"I Love Lucy" Ricky Needs an Agent (TV Episode 1955) Poster

(TV Series)

(1955)

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9/10
Utterly Hilarious
mackjay230 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
One of the most consistently funny episodes in the show. When Lucy gets the idea (Ethel: "...those four horrible words, 'I've got an idea'") to pretend to be Ricky's agent so that MGM will give him more work, chaos ensues. Not only does she fail at getting him more roles, the studio man, Mr Riley, releases Ricky from his contract ("Heeeeeeeee's released!!"). The cleverly written banter between Lucy and Riley (played by Parley Baer) is classic. Then comes Ricky's reaction: smashing up the hotel room bric-a-brac. Lucy's very clever method of resolving the problem and the denouement are satisfying and funny at the same time. An absolute gem in the great sequence of Hollywood episodes.
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8/10
Lucy takes control
kellielulu30 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
And she shouldn't have! It's one of her biggest mess ups and Ethel was right it was a big explosion. Yet Lucy pretty cleverly gets out of it and ultimately the damage is not lasting -except for the hotel repairs which were costly. It all starts when Ricky is used more for public appearances than making movies.

She plays the role of female agent as an early feminist but is too overconfident in her abilities. Again though she gets out of it easily. Her ideas for remakes were funny. Meet Me In St Ricky, A Streetcar Named Ricardo, Gone With The Cuban Wind . It Happened One Notche . And so on.

Lucy telling Ethel and Fred is just as funny .

Fred " look at her eyes she looks like a frightened horse!" Ricky goes nuts but takes it out on the brick a brac Lucy tries to clean up and is half way under the sofa.

Ethel and Fred run in , Ethel " he killed her and tried to hide her body under the couch!" Lucy's fine but thinks Ricky went to find a job wrecking houses!

Lucy reverses her actions and gets Ricky's job back. Ricky fools her a little when he gets back but it all ends well.

A funny and well paced episode it's over before you know it.
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8/10
7 Brides for 7 Cubans
angelahptrio28 February 2021
Lucy has to meddle and I know she means well. She's pretty bad agent in a funny way. I love when she said the studio is doing remakes and that is true today. Ricky hitting his hands and Lucy reacting as though he smacked her face is funny.
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10/10
RICKY DESERVED AN EMMY
justinemsiddiqui10 May 2023
Why and how was this episode overlooked... As an actor this is one of Desi's best performance.... His angry scene is such a delightful one... I know Lucy was good in this episode... But desi was on another level... I learnt that he was never nominated like other actors ... Which is a shame cause he was so talented... but in some episodes including this one he's able to supersede Lucy... Each joke,and each expression, was on point.. the direction and actors did their part well... But this episode just belongs to Ricky....

Idk if anyone else agrees but this is one of the best Hollywood episodes after the one with Bill holden.
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What Did She Do?
richard.fuller19 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Over and over and over, episodes of I Love Lucy would run. Endlesly.

One day, I catch an episode where Ricky is destroying the apartment bric-a-brac in Hollywood.

What did Lucy do, I wondered? I would think about that episode every now and then, so finally one day I watched the episode to just see what her stunt had been.

There had been no riding on machinery, falling into vats, being doused with oil. What could her stunt have possibly been? The episode aired, and what a corker it was.

Lucy sought to get Ricky more money by posing as his agent, calling herself Miss McGillicuddy, and asking the studio head (Parley Baer) to give Ricky a raise, or he would have to take those other (non-existent) offers he was getting.

Baer did the exact opposite and said he wouldn't stand in Ricky's way, thereby releasing Ricky from his contract.

Lucy, still in her hat and glasses disguise, makes her way back to the Mertzes in her apartment.

She tells them what her plan has resulted in.

"They released him from his contract" she says, looking ill.

"What are you going to do now?" "I don'no," Lucy says with her trademark cry.

Yea, she had pulled one doozy of a stunt this time! She tells Ricky what she did, and this brought about the destroyed apartment.

As she sought to get the rubble out from under the couch, Ethel and Fred enter.

"He tried to hide her body under the couch," Ethel says.

"I got an idea!" Lucy exclaims.

"How can you stand there and say those four horrible words?" Ethel asks.

Lucy calls up the studio, knowing they have never seen her, and slightly disguising her voice, says Ricky doesn't have an agent and the woman is an imposter.

But as she asks the operator to ring the studio again.

"She's a cool one," Ethel declares. "She's returning to the scene of the crime." Vivian Vance delivered her lines like a gun-moll with an incredible understanding of the situation.

Had Ricky actually killed Lucy, Ethel would have just declared something like Lucy got what she earned, or she should have ducked and dodged Ricky when he was coming at her. Ethel would have called that spade a spade.
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10/10
A Perfect Ten !
balldave4 August 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Might be the best Lucy episode ever. Special kudos to the wonderful, wholly underrated, Vivian Vance as Ethel...she's terrific as the voice of reason while Lucy typically goes off the deep end.

Troubled that Ricky doesn't have a movie role yet, Lucy devises a plan to appear as his agent and put the pressure on the studio. No matter how many times you've watched this, the moment Walter Riley announces they've released Ricky from his contract, hits like a pie in the face. Lucy's desperation in trying to overthrow the decision is hilarious; suggesting ridiculous remakes of old classics.

And her plan to escape Ricky's wrath..swim to Catalina to throw him off the scent ! Marvellous.
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