I Love Lucy was given a fitting tribute at the 2023 Emmy Awards by Tracee Ellis Ross and Natasha Lyonne.
Ahead of announcing the winner of Best Comedy Series, Ross, 51, and Lyonne, 44, took the stage in a black and white sketch. Ross donned a look similar to what Lucille Ball rocked in the 1950s. Lyonne remained in her awards show attire but donned a chef’s hat after she saw Ellis’ getup.
Host Anthony Anderson, who starred in Black-ish with Ross, appeared on stage and instructed the duo to wrap the chocolate.
“We’ve seen the episode, let us have our moment,” Ross quipped. “Thank you, Anthony! Let it roll!”
As the chocolate appeared, the actresses put handfuls of candy in their mouths with Lyonne also stuffing some candy down her dress (and Ross following suit). While the pair stuffed their faces, the nominees were announced including The Bear, Wednesday, Ted Lasso, Abbott Elementary, Jury Duty, the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Barry and Only Murders in the Building. The Bear took home the prize.
The tribute was inspired by the original iconic scene featuring stars Ball and Vivian Vance as their characters worked inside a candy factory as their on-screen husbands, played by Desi Arnaz and William Frawley, helmed the housework. While working on the line, the women are tasked with dipping the candy into chocolate, however, things don’t go as planned as the conveyor belt continues to increase in speed.
Ahead of the Monday, January 15, award show, producers teased that they had something special in store to honor all the greatest shows throughout the decades including some big cast reunions.
“I think they’ll be talking about the ones that they may see on the screen,” Emmys producer Jeannae Rouzan-Clay said to Variety on Friday, January 12. “Those are going to be a big talking point, a big watercooler moment, if you will. … It was a grand task to figure out how to celebrate 75 years of television. If we can bring some nostalgia to that stage, then I think that we’ve done a good deed.”
As all of the I Love Lucy cast has died, a reunion was not possible for the ‘50s comedy series. Some of the show’s that did feature cast reunions included Grey’s Anatomy, Ally McBeal, The Sopranos and more.
I Love Lucy ran for six seasons from 1951 to 1956. Ball starred as the titular character while Ethel was portrayed by Vance. Ball’s on-screen beau was played by her then-husband Arnaz. The pair were married in real life from 1940 to 1960.
The beloved show won its first Emmy in 1953 for Best Situational Comedy. That same year, Ball took home her first award for Best Comedienne. Ball would continue to be nominated every year in other categories until the series ended. In 1956, she took home the trophy for Best Actress in a Continuing Performance.
Ball wasn’t the only star on the series to earn an Emmy. Vance won Best Series Supporting Actress in 1954.
Following I Love Lucy’s sixth season, the show was rebranded as the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. Ball, Arnaz and Vance continued to portray their iconic characters for one season. After the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour wrapped, Ball went on to star in the spinoff series, The Lucy Show, which ran for six seasons from 1962 to 1968.
After portraying Lucy, Ball continued to act in several projects, Her last role was in the 1974 film Mame. She died in 1989 at age 77. Arnaz died at age 69 in 1986 while Vance passed at age 70 in 1979.
In 2021, Ball and Arnaz’s relationship made it to the big screen in Aaron Sorkin’s biopic Being the Ricardos, which was nominated for three Academy Awards. Nicole Kidman played Ball while Javier Bardem portrayed Arnaz. Kidman, 56, opened up about how special it was for her to play such a pivotal actress.
“She was a trailblazer. She formed her production company. Desi was Cuban, and she had to fight to get him on the show,” Kidman said during Variety’s Actors on Actors series in June 2021. “[Ball and Arnaz] had just so many things in their marriage that are so relevant today, and what she was also dealing with in terms of everything that artists deal with, where you’re up against big corporations. And you’re like, ‘No, this is art.’”
