Seventy-five years after premiering on CBS, the trailblazing multi-camera sitcom I Love Lucy will become the first recipient of the Television Academy’s Legacy Award, an honor that was established earlier this year to annually recognize “a television program that’s made a profound and generational impact on audiences and remains relevant to society, culture and the industry today,” the organization announced Tuesday.
A special tribute to the show — which starred the real-life couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, was made by their Desilu Productions and pioneered the format of shooting a TV show with three cameras in front of a live studio audience — will take place on Sunday, Sept. 6, as part of night two of the two-night Creative Arts Emmys ceremony.
I Love Lucy, which was nominated for a total of 20 Emmys during its original run, winning four, including best situation comedy series twice, and was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1991, was chosen for the Legacy Award by the TV Academy’s board of governors from a pool of candidates recommended by its special awards committee.
Many outside observers had expected that the honor would go to a show that the Emmys had overlooked during its original run, and from which key talent is still living, such as The Wire, My So-Called Life, Parks and Recreation, Better Call Saul or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
When I Love Lucy began airing in 1951, it quickly became an unprecedented ratings juggernaut and the first sitcom to top the Nielsen charts. It featured the first dual-ethnicity couple on network TV and broke barriers by showing the first pregnant woman on screen. The famous 1953 episode “Lucy Goes to the Hospital,” in which Lucy gives birth, drew 44 million viewers, more than the television audience for President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s inauguration the following day.
Ball and Arnaz took a substantial pay cut in exchange for full ownership of the show’s negatives. This decision allowed them to replay episodes, single-handedly inventing television syndication and providing a blueprint for residuals. The show’s sharp writing, physical comedy, and authentic portrayal of marriage and family helped redefine the sitcom genre, while Ball’s groundbreaking success as a female television star and producer paved the way for generations of performers and creators.
“I Love Lucy truly helped define what television could be,” Cris Abrego, chair of the Television Academy, said in a statement. “Beyond its place in television and cultural history as one of the medium’s most beloved shows, its creative ambition, technical innovation and groundbreaking approach to the business of television established a blueprint that continues to influence our industry 75 years later. We are proud to celebrate a series whose impact is so enduring as the first recipient of the Television Academy’s Legacy Award.”
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