All language subtitles for The.Unknown.Story.S01E02.I.Love.Lucy.1080p.PCOK.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

It's the
sitcom that started it all.

Television owes
everything to "I Love Lucy".

"I Love Lucy" literally
invented the way to do it.

One of the biggest
shows of all time.

The one
time B movie actress

and her band leader husband
would break all the rules...

Well, that'll wait.
This won't. Come on.

...and changed
television forever.

The first network
TV show that was done

in a higher quality.

Desi realized that
Lucy came alive in front

of a live audience.

So I said, we'll film
it in front of a live audience.

I said, well, that
has never been done.

You can't do that.

Desi and Lucy were
smart enough to retain

ownership rights so that
they could invent the rerun

and make money off this show.

It's indication they became
TV's first millionaires.

The innovations
off-camera were matched

by the innovations on screen.

Hi, Lucy!

Here we are
seeing the first, kind of,

intercultural couple.

Not only that,
but the female was the lead.

She was so strong and bold.

Vitameatavegamin
and the chocolate factory

and her stomping grapes
will always hold up.

It's like a perfect storm.

Desi said it happens once

in a lifetimes if
it happens at all.

The success of
"I Love Lucy" would create

a television empire.

They bought RKO Studios.

Desilu was the largest

independent producer
of television.

They went on to do shows
like "The Andy Griffith Show"

and "Dick Van Dyke", "Star
Trek" "Mission Impossible".

But after
nearly a decade on screen,

the collaboration and
the marriage ended.

The last episode airs.

The next day Lucy

drops the mic and
files for divorce.

It breaks my heart
that they got divorced.

No matter what wackiness
Lucy pulled, at the end

of each episode, they
loved each other.

Find out how this
iconic TV show came together,

how did this
unconventional couple

reinvent television and
create a show that is still

adored and imitated
decades later.

I think the essence
of the show is love.

I think the heart says it all.

♪

70 years after
the premiere of "I Love Lucy"

audiences young and old are
still captivated by a show

that is among the best sitcoms
in television history.

When "I Love Lucy" premiered
in 1951, nobody could predict

it would become one of the most
iconic TV shows of all time.

Timelessness is probably
the first thing I associate

with "I Love Lucy", because
it's been able to endure.

It's almost a work
of art, I would say.

Probably the most hilarious
show I've ever seen.

And it holds up.

That is the foundation
of modern television,

not just the golden
age of television.

"I Love Lucy" is the foundation
of television as we know it.

Television owes
everything to "I Love Lucy".

Television owes its comic
rhythms to "I Love Lucy",

it owes its comic
aesthetic to "I Love Lucy",

and every star now who's able
to sign a production deal

that allows them to develop
their own material,

they owe everything to
Lucy and Desi, everything.

Six seasons
of unforgettable moments

like this one which aired
on CBS on May 5th, 1952.

Hello, friends.

I'm your Vitameatavegamin girl.

Are you tired, run
down, listless?

Do you poop out at parties?

Are you unpopular?

The answer to all your problems
is in this little bottle.

Now, you take some.

Oh.

It's so tasty, too.

You give her a little,
tiny, silly thing to play,

she plays 50 different
versions of it.

The answer to all
your problems is in

this bittle loddle.
Uh, little bottle.

She's basically taking a
spoonful of something gross.

And it's seven to eight
minutes of her doing that.

And she's getting increasingly
drunk because for no good reason

Vitameatavegamin
is 25% alcohol.

There's no good explanation
for why that is,

but she has a number
of spoonfuls and she

becomes increasingly drunk.

So why don't you join the
thousands of happy, peppy

people and get a great bi
bottle of Mitametamigimin.

If you go back and watch
the little gradations

of the drunkenness,
of the belligerence

as she gets more drunk,
it's brilliant and it

plays that way today.

With her husband,
Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball

created a cultural phenomenon.

But it's one that begins

not under the bright
lights of Hollywood, but

in Jamestown, New York.

She grew up in
western New York State,

always dreaming of
stardom, an tried her luck

in New York City.

At age 16,
Ball lands a modeling gig

in New York.

And while making her way

in the world of theater,
Hollywood calls.

Lucille Ball started out
as kind of a show girl type.

She'd been a model in New
York and she was recruited

to be in a Samuel Goldwyn film.

That led to a contract

at RKO Studios, where she began

to get bigger parts and
she became a big star

in B pictures.

She was called queen
of the B's because a lot

of her movies they considered
B movies, but still,

a beautiful movie star.

Somewhere along the
line, she's not getting

the glamour girl parts.

She's not quite getting
the comedy parts yet, either.

