Not that Lucille Ball is ever not worthy of discussion, but the original queen of television comedy is having a bit of a moment right now. From the Oscar-nominated film “Being the Ricardos” to the Amy Poehler-directed documentary “Lucy and Desi” (both available on Prime Video, for which you can get a seven-day free trial), everybody’s favorite redhead has become even more popular than normal lately.
But now, all six seasons and 180 episodes of Lucy’s iconic television show “I Love Lucy” are finally hitting streaming thanks to Paramount+. Until now, parts of all six seasons have been available on Hulu and Prime Video, but Hulu only has 102 episodes and Prime Video has 40 with 62 more available for purchase.
Due to different contractual arrangements, many streaming services are only able to carry a handful of episodes from various seasons of legacy shows, for example, HBO Max only carries two to five episodes of the original PBS seasons of “Sesame Street.” The expansion of the number of “Lucy” episodes that are now available to stream is one of the benefits of more networks and studios launching their own streaming platforms.
“I Love Lucy” originally aired on CBS and as its parent company’s new service continues to explore how to maximize the century-plus worth of content in the Paramount archives, hopefully this will be a harbinger of more Golden Era television hitting the streamer in the future.
The classic sitcom originally ran on CBS from 1951 to 1957 and starred Ball, her real-life husband Desi Arnaz, along with Vivian Vance and William Frawley. In the show, Ball plays Lucy Ricardo as a young, middle-class housewife living in New York City who often concocts plans with her best friends Ethel and Fred Mertz (Vance and Frawley) to appear alongside her bandleader husband Ricky Ricardo (Arnaz) in his nightclub.
The series received 21 Emmy nominations during its run and four of its six seasons finished No. 1 in the ratings.
Other classic TV shows on Paramount+ include “Perry Mason,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Gunsmoke,” “Mission: Impossible,” “The Odd Couple,” and more.
Paramount Plus
Paramount+ is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 40,000+ TV show episodes from BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and more. The lineup includes “1883,” “Tulsa King,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and “PAW Patrol.” Subscribers can watch the NFL, college football, The Masters, college basketball, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa, Serie A, and NWSL. The service also offers the option to watch your live CBS affiliate. The upgraded ad-free package includes premium movies and shows from Showtime.