Watch The Lucy Show

The Lucy Show was the third sitcom for actress Lucille Ball. It was created as a successor, but not a sequel, to the earlier I Love Lucy show and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. The show's premise is that of Lucy Carmichael, a widow (Lucille Ball) and her divorced best friend Vivian Bagley (Vivian Vance) sharing a home in New York with their respective children. Lucy has a daughter, and a son: Chris and Jerry. Vivian has one son from her previous marriage, Sherman. As the main character, the executives at CBS decided that Lucy would be a widow, as that was a more acceptable role for a single mother in that era.

There were some loose threads of continuity in the show, as Lucy went through several different jobs at first. Although the character was left a trust fund by her late husband, Lucy worked as a meter maid, hospital aide, and a restaurant owner. She also spends a lot of time trying to convince the guardian of her husband's trust, Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon), to release some of her husband's money to fund various amusing schemes and ideas. Eventually, the Lucy character becomes his secretary, and she moves out to California with Jerry, as her daughter, Chris, is in college. Vivian Vance left the show around this point, and other actresses, including Ann Sothern, Carole Cook, and Kathleen Freeman.

Once the character of Lucy Carmichael moved to California, there were more opportunities for celebrities to guest star as themselves, making the show an ideal setting to spot favorite movie and television stars of the era, including John Wayne, Dean Martin, and even Joan Crawford. Ms. Crawford and Ms. Ball were involved in a very public feud at the time, and although there were some difficulties between the two, the episode was filmed with very smooth performances by both ladies.

The Lucy Show premiered on the CBS network on October 1st, 1962, and ran until March 11th, 1968. Like I Love Lucy, and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour it was produced by Desilu studios. The studio at that time, was still run by Ball's ex-husband, Desi Arnaz, and still owned by both of them.