Fred and Ethel's bickering relationship didn't require much acting; in real life Vivian Vance and William Frawley didn't care for each other at all.

It was the first to tape before a live audience.

This was the first show to go to the hospital when a baby was born on a show.

Lucy Ricardo is from Jamestown, New York - just as Lucille Ball is.

Did you know that the original names for the Ricardos would have been Lucy and Larry Lopez? In the lost pilot episode, the voiceover says "You are about to see the pilot episode of the show that was almost I Love Lopez."

On January 19th 1953, when Lucy Ricardo gave birth to Little Ricky on I Love Lucy, which 68% of U.S. TV sets tuned in to watch, Lucille Ball also gave birth to Desi Arnaz Jr. on the same night. Newborn Desi Jr. was featured on the very first cover of TV Guide. As a strange coincidence, on January 19th, exactly 43 years later, Marlee Matlin gave birth to her daughter at the same time that the evening's episode of Picket Fences was being aired, and her character on the show, Laurie Bey, was giving birth to a son.

I Love Lucy was the first TV show to use the three-camera filming technique. It was developed by cameraman Karl Freund and Desi Arnaz, who was the show's producer as well as its co-star. Cameras were placed center stage, stage right, and stage left. The film footage was later edited together to show the action from different angles. This method is considered standard and is still in use today.

I Love Lucy was the first TV show to shoot episodes on high-quality film, rather than cheaper video tape. The network was opposed to this more expensive shooting method, but Desi Arnaz struck a deal with them that his production company, Desilu, would pay the extra costs in exchange for ownership of the filmed episodes. In what is considered one of the most lucrative deals in television history, Arnaz and Lucille Ball made millions of dollars from rerun residuals.

If you look carefully at the beginning, Lucy is reading McCall's Magazine, and "I Love Lucy" is on the cover.

When Lucy, Ricky, Ethel, and Fred all do the impressions of Maurice Chevalier. Thirty-six years later, the same impression is done in the 11th episode of The Simpson's.