The Quiz Show (Aired October 23, 1948)
My Favorite Husband began as a radio sitcom on CBS Radio. The show starred Lucille Ball and Richard Denning as Liz and George Cooper (Liz and George Cugat in early episodes). The couple lived at 321 Bundy Drive in the ficticious city of Sheridan Falls, and were billed as "two people who live together and like it." The main sponsor was Jell-O, and an average of 3 "plugs" for Jell-O were made in each episode. The program ran from 1948 through 1951, throughout which 124 episodes were aired. The program initially portrayed the couple as being a well-to-do banker and his socially prominent wife. Shortly into the show's run, three new writers, Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and Jess Oppenheimer took over the scripting tasks, and the characterization of the couple was altered somewhat. Along with the change of the couple's last name to Cooper, the couple was also portrayed as being more middle-class, and thus more accessible to the average listener. When Lucille Ball was asked to do a television version of the show (with Jell-O remaining as sponsor), CBS insisted on Richard Denning continuing as her co-star. However, she said that she would not do a husband-and-wife sitcom without her real-life husband Desi Arnaz being the husband. The network reluctantly agreed to this (thus reworking the concept into "I Love Lucy"), but Jell-O dropped out. However the three radio writers did agree to do the switch to the "I Love Lucy" show. Many of the "My Favorite Husband" radio episodes were subsequently reworked into I Love Lucy episodes, especially early in the TV show's run. For example, the 1948 radio episode entitled "Quiz Show" inspired the I Love Lucy episode called "Redecorating," with some lines being exactly the same. Many of the actors who had done the "My Favorite Husband" radio show also appeared on "I Love Lucy", sometimes in episodes where they reprised their roles using a reworked "Husband" script.
THIS EPISODE:
March 18, 1949. CBS network origination, AFRTS rebroadcast. Liz thinks she's gotten a call from a radio quiz show and won the jackpot. So of course, she sells the car and furniture. Lucille Ball, Richard Denning, Gale Gordon, Frank Nelson, Isabel Scott Rorick (creator). 25 minutes.
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