But she meets and falls in love
with Desi Arnaz.

Their backgrounds were
certainly different.

Desi comes from a family
that were Cuban exiles,

had to reinvent themselves,
had come from wealth in Cuba,

but then, certainly, when
they came to this country,

had to do some reinvention.

Lucy and Desi
elope in 1940, but rarely see

each other with Arnaz on
the road with his band

and Ball in Los Angeles
landing small parts

in radio and film.

She was not the A list.

Lucille Ball was never really

the leading lady, she was always
the friend of the leading lady

in the big movie systems.

In 1948, CBS cast
Lucille Ball as a daffy

but intelligent housewife
on the radio show,

"My Favorite Husband",
and later asks her

to develop a comedy
fo television.

Remember, TV is new.

TV is a deathtrap at this point, okay?

Yeah, TV, nobody wants to be
on TV.

Radio is where it's at.

And someone asked her
to adapt her radio show

to television.

She was looking for excuses
to be closer to Desi Arnaz.

Remember, Desi Arnaz was

really a big band leader,
traveling around the country.

And she would do movies in
one spot, his band would

take him in another spot.

They were looking for something
that would bring them together.

And CBS said, no way.

No way are they going to
believe you're married

to a Cuban guy with
a thick accent.

And she's like, but I am
married to a Cuban guy

with a thick accent.

CBS were really concerned
that Lucy being married

to a foreigner is something
audiences would not buy.

This was great concern
to the network.

I think the
intercultural relationship

at the center, was something
that wasn't on television

at the time, and bigger picture,
wasn't something that so much

was in the culture at the time.
And so it was forcing a lot

of people, from
network executives,

to sponsors, to audiences,
to confront something

that existed in the real world
but was not something people

wanted to be discussing.

To prove that Desi Arnaz
would be a viable husband

for her on television,
she hired some writers.

And they wrote a Vaudeville
show and they actually took

the Vaudeville show with
Desi Arnaz as her husband

on the road.

They auditioned
in different cities,

showing the bosses that the
public would eat this up.

They formed
Desilu Productions in 1950

to manage the tour.

Desilu originated as
the name of the ranch

in Chatsworth, California.

It was a combination
of Desi and Lucy, obviously.

Desi formed Desilu Productions
to manage his band.

The
traveling show is a hit.

The network had no choice
but to really accept Desi

as the husband, because
people were eating it up.

And once the audience was, you
know, exposed to this type

of relationship, there was
literally no going back.

♪

In 1951, CBS
takes a big gamble and gives

"I Love Lucy" a coveted spot
on their prime time schedule.

A new pioneering sitcom
centered around the lives

of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo.

"I Love Lucy" is
really about the marriage

between Lucy and Desi.

It's really art imitating life
imitating art in a lot of ways.

To round out
the ensemble, the team cast

Lucy's sidekick,
Ethel Mertz and her

curmudgeon landlord
husband, Fred.

They found Vivian Vance
performing in San Diego

on stage.

And the director of the show

went down and saw her and
he brought Desi to see her

and said, she's great,
she's perfect, she's Ethel.

But when they brought
Vivian to Lucille

to get her approval,

Lucy didn't react very well.

She said, she doesn't look like
a landlady.

I want a dumpy landlady

with peroxide blonde hair
in curlers, and a bathrobe.

This woman doesn't
look like that at all.

And Vivian was taken aback.

It wasn't a warm embrace there.

Vivian was an attractive woman.

And she did kind of dowdy down
to be Ethel.

But what starts as
a somewhat frosty relationship

will ultimately become
a lifelong friendship.

From there, it went uphill.

And Lucy became friendly

with Vivian and came
to respect her opinion,

and depended on her
as a show doctor

when things weren't quite right.

And they would work out

their routines together where
they naturalized things

so that it looked like
it wa really happening.

Although there may have even
been friction in the beginning

according to some sources,
between Lucille Ball

and Vivian Vance, by the
time "I Love Lucy" was over,

and then Lucy was
doing "The Lucy Show"

and "Here's Lucy", she
wanted to work with Viv.

And they were great
friends in real life.

Lucy and Ricky
may have been the heart

of the show, but Lucy and
Ethel bring comedy gold.

My goodness!

Well, it's a happy
little loaf, isn't it?

Oh!

I got it!

Put it on the board!

How'd this oven door get open?

Ethel! Ethel!

For Ethel's
husband, the studio turns

to a veteran Vaudeville
and Broadway actor.

To do the Fred Mertz role,
they picked William Frawley.

And William Frawley,
everybody loved.

But he had a drinking problem,
so they were trepidatious

about bringing him in,
because they weren't sure

he was gonna deliver.

