Nostalgic for a simpler time when men wore hats, you could smoke in movie theaters, and a CBS sitcom routinely scored a 50 share in the ratings (just under 10 times what The Big Bang Theory had last week), CBS is resurrecting I Love Lucy, the beloved comedy that more or less invented the modern sitcom. On Dec. 20, the network will rerun a rarely seen "Christmas Episode" from the show's sixth season, back-to-back with "Lucy's Italian Movie," best-known for a scene where Lucy tries stomping grapes and hijinks ensue.
In a nod to modernity, what with the kids all on the Twitter and the Google and the not-watching-TV-much, the episodes will be brought into at least the 1980s through the magic of colorization. CBS will be using the little-loved technology that Ted Turner famously used to update classic black-and-white movies in the '80s to widespread public scorn, airing both Lucy episodes in color.
If the show can garner even a fraction of its original monster ratings, look for CBS to replace David Letterman with a holographic Ed Sullivan, and begin weekly airings of ratings blockbusters The Final Episode of M*A*S*H, and Super Bowl XVI.