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The Best Episodes of I Love Lucy

Every episode of I Love Lucy ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of I Love Lucy!

Binge this in 3d 3h•Peaking at 9.5/10

Cuban Bandleader Ricky Ricardo would be happy if his wife Lucy would just be a housewife. Instead she tries constantly to perform at the Tropicana where he works, and make life comically frantic in the

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  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 30 - Lucy Does a TV Commercial
    9.5/10(1178 votes)

    S1:E30

    Desperate to be in Ricky's new television commercial, Lucy makes every attempt to get her way; which eventually pays off. But her one-and-only chance flops when she is forced to test the sponsor's product over-and-over, a vitamin syrup called Vitametavegimin, which is 25% alcohol.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.

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  2. I Love Lucy Season 4 Episode 17 - Don Juan and the Starlets
    9.5/10(733 votes)

    S4:E17

    Lucy is forced to lend Ricky to five dazzling starlets for a proposed evening of publicity pictures. She tries to wait up for him but falls asleep on the sofa and doesn't awake until late the next morning. When she finds Ricky's bed unused, she jumps to the conclusion that he spent the night out with the starlets and decides she wants a divorce.

    Director:William Asher
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. I Love Lucy Season 2 Episode 1 - Job Switching
    9.4/10(1662 votes)

    S2:E1

    Ricky wants Lucy to try working for a week, so she and Ethel get jobs at a candy factory, where they are totally inept-especially at wrapping chocolates-due to a speeding conveyor belt that has them stuffing chocolates in their mouths, blouses, and hats.

    Director:William Asher
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.

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  4. I Love Lucy Season 5 Episode 23 - Lucy's Italian Movie
    9.2/10(557 votes)

    S5:E23

    En route to Rome by train, Lucy is spotted by a famous Italian cinema director and chosen to play a part in his new movie "Bitter Grapes." Lucy sets out to immerse herself in the role. When she nonchalantly wanders into a vineyard inhabited by a motley assortment of Italian-speaking women, she is dispatched to the wine-making area to crush grapes with her feet.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. I Love Lucy Season 5 Episode 2 - Lucy and John Wayne
    9.1/10(530 votes)

    S5:E2

    Lucy is spotted while attempting to "collect" a cement block with John Wayne's footprints from Grauman's Chinese Theater. To avoid publicity and keep Lucy out of jail, Ricky enlists John Wayne's help in replacing the block. One mishap leads to another, and the plot thickens -- as does the cement. John Wayne guest-stars.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. I Love Lucy Season 5 Episode 5 - The Great Train Robbery
    9.1/10(499 votes)

    S5:E5

    Lucy gets mixed up with a jewel thief on a cross-country rail trip that marks the end of the series' Hollywood sojourn. That's not the only reason it's a bumpy ride. Another is that Lucy keeps pulling the emergency-brake cord.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of I Love Lucy

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  7. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 29 - The Freezer
    9.0/10(574 votes)

    S1:E29

    Where's the beef? It's in Lucy and Ethel's new walk-in freezer (according to Lucy, the "human popsicle"). Of course, Ricky and Fred have a beef with their wives, because they paid $483 for it. The meat company won't take it back, and they can't sell it to customers waiting in the local butcher shop, so they're stuck with it. And speaking of stuck, Lucy gets herself locked in the freezer!

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.

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  8. I Love Lucy Season 4 Episode 28 - Harpo Marx
    9.0/10(561 votes)

    S4:E28

    Lucy promised Carolyn Appleby she'd produce some real Hollywood celebrities. Now she's got to deliver. Dressing up as Clark Gable, Gary Cooper and other celebrities, she manages to fool the near-sighted Carolyn. However, the real Harpo Marx shows up only to discover Lucy dressed up as him.

    Director:William Asher
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. I Love Lucy Season 5 Episode 26 - Return Home from Europe
    9.0/10(394 votes)

    S5:E26

    The Ricardos and Mertzes need to return to the U.S. by plane instead of ship. The 60-pound-per-person baggage limit taxes Lucy's ingenuity: she has bought lots of clothes and souvenirs, including a 30-pound cheese. She boards the plane wearing all the clothes at once and carrying the cheese as a "baby."

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. I Love Lucy Season 2 Episode 10 - Lucy Is Enceinte
    8.9/10(562 votes)

    S2:E10

    Lucy is delighted to learn she is pregnant-but how to tell Ricky? At lunch, he's too preoccupied with work to listen to her, then it's off to the club-where Lucy finds the right moment and just the right way to tell him.

    Director:William Asher
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.

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  11. I Love Lucy Season 3 Episode 6 - Lucy Tells the Truth
    8.8/10(438 votes)

    S3:E6

    Ricky and the Mertzes bet Lucy that she can't go twenty-four hours without telling a lie. The outcome? Lucy insults all her friends and has to admit her real age, weight, and hair color. But she nearly gets a part on a TV show, by telling the truth, more or less.

    Director:William Asher
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. I Love Lucy Season 4 Episode 14 - Tennessee Bound
    8.8/10(493 votes)

    S4:E14

    The Ricardo-Mertz westward trek faces a delay — they're all thrown in jail for speeding — in Bent Fork, Tenn., home of Lucy's "cousin" Ernest, who'll do all he can to get them out of the pokey, even if it means marrying one of the sheriff's two daughters, Teensy and Weensy.