It was a grind.
They were doing 39 shows a year.

So Desi made him promise
he would never drink

on the set, or come in
drunk, or any of that.

And he promised.
And he never did.

The funny thing is about
Fred and Ethel is that they

did not get along at all.

And the interesting thing is

on camera, you
totally can read that.

I mean, their whole joke
was that they kind of

hated each other.

They were professionals.

And it never showed on the air
that they didn't really

like each other very much.

Vivian thought of herself
as a leading lady,

and she didn't really like
the idea of people believing

that she would be
married to that old coot

is what she called him.

With the main roles
cast, the characters take shape.

Bill Frawley was
exactly like Fred Mertz.

And he was just a grumpy
curmudgeon, wasn't crazy

about being married.

Vivian Vance played Ethel
in a way that, you know,

was realistic and kind
of mothering toward Lucy

who was somewhat childish
and would always be roped

into situations.

And she had great reactions.

Lucy brought a very broad
range of facial expressions

and natural timing
to her character,

which was kind of a daffy
housewife who always

had a scheme going.

She had great physicality,
she was great with props.

So she was able to do

all these central
things in each episode.

Desi was a great straight man.

He, you know, could react,

he was a strong performer.

And he never forgot a line.

Always on the mark
and totally believable

as the husband.

Ricky Ricardo's punctuation
was not always perfect,

but he was in on the joke.

However, there's only one person

on the show that could
make fun of his accent,

and that was his wife, Lucy.

They were ahead on diversity.

They just put together
a good show.

"I Love Lucy" in its
simplest form, is about

a housewife who's married
to a famous band leader,

and she wants a
piece of his fame,

and she wants to
be in his shows.

But it's so much more than that.

In addition to the
idea of seeking stardom,

which might not have been
enough to sustain a show,

because it might not
be relatable enough

to the average American who
doesn't wanna necessarily

be a star, the show
was about marriage

and it was about friendship.

The cast is set,
but no one could expect that

this B list movie actress
and her husband would

forever change the way
television is done.

By 1951,
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz

are leading the way
on "I Love Lucy".

Even before its premiere,
the duo begins reimagining

and redesigning the way
television is produced,

edited, and broadcast.

Things would be produced in
the East Coast, aired live,

and then what would
air in later timezone

was something called the
kinescope, which was

literally like taking a camera
and aiming it at the TV

and filming what
aired on the TV.

It's like if you took your phone
and filmed your television.

That's what the
quality would be like.

But as production
of "I Love Lucy" begins,

Ball insists they shoot in LA.

Lucy did not want to do
the show from New York.

And the network said, well,
you have to do the show

from New York.
There's no other way to do it.

It has to be done from here.

And then Desi said, well,
what if we film the show

in Hollywood and then
broadcast the films?

And then everybody gets
the same high quality.

And they said, well,
that's way too expensive.

Desi proposes
a solution, one that will

ultimately make the couple
millions and forever change

the game in television.

He said, well, what if we
put up part of our salary

to make up for the difference
and then we own the negatives?

And they said, well,
we could, I guess.

Desi and Lucy
were smart enough

to retain ownership
rights to those episodes

so that they could
invent the rerun

and make money off the show.

But to
rebroadcast the episodes,

the recordings of "I Love
Lucy" will need to be highest

in quality.

Oh, thank you, dear.

Hey, the last one.
You better get another pack.

Okay.

Lucy, and Desi,
And Phillip Morris,

who was behind the show,

they decided that they wanted
to have a clearer picture.

And they went
with 35 millimeter film.

They're still
doing that today.

I mean, it sounds crazy, but
even in this age of digital,

there are still shows shooting
on film 60, 70 years later.

Lucy would
record "My Favorite Husband"

before a live audience,
and believed doing so

gave the show
invaluable energy.

She wants the same
thing for "I Love Lucy",

and she and Desi insist
on that live audience.

Another innovation that
still holds up today.

Desi realized that
Lucy came alive in front

of a live audience.

It turned her on,
it make her excited.

So they said, well, we'll film
it in front of a live audience.

And they said,
you can't do that.

I mean, there's unions,
there's no sound stages

in Hollywood with bleachers.

You know, you have to really
create this.

So they said, we will.

He was really taking a gamble,
but they did it, you know?

At the time,
most television shows use

only one camera.

They were single-camera
film shows that were shot

with one camera and
different set ups.

So they'd do the long
shot and then they'd go

in and do the medium shot, and
then they'd do the close up.

And they didn't have
an audience,

they just threw
a laugh track on.

Lucy didn't want
that kind of show.

