"I'm gonna be a father! How about that? I want you to meet my mother! I mean my wife! My wife!" - Bandleader Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) to the audience at the Tropicana upon learning that his wife is pregnant
I Love Lucy: The Complete Second Season DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
In 1951, Lucille Ball's pregnancy changed the course of television history. Signed to star with her real-life husband, Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, in a television sitcom, the Hollywood-based comedian refused to uproot her family by moving to New York from which most TV shows were then broadcast live. She and Arnaz solved the problem by putting up the money to film their series, I Love Lucy, using complex new camera techniques. These techniques produced for the first time permanent, high-quality recordings of episodes that could then be rerun many times over. As the show began its second season in the fall of 1952, a second pregnancy led to another history-making turn: Ball's alter-ego would become the first character on TV to become pregnant.
In an age where the characters on N.Y.P.D. Blue sometimes appear naked and the cowboys on Deadwood use language that would make a sailor blush, it is hard to imagine that there was a time in which depicting a pregnant woman on TV was considered controversial and immoral. At first, Ball herself even thought that her pregnancy meant that the series would have to go on hiatus. She and her creative team soon decided, however, that her pregnancy would be a terrific source of material for the show. CBS and the show's sponsor, Phillip Morris, were reluctant at first, but after receiving positive input from religious leaders, they agreed. There was only one stipulation: the word "pregnant" could not be used. Instead, the show's writers would have to employ euphemisms like "expecting" and "with child."
Of course, in addition to moral considerations, there were financial ones as well. In its first season, I Love Lucy was the third-highest rated show on TV, behind only Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and Texaco Star Theater. Pulling the show entirely would have resulted in a huge loss of money, so Ball's pregnancy was written into the series. The second season would continue the comic misadventures of Lucy Ricardo (Ball), her husband Ricky (Arnaz), and their best friends and neighbors, Fred (William Frawley) and Ethel (Vivian Vance) Mertz, but the pregnancy would form the core episodes of the second season. In the process, the series flew to the top of the ratings.
The season's tenth episode, "Lucy is Enceinte," is the first to center on Lucy Ricardo's pregnancy. This episode is deservedly considered a classic as it masterfully blends laughs with touchingly poignant moments. At the start of the episode, Lucy discovers that she doesn't have "donsey" - a term coined by her grandmother for the times when you feel under the weather but aren't actually sick - but is actually pregnant. This scene is perfectly played by Ball, and the silly sweet look on Lucy's face after she learns the news is truly endearing. Lucy has always imagined exactly how she would break the news of her pregnancy to Ricky, but whenever she begins to tell him, her spiel is comically interrupted. Out of desperation, she sends him an anonymous note from the audience during his nightclub act, saying that she wants him to sing a special song to help a mother-to-be surprise her husband. He agrees, and begins to walk from table to table while singing, asking each woman if she is the one who sent the note. He finally comes to the table where a radiant Lucy sits. He points to her, and she nods. He moves on to the next table before he realizes what that nod means. This scene is expertly written, directed, and acted. It is one of those rare moments that seems to transcend mere TV, a tiny bit of reality captured for all time on film.
The final part of that scene is a tender, tear-inducing moment. Don't worry, though - Lucy's pregnancy doesn't slow down the comedy, it just adds another layer. In the very next episode, "Pregnant Women are Unpredictable," Lucy practices her baby skills on a child's doll, and the effect is side-splittingly funny. First she attempts to bathe the doll, accidentally submersing it in the soapy water. Afterwards, she wrings it out like a wet dishrag before holding it upside down to drip dry. She powders the baby so liberally that it resembles a sugar donut, and then wraps it in a bedsheet-sized diaper. Over the course of the next few episodes, Lucy bids showbiz goodbye ("Lucy's Showbiz Swan Song"), decides that the baby should grow up hearing the Queen's English ("Lucy Hires an English Tutor"), tries to buff up Ricky's ego when he feels neglected ("Ricky Has Labor Pains"), and even tries to bring a bit of culture into the house ("Lucy Becomes a Sculptress").
After the world's shortest pregnancy (six weeks), Lucy gives birth in "Lucy Goes to the Hospital." This episode features the memorable scene in which a panicked Ricky, Fred, and Ethel attempt to get a preternaturally calm Lucy to the hospital where she gives birth to a boy. This episode aired on January 19, 1953, the very same day that Ball gave birth (via caesarean section) to her real life son, Desi Jr. Thanks to the publicity surrounding the event, 44 million people tuned in. Roughly 71% of the television sets in use that night tuned in to watch the birth of Little Ricky. Some of the remaining episodes ignore the existence of the newborn ("The Club Election" is a flashback to an earlier Lucy/Ethel feud), but others deal with the changes in the Ricardos' life ("No Children Allowed" introduces Elizabeth Patterson as Mrs. Trumball, an older neighbor who becomes Little Ricky's babysitter).
While Lucy's pregnancy may be the biggest development of I Love Lucy's second season, it didn't occur until one-third of the way through the season. Before then, the season began with one of the most beloved episodes in I Love Lucy history - "Job Switching." This is the classic episode in which Ethel and Lucy get a job working at a chocolate factory with, of course, disastrous results. This episode is truly a national treasure, its physical humor and slapstick on par with the best of the silent film comedians.
The magic of I Love Lucy is that its writers and performers could elevate jokes and situations that have been used a million times before and a million times since seem eternally fresh and funny. The synopsis of "The Handcuffs" on the DVD case doesn't sound promising: "Lucy snaps a pair of Fred's 'trick' handcuffs on Ricky to persuade him to stay home with her. Unfortunately, the manacles Lucy borrowed turn out to be real - and there's no key!" This concept is so cliché-ridden that it's as if we've already seen the episode even if we never have. Ball and Arnaz give such outrageously funny performances - the bit where she tangles them into a pretzel shape is sure to invoke chortles - that our reservations fall away. It's as if we are seeing this well-worn plotline for the first time. Ethel and Lucy's misguided attempt at repapering the walls of Lucy's bedroom in "Redecorating" also revisits well-trod ground, but it is still infectiously funny.
I Love Lucy: The Complete First Season suffered greatly from poor packaging. Each disc had been previously released separately, and those releases were simply bundled together to form a boxed set. That problem has been taken care of this time around. The episodes have been evenly distributed over a smaller number of discs, and the packing has been streamlined as well. The thirty-one episodes that make up the second season are divided onto five discs. The discs are housed in slim, clear keepcases. The yellow and gold toned front covers feature sepia production stills from one of the disc's episodes along with a bright red "I Love Lucy" heart. The back covers include smaller production stills and a list of the episodes found on the DVD. Because the cases are clear, the double-sided coversheets show through to the inside of the case. The interiors include episode titles, original airdates, production numbers and plot synopses. Production stills are also printed on the DVDs in similar color schemes, and when removed, they reveal quotes from one of the disc's episodes. The five keepcases slide into a cardboard sleeve which continues the yellow/gold/sepia look.
The DVD menus are similar to those employed in the first season.
