Line #33 Characters/ILoveLucy


1	!!'''Lucy Ricardo (Creator/LucilleBall)'''
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3	The titular main character, Lucy's a perky housewife who often attempts wacky schemes so her husband allows her to play in his club.
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5	* CantHoldHerLiquor: The famous "Vitameatavegamin Girl" bit where Lucy gets drunk from the alcohol in the medicine after repeated takes. In her defense, it was 23% alcohol by volume – not proof, percent (46 proof).
6	* CatchPhrase: Lucy often says "Ewwwww!", or as Lucille Ball referred to it, "The Spider" sneer (after a "Miss Muffet"-themed radio ad she did which debuted the inflection) , when something goes wrong.
7	* DidNotThinkThisThrough: More often then not, her plans tend to go off the rails due to not really thinking about the details all the way and running into unforeseen circumstances.
8	* FieryRedhead: Subverted. Lucy is 60% screwball, 40% spitfire and 0% redhead -- she dyes her hair.
9	* GuileHeroine: Lucy usually tries to use her wiles rather than her muscles to achieve her goals. How successful she is (and how long before it backfires) varies by the occasion.
10	* HollywoodToneDeaf: Lucille Ball was no singer, but she sang just enough to star in the Broadway musical ''Wildcat'' after the show ended. Lucy Ricardo's ability to carry a tune is far worse than Ball's own, and seemed to run on RuleOfFunny.
11	* {{Housewife}}: Common for most women during this decade; while Lucy does hold a few jobs throughout the series (including but not limited to candy maker, dress shop co-owner, and selling her own salad dressing) these jobs usually only lasted a single episode. Throughout the series, Lucy usually plays the part of an unorthodox, albeit still very loving and caring, 1950's wife and mother.
12	* InformedFlaw: It would oftentimes be stated that along with being HollywoodToneDeaf, Lucy was a horrible dancer. Despite this, in many, many instances Lucille Ball demonstrated her real life background as a highly trained and skilled dancer, be it performing at the Tropicana/Club Babalu, waltzing with Van Johnson, tangoing with 6 dozen eggs in her blouse or just perfectly executing difficult comedic blocking. Her proficiency in song and dance tended to vary on the plot's requirements for how bad she was meant to be.
13	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: All her scheming, lying and selfish moments aside, at the end of the day Lucy was still portrayed as a loving wife, an exceptional mother, a steadfast friend and in general a warmhearted woman.
14	* LoonyFan: Particularly during The Hollywood arc, in which she can't help herself from acting even zanier than normal around the Movie Stars. Her actions including accidentally pieing William Holden, breaking into Cornel Wildes's suite, trying to pick a Grapefruit from Richard Widmark's backyard, and stealing John Wayne's footprints from Grauman's Chinese Theater. Her reputation gets so bad, she becomes the ire of every actor in Hollywood. Eventually it even reaches international levels as while in Paris, Charles Boyer mentions having heard of her.
15	* {{Malaproper}}: Lucy misspeaks after getting drunk trying to film a commercial. That Vitameatavegamin is potent stuff.
16	-->'''Lucy:''' Do you pop out of parties? Are you unpoopular?
17	* MamaBear: Her love for her son is so strong, that even after being told by the hospital she will not be allowed to stay the night with an ill Little Ricky, even though she promised him, won't stop her. She disguises herself as a nurse and of course creates havoc, but after catching the sight of a sleeping Lucy protectively cuddling Little Ricky in his hospital bed, the hospital is so touched by her maternal instincts, they stop Ricky from waking her up, and allow her to stay with her son for the night.
18	* MasterOfDisguise: Lucy has a knack for this, being able to properly fool her husband and friends many times.
19	* RedBaron: Often cited as "That Crazy Redhead" by most who meet her, especially celebrities.