So what they needed up doing

was they had three cameras,
like on a live show,

and they had an audience.

But multiple cameras
present a whole new challenge.

Actually, the three
camera shoot got in the way

of the audience.
That was always the big joke.

It was like, you know, the
three camera shoot worked

for certain live broadcasts.

It didn't matter if the cameras
were in the way.

So when Desi would do his

warm up for each show,
he would say, you know,

ladies and gentlemen, we
promise you that never

will you have cameras
in your line of sight.

And just to show you,
and he'd sit down

and then bring all
the cameras in and you

couldn't even see 'em.

So it, you know, there was
an impediment with that.

Not only
does th team insist

on a live audience, they
profit from their laughter.

They actually ended up
selling their laugh track

to other shows.

The laughter that was
recorded on the shooting

of "I Love Lucy" was used
for laugh tracks for decades

after "I Love Lucy".
I other words, you could

watch shows from the '70s
that have a laugh track

that was made by the
audience of "I Love Lucy",

which means an awful
lot of people laughing

at a '70s sitcom were
probably already dead.

They were laughing
from the grave.

You can watch some of the
later "Sargent Bilko" shows,

the "Phil Silver
Show", and you can hear

the "I Love Lucy" people.

There's a unique quality

to the "Lucy" audience
because Lucy's mother was

always in the audience, and
when something was about

to happen, you could
hear her say, uh-oh.

To perform
seamlessly in front

of a live studio audience,
rehearsals become vital.

Lucy was a perfectionist
and a stickler for rehearsals.

She loved to rehearse to
the point the other actors

were like, not again.

'Cause she just, you
know, wanted it perfect.

And now it takes four hours
to shoot a half-hour show,

back then, you know, it
was probably 40 minutes.

I mean, they barely
ever stopped.

They went from beginning
to end, very few mistakes.

There's not a lot of
bloopers from "Lucy" because

they didn't make them.
They just went right through it.

In edit, Desi
Arnaz find it difficult

seeing only one camera angle
at a time, but comes up

with a groundbreaking plan.

They created what they called
the four-headed monster.

The four-headed monster
was the four screen video

that could run each
camera angle at once,

so you could pick.

Whereas in a live show,
there's a man in a booth

looking at three
monitors and picking.

In this one, the editor
had to do all of that.

And so he would pick
the scenes and he'd

glue them together the
way they did back then.

Although Lucy was
the star of the show,

behind the scenes,
Desi was a producer,

was a technician, was a
magician that really was

ahead of his time.

He's the one that found

the technical solution
to this problem.

Desi was a man
ahead of his time.

It's like a perfect storm.

You had the talent,

you had the technology,
and you had this idea

for doing it in
front of an audience.

And it all came together.

With money and
reputation on the line,

"I Love Lucy" gets ready
for its big premiere.

"I Love
Lucy" premieres

on Monday, October 15th, 1951.

"I Love Lucy" debuted
on CBS Television.

And it received
some good notices,

some not good notices.

It gained steam quickly.

Just three
months earlier, Lucille Ball

delivered the couple's
first child, Lucy Arnaz.

With their new bundle of joy,
Lucy and Desi watched their

show take off.

No matter what neighborhood
you were in, people would say,

did you watch the
show last night?

They didn't even say did
you watch "I Love Lucy".

People knew you
meant "I Love Lucy".

It got to the point where
"Lucy" was so popular that

in Chicago, the water
pressure would go down

during the commercial break
because everybody would

go to the bathroom
during that moment.

In its first season,
"I Love Lucy" hits the top 10

in the ratings and becomes
th first TV show to reach

more than 10 million homes.

People, once they saw
this program, you couldn't

wait for the next one.

And it had a great, you know,
it's like, did you know

what Lucy did this week?

Here we are seeing the first,
kind of, intercultural couple,

which we had never really seen
before, and it definitely

sparked some controversy.

Not only that,
but the female was the lead.

I mean, very few people can

name comics from back
in the '30s and '40s.

Lucy's probably gonna be
the one that people name.

Sort of this perfect
combination of spices

that just made the best meal
that we could've asked for.

Part of the appeal
lives in the physical comedy.

One of the most iconic episodes,
"Job Switching" airs on CBS

on September 15th, 1952.

In it, Lucy and Ethel

try their hand at
wrapping sweet treats.

Well, fine.
You're doing splendidly.

Speed it up a little!

And they're just tossing
the chocolate truffles

into their mouth
trying to keep up.

There isn't a
punchline in that.

You know, that's what I
love about the comedy.

It's not like they're
setting it up.

They're just doing it and that's
what's so great about it.

