The Worst Episodes of I Love Lucy

#1 Worst Episode
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7.1/10(405 votes)
#1 - Lucy Goes to Scotland
S5:E172/20/1956
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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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
7.3/10(487 votes)
#2 - The Adagio
S1:E1212/31/1951
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.3/10(292 votes)
#3 - Lucy Goes to a Rodeo
S5:E811/28/1955
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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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
7.4/10(502 votes)
#4 - Lucy Plays Cupid
S1:E151/21/1952
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.4/10(495 votes)
#5 - Drafted
S1:E1112/24/1951
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.5/10(487 votes)
#6 - The Amateur Hour
S1:E141/14/1952
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.

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7.5/10(424 votes)
#7 - Cuban Pals
S1:E284/21/1952
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.5/10(379 votes)
#8 - The Indian Show
S2:E245/4/1953
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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Director:William Asher
Writer:Unknown
7.5/10(343 votes)
#9 - The Inferiority Complex
S2:E182/2/1953
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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Director:William Asher
Writer:Unknown
7.6/10(476 votes)
#10 - The Young Fans
S1:E202/25/1952
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.6/10(422 votes)
#11 - The Publicity Agent
S1:E315/12/1952
Lucy poses as a princess for a publicity stunt.
Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.6/10(382 votes)
#12 - Lucy's Showbiz Swan Song
S2:E1212/22/1952
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:William Asher
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.6/10(326 votes)
#13 - The Fox Hunt
S5:E162/6/1956
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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Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
7.7/10(516 votes)
#14 - The Audition
S1:E611/19/1951
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.7/10(468 votes)
#15 - Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer
S1:E1012/17/1951
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.7/10(445 votes)
#16 - The Marriage License
S1:E264/7/1952
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.7/10(443 votes)
#17 - The Benefit
S1:E131/7/1952
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.7/10(375 votes)
#18 - Ricky Has Labor Pains
S2:E141/5/1953
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:William Asher
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.7/10(372 votes)
#19 - Mertz and Kurtz
S4:E210/11/1954
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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Director:William Asher
Writer:Unknown
7.7/10(363 votes)
#20 - Ricky's Old Girlfriend
S3:E1212/21/1953
Ricky is jealous when Lucy comes up with a long list of ex-boyfriends, so he invents an old flame-who just happens to be in town. Her name? Carlotta Romero, with whom Ricky DID perform years before.
Director:William Asher
Writer:Unknown
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Director:William Asher
Writer:Unknown
7.7/10(342 votes)
#21 - Oil Wells
S3:E182/15/1954
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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Director:William Asher
Writer:Unknown
7.7/10(320 votes)
#22 - The French Revue
S3:E711/16/1953
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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Director:William Asher
Writer:Unknown
7.7/10(285 votes)
#23 - Ragtime Band
S6:E213/18/1957
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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Director:William Asher
Writers:Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf
7.8/10(713 votes)
#24 - The Girls Want to Go to a Nightclub
S1:E110/15/1951
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
7.8/10(438 votes)
#25 - Lucy Writes a Play
S1:E172/4/1952
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, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.
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Director:Marc Daniels
Writers:Madelyn Pugh, Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr.