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Was Lucy Ricardo the Most Jealous/Insecure Wife in the History of TV Sitcoms?

posted a year ago by Corryveckan45 (145)
9 replies | jump to latest

Hi Everyone:

I tend to catch ILL episodes on TV when I'm coming home from work/getting dinner, doing chores, etc., so my watching isn't as organized or full bodied as most members of this forum. (I've enjoyed the insightful comments and opinions of several members which inspire me to watch the shows more closely.)

Anyway, last week, I happened to come across four episodes in which the main plot hook was Lucy's unfounded jealousy/suspicion of Ricky's infidelity. Each episode was from a different "era" of the series run.

The earliest one had Ricky performing a dance number with a "little girl"(Renita) he used to do a number with in Cuba. (He played her father.). Lucy's initially all for it...until she gets a gander at the now "grown up" Renita. (And what a beautiful/sexy actress that lady was!), and has Fred drive her into Brooklyn so Lucy can take her place.

The next one was a "Ricardos Anniversary" show when Lucy thinks that Ricky is two-timing her with neighbor Grace Foster. (He's actually working with Mrs. Foster to get an anniversary present for Lucy.)

In the third one, the plot hook was a magazine interview to show how happily married Ricky was. The fourth was one of the Florida episodes when Lucy tries to sabotage a boat trip the Ricardos and Mertzes are taking to keep Ricky and Fred from judging a local beauty contest. (Incidentally, I don't like the Florida episodes at all, except for the one where Elsa Lanchester plays a suspected hatchet murderer.)

Anyway, having come across all of these episodes by chance, and knowing there are several others where Lucy mistakenly suspects Ricky of cheating on her, I was wondering if members thought Lucy Ricardo would qualify as the most jealous wife in sitcom history? Which one of the "Lucy Gets Jealous" eipsodes would you say is the best/funniest.

I think it might have been fun to have a few episodes where Ricky was jealous of men paying attention to Lucy.

P.S. Kudos to Lucille Ball's professionalism in revisiting this scenario so often during the series. From everything I've heard/read offscreen Desi Arnaz did regularly cheat on her with other women. If the reports are accurate, I would think Lucille Ball would have been pretty distressed at so frequently having to play "Lucy Ricardo" as a wrong "wronged wife."

[–] [email protected] (5552) a year ago

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[–] [email protected] (5552) a year ago

My favorite episode where Lucy gets jealous is "Fan Magazine Interview". You mentioned it as the third episode you watched.
Lucy finds the postcard that Ricky supposedly wrote to Minnie Finch to join him at the Tropicana. In reality, it was written by Jerry , Ricky's agent as part of a publicity stunt.

My second favorite is the European episode, "The Fox Hunt", when Angela Randall the actress whose father owns the country estate, pays a lot of attention to Ricky. She seems to be hunting more than foxes!

The jealousy episodes are funny. But I wouldn't say Lucy was the most jealous sitcom wife. She is bested by Laura Petrie on The Dick van Dyke Show. I don't know if you're familiar with that sitcom or have watched many episodes. But Rob Petrie could hardly speak to another woman without Laura getting insanely jealous.

In his job as a TV writer he came in contact with a lot of good looking female stars and Laura would go overboard with her jealousy.

As far as Ricky being jealous, I can only think of one instance. It was in a very early episode when Lucy had an inferiority complex. He hired a doctor to come to the house and pay Lucy a lot of attention. He was supposed to be an old musician friend of Ricky's. He danced with Lucy and flirted with her but Ricky grew so uncomfortable that he threw him out.

[–] Corryveckan45 (145) a year ago

Hi PJ, I love THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, so yes, I'm pretty familiar with it, though I don't own DVDs of the show.

You may be right that technically there are more episodes of Laura Petrie being jealous of the attention that Rob was receiving from other women than Lucy did with Ricky (I haven't counted), but it seemed to me that Laura was often correct in her suspicions, not about suspecting Rob of being unfaithful (which doesn't generally seem to be her concern),but of the predatory nature of many of the women he encounters as the writer of a hit variety show. A few examples would be the egocentric "Paula Marshall," and career obsessed former classmate "Janie Layton" ("The Foul Weather Girl"). I think it's in that episode that Laura clarifies Rob her feelings of "jealousy." As you've pointed out the only episode of ILL where a woman openly pursued Ricky was "Angela Randall." At least she was up front about it. ("He's a prize!") Lucy's "box of Cracker Jack response is great.)

Also, the DVD show seemed to balance out Laura's jealousy episodes by having ones featuring Rob, such as the episode with Laura's former boyfriend, Robert Vaughn, now a millionaire and new sponsor of THE ALAN BRADY SHOW, or the one with future Green Hornet Van Williams winning a date with Laura in an Army camp raffle ("Bivouac Baby"), and the one where the pretty art instructor wants Rob to take private lessons. Myy favorite is probably "The Life and Love of Joe Coogan," in which Rob discovers at a very inopportune moment that Laura's old boyfriend, who he's sure is out to break up the Petrie marriage, is now a priest! Michael Forrest was terrific in the role I always wondered why he didn't have a bigger career) and it provides Rose Marie with one her best "Sally Rogers" moments.

[–] [email protected] (5552) a year ago

Glad to see another fan of the DVD show! Laura got jealous of any attention paid to her husband. In "How to Spank a Star" (one of my favorites), I don't think Paula Marshall had any romantic designs on Rob. She was just a spoiled star who wanted everything her own way. But Laura went nuts over Rob having to placate a temperamental guest star.