Like, the joke is in
and of itself,

is in the physical comedy.

Most people agree
that the conveyor belt,

the chocolate factory
is one of the best.

Everybody recognizes it,
everybody still laughs at it.

She's just always
trying to do too much.

It had that kind of
slap stick comedy

but also that heart.

It just felt like
she was so strong and bold.

And to see that in a time frame

where you didn't get
that a lot in the '50s.

hi, Lucy.

Oh, hi, honey.

Once she felt confident,
she went for it.

And she did a lot
of great stuff.

And added things that
wouldn't be expected.

Even during rehearsals, she
would do something extra

and the writers would say,
leave that in, leave that in.

Even though she
stuck to the script,

she occasionally brought
something that made it

even better.

Lucy stomping grapes in Italy

and getting into a fight,
that's a big popular one.

Everybody knows that one.

She's stomping
around and it gets

out of control,
as it easily does.

And shes covered
in just purple.

It's like, even though
it's black and white,

you can see the color,
you can feel the color.

She made black and white
television colorful.

On "The
Dick Cavett Show"

in 1974, Lucy recalls
what really went down

shooting that episode.

My head was supposed to...
well, my head never popped up.

She kept me down
by the throat.

And I had grapes up
my nose, in my ears.

And she was choking me.
And I'm really beating her.

And I got her by the throat and
I'm like [groans] like that.

Up she went.

Lots of laughs
for viewers, but not all

are happy behind the scenes.

Tensions continue to mount

between Vivian Vance
and William Frawley.

Of course they were always
at each other's throats

on camera, but when the
camera stopped rolling,

they were always at
each other's throats.

They just didn't
like each other.

Vivian thought that he
was, you know, not a very

well-trained actor, he was
this Vaudevillian that was

just not to her level, and
he thought she couldn't

sing her way out
of a paper bag.

But when you saw it on
screen it just worked.

The comedic timing was spot on.

But soon, there
will be reason to celebrate.

Lucy is expecting
their second child.

I can only assume that,
you know, those twin beds

were pushed together
at one point.

That became a big problem
because they couldn't

show pregnancy on TV
or hadn't shown it.

At the time, women were
not allowed to be pregnant

on television. It had not really
been done before.

They thought it would
turn audiences off.

CBS executives
suggest hiding the pregnancy,

but Desi shuts them down.

Desi says, there's no way
to hide it because when she

gets pregnant, she gets huge.

So they decided they were gonna
write it into the scripts.

Network
censors keep a close eye

right down to the language.

You can't say pregnant on TV.

It was just, like,
unbelievable but true.

So they brought in clergy,
you know, they brought in

a rabbi and a priest, and
they talked about how best

to present this.

So they called it expecting.

The '50s were a time
of weird conservatism,

as we all know,
including the fact that

on television, married
couples slept in twin beds.

Even when the couple was
married in real life and tried

to argue that that
wa ridiculous.

So how Little Ricky was ever
conceived, I don't know.

Wink.

But the fact that Lucille Ball

was pregnant in real life
gave "I Love Lucy" the chance

to break yet another taboo,
because they had no choice.

On the show,
Lucy famously reveals

the news to her TV
husband in his club.

She tells somebody, just
slip him a note saying

I'm expecting, and I'm
looking for a way to tell him

but there's never enough time
because that had been what

had been happening.
All through the episode,

she'd been rehearsing how
she was gonna do this

beautiful scene, and they
kept getting interrupted.

And so she finally does it.

♪

Honey. Honey, oh. Honey, no.

- Yes.
- Really?

- Yes.
- Why didn't you tell me?

Well, you didn't
give me a chance.

- Are you kidding.
- No.

And here's one of
th beautiful moments

that's preserved forever
and that millions of people

not only have seen, but
will always remember.

To work around
the pregnancy, "I Love Lucy"

turns to a little TV trickery.

They were able to use
the "I Love Lucys" that had

aired the previous season
and put wraparounds on them.

So they'd be talking about
the baby and they'd say,

oh, remember when Lucy did
this, and they'd go back.

So that also gave a lot of
people who hadn't been able

to see the first season,
'cause television was

growing very quickly then,
and a lot of stations didn't

come online 'til '52.

So there already had been

a season of "I Love
Lucy" they hadn't seen.

So that was a way
for them to catch up.

And this is where
the rerun came in.

"I Love Lucy" was the
first real successful show

to be rerun.

Because they shot it
in such a high quality

for its time, the show
withstood the test

of time, even if
it wasn't in color.

Lucy and Desi
already had a little girl.

Not knowing if they were
going to have a boy or a girl

in real life this time, the
couple decide that Lucy

and Ricky Ricardo
would have a boy.

