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The Worst Episodes of I Love Lucy

Every episode of I Love Lucy ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of I Love Lucy!

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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

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 17 - Lucy Writes a Play
    6.2/10(5 votes)

    #1 - Lucy Writes a Play

    S1:E17

    Lucy writes a play set in Cuba hoping to cast Ricky, But when he refuses, she has to settle for Fred and changes her setting to England.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  2. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 31 - The Publicity Agent
    6.3/10(3 votes)

    #2 - The Publicity Agent

    S1:E31

    Lucy poses as a princess for a publicity stunt.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  3. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 28 - Cuban Pals
    6.5/10(4 votes)

    #3 - Cuban Pals

    S1:E28

    Lucy burns with jealousy when she gets an eyeful of Ricky's dance parter Renita (Lita Baron) from the "old days" in Cuba. She was a child then, but no more! Determined to keep them apart, Lucy heads to the club in disguise, and finds herself in the clutches of a wild man named Ramon.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  4. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 32 - Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio
    6.7/10(3 votes)

    #4 - Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio

    S1:E32

    Lucy secretly books Ricky on a radio quiz show.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  5. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 33 - Lucy's Schedule
    6.7/10(3 votes)

    #5 - Lucy's Schedule

    S1:E33

    Ricky puts Lucy on a rigid time schedule.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  6. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 34 - Ricky Thinks He Is Getting Bald
    6.7/10(3 votes)

    #6 - Ricky Thinks He Is Getting Bald

    S1:E34

    Ricky fears that he is going bald, so Lucy takes it into her head to help him: she stages a "bald people's party" to show him that he's not so bad, after all. But when that doesn't work, she resorts to showing some new "hair treatments" (or "torture tactics" as Lucy calls them) to show Ricky how silly he's been.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  7. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 8 - Men Are Messy
    6.8/10(5 votes)

    #7 - Men Are Messy

    S1:E8

    Fed up with Ricky's messiness, Lucy divides the Ricardo apartment in a clean part for her and a messy part for him.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  8. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 9 - The Fur Coat
    6.8/10(4 votes)

    #8 - The Fur Coat

    S1:E9

    Ricky returns home with expensive mink coat that he has rented for an act at the club. Lucy jumps to the conclusion that it's her anniversary present.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  9. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 18 - Breaking the Lease
    6.8/10(5 votes)

    #9 - Breaking the Lease

    S1:E18

    After a big quarrel between the Ricardos and the Mertzes, Lucy and Ricky decide that they want to move out. Ricky and Lucy become the most undesirable tenants ever so that they can break that lease, while the Fred and Ethel resist.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  10. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 7 - The Séance
    7.0/10(4 votes)

    #10 - The Séance

    S1:E7

    Lucy tells an important talent agent that Ricky cannot appear in a show because of his horoscope. The agent is also interested in the occult. So Lucy arranges a séance.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  11. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 26 - The Marriage License
    7.0/10(4 votes)

    #11 - The Marriage License

    S1:E26

    Lucy thinks she and Ricky aren't legally married because his name was misspelled on their marriage license. So she wants them to renew their vows at the same place in Connecticut where Ricky first proposed to her. But they run out of gas getting there.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  12. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 12 - The Adagio
    7.2/10(5 votes)

    #12 - The Adagio

    S1:E12

    Lucy thinks she is a perfect fit for Ricky's Parisian apache dance number. But her dance teacher has more than dancing on his mind.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  13. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 19 - The Ballet
    7.2/10(5 votes)

    #13 - The Ballet

    S1:E19

    Lucy learns that there is an opening in one of Ricky's acts for a ballet dancer as well as a burlesque comic.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  14. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 11 - Drafted
    7.3/10(4 votes)

    #14 - Drafted

    S1:E11

    When Lucy opens Ricky's a telegram ordering him to appear at Fort Dix, she assumes that he has been drafted. Ethel suspects that Fred has been drafted as well when she hears, Fred is joining Ricky.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  15. I Love Lucy Season 2 Episode 1 - Job Switching
    7.3/10(3 votes)

    #15 - Job Switching

    S2:E1

    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.

