When the "I Love Lucy" show debuted on October 15, 1951, it became an instant sensation, defining the situation comedy format, attracting thousands of viewers to television for the first time and turning its unlikely star, Lucille Ball, into a legend.
Lucille BallBall embraced television and became a master of the medium. With husband Desi Arnaz she formed Desilu Studios to gain greater control over her work, and with it pushed television into its golden years. She cultivated a personal image that corresponded to that of her television characters and in doing so broke down one of the most profound barriers between actor and audience. Like no one before or since, she seemed a part of the family.
More than her seventy plus films, her hundreds of television appearances, her work running a studio which brought us such major television series as Mission: Impossible and Star Trek, Ball’s true legacy can be found in her understanding of the possibilities of television before it understood itself. She saw that television could have the excitement of vaudeville, the wonder of the movies, and come directly to people’s homes with the intimacy of the radio.
Finding Lucy: American Masters, Monday at 8 p.m. on PBS-HD 6.
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