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(More customer reviews)Volume 8 of Season One of "I Love Lucy" on DVD includes what has been universally recognized as the funniest episode of the classical sitcom. Need a clue? How about one word: Vitameatavegamin (and it's tasty too!). Even without that biggie the other three episodes by writers Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll, Jr. are way above average as well:
Episode 28, "Cuban Pals" (April 21, 1952) finds Lucy insanely jealous about the gorgeous Latin dancer (Rita Convy) who was Ricky's dancing partner back in Cuba. Whatever will the redhead do about this floozy?
Episode 29, "The Freezer" (April 28, 1952) contains another classic "I Love Lucy" sight gag. Lucy and Ethel have a new walk-in freezer that is not as big as think. As a result, the girls have to go into the meat business. Meanwhile, there is that walk-in freezer with a lock on teh door and that can only mean one thing with Lucy around.
Episode 30, "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" (May 5, 1952) is an absolute classic. Lucy has been trying to get into showbusiness and she may have finally found her opportunity as a TV pitchwoman for Vitametavegamin, a cure-all tonic (that is only 23 percent alcohol). What is interesting is that Lucy is pretty good when she starts practicing. But with each rehersal using the actual product she descends into a drunken stupor and ascends to the heights of hilarity. Note: Lucy appeared in the 1946 MGM movie "Ziegfeld Follies," in which Red Skelton did a burlesque routine in which he was peddling a product called Guzzler's Gin. Whether this was indeed the inspiration for this "I Love Lucy" episode or not, it indicates the Lucille Ball's gift was not in originality but in performance.
Episode 31, "The Publicity Agent" (May 12, 1952) has Lucy "helping" Ricky's career by posing as a Middle Eastern princess who is Ricky Ricardo's biggest fan. Of course, no publicity stunt by Lucy goes unpunished.
During the first season of "I Love Lucy" in 1951-52 the show had a Nielsen rating of 50.9, which means on Monday nights literatlly half the television sets in the United States were on and tuned to CBS at 9:00 p.m. (and the show only finished THIRD in the ratings). However, the next year the show would make it to the top spot in the Nielsens with a rating of 67.3 as Lucy, both the actress and the character, gave birth. Today you can take the ratings from the four main networks and probably throw the two minor ones into the mix and still not come close to that number during any hour of the week. This is why there is "I Love Lucy" and then the rest.
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