Show cover for I Love Lucy

The Best Episodes of I Love Lucy Season 1

Every episode of I Love Lucy Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of I Love Lucy Season 1!

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...
Genres:ComedyFamily
Network:CBS

Season 1 Ratings Summary

"The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub" is the best rated episode of "I Love Lucy" season 1. It scored 7.8/10 based on 643 votes. Directed by Marc Daniels and written by Bob Carroll Jr., Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, it aired on 10/15/1951. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "Be a Pal".

  • The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub
    7.8/10643 votes

    #1 - The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 10/15/1951

    An argument ensues among the couples when Ethel wants to celebrate the Mertzes's anniversary at the Copacabana while Fred wants to attend the fights. Ethel and Lucy decide that they will go to the club with dates.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Bob Carroll Jr., Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer

  • Be a Pal
    8.0/10556 votes

    #2 - Be a Pal

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/22/1951

    Thinking Ricky is losing interest in her, Lucy follows the advice of a book Ethel gave her and takes up Ricky's hobbies.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Bob Carroll Jr., Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer

  • The Diet
    8.2/10564 votes

    #3 - The Diet

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/29/1951

    To her dismay, Lucy finds out that she's put on twenty-two pounds since marrying Ricky. When one of the girls in Ricky's new show quits, she tricks him into promising, she can be in the show if she fits into the dancer's size twelve costume.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Bob Carroll Jr., Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer

  • Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her
    8.1/10650 votes

    #4 - Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 11/5/1951

    After becoming too involved in a murder mystery book, Lucy believes that Ricky is trying to murder her.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Bob Carroll Jr., Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer

  • The Quiz Show
    8.1/10577 votes

    #5 - The Quiz Show

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 11/12/1951

    When Lucy needs to balance her household accounts, she decides to go on quiz show. To win the $1,000 cash prize, she has to introduce her "long lost first husband" to Ricky.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Bob Carroll Jr., Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer

  • The Audition
    7.8/10480 votes

    #6 - The Audition

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/19/1951

    Ricky lands a TV audition at the club. When Buffo the Clown injures himself and cannot make it, Lucy takes his place.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • The Séance
    8.2/10566 votes

    #7 - The Séance

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/26/1951

    Lucy tells an important talent agent that Ricky cannot appear in a show because of his horoscope. The agent is also interested in the occult. So Lucy arranges a séance.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • Men Are Messy
    8.2/10514 votes

    #8 - Men Are Messy

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 12/3/1951

    Fed up with Ricky's messiness, Lucy divides the Ricardo apartment in a clean part for her and a messy part for him.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • The Fur Coat
    8.1/10502 votes

    #9 - The Fur Coat

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 12/10/1951

    Ricky returns home with expensive mink coat that he has rented for an act at the club. Lucy jumps to the conclusion that it's her anniversary present.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer
    7.8/10443 votes

    #10 - Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer

    Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 12/17/1951

    Lucy is jealous of one of Ricky's dancer at his nightclub after hearing about a gossip column item linking the two.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Bob Carroll Jr., Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer

  • Drafted
    7.6/10479 votes

    #11 - Drafted

    Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/24/1951

    When Lucy opens Ricky's a telegram ordering him to appear at Fort Dix, she assumes that he has been drafted. Ethel suspects that Fred has been drafted as well when she hears, Fred is joining Ricky.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • The Adagio
    7.4/10469 votes

    #12 - The Adagio

    Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 12/31/1951

    Lucy thinks she is a perfect fit for Ricky's Parisian apache dance number. But her dance teacher has more than dancing on his mind.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • The Benefit
    7.7/10431 votes

    #13 - The Benefit

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 1/7/1952

    Ethel wants Ricky to a headline a benefit show for her women's club, but Lucy refuses to ask him, unless she can be on the bill too.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • The Amateur Hour
    7.6/10461 votes

    #14 - The Amateur Hour

    Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 1/14/1952

    Lucy spends too much money on a dress. So she tells Ricky that she will get a job babysitting in order to pay for it.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • Lucy Plays Cupid
    7.4/10477 votes

