Ep 1. The Anniversary Present

Lucy and Ricky Ricardo are celebrating their wedding anniversary, and Ricky wants to surprise his wife with the perfect gift. He enlists the help of their neighbor and best friends, Fred and Ethel Mertz, to come up with an idea.

The episode begins with Lucy getting dressed up for her anniversary dinner with Ricky. She's excited and can't wait to see what her husband has planned for the evening. Ricky calls her on the phone and tells her that he's going to be a little late, which gives Lucy time to get some ideas for a surprise gift of her own.

When Ricky finally arrives home, he presents Lucy with a beautiful pearl necklace. Lucy is thrilled, but she realizes that she doesn't have a gift for Ricky. She decides to play a little game with him and tells him that she has a big surprise planned for him, but she can't reveal what it is until later in the evening.

Meanwhile, Fred and Ethel are brainstorming gift ideas for the couple. They come up with a few good options, but nothing seems quite right. That is, until Ethel has a stroke of genius. She suggests that they give Lucy and Ricky a new TV set, complete with the latest features and a beautiful cabinet to hide it in.

Fred thinks it's a great idea, but they'll have to come up with a way to get the old TV set out of the apartment without Lucy and Ricky knowing. Ethel comes up with a plan to "borrow" the TV set while Lucy and Ricky are out for the evening, and then bring the new set in as a surprise.

The plan seems foolproof, until Fred and Ethel run into some unexpected obstacles. They accidentally drop the old TV set down the stairwell, causing it to break into a million pieces. They're also having trouble getting the new set up the stairs and into the apartment, which leads to some hilarious physical comedy.

While all of this is going on, Lucy is getting increasingly frustrated that she hasn't come up with a surprise gift for Ricky. She tries to bake him a cake, but it turns out to be a disaster. She even considers singing him a song, but realizes that she's no singer.

Finally, Fred and Ethel manage to get the new TV set into the apartment, just in time for Lucy and Ricky to come home. Lucy is surprised and thrilled with the new gift, and Ricky is pleased that he was able to surprise her with the pearl necklace.

As they settle in to watch some television, however, they discover that the picture is blurry and the sound is muffled. Fred and Ethel are dismayed, realizing that they accidentally picked out a faulty TV set. The episode ends with the four friends trying to figure out how to fix the problem, while Lucy and Ricky look on in amusement.

Overall, "The Anniversary Present" is a classic episode of I Love Lucy, full of the show's signature humor and heart. It's an entertaining look at the lengths that friends will go to in order to make each other happy, even if things don't always go according to plan.