20	* MsRedInk: While it never has any visible impact on the family finances, quite a number of plots involve Lucy outspending the limit on things like dresses, hats, and furniture, and her spending typically fuels a bet or challenge as Lucy has to cover up her expenditures or abstain by changing her lifestyle.
21	* [[ManChild Woman Child]]: Arguably the first example in western media; Lucy certainly had a knack for embracing her inner-child such as sticking out her tongue and those who annoy her, penchant for wacky schemes, being something of a naive idealist, and her trademark wail when something went wrong. This was quite groundbreaking for the time too as Lucille Ball subverted many traditional female gender roles with her Lucy character and paved the way for future women-children.
22	* ZanyScheme: Constantly; a lot of the humor of the show comes from Lucy coming up with a crazy scheme to a situation and it spiraling into disaster.
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24	!!'''Ricky Ricardo (Creator/DesiArnaz)'''
25	Lucy's Cuban husband, a famous bandleader constantly having to deal with many of his wife's ZanyScheme.
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27	* BilingualBonus: Since [[ActorSharedBackground Desi and Ricky were both from Cuba]], Ricky sometimes dips into speaking Spanish when he gets excited or mad.[[note]]The writers always wrote out Ricky’s rants in English, which Arnaz would then translate into Spanish. This was done to prevent Arnaz from accidentally swearing in Spanish, which he feared would happen if he improvised.[[/note]]
28	* CatchPhrase: "Aye-yi-yi-yi-yi!" In one of the England shows, he translates it as 'Blimey!' to a confused Englishman. Hilariously, later on it turns out the phrase needs no translation for Italian.
29	* FunnyForeigner: The series makes a lot of jokes at Ricky's expense regarding things like his accent or other things related to his being from a different country. It's never malicious, though, and the show clearly demonstrates that Ricky is a fast learner and accomplished entertainer and manager. Ricky's nationality and accent are also typically only referred to or poked at by his wife and the Mertzes, but not strangers, with the writers acknowledging jokes about his accent would be cruel otherwise.
30	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He has a fiery temper and having to deal with the constant messes his wife gets them into doesn't help, but he loves Lucy more than anything, and is a devoted and caring father and friend.
31	* {{Malaproper}}: Ricky misspeaks and mixes idioms at times, though this is due to English not being his first language.
32	* SignatureLaugh: His distinct, hardy (almost wheezing) laugh.
33	* SignatureSong: [[invoked]] In-universe, "Babalú" is the song most associated with and most often performed by Ricky over the course of the series, and other characters reference and quote the song frequently as his signature.
34	* TheStraightMan: He's the normal guy who has to deal with his wife's (and sometimes his friends') crazy antics. Ricky is still able to play bits with his wife in romantic banter, though, and often comes up with a ZanyScheme of his own.
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36	!!'''Ethel Mertz (Creator/VivianVance)'''
37	The Ricardos' landlady and one of their best friends, most often allied with Lucy during plots. A former vaudevillian with her husband, she often finds herself getting dragged into Lucy's messes.
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39	* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Ethel and Fred have a number of these moments, for all their bicker and back-and-forth nagging but any slight indication that Fred may be spending time with another woman, Ethel starts sobbing at the prospect of losing her "Beautiful, fat-old-goat Fred".
40	* BigEater: Ethel enjoys her food, and eats the most heartily and shamelessly of the cast, always embracing the opportunity to eat food that's out in the open and being known for large portions. She is the butt of quite a few "fat" jokes from Fred. Rather hypocritical of him really, since, despite Ethel's enormous appetite, he was actually much more overweight.
41	* DeadpanSnarker: Ethel has a good amount of snappy retorts to offer and is arguably the most sarcastic character on the show.
42	* HonoraryAunt: As his Godmother, Little Ricky refers to her as Aunt Ethel.
43	* InformedFlaw: Ethel is often on the receiving end of jokes regarding her weight and the size of her rear end, despite Vivian Vance having a perfectly healthy weight. (As Vance pointed out, jokes about her size would not have been funny if she was truly heavy, and they tended to come across more as bickering marital banter than anything else, since nobody else but Fred made those remarks.)
