The BEST episodes of I Love Lucy

Every episode of I Love Lucy ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of I Love Lucy!

Cuban Bandleader Ricky Ricardo would be happy if his wife Lucy would just be a housewife. Instead she tries constantly to perform at the Tropicana where he works, and make life comically frantic in the apartment building they share with landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz, who also happen to be their best friends.

Last Updated: 3/19/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
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Lucy Makes Room for Danny
star
9.72
29 votes

#1 - Lucy Makes Room for Danny

Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/1/1958

The Ricardos prepare to go out of town for two months and decided to rent their home out to Danny Williams and his family. But when their plans fall through, Lucy and Ricky are forced to move in with Fred and Ethel in their guest house! Lucy, however, drives Danny crazy with her constant visits, and things get a bit out of hand. Danny Thomas, Marjorie Lord and Gale Gordon guest star.

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Lucy's Bicycle Trip
star
9.07
58 votes

#2 - Lucy's Bicycle Trip

Season 5 - Episode 24 - Aired 4/23/1956

The Ricardos and Mertzes pedal their way from Italy to the French Riviera. It's a bumpy ride, thanks (of course) to Lucy, who left her passport in her purse, which she locked in a suitcase, which she sent ahead to their hotel in Nice. That presents problems when they get to the Italian-French border.

Directors: James V. Kern
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Lucy and Harpo Marx
star
9.00
30 votes

#3 - Lucy and Harpo Marx

Season 4 - Episode 28 - Aired 5/9/1955

Lucy decides to impersonate some Hollywood notables to impress nearsighted Caroline Appleby, who is visiting from New York. A mixup occurs when Lucy, having introduced her friend to "Gary Cooper," "Clark Gable," "Marlon Brando," and "Jimmy Durante," decides to impersonate Harpo Marx just as the real Harpo arrives at the apartment with Ricky.

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Ricky's Hawaiian Vacation
star
8.98
56 votes

#4 - Ricky's Hawaiian Vacation

Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/15/1954

Ricky's band is to play in Hawaii-and guess who wants to go also? Lucy's plan: to go on a game show that gives away airline tickets. It calls for some trickery, and Lucy just *might* meet her match in the show's host, Freddie Fillmore, a prankster par excellence.

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Lucy Misses the Mertzes
star
8.86
56 votes

#5 - Lucy Misses the Mertzes

Season 6 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/11/1957

As the Ricardos get settled in their new country home, they immediately wind up in a mix-up with their old friends Fred and Ethel Mertz. Missing their old friends already, Lucy and Ricky decide to visit the Mertzes. At the same time, the Mertzes decide to trek to the country to visit the Ricardos, and what began simply becomes complicated.

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Housewarming
star
8.84
56 votes

#6 - Housewarming

Season 6 - Episode 23 - Aired 4/1/1957

Fred Mertz installs an intercom system between the Mertz guest-house and the Ricardo main house. The intercom causes some confusion when Lucy and Ricky overhear what they believe to be plans for a housewarming party given for them.

Directors: William Asher
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Lucy Raises Tulips
star
8.82
50 votes

#7 - Lucy Raises Tulips

Season 6 - Episode 26 - Aired 4/29/1957

Suburban living gets Lucy into a flower-show competition, and she raises tulips with a vengeance as she tries to beat out her neighbor, Betty Ramsey, for first prize. Lucy asks Ricky to mow the lawn so that her garden will look just right. But he only mows half before taking off for a baseball game, leaving Lucy and Ethel to tiptoe through the tulips -- with the lawnmower.

Directors: William Asher
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Job Switching
star
8.58
113 votes

#8 - Job Switching

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/15/1952

Ricky wants Lucy to try working for a week, so she and Ethel get jobs at a candy factory, where they are totally inept-especially at wrapping chocolates-due to a speeding conveyor belt that has them stuffing chocolates in their mouths, blouses, and hats.

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Lucy Does a TV Commercial
star
8.51
104 votes

#9 - Lucy Does a TV Commercial

Season 1 - Episode 30 - Aired 5/5/1952

Desperate to be in Ricky's new television commercial, Lucy makes every attempt to get her way; which eventually pays off. But her one-and-only chance flops when she is forced to test the sponsor's product over-and-over, a vitamin syrup called Vitametavegimin, which is 25% alcohol.

Directors: Marc Daniels
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Lucy Goes to the Hospital
star
8.50
38 votes

#10 - Lucy Goes to the Hospital

Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/19/1953

Ricky and the Mertzes rehearse for pregnant Lucy's trip to the hospital. It turns out to be predictably chaotic, but Lucy does deliver Little Ricky.

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The Ballet
star
8.50
70 votes

#11 - The Ballet

Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/18/1952

Even after all this time, Lucy still longs to get into one of Ricky's shows. When she learns that there is an opening in one of Ricky's acts for a ballet dancer,as well as a burlesque comedienne, Lucy decides to take a ballet class-which leads to some pretty disastrous results. Fed up, Lucy then hires a teacher to teach her the art of burlesque comedy. It is then that Lucy learns that Ricky still has one spot available in his act. Falsely assuming that it is the burlesque comedienne, not the ballet dancer, that Ricky needs for his act, Lucy goes to the club and mayhem ensues.

Directors: Marc Daniels
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The Great Train Robbery
star
8.46
41 votes

#12 - The Great Train Robbery

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/31/1955

Lucy gets mixed up with a jewel thief on a cross-country rail trip that marks the end of the series' Hollywood sojourn. That's not the only reason it's a bumpy ride. Another is that Lucy keeps pulling the emergency-brake cord.

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First Stop
star
8.46
35 votes

#13 - First Stop

Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/17/1955

The Ricardos and Mertzes have a hard time finding accommodations that will please everyone on their trip to California. They finally hit a greasy restaurant where stale cheese sandwiches cost them a dollar apiece. Hoping to find something better elsewhere, Ricky pays the check. The couples leave -- only to return several hours later, fooled by some purposely misleading road signs.

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Lucy's Italian Movie
star
8.41
34 votes

#14 - Lucy's Italian Movie

Season 5 - Episode 23 - Aired 4/16/1956

En route to Rome by train, Lucy is spotted by a famous Italian cinema director and chosen to play a part in his new movie "Bitter Grapes." Lucy sets out to immerse herself in the role. When she nonchalantly wanders into a vineyard inhabited by a motley assortment of Italian-speaking women, she is dispatched to the wine-making area to crush grapes with her feet.

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Pioneer Women
star
8.37
41 votes

#15 - Pioneer Women

Season 1 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/31/1952

Having been bet by their husbands that they can't do without modern conveniences, Lucy and Ethel churn butter and bake bread from scratch-an eighteen foot loaf! But then Lucy demands that Ricky live as if it's the turn of the century for him, too.

Directors: Marc Daniels
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Sentimental Anniversary
star
8.35
31 votes

#16 - Sentimental Anniversary

Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/1/1954

Lucy and Ricky want to spend their 13th wedding anniversary alone, but the Mertzes have another idea: a surprise party.

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California, Here We Come
star
8.34
38 votes

#17 - California, Here We Come

Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/10/1955

The Ricardos and Mertzes head for California. But first, of coures, there are complications. The chief one: Lucy's mother, who shows up and wants to accompany them. Ricky objects (to put it mildly), and when Fred and Ethel overhear him complaining about too many people on the trip, they take it personally. And when the dust from that blowup finally settles, there's packing to do.

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The Freezer
star
8.32
80 votes

#18 - The Freezer

Season 1 - Episode 29 - Aired 4/28/1952

Where's the beef? It's in Lucy and Ethel's new walk-in freezer (according to Lucy, the "human popsicle"). Of course, Ricky and Fred have a beef with their wives, because they paid $483 for it. The meat company won't take it back, and they can't sell it to customers waiting in the local butcher shop, so they're stuck with it. And speaking of stuck, Lucy gets herself locked in the freezer!

Directors: Marc Daniels
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Bon Voyage
star
8.31
29 votes

#19 - Bon Voyage

Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/16/1956

Ricky, Ethel, and Fred are aboard their ship to Europe when Lucy rushes down the gangplank for one last goodbye to Little Ricky, who will be in Lucy's mother's care while she is in Europe. The ship heads out to sea, leaving Lucy frantically trying to catch up with it.

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Bull Fight Dance
star
8.31
26 votes

#20 - Bull Fight Dance

Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/28/1955

Lucy literally blackmails Ricky into getting her a part in one of his guest appearances on television. He does get her a role -- as a bull. When Lucy is displeased with the turn of events, she transforms the bull's image from that of a snarling beast to a mincing creature resembling Elsie, the Borden Cow. Look for the classic scene where Lucy upstages Ricky in this episode.

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Equal Rights
star
8.28
68 votes

#21 - Equal Rights

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/26/1953

Lucy and Ethel demand equal rights for women. Okay, say Ricky and Fred at the restaurant: separate checks for the four of them. Thus begins Lucy and Ethel's careers as restaurant dishwashers. So they plot revenge: they'll scare their husbands by claiming to have been robbed.

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The Charm School
star
8.25
32 votes

#22 - The Charm School

Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/25/1954

It's time for charm school for Lucy and Ethel when their men eye a pretty woman at a party. But Ricky and Fred are anything but charmed by the results.

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Don Juan is Shelved
star
8.23
26 votes

#23 - Don Juan is Shelved

Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/21/1955

Ricky's movie is shelved, so Lucy schemes to get Ricky another role. The plan: impress MGM studio boss Dore Schary by any means necessary, even if it means that Schary must impress himself. But first, there are 500 fan letters to write.

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Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her
star
8.23
186 votes

#24 - Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying to Murder Her

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/5/1951

Lucy 's new whodunit and a misunderstood phone conversation work together to lead Lucy to think Ricky is trying to poison her. So with what she believes is her last burst of energy, Lucy hastens to the Tropicana to confront Ricky with a gun.

Directors: Marc Daniels
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Lucy and John Wayne
star
8.23
35 votes

#25 - Lucy and John Wayne

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/10/1955

Lucy is spotted while attempting to "collect" a cement block with John Wayne's footprints from Grauman's Chinese Theater. To avoid publicity and keep Lucy out of jail, Ricky enlists John Wayne's help in replacing the block. One mishap leads to another, and the plot thickens -- as does the cement. John Wayne guest-stars.

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