Janie Layton also had no designs on Rob. She was just using him to further her career. But Laura went overboard that time too.

I agree that Rob exhibited moments of jealousy too. The one with Robert Vaughn as "Jim Darling" brought out a lot of his insecurities. The Joe Coogan episode is one of my favorites too. The ending is hilarious.

When Sally walks in wearing what is surely a very lowcut dress and asks, "Where's this tall, handsome PRIEST you want me to meet?" I lose it every time! So funny.

[–] Corryveckan45 (145) 10 months ago

Well, I'd say Laura sometimes started out as conventionally "jealous" of the attention attractive women paid to Rob, but after her first burst of jealousy, she usually (and appropriately) showed why she didn't like/trust them.

For instance, she's initially jealous of ruthlessly ambitious "Janie Leyton" (understandably)because she walks in on her and Rob kissing. Also, Janie is beautiful and an old classmate of Rob's, and she's paying him undue attention. But Laura's right when she points out to Rob that "Janie" took longer than she needed to in identifying herself to Rob after he kissed her, and she's also right when she tells Rob: "Rob, she's pushy, and I don't like the idea of her pushing my husband around just because you have a kind nature." I think it's in this episode when Laura explains to Rob that she understands that an attractive, charming man like him, in his profession will attract the attention of many beautiful women, and that she understands this, but that there are exceptions (and "Janie" is one of them!)

I also don't think Paula Marshall had romantic designs on Rob, but as "Janie Layton" tried to do, she did walk all over Rob and it was Laura, by virtue of being the disciplinarian in the Petrie household, who showed Rob how to handle her.

Rob is really impossible (but hilarious) in the "No Rice at My Wedding" episode with Van Williams. He doesn't even give Laura time to break up with "Clark,' but I always laugh at the scene where a tearful and frustrated Laura tries to explain why she's fallen in love with Rob and keeps stumbling over the phrase: "He's so ador- ador..." and a dejected Williams says, "Adorable?" and Laura replies: "You see it too, don't you?!"

In addition to Sally's classic "PRIEST!" comment, I also laugh when Laura offers to take her wrap and she shrieks, "NO!" and clutches it to her chest. She must have followed Buddy's advice to wear the top of one sexy outfit and the bottom of another!

Rob has

[–] [email protected] (5552) 10 months ago

I know what you mean about Janie Leyton. Laura had her number from the beginning and stated how pushy she was. I don't like pushy people either and I've known a few. Those types seem to know just who they can push around.

Rob did have a softhearted nature. He was a bit of a pushover. He called Paula Marshall, "a smiling steamroller". Laura did show him that he had to mean what he said. He finally took a firm stand with her.

One time Laura's jealousy was valid was in the episode "Draw me a Pear" when they took an art class and the beautiful teacher showed Rob a lot of attention. As it turned out, it wasn't Laura's imagination. The woman really did have designs on Rob.

[–] Corryveckan45 (145) 10 months ago

Yes, I think I mentioned the one with the pretty art instructor in my previous. She definitely had Rob in her sights! I haven't watched that episode in a long time, but I recall even one of the other students noticed that Rob was the "Teacher's Pet." I'm not sure, but I think Laura comments to neighbor "Millie Helper" how naive Rob can be.

I really like the ending of this episode when Laura shows up early to meet Rob at the school and sees the teacher hitting on him (kissing his hand?). Later, Rob asks Laura when she arrived and she shows him by taking his hand and kissing it.

Rob: "Honey, am I glad for my sake that I'm a good boy!"

Anyway, since this is the I LOVE LUCY forum, I'll close by mentioning that one interesting aspect of the "Lucy is Jealous" episodes, is how frightened Ricky can be at the thought of Lucy's jealousy. I saw this in an episode where he casually mentioned an old girlfriend, "Carlotta Romero," thinking he'd made the name up, and then she was advertised as appearing in New York. Ricky's dismayed, fearful reaction at the thought of how Lucy would respond to the news was great!

As for the "Janie Layton" episode, she makes no effort whatsoever to hide her ambition, so I'm always a little surprised that Laura and Rob are shocked when she publicly thanks poor Mel Cooley for her success after finishing her number on THE ALAN BRADY SHOW. Even Rob knew she was a ruthless opportunist and told Buddy and Sally, "I knew she was the type of person who would never be 'eternally grateful' to anyone!"

[–] [email protected] (5552) 10 months ago

I forgot to mention the last time that I totally understood Rob's jealousy and insecurity over Clark Rice. He and Laura weren't even engaged yet. If I was a guy and my girlfriend had a date with a man who looked like HIM, Id be insecure!

Lucy also showed a lot of insecurity when Ricky read the newspaper article commenting on the beautiful actresses who were under consideration to play his love interest in Don Juan. Lucy was all for cancelling the trip at that point!

And in Hollywood she believed that he had stayed out all night with the starlets who were his date for the movie premier.

I also think Lucille Ball was very professional in acting in all these jealousy scenarios. I have several Lucy bios and she really loved Desi with all her heart. He regularly broke it with his philandering. To him those women meant nothing. But to a cheated on spouse, it's very painful.

[–] Megan254 (229) 4 months ago

Can't forget Lily Munster! She got pretty jealous, too.