Why Lucille Ball's I Love Lucy Ended Without A Traditional Final Episode

"I Love Lucy" is easily one of the most important sitcoms in history — and, arguably, it's one of the most important TV shows ever made. But after a legendary six-season run, the show — named one of the best CBS shows of all time — ended pretty abruptly, believe it or not.

The final episode of "I Love Lucy," titled "The Ricardos Dedicate a Statue," aired in May of 1957. It was far from the emotional and poignant finale fans would have expected from the show, which kicked off in 1951. Instead, it was a pretty run-of-the-mill funny episode revolving around Lucy (who we named one of the best trailblazing female TV characters of all time) accidentally breaking an important statue. In an effort to hide her oopsie, she takes the statue's place, using stone-colored makeup in a futile attempt to stay undetected. 

While it was a solid episode, it made for a puzzling end to an iconic series. Ultimately, the decision to end the show rather suddenly was born out of Lucille Ball and husband Desi Arnaz's desires to break out of the hectic schedule of creating weekly episodes of television. 

"They thought they were a little played out," Geoffrey Mark, author of "The Lucy Book" explained to Woman's World. "Bill Frawley [Fred Mertz] was getting older, Vivian Vance [Ethel Mertz] was having marital problems and Lucille and Desi were beginning to have some marital problems of their own." 

"On top of that, Mr. Arnaz wanted to retire, basically," the author added. "His view was, 'Hey, we've got this money, we've got this fame. We've got these two children. Let's enjoy all of that.' But Ms. Ball said, 'I want to work,' because that's who she was. It's not a bad thing or a good thing. It's just who she was, so he said, 'Well, we either retire or we get bigger.'"

Bigger meant "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour," as well as more focus on Desilu, the couple's production company. Their second series ran for 13 one-hour-long episodes across three seasons from 1957 to 1960. But by the final episode of that series, their marriage — which had started to fracture around the end of "I Love Lucy" — was just about over. 

They divorced around the time "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" aired its finale, which, ironically, was a much better send-off than "I Love Lucy" ever got. "Lucy Meets the Mustache" included a very special centerpiece kiss between Lucy and her husband Ricky Ricardo, which clearly seemed to convey an air of finality to both their on- and off-screen relationships.