Compare And Contrast Lucille Ball And Desi Arnaz

The show’s leading couple, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (native of Santiago de Cuba, Cube) had already been married for nearly ten years when they brought their idea to CBS for a “modern family” kind of show that was comedic, but also a portrayal of everyday life in the 50s. It was actually originally turned down by producers for being too “exogamous”. The culture then was still very segregated and conservative, and interracial couples were almost taboo. Desi, a man quite obviously of Cuban decent, was considered “too ethnic” for the channel to endorse. The couple went and performed some vaudeville acts, like Lucille’s radio show “My Favorite Husband” and gained people’s support. The show was actually support for Lucille and Desi’s marriage. according to him: "We had been married ten years. Each successful in our respective fields, movies and music. Yet we were almost total strangers. Our work pulled us far apart, east coast and west. We had neither home nor children. So we quarreled and talked of divorce. But deep down I knew that I couldn’t live without Lucy, and she could not without me. We were
This almost lead to the cancellation of the show. It actually became a huge debate, because CBS refused to show a pregnant woman on the air. Pregnancy was “too risqué with its association to sex”, especially with the multi-ethnic child. Everyone, however, was opposed to canceling the show, which led to CBS relenting because they wanted to show real-life situations, although they forbade anyone to use the word “pregnant”, and instead had everyone say “with child” or “expecting”. The producer, Oppenheimer, was actually so uncomfortable with airing these “baby show scripts”, that after writing each script, he had them looked over by different priests, rabbi’s, and ministers to make sure the episodes would not be offensive. Before the episodes were televised, Oppenheimer actually had the scripts