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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 12 - The Adagio
    7.3/10(511 votes)

    #1 - 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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  2. I Love Lucy Season 5 Episode 17 - Lucy Goes to Scotland
    7.3/10(424 votes)

    #2 - Lucy Goes to Scotland

    S5:E17

    The Ricardos and Mertzes are on their way to Paris, but first Lucy wants to go to Scotland to seek members of the McGillicuddy family into which she was born. In a classic dream sequence, Ricky appears as Scotty MacTavish MacDougal MacCardo.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 15 - Lucy Plays Cupid
    7.4/10(519 votes)

    #3 - Lucy Plays Cupid

    S1:E15

    The Ricardo's neighbor Miss Lewis wants Lucy to deliver a dinner invitation to her grocer. But he misunderstands and thinks the invitation is from Lucy herself.

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

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  4. I Love Lucy Season 5 Episode 8 - Lucy Goes to a Rodeo
    7.4/10(310 votes)

    #4 - Lucy Goes to a Rodeo

    S5:E8

    Fred has a Western-themed show coming up at his lodge and he wants Ricky to perform in it. He can’t — but Lucy and Ethel volunteer (Lucy yodels “Home on the Range”). The reason Ricky can’t appear is that he has a “radio” show that night. Or is it a “rodeo” show?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 11 - Drafted
    7.5/10(515 votes)

    #5 - 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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  6. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 14 - The Amateur Hour
    7.5/10(502 votes)

    #6 - The Amateur Hour

    S1:E14

    Lucy spends too much money on a dress. So she tells Ricky that she will get a job babysitting in order to pay for it.

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

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  7. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 28 - Cuban Pals
    7.5/10(443 votes)

    #7 - 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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  8. I Love Lucy Season 2 Episode 18 - The Inferiority Complex
    7.5/10(363 votes)

    #8 - The Inferiority Complex

    S2:E18

    When no one laughs at her jokes or wants her to be their bridge partner, Lucy comes to the conclusion that she is inferior to everyone else. Worried by Lucy's behavior, Ricky goes to the psychiatrist (or "fizz-a-key-a-tryst" as Ricky pronounces it,) to find the remedy. But it turns out that this doctor's "remedy" isn't exactly what Ricky had in mind.

    Director:William Asher
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. I Love Lucy Season 2 Episode 24 - The Indian Show
    7.5/10(400 votes)

    #9 - The Indian Show

    S2:E24

    Even the arrival of the baby hasn't dampened Lucy's showbiz aspirations. Wanting to get into the new Indian act at the Tropicana, Lucy pays off one of the performers and appears herself, carrying Little Ricky papoose-style on her back.

    Director:William Asher
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 20 - The Young Fans
    7.6/10(495 votes)

    #10 - 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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  11. I Love Lucy Season 2 Episode 12 - Lucy's Showbiz Swan Song
    7.6/10(401 votes)

    #11 - Lucy's Showbiz Swan Song

    S2:E12

    Despite her pregnancy, Lucy wants to appear in Ricky's Gay Nineties revue at the Tropicana. After a disastrous audition, Lucy disguises herself and sneaks into the barbershop quartet number, and then proceeds to ruin it.

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

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  12. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 6 - The Audition
    7.7/10(525 votes)

    #12 - 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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  13. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 13 - The Benefit
    7.7/10(469 votes)

    #13 - 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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  14. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 31 - The Publicity Agent
    7.7/10(435 votes)

    #14 - 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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  15. I Love Lucy Season 3 Episode 7 - The French Revue
    7.7/10(341 votes)

    #15 - The French Revue

    S3:E7

    Ricky is planning a French revue for the club, and since Lucy is determined to be in it, she hires a Frenchman to coach her. When Ricky forbids her to come near the place, she tries various disguises, and finally succeeds as a chorus girl.

    Director:William Asher
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. I Love Lucy Season 3 Episode 18 - Oil Wells
    7.7/10(366 votes)

    #16 - Oil Wells

    S3:E18

    The Ricardos and Mertzes as oil millionaires? Lucy and Ethel get a hot stock tip from their new neighbors from Texas. But Ricky and Fred say no. At first, anyhow. But are these neighbors swindlers? Lucy and the gang eventually think so, so they come up with a plan to find out.

    Director:William Asher
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. I Love Lucy Season 4 Episode 2 - Mertz and Kurtz
    7.7/10(397 votes)

    #17 - Mertz and Kurtz

    S4:E2

    Fred's globetrotting old vaudeville partner, Barney Kurtz, shows up, so Fred says he's a real-estate tycoon (with a red-headed maid to prove it). Actually, Barney's a cook in the Bronx, but his grandson is coming for a visit, so it's on with the show.

    Director:William Asher
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. I Love Lucy Season 5 Episode 16 - The Fox Hunt
    7.7/10(343 votes)

    #18 - The Fox Hunt

    S5:E16

    Tally ho! In England, Lucy hounds a movie producer (Walter Kingsford) about her riding prowess and ends up on a fox hunt.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. I Love Lucy Season 6 Episode 21 - Ragtime Band
    7.7/10(308 votes)

    #19 - Ragtime Band

    S6:E21

    When Ricky refuses to bring his rumba band out to Westport to play for a Historical Society benefit, Lucy and the Mertzes put together a combo of their own, with Little Ricky on drums.

    Director:William Asher
    Writers:Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf

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  20. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 10 - Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer
    7.8/10(481 votes)

    #20 - 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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  21. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 17 - Lucy Writes a Play
    7.8/10(456 votes)

    #21 - 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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  22. I Love Lucy Season 1 Episode 26 - The Marriage License
    7.8/10(463 votes)

    #22 - 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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  23. I Love Lucy Season 2 Episode 11 - Pregnant Women are Unpredictable
    7.8/10(396 votes)

    #23 - Pregnant Women are Unpredictable

    S2:E11

    Lucy thinks Ricky cares more about the baby they're having than about her, especially after he buys her presents like bonnets and rattles. But when he takes her out for a night on the town, she thinks he's lost interest in the baby.

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

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  24. I Love Lucy Season 2 Episode 14 - Ricky Has Labor Pains
    7.8/10(395 votes)

    #24 - Ricky Has Labor Pains

    S2:E14

    Ricky develops "labor pains" because he is jealous of the attention being lavished on the expectant Lucy. So she decides to throw him a "daddy shower," which Fred turns into a "stag party," which Lucy and Ethel crash.

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

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  25. I Love Lucy Season 3 Episode 1 - Ricky's 'Life' Story
    7.8/10(363 votes)

    #25 - Ricky's 'Life' Story

    S3:E1

    Lucy is upset because a 'Life' magazine feature on Ricky's home life didn't include a picture of her.

    Director:William Asher
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"The Adagio" is the worst rated episode of "I Love Lucy". It scored 7.3/10 based on 511 votes. Directed by Marc Daniels and written by Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll Jr., Jess Oppenheimer, it aired on 12/31/1951. This episode scored 0.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Lucy Goes to Scotland".