Taking a Poll About I Love Lucy

Yes you are the only one. Ethel was Lucy's best friend and partner in crime. Reruns have been in for years. You must watch. As funny today as it was in the 50s when I watched it originally. They still crack me up.

I'm 47 and yes I watched the reruns as a kid. Not because anyone "told me to" but because they were on all the time, and they were funny, just like Bewitched and many other classic shows of the 50s and 60s.

ETA: What do you mean "how do you know to watch"?? Have you NOT seen trailers or advertisments for shows?? It still happens!! When I was growing up, we didn't 1000 channels of "nothing" on. We had 5 channels and we loved to laugh!!!
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Ethel was Lucy's best friend. They got into trouble together! Yes! I've watched I love Lucy re-runs!! I'm 49!

If you have Hulu or Netflix or even Amazon - you can watch a re-tun or too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRC3BiOig6w

I am 50 and my younger brother is 46 and we both watched Lucy reruns all the time. I am sure they were on when you were a kid. So yes, you are the only person who does not know who Ethel is. Do you know who Fred is?

ETA: Nobody told us to watch reruns. There were basically 7 channels total (2,4,5,7,9 11 and 13 (PBS)) so it was not rocket science to know what was on. Of course you did have to get up to change the channel.

Didn't you ever have to stay home sick from school in the 80's?

I'm 37, I never liked Lucy too much but you can't deny the candy factory and Veta-Vita-Vegamin episodes are must watch.

As for who "told" me to watch, I remember an aunt having fondness for I Love Lucy reruns (she had no kids and had plenty of time on her hands) but my parents were way too busy to sit around watching daytime reruns or to weigh on in our TV choices. Though they did settle down in the evenings and watch with us the 80's sitcoms of the day.

Ooooh Luuuuuucy!!!!!

Well you are only two years younger then me and I know who Ethel was, but not everyone watched re-runs or was into "I Love Lucy".

This is something you shouldn't be worried about. But FYI, Lucy was married to Desi Arnez in real life if it should come up again. :-)

When I was a kid in the 70's & 80's we only had about 5 channels to watch on TV (we couldn't afford cable). So during the TV times that weren't "Prime Time" they played re-runs. I do remember Saturday afternoons watching old black & white movies, like King Kong, Godzilla, Tarzan and sometimes old TV shows like I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, etc.. My mom worked all the time so my siblings and I didn't have restrictions on the TV, my dad left us before I turned one year old. My siblings and I took care of household chores like cooking and cleaning from young ages, maybe that's why we turned out to be responsible adults.

Life is what you make it, no matter how bad your childhood was you make the choice to live happy and change your future or to continue to be angry and depressed about life not being fair.

I'm sure you're not the only one; however, the show is timeless in its comedy and you should really watch a few episodes. The early years are better.

I'm in my mid 30s and I watched all the reruns growing up so I know who Ethel is. You should watch it!

In response to your SWH:

I don't think growing up in a loving, happy home necessarily = watching reruns of old shows. My parents had nothing to do with my watching the Lucy reruns. In fact, my mom who saw a translated version growing up told me she didn't like it (the jokes probably got lost in translation and she probably didn't understand some of the cultural references). No one told me I should to watch it. We never had Lucy family nights (or any designated family TV time, for that matter). I just came across it while channel surfing and liked it so I continued to watch it. No one ever told me to watch a certain show growing up. I just watched what I liked -- my parents were free range parents who didn't really monitor my TV watching.

Don't take it so seriously. It's okay that you didn't know who Ethel was. It certainly doesn't make you dumb.

I'm sure there are others who haven't seen it. I was born in 66 & grew up watching it. It's been years since I watched an episode. I'm glad you brought it up. I think I will try to watch a couple of episodes with my daughter. You should try it. It's timeless comedy :-)

As a kid growing up in the 70's I watched I Love Lucy reruns all the time. It was one of my after school shows along with Leave it to Beaver.

I'm 32 and used to watch a ton of the older shows on Nick at Nite and TV Land. Hogan's Heroes, Happy Days, Mr. Ed, I Love Lucy, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Green Acres, etc. I also like a lot of the older game shows on GSN like Password, Joker's Wild, The Newlywed Game (w/Bob Eubanks), Family Feud (w/Richard Dawson), Match Game, and many more. These were shows my mom watched when she was younger, so I probably started watching them just because she had them on, but I definitely enjoy watching them by myself now.

Are you sure you didn't know about Ethel and just maybe didn't remember her name? Surely you've seen the clip of Lucy and Ethel working at the chocolate factory. If you haven't, look it up!

well, i've got you by more than 10 years so it's not surprising that i'm more familiar with beloved lucy. a lot of old tv is pretty hokey, but ILL is wonderful.
:) khairete
S.

I've caught a few episodes of ILL over the years (i'm 39). I'm not a dedicated watcher, but I've enjoyed my fair share of episodes. I enjoy the classics and have always felt like I should at least have a base knowledge of things that have made a big impact on the way our culture has developed such as Citizen Cain and The Brady Bunch (though I still refuse to watch anything that has a Kardashian).

Yes I know who Ethel is. I love the Lucy reruns. They used to show them on Hallmark channel in the morning. I haven't checked in a while. You need to check it out though. They were always up to something which led to trouble most of the time. I always wished I had a partner in crime just like her. Go watch!!!

I'm 40 and I know who Ethel was. My sister, who is 35, loved to watch re-runs of the show when we were kids so I've seen a lot of episodes.

ETA: thinking back, we just knew to watch it because there weren't that many channels and not much on during the day besides cartoons and game shows. If we were home during a day off from school or home sick, shows like The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, Laverne & Shirley, One Day at a Time, etc. were a nice change from the usual. I think they were on the same station as re-runs of The Brady Bunch and other shows so we probably just thought that the commercials looked funny and then watched.

What an odd question...lol. Not bad odd, just odd. Interesting.

I would say I was made aware by older generations too. And because we didn't have cable, sometimes we didn't have that many options of what to watch. Lucy was "safe" for kids to watch, as in no violence or vulgarity. I've tried to watch some recently (trying to go without cable due to finances) and I just can't get into them anymore. Which is odd because I feel like I've watched it a LOT in my lifetime. I dunno. I was born in 77 and am 38 years old.

I was born in 1983, so I'm 32, and I watched I Love Lucy growing up. My mom LOVES it so she had it on when we were kids and I even watch it myself when I want a good laugh.

And I think you don't have to watch the show to know Lucy and Ethel...but to each their own :).

Yes. You are. I'm 46 and I don't think there is an episode I've never seen. I am a strong proponent of cultural literacy and knowing where the roots of our current culture come from. My children are very well versed in old movies, old television shows, even radio shows. My daughter is even named for a prominent 50s actress. Vivian Vance was a very accomplished Vaudeville actress before taking on the roll of Ethel Mertz and was significantly younger than her on-screen husband. She highly resented being paired with William Frawley (also an accomplished Vaudevillian) in the roll of Fred Mertz and their on screen fights were often fueled by real animosity. The more you know…

ETA: Reruns were on after school - I watched Gidget and the Monkees, Brady Bunch and Dick Van Dyke - all without being told. But my parents raised me to appreciate their generation - my dad introduced me to old radio shows, my mom was the spitting image of Lucille Ball and loved her humor. I was always taught and took an interest in the life of generations before me and could never understand those that didn't. I would have long conversations with my grandmother about her life. Sorry you did not have that - time to explore! There are great old time radio apps and lots of ways to watch these things on line now. Catch up!

I'm 51 and I grew up watching reruns of "I Love Lucy" every day after school.

No one had to tell me to watch tv or to watch any particular program. I found stuff I liked by channel surfing.

You'd have to watch the show to know - and we've got I Love Lucy on dvd - so we know and our son knows who all the characters are.
Fred and Ethel Mertz are friends/landlords of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (and eventually Little Ricky).
Fred and Ethel were played by William Frawley and Vivian Vance respectively who had great chemistry in character but didn't get along off stage (Vivian felt William was too old (he was 22 years older than she was) - she and Lucy were close in age and she didn't like appearing to be much older than she was).
Yes, we watch all the old shows - LOVE Bewitched, Gilligan's Island, Hogan's Heroes, etc.

I'm 39 and grew up watching I Love Lucy every day, 1pm. My favorite is the chocolate factory episode :o)

We all watched it in reruns. You should too. It was a groundbreaking show in many ways. There are a few episodes that are pretty dated (e.g. dressing up as native Americans, which we wouldn't do now) but many are classics and still ring true.

You can buy a DVD of the best episodes - or I should say "most popular". Those include "the candy factory" and "Vitameatavegamin." You're missing out if you don't see these!!

The 3-camera technique used to film the show was developed by Desi Arnaz and is still used by sitcoms (and dramas) today. He was the first Latino on TV. Lucy's was the first pregnancy on TV (although they couldn't use the word "pregnant"). Lots of "firsts".

Your local library will probably have a few DVDs you can borrow. Go check them out!

I love Lucy, including the show she had with her kids (The Lucy Show). And the movies she made. For the record, Desi Arnaz.

We talked about old stars this weekend. Last week the radio was talking about Michael Jackson's Thriller song and the person that did the voice over. Half of the people that called in had NO CLUE who Vincent Price was. Makes me feel old and I watched that stuff in reruns.

I'm 30 and used to watch reruns of I love Lucy, so I know and love Ethel. Check it out. Hilarious show!

We grew up watching all sorts of old shows, including I Love Lucy. We didn't have cable, so we just watched whatever was on. I'm 45 and my brother is 43, and we always enjoyed the old comedies. I still do (I imagine my brother does, too).