America was invested in
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

We were invested
in "I Love Lucy".

They were the first
pregnancy on television.

Everybody had gone through
this whole pregnancy.

So everybody was on pins
and needles, is it a boy?

Is it a girl?

The highest
rated "I Love Lucy" episode,

"Lucy Goes to the
Hospital" airs on CBS

on January 19th, 1953.

♪

]

It happened to be the day
that Lucille Ball gave birth

to Desi Jr. o it
was a double-whammy

PR stunt, but Lucy
had cesareans.

So she knew that this baby had
to be delivered by cesarean

and her doctor did
cesareans on Mondays,

which just happened to be
th day "I Love Lucy" aired.

So in the morning,
Lucille Ball gives birth

to Desi Jr. and in the evening,
Lucy Ricardo gives birth

to Ricky Jr.

44 million people,

or 71% of the viewing audience
tune in.

She used to joke
that the next day,

it was the inaugural
of Eisenhower.

And Desi Jr.'s birth knocked
that off the front page.

Their baby episode
outrated the inauguration

of Dwight Eisenhower.

They made history.
And you know what's funny?

We all felt like Little Ricky
was our kid.

One of the most famous
and most-watched episodes

of all time in TV history
is the one in which she

has that baby.

The child becomes the cover
of the very first "TV Guide",

the bible of television
listings at that time.

Off screen,
baby makes four.

With their family
and business growing,

Lucy and Ricky seem
to have it all,

but behind the cameras,
success is taking its toll.

By 1953, "I
Love Lucy" reigns supreme

in the ratings, remaining
the top-rated show

on television for 11
consecutive months.

A lot of people tuned
in to watch this show.

The ratings at the time
were a ratings juggernaut.

Meanwhile, their
business, Desilu, grows.

It has Desilu Productions
owned all this equipment

that just sat there
for most of the week

until they filmed.

So in order to monetize

this stuff, they started
doing "Our Miss Brooks"

on the days they
weren't doing "Lucy".

Other top-billed
programs not owned by Desilu,

but renting studio space
are the "Danny Thomas Show",

"Wyatt Earp", and
"The Real McCoys".

It started to snowball.

They had to move into
larger quarters.

It was really getting big.

And they were doing
pilots for other shows.

And now our show
for next week...

Hi, Honey.

Oh, hello, dear.
What are you doing here?

I wanna show you something.
Come on.

Wait a minute. I'm just about
to tell the folks

about next week's playhouse.

Well, that'll wait.
This won't. Come on.

Here we go again.

They bought RKO Studios,
it was a huge thing.

They added three lots,
35 sounds stages.

Then they went public
and had shareholders.

It was no longer
a family company.

It was a huge thing
that he was running

and trying to keep it afloat.

And you have to sell shows.

They finally got another hit
with "The Untouchables".

And that was a bit hit on ABC.

From the mid-'50s

to the mid''60s,
Desilu was the largest

independent producer
of television.

And it was ahead of the studios
basically, because the studios

didn't get in the
game until later.

They now owned
the studio where they began

as contract players.

Lucy and Desi both had been
contract players at RKO,

which they ended up
buying 20 years later.

She always would say when she
was a young starlet on the lot,

someday I'll own all of this.

But she did actually own it.

With the studio
business flourishing,

Lucy and Desi cut down
on the number of episodes

being filmed,
extending "I Love Lucy"

to one-hour specials.

Lucy decided that she wanted
to spend more time at home.

You know, I think their kids
were getting to the point

where they needed
more attention.

And she thought
they'd ease back.

And Desi was, you know,
still having to go

go hard charging
as a business man

running all of this.

To accommodate
the change in format,

the Ricardos leave
New York City.

So they move to the
country in Connecticut.

So they had a house
instead of an apartment,

and more space,
and it was better,

and they were moving
up in the world.

So the first hour
season was set in that.

And then it began being
guest stars and locations.

So they went to Vegas,
they went to Japan.

You know, it was
more adventurous.

Although the hour shows,
a lot of critics said

you don't need an
hour, they were fine

as a half hour.
These are padded.

But the ratings
were always there.

They always got the ratings.

Lucy was a winner for CBS
all the time.

Off camera, though,
the marriage is suffering.

Once they bought RKO, it
escalated and Desi became

under a lot of stress,
began drinking more,

you know, made a public
spectacle of himself

on occasion, and she found
that to be abhorrent,

which she would not put up with.

Especially her stature
now was huge, and she was,

like, this queen of television.

Their marriage
was deteriorating.

It was hard because so much
pressure of the American public

was put on them and they
were America's couple.