    Director:William Asher
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. I Love Lucy Season 6 Episode 13 - Lucy and Superman
    8.8/10(492 votes)

    S6:E13

    When Stevie Appleby, Caroline's son, has a birthday party the same day as Little Ricky's, Lucy looks for unusual entertainment to lure the children. Ricky remembers that Superman is in town, and he invites him. But when Ricky is unable to corral Superman, Lucy is left with no choice but to dress as the Man of Steel herself. George Reeves makes a special guest-star appearance in this episode.

    Director:James V. Kern
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf, Bob Carroll Jr.

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  14. I Love Lucy Season 6 Episode 24 - Building a B.B.Q.
    8.8/10(366 votes)

    S6:E24

    Lucy has a problem deciding what to do to get her vacationing husband, Ricky, out of her hair so she can do her housework. She and Ethel solve the problem by putting their husbands to work building a barbecue.

    Director:William Asher
    Writers:Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf

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  15. I Love Lucy Season 2 Episode 16 - Lucy Goes to the Hospital
    8.7/10(509 votes)

    S2:E16

    Ricky and the Mertzes rehearse for pregnant Lucy's trip to the hospital. It turns out to be predictably chaotic, but Lucy does deliver Little Ricky.

    Director:William Asher
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.

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  16. I Love Lucy Season 2 Episode 30 - Ricky and Fred are TV Fans
    8.7/10(406 votes)

    S2:E30

    With Ricky and Fred glued to a TV fight, their wives go to the local cafe, where service is so slow that Lucy makes change for herself at the cash register and the girls are arrested. They finally prove their innocence and get home to husbands who didn't know they were gone.

    Director:William Asher
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. I Love Lucy Season 4 Episode 16 - L.A. at Last
    8.7/10(467 votes)

    S4:E16

    Lucy arrives in Hollywood with stars in her eyes. She heads for The Brown Derby, a celebrity hangout, where she encounters Eve Arden and William Holden -- and inadvertently presents Holden with a custard pie in the face. Hollywood legends William Holden and Eve Arden guest-star as themselves.

    Director:William Asher
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. I Love Lucy Season 5 Episode 12 - Staten Island Ferry
    8.7/10(343 votes)

    S5:E12

    Fred's fear of becoming seasick threatens the Mertzes and Ricardos' plans for Ricky's European band tour. To prove that Fred won't get seasick, Ricky takes him down to the ship, which is anchored in the harbor. But Fred turns green and becomes more firm about his not going. Lucy and Ethel test some new, improved seasickness remedies on the Staten Island Ferry. The trial run leads to unexpected complications when Lucy gets seasick.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. I Love Lucy Season 5 Episode 18 - Paris at Last
    8.7/10(367 votes)

    S5:E18

    Equipped with an English-French dictionary, Lucy sets out to see Paris and "discover" an artist whose paintings will become very valuable -- she knows she has "the eye." Lucy's first encounter is indeed with an artist -- a con artist who changes her American money for French. Lucy's adventures land Lucy, Ethel, and Fred in jail.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. I Love Lucy Season 5 Episode 20 - Lucy Gets a Paris Gown
    8.7/10(381 votes)

    S5:E20

    Lucy decides to go on a hunger strike until Ricky agrees to buy her a designer dress. The plan works perfectly (even though Ethel has been smuggling food to Lucy) and Ricky finally gives in and buys her an expensive outfit. But when Ricky discovers what Lucy has been up to, he puts together a crazy outfit made of burlap and passes it off as a Paris original.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. I Love Lucy Season 6 Episode 6 - Off to Florida
    8.7/10(412 votes)

    S6:E6

    When Lucy misplaces two train tickets to Florida, she and Ethel consult the classified section, hoping to share a ride with someone driving south. They team up with a peculiar middle-aged woman, Mrs. Grundy, who's bent on getting to Florida in record time.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. I Love Lucy Season 6 Episode 17 - Lucy Misses the Mertzes
    8.7/10(333 votes)

    S6:E17

    As the Ricardos get settled in their new country home, they immediately wind up in a mix-up with their old friends Fred and Ethel Mertz. Missing their old friends already, Lucy and Ricky decide to visit the Mertzes. At the same time, the Mertzes decide to trek to the country to visit the Ricardos, and what began simply becomes complicated.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. I Love Lucy Season 6 Episode 20 - Lucy Does the Tango
    8.7/10(359 votes)

    S6:E20

    Chicken-raising and practicing a tango for Little Ricky's school PTA meeting combine to get the Ricardos and the Mertzes in a verbal battle. It's up to Ricky, Jr. and his neighborhood pal Bruce Ramsey to straighten things out.

    Director:William Asher
    Writers:Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf

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  24. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 25 - Pioneer Women
    8.6/10(533 votes)

    S1:E25

    Having been bet by their husbands that they can't do without modern conveniences, Lucy and Ethel churn butter and bake bread from scratch-an eighteen foot loaf! But then Lucy demands that Ricky live as if it's the turn of the century for him, too.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.

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  25. I Love Lucy Season 2 Episode 4 - The Handcuffs
    8.6/10(436 votes)

    S2:E4

    After Lucy snaps a pair of antique handcuffs on herself and Ricky, they realize there's no key. A locksmith is found, but not before the Ricardos go to bed handcuffed together, and Ricky has to do a TV show with his "attached" wife trying to upstage him.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.

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Best Episodes Summary

"Lucy Does a TV Commercial" is the best rated episode of "I Love Lucy". It scored 9.5/10 based on 1178 votes. Directed by Marc Daniels and written by Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr., it aired on 5/5/1952. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Don Juan and the Starlets".