    #15 - Lucy Plays Cupid

    Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/21/1952

    The Ricardo's neighbor Miss Lewis wants Lucy to deliver a dinner invitation to her grocer. But he misunderstands and thinks the invitation is from Lucy herself.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • Lucy Fakes Illness
    8.1/10422 votes

    #16 - Lucy Fakes Illness

    Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 1/28/1952

    Lucy pretends to suffer from numerous psychological ailments so that Ricky will feel sorry for her and let her go into show business.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • Lucy Writes a Play
    7.9/10416 votes

    #17 - Lucy Writes a Play

    Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 2/4/1952

    Lucy writes a play set in Cuba hoping to cast Ricky, But when he refuses, she has to settle for Fred and changes her setting to England.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • Breaking the Lease
    8.4/10460 votes

    #18 - Breaking the Lease

    Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 2/11/1952

    After a big quarrel between the Ricardos and the Mertzes, Lucy and Ricky decide that they want to move out. Ricky and Lucy become the most undesirable tenants ever so that they can break that lease, while the Fred and Ethel resist.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • The Ballet
    8.2/10463 votes

    #19 - The Ballet

    Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 2/18/1952

    Lucy learns that there is an opening in one of Ricky's acts for a ballet dancer as well as a burlesque comic.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • The Young Fans
    7.6/10452 votes

    #20 - The Young Fans

    Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 2/25/1952

    A shy young teenager named Peggy has a major crush on Ricky. Ricky, however, is tired of all this "attention" that this girl is giving him, so asks Lucy to have a talk with her. During their conversation, Lucy asks Peggy to think of some other boys her own age that she might like to go out with instead. Peggy, it seems, also likes a boy named Arthur Morton. Unfortunately, Arthur is painfully shy and cannot dance, so Lucy volunteers to give him a dance lesson. But it is then that Arthur becomes infatuated with Lucy! To get the two off their backs, Lucy and Ricky come up with a solution: they will dress up and act like 90 year olds, and scare their "young fans" back to reality.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • New Neighbors
    8.2/10467 votes

    #21 - New Neighbors

    Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 3/3/1952

    Lucy becomes afraid that one of her new neighbors is threatening to kill her and convinces the others that the neighbors are trying to kill them...which gets them into big trouble.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Bob Carroll Jr., Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer

  • Fred and Ethel Fight
    8.1/10498 votes

    #22 - Fred and Ethel Fight

    Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 3/10/1952

    Fred and Ethel have been going at each others' throats for the past few days now, and aren't talking to each other any more. (Fred: She called my mother a weasel!)To get them back together, Lucy comes up with a plan: She will invite Ethel to dinner, while Ricky will invite Fred. Neither Mertz will know that the other is coming, Lucy hopes that she can bring the Mertzes together so they can talk out their issues. Lucy commences with her plan, but during dinner, she and Ricky start to bicker. By the end of supper, the Mertzes leave the Ricardos' apartment as happy as larks, but Lucy and Ricky are now at each others' throats. It's now up to the Mertzes to bring the Ricardos back together.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • The Moustache
    8.0/10409 votes

    #23 - The Moustache

    Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 3/17/1952

    Lucy dislikes Ricky's new moustache. In order to take revenge, she glues a moustache and beard on to her face. Then, Ricky agrees to shave his moustache off, as long as Lucy gets rid of hers. Lucy tries to get the facial hair off, and is unsuccessful. They try to get a special substance to take the glue off, to find out that it is not made anymore.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • The Gossip
    8.5/10454 votes

    #24 - The Gossip

    Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 3/24/1952

    Ricky is disgusted by Lucy's obsession with gossiping about other people. According to Ricky, Lucy acts as if it is her ""life's blood."" Fred, too, is disturbed by Ethel's love of gossiping. The two girls then point out that both Ricky and Fred have been known to gossip, also. The boys then challenge the girls to a bet: They will see who can go without gossiping the longest, and the winners will receive breakfast in bed for a month. The bet commences, and everything is going fine until Ricky comes up with a plan to cheat so that he and Fred can win.

    Director: Marc Daniels

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.

  • Pioneer Women
    8.6/10501 votes

    #25 - Pioneer Women

    Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 3/31/1952

    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

    Writer: Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr.