I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy (1951)

179 mistakes - chronological order

(11 votes)

I Love Lucy mistake picture

Lucy Writes a Novel - S3-E23

Visible crew/equipment: When Lucy tells Ricky, Fred, and Ethel that she made a carbon copy of the novel they just burned in the fireplace, the actors' tape marks are visible on the carpet when Lucy says, "Pardon me," in the wideshot. Then later, when Ricky, Fred, and Ethel walk in while Lucy's typing up her sequel, they stand at tape marks again. (00:11:05)

Super Grover

Lucy Writes a Novel - S3-E23

Character mistake: When Fred, Ethel, and Ricky confront Lucy on what she wrote about them in her novel Ricky states "I'm so hammy I should go lie down between two slices of rye bread." This is incorrect. Lucy wrote "He turned into such a big ham you could stuff him with cloves."

Rob245

Lucy's Club Dance - S3-E24

Other mistake: When Ricky and Fred hold up the newspapers with the big holes in the back page, we see the front page with the headline "Bond Issue Defeated", and it should look familiar since it's the same front page that was used in the episode "Ricky's Old Girlfriend", with the article about Carlotta Romero. (00:18:15)

Super Grover

I Love Lucy mistake picture

The Diner - S3-E25

Visible crew/equipment: During the scenes at the small diner when it's open for business, such as when Marco walks in, there are two small chalk T-marks on the floor in the area near the door. The T-marks are also visible when Ethel and Fred walk back inside. (00:12:35)

Super Grover

The Black Wig - S3-E26

Visible crew/equipment: When Lucy and Bert (Roberta) walk into the back of the salon, there are a few chalk marks on the floor to the right of the styling chair, and a few moments later that's where both Doug and Bert stand when Doug doesn't recognizes Lucy at first. (00:03:40)

Super Grover

I Love Lucy mistake picture

The Black Wig - S3-E26

Visible crew/equipment: During the scenes in the living room after wig-wearing Lucy comes home in a huff about Ricky, an actor's mark is visible on the carpet at the fireplace, and there's a T-mark on the carpet between the couch and desk.

Super Grover

I Love Lucy mistake picture

The Sublease - S3-E30

Visible crew/equipment: After Lucy and Mr. Beecher sign the lease, just as they all start heading toward the door, the taped T-mark is visible at the bottom of the screen at the edge of the carpet (presumably for the second camera dolly offscreen at the left). Then as Mrs. Hammond walks out, a bit of overhead set equipment can be seen at the top right side of the screen. (00:12:45)

Super Grover

Lucy Cries Wolf - S4-E1

Visible crew/equipment: After Lucy phones Ricky and fibs about a man being on the fire escape, when Ethel and Fred rush in looking for Lucy, two actors' tape marks are visible on the floor where Fred and Ethel stand, beside the couch. (00:06:20)

Super Grover

Lucy Cries Wolf - S4-E1

Plot hole: How does Lucy get back up to the apartment bound and gagged? It would seem impossible to hop up all those steps, possibly take several hours if not all night.

Rob245

The Matchmaker - S4-E2

Audio problem: About 6 minutes in, a friend of Fred comes to the door and Ricky answers it. The man says Mr. Cardo instead of Mr. Ricardo, but Ricky says yes anyway.

terry s

I Love Lucy mistake picture

Ricky's Movie Offer - S4-E6

Continuity mistake: After Fred secures the chain lock to the front door, with the chain mounted onto the frame of the door, Fred then slides the chain into the door's slide-catch to show Lucy the "burglarproof chain." When Ethel opens the door the chain itself is ripped off the frame, leaving the chain (and the piece that was screwed to the frame) dangling from the slide-catch attached to the door, but in Ethel's closeup the chain is still mounted to the door's frame. (00:01:40)

Super Grover

Ricky's Screen Test - S4-E7

Visible crew/equipment: When Ethel is about to open the door because Fred is too "busy" to do it, the shadow of moving boom equipment is visible on the wall to the right. Then after Ethel opens the door to find Lucy dressed in her starlet outfit, when Lucy walks in disappointed that she was recognized, in the next shot facing Ethel the shadow of the moving boom mic can be seen on the door. (00:10:40)

Super Grover

Ricky's Screen Test - S4-E7

Visible crew/equipment: After take one of Ricky's Screen Test, when the director says to Lucy, "I thought it might add interest to the scene if you could make it go around and around like a lighthouse!", the Ricardo's kitchen cupboards and fridge are visible off stage to the left of the director's head.

Getting Ready - S4-E11

Revealing mistake: When everyone is examining the car that Fred bought, during a shot showing the front of the car, everyone's shadows are falling on the "street" behind the car, making it obvious that it's a painted backdrop.

Jeff Swanson

I Love Lucy mistake picture

Lucy Learns to Drive - S4-E12

Visible crew/equipment: When Ethel's on the stoop in front of the building waiting for Lucy and Ricky, right before Ethel asks Ricky about Lucy's driving lesson, just as Ricky drives up we can see cables moving in front of the new Pontiac pulling the car. Then, when Ethel crashes the new Pontiac into the old car, the jiggling cables are again in front of the new car. Lastly, when Lucy finally starts the old car's engine, now there's a moving cable in front of the old car as well. (00:09:50)

Super Grover

Lucy Ricardo: I made a funny?

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Show generally

Question: I know this show is from the time period when a lot of couples had two beds in their room. Just out of curiosity, when did it become acceptable to show a couple's bedroom with a single bed on TV?

Answer: According to Snopes.com, there is no definitive answer, but the mid-1960s is the most verifiable date with "The Munsters" being cited as the first, although others claim "The Brady Bunch" showed the first couple seen in a double bed. An early TV show from the late 1940s titled, "Mary Kay and Johnny" is also thought to have shown the married couple's bedroom as having a double bed, although probably not with them in it. However, this was when TV was aired live, and there are no surviving episodes, only anecdotal accounts.

raywest

Something that is funny is that in the movie "A Christmas Story," they show the parents having two twin beds in their bedroom. In a real situation, they should have shown them having a double bed. Lucy and Ricky had twin beds pushed together in an early episode, which would have been pushing television boundaries in that time.

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