For most people in America, watching I Love Lucy was a weekly ritual (Pop). More people watch Little Ricky’s birth episode than Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation and Eisenhower being sworn in as president. Combined (Fourteen Things). That means 72% of all homes with TVs were watching that episode (Anderson). I Love Lucy was more popular than most people thought. “By April 7, 1952, some 10.6 million households – roughly 30 – to – 40 million viewers – were tuned into I Love Lucy each week;” that was the most views a TV show had ever gotten (Pop). Between 48 and 67% of homes with TVS were watching I Love Lucy weekly (Pop). The show is something that you can still find on TV because many people love it. Not only was it popular, it ranked really high. Several of the show’s prime-time episodes were rated highly. The show never was rated lower than third place (Anderson). From October 1951 to April 1957, I Love Lucy was either rated number one, number two, or number three (Pop). If people didn’t love the show, it would not have been rated so highly all the time. Ball and Arnaz earned a lot of money from the show. The show earned over $1 million earn in reruns alone (Anderson). That doesn’t even include what they got from the show being on TV. Arnaz and Ball sold the first 180 episodes to CBS for reruns and such, for 5% millions (or $19.5 million today) (Desi). I Love Lucy was a …show more content…
I Love Lucy almost never aired because CBS couldn’t secure a sponsor for the show (Kolavchik). Don Sharpe negotiated a contract with CBS and sponsor Philip Morris cigarettes for Arnaz (Anderson). Smoking was required on camera because Philip Morris cigarettes were their main sponsor (Kolavchik). The words Philip Morris cigarettes were also used whenever possible so they could advertise even more (Kolavchik). Out of all of the sponsors, Philip Morris was considered the ultimate sponsor (Pannonia4). They wanted to sell cigarettes so much that in one of the commercials Ball and Arnaz kept their cigarettes in a safe behind a picture (Videoarcheology6). Philip Morris was the sponsor that was with the show from the beginning. Cheer was another company that sponsored I Love Lucy. Philip Morris and Cheer often switched between who ran their advertisement before the show started (Pannoni4). They both would start their advertisement with a scenario that introduced their product and then they transition into the show with the famous I Love Lucy music (Pannoni4). When Cheer started they would say, ‘you have to wash it, so you wash it in Cheer’ and then go into the rest of their details (Pannoni4). Cheer and Philip Morris both sponsored I Love Lucy and were a big part of the