    Director:William Asher
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  16. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 13 - The Benefit
    7.4/10(5 votes)

    #16 - The Benefit

    S1:E13

    Ethel wants Ricky to a headline a benefit show for her women's club, but Lucy refuses to ask him, unless she can be on the bill too.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  17. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 5 - The Quiz Show
    7.5/10(4 votes)

    #17 - The Quiz Show

    S1:E5

    When Lucy needs to balance her household accounts, she decides to go on quiz show. To win the $1,000 cash prize, she has to introduce her "long lost first husband" to Ricky.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  18. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 6 - The Audition
    7.5/10(4 votes)

    #18 - The Audition

    S1:E6

    Ricky lands a TV audition at the club. When Buffo the Clown injures himself and cannot make it, Lucy takes his place.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  19. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 20 - The Young Fans
    7.5/10(4 votes)

    #19 - The Young Fans

    S1:E20

    A shy young teenager named Peggy has a major crush on Ricky. Ricky, however, is tired of all this "attention" that this girl is giving him, so asks Lucy to have a talk with her. During their conversation, Lucy asks Peggy to think of some other boys her own age that she might like to go out with instead. Peggy, it seems, also likes a boy named Arthur Morton. Unfortunately, Arthur is painfully shy and cannot dance, so Lucy volunteers to give him a dance lesson. But it is then that Arthur becomes infatuated with Lucy! To get the two off their backs, Lucy and Ricky come up with a solution: they will dress up and act like 90 year olds, and scare their "young fans" back to reality.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  20. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 27 - The Kleptomaniac
    7.5/10(4 votes)

    #20 - The Kleptomaniac

    S1:E27

    When Ricky finds a closet full of valuables that Lucy has collected for a bazaar, he mistakenly thinks that she's become a kleptomaniac. He secretly calls in a doctor to hypnotize her, but Lucy is wise to his plan and feigns recalling a notorious past.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  21. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 1 - The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub
    7.6/10(7 votes)

    #21 - The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub

    S1:E1

    An argument ensues among the couples when Ethel wants to celebrate the Mertzes's anniversary at the Copacabana while Fred wants to attend the fights. Ethel and Lucy decide that they will go to the club with dates.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  22. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 35 - Ricky Asks for a Raise
    7.7/10(3 votes)

    #22 - Ricky Asks for a Raise

    S1:E35

    Ricky asks for a raise, but his boss (Gale Gordon) turns him down, prompting Lucy to prove just how popular a performer he is. Her scheme involves making a lot of bogus reservations at the club on the night that somebody else is playing, then show up in various guises(including Fred in drag) feigning indignation that Ricky's not performing--and leave in a huff.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  23. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 2 - Be a Pal
    7.8/10(5 votes)

    #23 - Be a Pal

    S1:E2

    Thinking Ricky is losing interest in her, Lucy follows the advice of a book Ethel gave her and takes up Ricky's hobbies.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  24. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 10 - Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer
    7.8/10(4 votes)

    #24 - Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer

    S1:E10

    Lucy is jealous of one of Ricky's dancer at his nightclub after hearing about a gossip column item linking the two.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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  25. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 16 - Lucy Fakes Illness
    7.8/10(5 votes)

    #25 - Lucy Fakes Illness

    S1:E16

    Lucy pretends to suffer from numerous psychological ailments so that Ricky will feel sorry for her and let her go into show business.

    Director:Marc Daniels
    Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Lucy Writes a Play" is the worst rated episode of "I Love Lucy". It scored 6.2/10 based on 5 votes. Directed by Marc Daniels and written by Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer, it aired on 2/4/1952. This episode scored 0.1 points lower than the second lowest rated, "The Publicity Agent".