It's been quite an amazing time at NBC the past ten days. The Jay Leno exit from prime time. The proposed 11:35-12:05-1:05 juggle. Conan's manifesto to the people of the earth. NBC executives lashing out and labeling Conan a failure and chicken-hearted. Jeff Zucker threatening Conan and his intellectual properties. And then the subsiding tide that will have The Tonight Show regressing, possibly becoming less an American television institution and more an American artifact of a time gone by.

Lost amid all this wrangling and back and forth is one fact that is undeniable. When NBC came up with the idea of all-Leno, all the time at 10 p.m. prime time, the network was giving him a precious gift. Jay Leno had been given Aladdin's lamp. NBC handed him an hour -- five hours -- of prime time television with an open invitation to create a new show. Imagine if that offer were made to another performer.

(S06E20) Funny is funny and it never goes out of style. That's really true when you consider the enduring hilarity found in the black and white treasure known as I Love Lucy. In honor of Easter, I offer for your enjoyment memories of one of the most brilliant episodes from a series brimming with classics. The episode is Lucy Does the Tango, and it's all about eggs. Lucille Ball and three dozen eggs to be exact.

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I think it's a safe bet that's a headline I never thought I'd write and will never write again.

Two Tampa Bay Devil Rays fans are angry at the team for a contest held at the baseball stadium on June 23. The contest was to dress as '50s icons, and Bob Phibbs and Christine Sullivan went all out and dressed like Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, even down to the detailed costumes from an episode and bongo drums. They didn't win, however. The judges gave the prize to a woman and a kid who dressed in standard period wear. And this is why the couple is angry. They say the winners didn't follow the rules of dressing like an icon, and that they should either be disqualified or, at the very least, Phibbs and Sullivan should be given first prize too (they came in third - the first prize is a trip to NYC and tickets to a Yankees game and a Broadway show).

Looking for that special last minute Mother's Day gift? Nothing says Mother's Day like the death certificates of your favorite TV star!

Someone is selling the death certificates and wills of Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley on ebay. These aren't just one page descriptions of the date and manner of death, they are the actual detailed wills that they wrote before they died. Lucy didn't want to be embalmed and wanted to make sure her brother Fred and his wife didn't get anything. Desi made sure his mom was cared for. Vance left most of her estate to her much younger husband, and Frawley's will has a lot of bills and notes from creditors attached. It's probably interesting reading, but creepy.

For more background on the stars, here are the Wikipedia pages for Ball, Arnaz, Vance, and Frawley. Vance and Frawley hated each other.

[via TMZ.com]

Bob Carroll Jr. and writing partner Madelyn Pugh Davis (that's them in the pic, with Jess Oppenheimer in the middle) were writing for Steve Allen's radio in the 1940s when they decided to take a week off. Not for a vacation, but to write a script for Lucille Ball, who was looking for writers for her radio show My Favorite Husband. They got the job, and went on to write on all of Ball's TV shows, including I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, Here's Lucy, and Life With Lucy, Ball's last TV show in 1986. Caroll also wrote for The Mothers-In-Law, The Paul Lynde Show, Dorothy, and Alice, which he also co-produced. He wrote the 1968 movie Yours, Mine and Ours (yup, Lucy again), which was remade a couple of years ago with Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo.

Carroll died of natural causes in Los Angeles on Saturday. (Pugh Davis lives in California. She released a book with Carroll in 2005 titled Laughing With Lucy.)

This Sunday marks the 95th birthday of legendary comedienne Lucille Ball, and her hometown of Jamestown, NY is having a three day celebration. Not only was Jamestown the birthplace of Lucy, there is also a Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in the city.

Organizers expect thousands of Lucy fans from around the world to attend, and special guests include writers from the show and actors who appeared on the show too.

Another guest is actually older than Lucy would have been if she was still alive. Charles Lane, an actor you'll immediately know from his face and his resume, is 101, and he'll be attending the party as well.