…………………………………………………

Top Ten I Love Lucy Characters

I Love Lucy features a very small cast of regular characters with the main foursome getting the vast majority of screen time. Still, there are some interesting side personalities that appeared in more than a couple of episodes that are worthy of mentioning. This is my list of ten best I Love Lucy characters, a list from which I excluded the celebrities as they all only received an episode.

10. Lucy’s Mother

Lucy’s mother is a lot of fun. She only appeared in a couple of episodes, thus accounting for her low ranking on this list, but she was still quite amusing. The highlight of her episodes was her constantly forgetting Ricky’s name. I also loved the fact that Lucy loves her mom so much that she would actually smuggle cheese for her in one iconic episode.

9. Carolyn

Lucy and Ethel hang out with a lot of women during the show’s run, but one of Lucy’s biggest rivals has always been Carolyn, this very arrogant, pretty and confident woman. She also received little screen time, but that rivalry provided good comedy fodder for Lucy.

8. Mrs. Trumbull

Mrs. Trumbull was a neighbor of the Ricardos and the Mertzes and she was always this sweet, wonderful granny who was best used in the episode where Lucy tries to hook her up with another man. That was quite funny.

7. Betty

Betty was the new neighbor of the two families when they moved to the countryside. She was very sweet and friendly. The best episode starring her was the one where saw Lucy getting extremely jealous when Betty started hanging out with Ethel quite a lot.

6. Fred the Dog

It’s a shame that they introduced a pet only in the final season of the show, but Fred was still so adorable. I loved that little Ricky named him after Fred. How the dog wanted to sleep in their bed was just heartwarming. The finale itself also featured this doggie in quite a large role.

5. Ricky Jr.

There have been countless bad child characters on sitcoms throughout the decades, but this is not one of them. Because he was used sparingly and due to his undeniably endearing, funny lines of dialogue, Ricky Jr. never became a nuisance in any way, which was great to witness.

4. Ricky

Now, we come to the main foursome. Yes, I would put Ricky in the lowest spot because he was just never as fun as the other three. He complained too much and his anger outbursts prevented him from being a particularly humorous character. With that being said, he is still a wonderful husband and a great friend. The best jokes from him came from his broken English and use of brisk Spanish when he got angry.

3. Ethel

Ethel is an excellent character. She is an amazing friend to Lucy and the two would go on to have so many fun adventures. The best episodes usually contained the duo’s business plans/schemes. Her putting up with Fred and his constant verbal assault directed at her and holding her own was admirable. She is quite probably the most grounded character of the bunch and the most believable.

2. Fred

Fred is Ethel’s grumpy husband who also has a bad quality of being extremely stingy with money, which resulted in so many funny lines throughout the show’s run. His bickering with Ethel was very entertaining while his friendship with Ricky was admirable. The fact that he was a landlord to the Ricardos also made for this interesting dynamic between the two families. An old soul, Fred’s age was mocked throughout and he was bitter, but he still always had a big heart.

1. Lucy

Obviously, Lucy has to get the number one spot in a show that is named after her. But this isn’t the only reason for this placement. Quite the contrary as Lucy is one of the best sitcom characters of all time. Lucille Ball was a truly gifted comedian and she excelled at all types of comedy on this series. Lucy was portrayed as being an ambitious housewife who is caring and a good wife and mom, but also wanting more of her life, which made her groundbreaking for the time period. Her marriage with Ricky who was a Cuban immigrant was also revolutionary back then and the two share a wonderful relationship that is never too toxic. Her friendship with Ethel was just as admirable. She is a higher than life figure due to her propensity for getting into trouble and the show would just not be the same without her.