This Week in Television History: January 2013 PART III

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As always, the further we go back in Hollywood history, the more that fact and legend become intertwined. It's hard to say where the truth really lies.

January 19, 1953

Lucy gives birth to Little Ricky. 

Episode #56, “Lucy Goes to the Hospital,” of hit 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy airs for the first time. The episode, in which Lucy Ricardo, played by Lucille Ball, gives birth to a son, was one of the most popular in television history. The ground-breaking episode was one of the first American television programs to deal with the issue of pregnancy, a taboo subject in conservative 1950s America, when even married couples were not shown on television sharing the same bed. Forty-four million viewers, a full 72 percent of all U.S. homes with a television, tuned in; only 29 million viewers had watched President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s televised inauguration the previous night.

To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa