I Love Lucy: 10 Things About Lucy And Ricky's Relationship That Would Never Fly Today - Screen Rant

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I Love Lucy is a famous sitcom with one of the most well-known TV couples, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, played by real-life couple, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The show and their relationship was known to everyone around the world, and the comedic writing and performances make this show an absolute classic.

However, this is a show from the 1950s, meaning the standards around relationships, sexism, and their romantic interactions were very different than they are now. When watching the relationship between Lucy and Ricky Ricardo on screen now, there are some clear moments that will make viewers cringe, and that would never make it onto TV today.

10 Ricky Teaches Lucy Made Up Rules For Golf

Ricky is worried when Lucy decides to play golf with him. He is embarrassed by her, so he and Fred teach Lucy and Ethel made up rules for golf that are completely ridiculous and weird, hoping that they would quit playing with them. Ricky should not be embarrassed by his very own wife. Lucy only wanted to spend time with him, and she was willing to do something that Ricky loved so much. Even if Ricky did not want Lucy to play, he should have at least been honest with her and say how he felt without thinking of an outlandish scheme for him to get his way. Not to mention, of course, that the assumption that women wouldn't know anything about a 'manly' activity like golf is just ridiculous.

9 Ricky Tries To Make Lucy's Camping Trip Miserable

In a similar scenario, Lucy wants to spend time with Ricky, so she decides to join Ricky on a camping trip. Ricky does not want this to happen, so he does a "practice" camping trip with her to see how she likes it. He hopes to make her tired and scare her out of wanting to go camping with him ever again. This is another case where Ricky should have been honest with her and appreciate the fact that his own wife wants to spend time with him. And once again, the show plays into gender stereotypes in a painfully obvious way.

8 Lucy Tests Ricky's Fidelity

Lucy is worried that Ricky might be tempted by other women, so she puts on a black wig and pretends to be somebody else in order to test Ricky's loyalty to her.

Even though Ricky caught on to Lucy's scheme early on, Lucy should not have even tried to do this in the first place. A major component of marriage is trust, and Lucy and Ricky needed to communicate with one another if they had any issues instead of having Lucy nearly trick Ricky into being unfaithful. Not to mention that had Lucy succeeded, this would have been non-consensual, as she was lying about who she was while attempting to seduce him.

7 Lucy Cries Wolf

To test Ricky's love for her, on multiple occasions, she pretends robbers are in the apartment hoping to freak out Ricky and see if he comes to save her. This gets to the point where when a couple of real crooks tie her up, Ricky, Ethel, and Fred do not believe her, thinking she found a way to tie herself up. Lucy should have trusted Ricky's love for her instead of making him terrified for her safety - and of course, she shouldn't be lying about something so serious.

6 Lucy Lets Ricky Go To Jail

When Lucy and Ethel trick Ricky and Fred into thinking a restaurant they are at is being robbed, Ricky and Fred rush to their rescue. When they realize no one is actually there, they trick Lucy and Ethel into thinking there really are crooks in the place. Lucy and Ethel are annoyed, even though they tried to trick Ricky and Fred first, and they allow the police to take Ricky and Fred away, who they believe really were trying to rob the restaurant. Lucy and Ethel eventually got them out of jail, but no joke or mean trick justifies allowing someone you love to go to jail just to teach them a small, innocent lesson. Not to mention wasting resources and the time of people who should have been dealing with real crime.

5 Ricky Refuses To Recreate The Day He Proposes To Lucy

When Lucy thinks their marriage license is invalid, she tries to get Ricky to recreate the day he proposed. Ricky does not care about this scenario, and when Lucy tries to get Ricky to be romantic, he lets her down.

It is obvious that Lucy cares about this, so Ricky should have tried his best to support her. He was selfish instead, and it is no wonder Lucy got mad at him. Their engagement was one of the best memories of Lucy's life, and the fact that Ricky would not even try to recreate it for her shows that their marriage needed some work.

4 Ricky Does Not Let Lucy Go Into Show Business

A recurring plot line on this show is Lucy's eagerness to be a part of Ricky's performances or any other audition she comes across. Ricky just wants a simple housewife, and he definitely does not want Lucy involved in his show or any other show. He constantly demands that she follow his orders, but Lucy always finds some way to be involved without Ricky being aware of her plans. Lucy is a grown woman who has the right to perform if she really wants to. Ricky should not have any control over this, and he should have supported her any way he could. The assumption that she would have to ask permission from her husband at all would appall viewers today.

3 Ricky Flirts With A Young Woman Right In Front Of Lucy

When Lucy and Ricky go dancing, they meet a young woman, played by Barbara Eden of I Dream of Jeannie fame. Ricky is instantly infatuated with her, leading to him flirting and dancing with her right in front of Lucy. Ricky did not even think about how his own wife would feel about this, especially since Lucy was witnessing the whole thing herself. His casual disregard for his wife (and his viewing of another woman as an object to be pursed) would not be acceptable today.

2 Ricky Puts Lucy On A Schedule

When Lucy causes herself and Ricky to be late to a dinner with his boss, Ricky makes a schedule for Lucy for all hours of the day.

It should be up to Lucy to create a schedule for herself if she notices a pattern to her lateness. However, her own husband makes one for her to follow, and he even states later that she is like a "trained seal." This bothers Lucy, and she gets revenge. Lucy definitely needed to be the responsible one and manage her time herself, but it is definitely not right for her own spouse to do this for her, especially for every minute of every day.

1 Ricky Spanks Lucy

On a couple of occasions, when Lucy does something that makes Ricky upset, he spanks her. Lucy is a grown woman who has the right to make her own decisions. No matter how Ricky feels about them, he has no right to use force on Lucy like that in order to make her do what he wants her to do. At the time, this was played as acceptable, but in reality, this is now recognized as flat-out physical abuse, and is never ok.

NEXT: The 10 Highest Rated Episodes of I Love Lucy (According To IMDb)