If they hadn't been both
a loving and flawed couple

at the same time,
we wouldn't have

gotten "I Love Lucy".

If they had been purely
loving and faithful,

she wouldn't have necessarily
needed to keep him close.

If they had never fallen in love

we would have never
fallen in love with them.

It's so interesting to
me that "I Love Lucy"

and really this bedrock of
television comedy relies

on this love story of
theirs that is flawed

in such a human way.

After 13
hour-long specials,

the curtain closes on the
show and the marriage.

The day after filming,
Lucy files for divorce.

At the end of the last episode
Lucy and Ricky kiss to make up.

And Lucy says to Ricky, honey,
I was only trying to help.

And he said...

Look, Lucy, uh, from
now on you can help me,

by not trying to help me, eh?

And they kiss.

And that was the end
of the whole thing.

That was the end of 10 years

of this whole success and
magical union of these,

their dreams had come true.

It was amicable,

but the marriage was
no longer feasible.

I imagine it's
pretty difficult to be

as famous as they
were back then, ave a

professional relationship,
have a personal relationship.

I mean, they were really
supporting

each other's careers then.

I'm sure words had been said.

I'm sure it was a very
heated debates at night.

They both have really
energetic personalities

that, at times, clashed.

It was hard because so much

of the pressure of the
American public was put on them.

And they were America's couple
in a lot of ways.

I mean, it was the first couple

that we fell in love with both
of them at the same time.

I mean, they're an iconic
couple, even today.

Something took a toll on
them, whether it be fame.

You know, I think there was
a point where Lucille Ball

was driven,

she wanted more.

Fans were shocked.

People were shocked to learn

that Lucy and Desi
were divorced.

I mean, it's like,
it couldn't be.

They see this perfect union on
television all these years.

The last thing
you could imagine.

And Lucy got hate mail
and all kinds of people

begging her to
please reconsider.

You know, it was a big deal.

Millions of people
were moved by this.

So she never treated
that lightly.

She carried guilt about that.

♪

After the
divorce, the co-owner

and Hollywood mogul
buys her husband out

of Desilu productions.

They had a buyout agreement
where one could invoke

against the other
whenever it came in.

So the advisors asked Lucy
if she would invoke that

'cause he was a detriment to
the company at this point.

And so they did.
They called him in

and they told him,
and he just left.

And his secretary told me that
after that meeting he came

to his desk and he picked up
a photo cube of his children

and walked out.

He didn't take anything else
out of the office.

That's all he cared about.

But the former
bandleader, executive,

and TV innovator's impact
would be felt for decades.

Desi never got the recognition
he deserved, and he was actually

the mastermind behind
the whole thing.

Lucy was great.
And what she did was great.

But he really built the studio.

He was the pioneer
in all of this stuff.

Now, with
Desi out of the picture,

Lucille Ball steps up to run
a multimillion dollar studio.

♪

By 1960, America's
favorite couple is over.

Fade to black on the true
Hollywood love story

of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

It breaks my heart to know
that they got divorced.

It sounds silly, but you watch
"I Love Lucy", and the one

thing that was great at
the end of that show was,

no matter what wackiness
Lucy pulled, no matter what

resistance Ricky showed,
at the end of each episode,

they loved each other.

After the hour shows ended,
Lucy went to Broadway.

And she did a Broadway
show called "Wild Cat".

It didn't last very long.

So they kinda needed Lucy back
to prop up the studio's fortune

because although it was renting
a lot of space to, like,

"The Andy Griffith Show",
"The Dick Van Dyke Show",

lots of other programs,
they didn't own them,

only providing the
camera and the crew.

so the license fee that
an owned show brought

and made a big difference
and they needed Lucy

to have a half hour again.
And so I think it was against

her better judgment,
but she went back with

"The Lucy Show" and that
went right to number one.

You know, it was,
like, immediately.

For Lucy,
it's another ratings hit

on the small screen.

But the future
of Desilu Productions

remains up in the air.

Lucy wasn't keen on
being an executive.

And she really
liked what she did.

And she didn't really wanna
get into that end of it,

but she had to.

Lucille Ball was
really the first Oprah.

I mean, she is really
just this media mogul.

She was kinda the first
woman to start this empire.

She buys Desi out of his
shares of Desilu Productions

and runs the whole
thing herself.

I mean, a true
independent woman.

She still had the same
people in place that had been

with them all these years.

So all the executives

helped her and she
relied on them.

She had to make decisions,
but she felt secure

as long as these people
were there because they

knew the story and
they knew the drill.

Desilu has had a number
of productions

underneath their belt.
Some are so iconic,

so famous, and I'm sure
you'd' be shocked to know.

