes, beginning in September 1949) on ABC. When the show began new episodes in September 1952, Clayton Moore had been "temporarily" replaced by John Hart for another 52 consecutive episodes, which were repeated (with the earlier Moore episodes) for ANOTHER season! But that's another story.....