Original airdate: 1990 but made around April of 1951 because Lucy was six months pregnant with Lucie at the time.
Grade: C
I might've watched this when it aired but not since. You can see the basics of the series, including that Lucy wants to be "in the show," but Ricky wants a wife "who's just a wife." But the sets are minimal, especially the living room where the Ricardos sleep on (separate) sofabeds.
And there are no Mertzes. Yes, there are other people, but most of them don't speak. Jerry Hausner debuts as Ricky's agent Jerry, although he'd have other roles, too. Pepito Perez, who was then 66, plays Pepito the Clown. I have to admit I find clowns kind of boring, although I could see his talent. (And his widow is the one who found the "lost" footage many years later.)
This episode runs 35 minutes, rather than the usual 25-ish. It definitely felt too long, but I can see why they wanted to include so many musical numbers, as well as give Lucy a chance to show off as Pepito's replacement.
The main thing I liked here was glimpses of Lucy and Desi's chemistry, romantically and comedically. She teases him about his accent, as she would in the main series, but it's done with fondness and he's a good sport about it. At this point, 40-year-old Ball and 34-year-old Arnaz had been married for over a decade, a sometimes tempestuous marriage, although their love remained strong. This impacted ILL, as I'll discuss when pertinent. (Also, we can see that he's being presented as a sex symbol, his hairy chest exposed in the first scene.)
Ralph Levy directed for the only time, being more associated with Burns & Allen and Jack Benny, among many other series. On the other hand, this was written by the usual ILL writers Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll, Jr. (154, 180, and 180 episodes respectively, since it looks like Oppenheimer was gone for Season Six.)
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