| "" episode | ||||
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| Season 1, Episode #33 #33 in Series | ||||
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| Air date: | May 26, 1952 | |||
| Written by: | Bob Carroll Jr. Madelyn Davis Jess Oppenheimer | |||
| Directed by: | Marc Daniels | |||
| Production code: | 1-33 / 033 | |||
| Episode guide | ||||
 IMDB
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Lucy's Schedule | |||
| Episode chronology | ||||
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| "Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio" | "Ricky Thinks He Is Getting Bald" | |||
Lucy's Schedule was the 33rd overall episode of I Love Lucy, which first aired on CBS-TV on May 26, 1952, during the show's first season. It was directed by Marc Daniels.
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Plot Summary
Lucy just can never be on time it seems. After being very late getting ready to go out with the Mertzes, Ricky warns her that she had better be on time when they go to eat dinner at the apartment of the new club owner, Mr. Littlefield. Lucy "plays a little trick on herself" for preparing for dinner with the Littlefields, changing the time on all the clocks in the apartment, fooling herself into having an extra hour. This trick did make her ready on time, or at least on time for what the clocks said. But she made the mistake of turning the clocks BACK an hour instead of forwards. So, the Ricardos ended up being an hour late for dinner.
When the Ricardos return home, Ricky is furious, and he immediately starts making a schedule for Lucy to follow. He is sick and tired of her never being on time, and he feels that following a schedule will shape her up. Ricky is right, and Lucy soon finds herself enjoying life on a schedule, as it makes her get everything done and still have time left over. When Ricky goes to the Littlefields' to eat breakfast a few days later, Mr. Littlefield is not happy with Ricky's tardiness, and he doesn't want to make Ricky the new Tropicana manager because of it. Ricky says how that was "before," and that things are "different now," due to Lucy being on a schedule. He says that he has Lucy "hopping around like a trained seal," and Mr. Littlefield wants to see Lucy in action.
Phoebe Littlefield overhears this conversation, and she angrily tells Lucy that Mr. Littlefield wants to put her on a time schedule, too. Fred is also planning on putting Ethel on a schedule. Lucy sees nothing wrong with this... until Phoebe tells her the "trained seal" remark Ricky made. Lucy is understandably angry, and the three women plan to end schedules once and for all. They do this by serving the quickest dinner ever seen and throwing in lots of little tricks to show how life on a schedule makes it so nothing is ever able to be done right. The plan works, Mr. Littlefield rips up Lucy's schedule, and as a bonus, he offers Ricky the manager job, saying that a "schedule is no way to run a home, but it's the only way to run a club."
Trivia tidbits
- The basket of wax fruit Lucy eats the apple from was an anniversary present from Phoebe Littlefield's mother.
- The dinner Phoebe Littlefield made that the Ricardos were late for was supposedly splendid. It consisted of stuffed porkchops about "that thick"; warm, tender asparagus tips covered with Hollandaise sauce; and baked potatoes with "globs of cheese and butter."
- This is the first appearance Gale Gordon (who played Mr. Littlefield) will make on one of Lucy's shows. He is best known for the role of Mr. Mooney on Here's Lucy. While casting for I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball originally wanted Gale Gordon to play the role of Fred Mertz, since he was a member of the My Favorite Husband cast (Rudolph Atterbury). Luckily, William Frawley was found in time. But Gale Gordon was invited on the show for the first season as an act of friendship, just like what happened with Bea Benederet.
- When Lucy makes Ricky his first "schedule breakfast," she serves him a frozen egg, a tiny square of toast, and a cup of frozen coffee. Ricky ends up taking the frozen coffee and eating it like a Popsicle.
- When impatient Ricky chooses one dress for Lucy to wear, she says that she "wouldn't wear that to a movie," because it was too tight. She wears the same dress when the Littlefields come over for dinner in episode #35. Why is it too tight for a movie but not too tight to wear in front of your husband's boss?!
- When Fred means business, he really means business. He told Ethel to be ready on time the night of the movie, no matter what. Ethel came to the Ricardos in just her undergarments.
- Lucy eats the radish that Mr. Littlefield found left on the table.
- In the first part of the episode, the Ricardos and the Mertzes are planning on seeing the movie High Noon, starring Gary Cooper.