I'm not talking about the amateurs who tell you about the candy factory episode, I'm talking about a real appreciation for great comedy and truly classic one liners that in many ways can be applied to real life - go ahead and try right?

The main characters were the greatest.  Of course, there's Lucy - I would estimate her to be 30, brown-haired and married to Ricky Ricardo a Cuban bandleader who for some reason when he goes to France is on a first-name basis with Charles Boyer and when he goes to Hollywood for the first time, William Holden is anxious to have lunch with him.

Lucy is great physical comedy.  My favorite Lucy episode is when Lucy and Ethel decide that they want to go see the movie-stars' homes because Ricky won't let Lucy come on his luncheon date with Richard Widmark - I mean why are those two having lunch right?  But there goes Lucy and Ethel, off on the tour bus..Fred goes to a Hollywood Stars game (remember this is before the Dodgers were in Los Angeles).  They wind up outside Richard Widmark's house which is actually the brick wall which surrounded Lucille Ball's estate in Beverly Hills.  Lucy interacts with Richard's dog, Mr. Widmark looks dang sexy and Lucy hides from the men by donning the animal rug in the game room.  Mr. Widmark aims a gun at her as she starts to bob and weave after the dog (a St. Bernard) sits across her as she lays on the floor hidden by the rug.  She mimes fabulous pain from the weight. 

Meanwhile outside Ethel has called Fred in a panic and she keeps repeating the condensed version of their adventure finally stopping in one breath to declare, "Quit telling me I've dialed the wrong number" THAT FRED!  Later, Fred and Ethel appear dressed up as attendents to a mental hospital to chase down Lucy, pretty sophisticated humor for a sit-com from the 50s.

Then there's Ricky Ricardo, the sexy Desi Arnaz who sings Cuban Pete and the Lady in Red, I love when he tells Lucy he'll teach her how to rhumba when Lucy is hiding herself in an Italian haircut wig - like a wig is all it would take to hide your spouse from you?? My favorite Ricky episode is the one from when Bob Hope appeared and they sang that clever re-take on Thanks for the Memories.

The Mertzes are my favorites, I think Fred is the best - he gets off the best lines.  William Frawley was a pro.  He says to his wife (who is masquerading as Medium Rara, a mystic who is going to contact Mr. Meriwhether's lost love) "Well done medium rara" but hey its all in the delivery.   I could never figure out what Ethel (a young chick, she was younger than Lucy) was doing with that old codger Fred.  When we got to New Mexico you could see that Fred obviously had years on Ethel's father too -

Ethel was great too - stories were that Vivian Vance and William Frawley hated each other.  I love love LOVE the episode where they go to New Mexico and Ethel puts on a show wherein the other 3 are behind doing silent comedy routines while Ethel sings opera.

The other characters are incidental as you might have guessed.  But various stories were highlighted by the appearances of some great big and not so big names.  Bea Benderet from Petticoat Junction played a neighbor..Edward Everett Horton (the voice on those Rocky cartoons) played the grocer in the same episode.  Bart Braverman (from Vegas - the show with Dan Tana) was a kid who shined shoes when they were in Italy..and Aaron Spelling played a hick when they drove through Tennessee to see cousin (Tennessee) Ernie Ford.

The plots were priceless and no, not redundant.  The probability was a little weird but whether it was Lucy lying or wanting to get into the show, I used to rock my nephews to sleep singing Cuban Pete, the man with the rhumba beat..we all grew up on Lucy and since it is on 5 or 6 times a day in Los Angeles a whole new generation can appreciate what original writing and fast pacing means to a television.

My praises of I Love Lucy could go on and on but you know, you have to watch to appreciate.  The grape stomping episode is classic, funny, physical comedy.  The episode where a virile Rock Hudson talks the girls into missing their guys is touching and tragic and heartwarming.  The lovely dance routine Lucy performs with Van Johnson is sparkly and wonderful.  I kept asking my mom when I first watched this stuff 20 years ago, did people really go to a club and pay to see someone dance in a little space like that and she assured me they did.

For me, if I could jitterbug like Luch and King Cat Walsh my life would be complete.  Well, there you go.