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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!

Binge this in 10h 14m•Peaking at 8.6/10

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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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 1 - The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub
    7.9/10(700 votes)

    #1 - The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub

    S1:E1

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

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  2. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 2 - Be a Pal
    8.0/10(603 votes)

    #2 - Be a Pal

    S1:E2

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

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  3. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 3 - The Diet
    8.1/10(619 votes)

    #3 - The Diet

    S1:E3

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

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  4. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 4 - Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her
    8.1/10(695 votes)

    #4 - Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her

    S1:E4

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

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

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  5. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 5 - The Quiz Show
    8.0/10(624 votes)

    #5 - The Quiz Show

    S1:E5

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

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  6. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 6 - The Audition
    7.7/10(525 votes)

    #6 - The Audition

    S1:E6

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

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  7. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 7 - The Séance
    8.2/10(606 votes)

    #7 - The Séance

    S1:E7

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

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  8. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 8 - Men Are Messy
    8.2/10(558 votes)

    #8 - Men Are Messy

    S1:E8

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

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  9. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 9 - The Fur Coat
    8.1/10(539 votes)

    #9 - The Fur Coat

    S1:E9

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

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  10. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 10 - Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer
    7.8/10(481 votes)

    #10 - Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer

    S1:E10

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

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  11. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 11 - Drafted
    7.5/10(515 votes)

    #11 - Drafted

    S1:E11

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

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  12. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 12 - The Adagio
    7.3/10(511 votes)

    #12 - The Adagio

    S1:E12

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

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  13. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 13 - The Benefit
    7.7/10(469 votes)

    #13 - The Benefit

    S1:E13

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

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  14. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 14 - The Amateur Hour
    7.5/10(502 votes)

    #14 - The Amateur Hour

    S1:E14

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

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  15. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 15 - Lucy Plays Cupid
    7.4/10(520 votes)

    #15 - Lucy Plays Cupid

    S1:E15

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

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  16. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 16 - Lucy Fakes Illness
    8.1/10(466 votes)

    #16 - Lucy Fakes Illness

    S1:E16

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

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  17. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 17 - Lucy Writes a Play
    7.8/10(456 votes)

    #17 - Lucy Writes a Play

    S1:E17

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

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  18. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 18 - Breaking the Lease
    8.3/10(508 votes)

    #18 - Breaking the Lease

    S1:E18

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

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  19. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 19 - The Ballet
    8.2/10(509 votes)

    #19 - The Ballet

    S1:E19

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

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  20. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 20 - The Young Fans
    7.6/10(495 votes)

    #20 - The Young Fans

    S1:E20

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

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  21. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 21 - New Neighbors
    8.2/10(514 votes)

    #21 - New Neighbors

    S1:E21

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

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  22. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 22 - Fred and Ethel Fight
    8.1/10(543 votes)

    #22 - Fred and Ethel Fight

    S1:E22

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

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  23. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 23 - The Moustache
    8.0/10(457 votes)

    #23 - The Moustache

    S1:E23

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

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  24. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 24 - The Gossip
    8.5/10(502 votes)

    #24 - The Gossip

    S1:E24

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

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  25. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 25 - Pioneer Women
    8.6/10(555 votes)

    #25 - Pioneer Women

    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, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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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 7.9/10 based on 700 votes. Directed by Marc Daniels and written by Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer, it aired on 10/15/1951. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Be a Pal".