Have you ever heard
of "Star Trek"?

You know, that's,
that's pretty big.

You know, now it's like
this cultural phenomenon.

That was actually under Desilu.

And then of course,
"Mission Impossible".

One of those shows would
have made you very successful.

They had dozens.

In 1967, after
five years at the helm,

Lucy sells Desilu to Gulfwestern
in a $17 million deal.

Ball nets $10.2 million in stock

and remains a Hollywood legend
until her death in 1989.

But nothing she does will
ever eclipse "I Love Lucy".

Desi Arnaz and Lucille
Ball were showbiz geniuses.

A lot of women in the
1950s and '60s wanted more.

And Lucy was that.

"I Love Lucy" earns
four Emmy awards during its run,

and then a fifth when the
Academy inducts the show into

the Television Hall of Fame.

With the top-notch writers,
with the dogged determination

of their star, Lucy,
and also the innovative

technology and filming
techniques this show

really, really invented,
this show went on to be

one of the biggest
shows of all time.

Not only because of Lucille
Ball and Desi Arnaz's

savvy, but because the show
is just universally funny,

"I Love Lucy" is one of the
first shows to be shown

around the world.

It wasn't so much about
the language, it was

about the visuals
and the situations,

the human qualities of
people and what human nature

leads people to do.

Anybody can understand that.

And that's one reason
why it stays popular.

I think she is one of
the most iconic figures,

probably ever. Not only is this
a timeless show

that people can
kind of watch with their kids

for generations to come,
I mean, it's very rare

to find a television show
that grandma and grandpa,

mom and dad, son and
daughter can watch together.

And "I Love Lucy" is
certainly one of them.

And all of us can
laugh along with it.

That's the thing about laughter.
It's this universal language.

You can sort of mute
the television

in the chocolate factory

and her stomping grapes
will always hold up.

That's the thing
about physical comedy

is you actually don't
need a language at all.

You just need to watch
and have a great time,

which is why it's
so universal today.

"Rolling
Stone" magazine ranks

"I Love Lucy" the fourth
best sitcom of all time.

I've seen a huge growth in
fans, and I've seen a lot

more young people
come into the picture.

It's quite interesting that
she still strikes a chord.

70 years an
counting since its premiere,

"I Love Lucy" and
the red-headed star

from Jamestown leave behind
and undeniable legacy.

People are still
obsessed with "I Love Lucy"

because the comedy is timeless.

Television comedy owes
everything to "I Love Lucy"

because they literally
invented the way to do it

and they invented the
types of comedy that we see

on TV today, the
comedic archetypes,

and the types of story
lines that echo everything

you've ever seen after "Lucy".

I think any show that's
on air right now that wants

to be considered a comedy owes
its debt to "I Love Lucy".

I don't think there's
any sort of, even if it's

a different format,
"I Love Lucy" walked

so "Sex and the City" could run.

I'm just obsessed with
Lucille Ball and everything

she stood for, and
everything that she probably

had to go through at the time.

Being a woman,

being very independent
on her own, being in this

intercultural marriage,
being pregnant on air,

you know, expecting on air.

But I'm obsessed with how

her confidence never faded,
she was always who she was,

and "I Love Lucy" is
really a testament to that.

Even her cry was funny.

I mean, it was loud,
it was in your face.

And even when she's crying,
you're laughing along with her.

She's just 100% funny.

When you think about
what "I Love Lucy" did,

it was diversity in gender.

70 years, God,

it's 70 years later,
we're still trying

to catch up to what "I
Love Lucy" did back then.

We're talking about
"I Love Lucy" today

because of her talent.
The writers knew what

a great physical comedian
she was and how dedicated

she was, and how she
studied her craft

and rehearsed, and
could do anything.

If you're portraying a
friendship and you're

writing a series, you're
undoubtedly harking

back to Lucy and Ethel.

If you're showing the
battle of the sexes between

husband and wife, about
her battling saying,

it's harder to stay at
home and him saying, no,

you go out and get a job,
that story, how many times

has that been done on
sitcoms and how many times

have you shown couple fight
like Lucy and Rick fight?

It's the bedrock of every
comedy that's on the air.

Lucille
Ball and Desi Arnaz are

Hollywood influencers
to this day.

Not just because of
their comedic talent

or pioneering productions, but
for the spark that existed

between them, both
on screen and off.

I think the essence
of the show is love.

I think the heart says it all.

It's all about a love affair.

I think that everyone I
talked to that worked there

and on the show and
for Lucy and Desi

all felt the same
way about the heart.

You know, there was
a lot of heart in it.