44	* NiceGirl: While she can be a bit of a gossip, gets self-inflated, and can snark with the rest of them, she's definitely the sweetest of the group, as she isn't a consummate schemer like Lucy, nor does she have a quick temper like Ricky, nor is she TheScrooge like Fred.
45	* OlderThanTheyLook: Ethel is supposed to be around the same age as her husband Fred who’s quite older than Ricky and Lucy. But the women looks the same age as her two friends. (Which she is. Vivian hated that Ethel was supposed to be twenty years older than she was).
46	* SarcasticDevotee: Ethel may be a faithful friend to Lucy, but she's not above making sarcastic comments.
47	* ScrewThisImOutOfHere: Ethel is more often inclined to avoid trouble, so she's quick to try escaping when Lucy starts to cook up a scheme, and she typically moves to quickly excuse herself (and Fred, if he's there) when she senses an incoming blow-up between the Ricardos.
48	* {{Sidekick}}: Ethel is Lucy's partner-in-crime on all her misadventures, with varying degrees of willingness, and two-way conflicts dividing the cast of four most often have Ethel on Lucy's side.
49	* SmallNameBigEgo: Ethel gleefully seizes the spotlight whenever she has the chance and milks it for all it's worth. She's just as eager as Lucy to start singing and dancing when someone mentions they're looking for a performer, and she seems to relish her role as co-president of her women's club. She also drives Lucy crazy in one episode with incessant boastful retellings of her confrontation with Mrs. Trumbull (defending Lucy), and she flat-out lies to her father in Albuquerque about being the one to star in a movie and hogs all the press attention for herself.
50	* TrueCompanions: Despite all the headaches her friendship with Lucy creates for her, they always come together as dearly loyal friends.
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52	!!'''Fred Mertz (Creator/WilliamFrawley)'''
53	The Ricardos' Landlord and Ethel's sarcastic, money scrounging, but lovable husband, and Ricky's best-friend. Was once a renowned Vaudevillian with Ethel, and is just as ready as she is to break back into show business if the opportunity arises.
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55	* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Fred and Ethel have a number of these moments, for all their bicker and back-and-forth nagging.
56	** In "Equal Rights", he (and Ricky) rush down to a restaurant to protect Ethel and Lucy after the two trick their husbands into believing they're being attacked by armed robbers.
57	** It reaches hilarious proportions in one episode, where Ricky is entertaining on a cruise ship; in earlier episodes with scenes set near large bodies of water, Fred mentions his seasickness (and once even got woozy on a ship that was tied off at the dock); however, Fred suddenly does a 180 degree turn, and actually turns into a romantic. Ethel is actually concerned about Fred's unusual behavior at first, but is eventually entranced at the idea of her and Fred having a second honeymoon, and basically spend the rest of the episode enjoying various different activities on the ship in a lovey-dovey manner.
58	* DeadpanSnarker: Fred is prone to making dry, sarcastic quips per his curmudgeonly demeanor.
59	* HonoraryUncle: To Little Ricky, as his Godfather, which garners him the address of Uncle Fred.
60	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's a tightwad with money, and rarely openly speaks lovingly about his wife, but that doesn't stop him from being a loyal husband, a good friend to the Ricardos and a doting Godfather to Little Ricky.
61	* TheScrooge: Fred's tightfistedness about money is a RunningGag throughout the show.
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63	!!'''Ricky Ricardo, Jr. (Creator/RichardKeith)'''
64	Born in the second season, Ricky Ricardo Jr., aka Little Ricky, is the son of Lucy and Ricky, and Godson of Ethel and Fred.
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66	* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: From the moment he's born Lucy and Ricky become much happier people. As the song Ricky writes for Lucy and Little Ricky states "...he has changed our happy house, into a home."

Context Characters / ILoveLucy