two writing assignments by friday morning.

RUNNING HEADER: POPULAR TELEVISION PROGRAM

Popular Television Program

Popular Television Program

Joylyn Case

Rasmussen College- Vision of Am. Section 01

Popular Television Program

I Love Lucy is one of the most legendary and popular situation comedies of all time, maintaining its ability to charm audiences even half a century later. The show follows the life of Lucy Ricardo, a zany housewife in 1950s New York City as she attempts to break into show business, defy her husband or just keep life interesting through a series of schemes and mishaps. Showcasing the exceptional comedic talents of its star, Lucille Ball, the show has a timeless ability to entertain. In addition to its entertainment value, the show’s 1950s setting provides a rich point of cultural critique. It has been accused of reinforcing patriarchal norms and being degrading to women. Lucy and her best friend Ethel are often consumed by petty, material desires; they are frequently depicted as incompetent; their messes are usually cleaned up by their more sensible, authoritative husbands. Still, what messages in I Love Lucy speak the loudest? Do Lucy Ricardo’s never-quite-successful schemes as a housewife overshadow Lucille Ball’s professional success as a businesswoman, comedian and actress? Despite the show’s outward adherence to some of the patriarchal ideology of the times, I Love Lucy was a vehicle for Lucille Ball to empower women, both within and outside the world of the show.

To understand the enormous success of I Love Lucy, it is important to ground the show in the context of the early to mid-1950s in America. The postwar era in the late 1940s and early 1950s brought a rise in suburban living. The single-family home, the nuclear family, and a strong patriarch made up the American ideal. The man of the home was the breadwinner, and his wife made the home and raised the children. In the wake of the war, upward mobility was the goal, and that meant more leisure time, consumer goods, and predictability.

Lucille Ball was being presented with the opportunity to star in her own TV show based on her hit radio show, My Favorite Husband. Because of their careers, she and her husband, bandleader Desi Arnaz, had been constantly dealing with the stresses of a long distance relationship since their marriage in 1940. She saw the start of the television show as an opportunity for she and Desi to work together; she wanted Desi, rather than actor Richard Denning, to play her husband. The couple set to work convincing CBS executives, who were skeptical because of Arnaz’s Cuban heritage, that this casting could be a success with the American people. I Love Lucy premiered on Monday, October 15, 1951; within a few months, it was bringing over sixteen million viewers a week and its popularity only continued to increase (Edgerton 132). Lucy ran as a half hour sitcom until May 1957, and as monthly hour-long specials from November 1957 until April 1961 (“Television and Gender” 87).

I Love Lucy episodes follow a fairly consistent format; Lucy either wants something or wants to hide something, and goes about pursuing her desire in an outrageous fashion. She is almost always joined by her best friend and landlord Ethel, usually aligned in opposition against their husbands, Ricky and Fred. Recurring themes include Lucy’s desire to enter show business, division of the sexes, Lucy’s jealousy, elaborate plans (and their undoing), traditional husband/wife conflicts, and the use of trickery.

There is an alternative way to read the show, however. In an article about Lucy and its commodification, Lori Landay asserts that the show struck such a powerful chord with viewers because of the way it, particularly its main character, “dramatized and personified cultural conflicts about gender, marriage, and commodification” (“Millions ‘Love Lucy’” 26). The power of ideals represented on television persists today. These picture-perfect TV families depicted 1950s domesticity with none of the underlying conflict felt by many women at the time. I Love Lucy, on the other hand, portrayed a domesticity that was challenged by the woman of the house in her refusal to settle for the life of a housewife (“Television in the Home” 12-13). The show’s creator’s carefully balanced society’s perspectives on domesticity with their own, creating a television couple that lived by societies accepted standards but which, in reality, was only possible through the rejection of those standards. Lucy was received so well because it challenged the strict gender roles of the domestic ideal, creating a televisual reality that more closely represented peoples’ day to day experiences. This is not to suggest that Lucy’s objective was to critique gender roles, just that it made use of comedy to this end. Sitcoms on American television are important points from which to reflect upon and develop ideas about culture. A unique power they possess is that they don’t need to recreate our reality, they need only create a reality the audience likes (“Television and Gender” 91). In this way, audiences can test out new social ideas from a safe distance, and may become accepting of perspectives they otherwise would not have considered, simply because they’re packaged in a way they like so much.

I Love Lucy is not a perfect show, but in the context of the culture at large at the time of its production, it displays many progressive qualities having to do with gender representation. Lucy’s constant defiance of Ricky was made acceptable by its entertainment value and the reassertion of male dominance at the conclusion of every episode, but the audience knew Lucy would defy him again in the next episode. This conflict spoke to the tensions widely felt around the newly developed model of domesticity in postwar America. In total opposition to societal gender expectations, Lucille Ball was not only the life force of the show, but also a producer and outstanding physical comedian. The combination of the “Lucy” and “Lucille” personas made her a sympathetic and truly empowering example for women. Lucy/Lucille’s influence persists today in how we view gender representations, how women see themselves, and how we educate others.

Resources

Edgerton, Gary R. “Here Comes Television: Remaking American Life – 1948-1954.” The Columbia History of American Television. New York: Columbia UP, 2007. 113-55. Print.

Landay, Lori. “I Love Lucy: Television and Gender in Postwar Domestic Ideology.” The Sitcom Reader: America Viewed and Skewed. Albany: State University of New York, 2005. 87-97. Print.

“Millions ‘Love Lucy’: Commodification and the Lucy Phenomenon.” NWSA Journal 11.2 (1999): 25-46. JSTOR. Web.

“Television in the Home and the Home on Television: Fifties TV and Lucy TV.” I Love Lucy. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 2010. 7-21. Print.