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The Worst Episodes of I Love Lucy

Every episode of I Love Lucy ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of I Love Lucy!

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

Worst Episodes Summary

"The Adagio" is the worst rated episode of "I Love Lucy". It scored 7.4/10 based on 469 votes. Directed by Marc Daniels and written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., it aired on 12/31/1951. This episode scored 0.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Lucy Plays Cupid".

  • The Adagio
    7.4/10469 votes
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    #1 - 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.

  • Lucy Plays Cupid
    7.4/10477 votes
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    #2 - 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 Goes to Scotland
    7.4/10396 votes
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    #3 - Lucy Goes to Scotland

    Season 5 Episode 17 - Aired 2/20/1956

    The Ricardos and Mertzes are on their way to Paris, but first Lucy wants to go to Scotland to seek members of the McGillicuddy family into which she was born. In a classic dream sequence, Ricky appears as Scotty MacTavish MacDougal MacCardo.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Cuban Pals
    7.5/10401 votes
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    #4 - Cuban Pals

    Season 1 Episode 28 - Aired 4/21/1952

    Lucy burns with jealousy when she gets an eyeful of Ricky's dance parter Renita (Lita Baron) from the "old days" in Cuba. She was a child then, but no more! Determined to keep them apart, Lucy heads to the club in disguise, and finds herself in the clutches of a wild man named Ramon.

    Director: Marc Daniels

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

  • Lucy Goes to a Rodeo
    7.5/10290 votes
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    #5 - Lucy Goes to a Rodeo

    Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 11/28/1955

    Fred has a Western-themed show coming up at his lodge and he wants Ricky to perform in it. He can’t — but Lucy and Ethel volunteer (Lucy yodels “Home on the Range”). The reason Ricky can’t appear is that he has a “radio” show that night. Or is it a “rodeo” show?

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Drafted
    7.6/10479 votes
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    #6 - 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 Amateur Hour
    7.6/10461 votes
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    #7 - 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.

  • The Young Fans
    7.6/10452 votes
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    #8 - 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.

  • The Inferiority Complex
    7.6/10336 votes
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    #9 - The Inferiority Complex

    Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 2/2/1953

    When no one laughs at her jokes or wants her to be their bridge partner, Lucy comes to the conclusion that she is inferior to everyone else. Worried by Lucy's behavior, Ricky goes to the psychiatrist (or "fizz-a-key-a-tryst" as Ricky pronounces it,) to find the remedy. But it turns out that this doctor's "remedy" isn't exactly what Ricky had in mind.

    Director: William Asher

    Writer: N/A

  • The Indian Show
    7.6/10366 votes
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    #10 - The Indian Show

    Season 2 Episode 24 - Aired 5/4/1953

    Even the arrival of the baby hasn't dampened Lucy's showbiz aspirations. Wanting to get into the new Indian act at the Tropicana, Lucy pays off one of the performers and appears herself, carrying Little Ricky papoose-style on her back.

    Director: William Asher

    Writer: N/A

  • The Benefit
    7.7/10431 votes
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    #11 - 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.

  • Lucy's Showbiz Swan Song
    7.7/10370 votes
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    #12 - Lucy's Showbiz Swan Song

    Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 12/22/1952

    Despite her pregnancy, Lucy wants to appear in Ricky's Gay Nineties revue at the Tropicana. After a disastrous audition, Lucy disguises herself and sneaks into the barbershop quartet number, and then proceeds to ruin it.

    Director: William Asher

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

  • The Fox Hunt
    7.7/10324 votes
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    #13 - The Fox Hunt

    Season 5 Episode 16 - Aired 2/6/1956

    Tally ho! In England, Lucy hounds a movie producer (Walter Kingsford) about her riding prowess and ends up on a fox hunt.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Ragtime Band
    7.7/10290 votes
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    #14 - Ragtime Band

    Season 6 Episode 21 - Aired 3/18/1957

    When Ricky refuses to bring his rumba band out to Westport to play for a Historical Society benefit, Lucy and the Mertzes put together a combo of their own, with Little Ricky on drums.

    Director: William Asher

    Writer: Bob Weiskopf, Bob Schiller

  • The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub
    7.8/10642 votes
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    #15 - 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

  • The Audition
    7.8/10480 votes
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    #16 - 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.

  • Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer
    7.8/10443 votes
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    #17 - 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

  • The Marriage License
    7.8/10414 votes
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    #18 - The Marriage License

    Season 1 Episode 26 - Aired 4/7/1952

    Lucy thinks she and Ricky aren't legally married because his name was misspelled on their marriage license. So she wants them to renew their vows at the same place in Connecticut where Ricky first proposed to her. But they run out of gas getting there.

    Director: Marc Daniels

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

  • The Publicity Agent
    7.8/10395 votes
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    #19 - The Publicity Agent

    Season 1 Episode 31 - Aired 5/12/1952

    Lucy poses as a princess for a publicity stunt.

    Director: Marc Daniels

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

  • Pregnant Women are Unpredictable
    7.8/10367 votes
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    #20 - Pregnant Women are Unpredictable

    Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 12/15/1952

    Lucy thinks Ricky cares more about the baby they're having than about her, especially after he buys her presents like bonnets and rattles. But when he takes her out for a night on the town, she thinks he's lost interest in the baby.

    Director: William Asher

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

  • Ricky Has Labor Pains
    7.8/10366 votes
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    #21 - Ricky Has Labor Pains

    Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 1/5/1953

    Ricky develops "labor pains" because he is jealous of the attention being lavished on the expectant Lucy. So she decides to throw him a "daddy shower," which Fred turns into a "stag party," which Lucy and Ethel crash.

    Director: William Asher

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

  • Ricky's 'Life' Story
    7.8/10328 votes
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    #22 - Ricky's 'Life' Story

    Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 10/5/1953

    Lucy is upset because a 'Life' magazine feature on Ricky's home life didn't include a picture of her.

    Director: William Asher

    Writer: N/A

  • The French Revue
    7.8/10314 votes
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    #23 - The French Revue

    Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 11/16/1953

    Ricky is planning a French revue for the club, and since Lucy is determined to be in it, she hires a Frenchman to coach her. When Ricky forbids her to come near the place, she tries various disguises, and finally succeeds as a chorus girl.

    Director: William Asher

    Writer: N/A

  • Ricky's Old Girlfriend
    7.8/10353 votes
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    #24 - Ricky's Old Girlfriend

    Season 3 Episode 12 - Aired 12/21/1953

    Ricky is jealous when Lucy comes up with a long list of ex-boyfriends, so he invents an old flame-who just happens to be in town. Her name? Carlotta Romero, with whom Ricky DID perform years before.

    Director: William Asher

    Writer: N/A

  • Oil Wells
    7.8/10342 votes
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    #25 - Oil Wells

    Season 3 Episode 18 - Aired 2/15/1954

    The Ricardos and Mertzes as oil millionaires? Lucy and Ethel get a hot stock tip from their new neighbors from Texas. But Ricky and Fred say no. At first, anyhow. But are these neighbors swindlers? Lucy and the gang eventually think so, so they come up with a plan to find out.

    Director: William Asher

    Writer: N/A