Oops! One More “Three Thumbs Up” Oscar Preformance! I Love Ricky: Being the Ricardos
Every Monday at 9pm on CBS, 60 million American families tuned in to I Love Lucy—the highest of highwater marks for TV viewership. In short, nothing before or since was as big — not even Joe Rogan. Tweet
Highlights
While Ricky was not a perfect expression of fidelity, his love for his wife and his willingness to protect her was exemplary.
If there was a man deserving of a second shot, I thought it should be him.
If a man cheats with his heart that is infidelity in the mind of Mars as well as Venus.
Ricky’s heart was Lucy’s and only with Lucy—or at least Sorkin made it seem that way.
I was happy to see that Being the Ricardos got an Oscar nod. I watched it with Mrs Shepherd and we both enjoyed it. Aaron Sorkin is a master storyteller. Being the Ricardos is about America’s first shared TV family—Lucy and Ricky Ricardo through the lens of one big, dramatic, defining week. Every Monday at 9pm on CBS, 60 million American families tuned in to I Love Lucy—the highest of highwater marks for TV viewership. In short, nothing before or since was as big as Lucy—not even Joe Rogan.
Nothing before or since ‘Lucy’ was as big—not even Joe Rogan.
Two events frame the story. A tabloid exposé on Desi’s philandering and the revelation that Lucy was once a registered communist. Spoiler alert: Both were true. Sadly, whereas Lucy’s red hair—and the show—slipped through McCarthy’s red-scare clutches, Ricky was not so fortunate. The marriage would go on as long as I Love Lucy went on, and the series went out on top. But the movie ends with a note saying the couple split up shortly after the show ended six years later.
Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem give Oscar-worthy performances. And a special shout-out to JK Simmons for his best-supporting friend of the couple. He was Ricky’s jury of manly peers.
When one thinks of Kidman, kinetic comedic genius is not the first thing you think of, even though it was Lucy’s stand-out talent. But Kidman owned the character. I think that is called “great acting.”
However, the star of the film is Javier Bardem for his best-supporting-husband performance. Ricky stands up a chess-master defense of his wife and their show. He bends the studio to take the cultural risk and have a pregnant woman on TV, and he audaciously uses the show’s studio audience to get out in front of McCarthy’s red smear, showing his own political juice by having J. Edgar Hoover make the call to clear Lucy’s name. Ta Da!
Ricky’s heart was Lucy’s and only with Lucy—or at least Sorkin made it seem that way.
But Lucy couldn’t enjoy the moment. While she could morally absolve herself for checking the wrong box—and “Lucy, you checked the wrong box”—she cannot morally absolve her Cuban husband for being a Cuban man. I am not saying that all Cuban men are philanders or that philandering is good. I am just saying that at that time and with that guy, Lucy should not have been surprised. While Ricky was not a perfect expression of fidelity, his love for his wife and his willingness to protect her was exemplary. If there was a man deserving of a second shot, I thought it should be him.
I turned to Mrs. Shepherd and said as much. As you might expect, it was not received well by Mrs. Shepherd’s Venusian brain. “So you think it’s all right for men to cheat on their wives? Would you say the same thing if Lucy were the one having the affair?”
My man-mind immediately answered, “No and no. I am not making the case for marital infidelity.”
And “No, if Lucy did this to Desi, I would not be making the case I am making for him. It’s different when a woman cheats!” I have no problem touching the third rail of marriage—hypocrisy. Sometimes, I grab it, hug it and hold on for dear life. I think the medical term for this is “idiocy.”
“Honey, Ricky was not cheating with his heart.” You heard him “They were just prostitutes.” Like Charlie Sheen, Ricky did not have to pay women to sleep with him; he paid them to leave. It was simply physical for Ricky. Ricky’s heart was Lucy’s and only with Lucy—or at least Sorkin made it seem that way.
Lucy saw the act of infidelity through Venusian eyes—a betrayal of the heart and soul. Yes, and that’s what it would mean if she did it. And that is why it’s worse when a woman cheats on her man. It’s also evidence of why women are morally better than us.
Ricky certainly did not see it the same way. And, by extension, men don’t see it the same way.
Is there a common ground, where Mars and Venus can meet and agree? How about this: If a man cheats with his heart—gives his heart and labor to the service of another woman and family—that is infidelity in the mind of Mars as well as Venus.
And that’s why, as a consequence of writing this, Guy Shepherd is on double-secret probation.
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