1951: 'I Love Lucy' Begins its Run on CBS
This day in 1951 marked the start of one of television's most popular and enduring television shows, I Love Lucy. The CBS series starred real-life husband and wife Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, a Manhattan bandleader and his zany wife. The series also starred Vivian Vance and William Frawley as the Ricardo's neighbors, Ethel and Fred Mertz. The show was an immediate hit, and was the most-watched series on television for four of its six seasons.
I Love Lucy was responsible for introducing numerous television innovations. In an age when television was performed live and captured on low-quality kinescopes, I Love Lucy was filmed before a studio audience, which is why high-quality footage exists today. The show was also the first to utilize a three-camera system to capture various angles simultaneously to allow for post-filming editing.
I Love Lucy ran for six seasons. Though it still was one of television's top programs, its stars were looking for a lighter workload and instead produced a number of one-hour specials under the name The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show.