<P> In 1962, two years after Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had divorced and the final episode of The Lucy - Desi Comedy Hour aired (using the I Love Lucy format), Desilu Productions was struggling . In the spring of 1961, three Desilu - produced situation comedies were cancelled--The Ann Sothern Show; Angel, a sitcom starring Marshall Thompson and French actress Annie Farge; and Guestward, Ho! starring Joanne Dru and Mark Miller . After a two - year run, the comedy series Pete and Gladys, starring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams, was canceled in the spring of 1962 . The red - headed Williams had been promoted as the next Lucille Ball . At that time, Desilu was left with only one hit series, The Untouchables . </P> <P> Arnaz, as President of Desilu, offered Ball an opportunity to return to television in a weekly sitcom . At that time, CBS executives were somewhat dubious as to whether Ball could carry a show without Arnaz, and whether she could follow such a landmark series as I Love Lucy . It was "never intended for this program to go beyond a single season ." This arrangement was "meant to be a stop - gap measure for the beleaguered studio" and that through the sale of this series, Desilu was able to "force the CBS network to invest in and air other upcoming Desilu products ." It was a strategy that Ball herself would use in the future to take control of The Lucy Show's renewal from CBS . With Arnaz's encouragement and persuasion, Ball agreed to do the show, provided it be shown on Monday nights (the night on which I Love Lucy had aired) and that she would be reunited with Vivian Vance and her writers from I Love Lucy . CBS agreed to a full season of episodes and The Lucy Show premiered on Monday night, October 1, 1962, at 8: 30 p.m. </P> <P> The show began with Lucille Ball as Lucy Carmichael, a widow with two children, Chris (Candy Moore) and Jerry (Jimmy Garrett), living in the fictional town of Danfield, New York, sharing her home with divorced friend Vivian Bagley (Vance) and her son, Sherman (Ralph Hart). In order to get Vance to commit to the series, Arnaz acquiesced to her demands for an increase in salary, co-star billing, a more attractive wardrobe and, finally, that her character's name be Vivian . After doing I Love Lucy, she was still being called Ethel by people on the street, much to her unhappiness . Although the book on which the show was based, (Irene Kampen's Life Without George), centered on two divorcées living together in the same house raising their children, it was decided early on that the Lucy Carmichael character should instead be a widow . The consensus was that fans would be offended with a Lucy who was divorced, despite the fact that this was a new character and Ball herself was divorced . The character of Vivian Bagley became the first divorced woman on primetime television . </P> <P> In the show's original format, Lucy had been left with a substantial trust fund by her late husband, which was managed during the first season by local banker Mr. Barnsdahl (Charles Lane). Comedian Dick Martin, working solo from his longtime partner Dan Rowan, was cast in ten episodes as Lucy's next - door neighbor, Harry Connors, during the show's first season . Character actor Don Briggs was also featured in six episodes as Viv's beau, Eddie Collins, and Tom Lowell, a young actor seen on various primetime television shows, appeared in three installments as Chris Carmichael's boyfriend, Alan Harper . The first season of The Lucy Show fully utilized the talents of Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Martin, Bob Schiller, and Bob Weiskopf (the original writers of I Love Lucy) in creating its thirty episodes, with Desi Arnaz as executive producer for fifteen of those shows . At the end of its first season, The Lucy Show received rave reviews from the critics and ranked #5 in the Nielsen ratings . Ball was nominated for an Emmy Award as Best Actress in a Series, but lost to Shirley Booth for the NBC comedy hit Hazel . Bolstered by great ratings, the series was renewed for a second year, but many changes were made . </P>

Who played lucy's son on the lucy show