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My Favorite Husband is an American radio situation comedy that aired on CBS for the entirety of its run from July 5, 1938 to March 31, 1951. The series, conceived by CBS vice president Harry Ackerman and based on characters in Isabel Scott Rorick's novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat: The Record of a Happy Marriage and Outside Eden, was originally written by Bill Davenport and Frank Fox; Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll Jr. later took over for Davenport and Fox. Gordon Hughes initially served as producer, although he was replaced by Oppenheimer shortly after the latter began writing for the program. Bob LeMond served as announcer, and Wilbur Hatch conducted the music, written by Marlin Skiles.

The show, billed as the story of "two people who live together and like it," starred Lucille Ball as Liz Cugat (later Cooper), a "zany" suburban housewife, and Richard Denning as her banker husband George. The series originally depicted the Cugats as an upper-class, high-society couple in keeping with the "gay, sophisticated" tone of Rorick's novels. After Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll joined the show, the writing team attempted to make the show more appealing to a general audience by making the Cugats a normal, middle-class couple and incorporating more physical humor into the scripts. These new directions helped establish Ball's career as a comedian and shaped her comedic style. The success of the program led CBS to rework the series as the television situation comedy I Love Lucy, which starred Ball with her real-life husband Desi Arnaz and retained Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll as the writers.

Development and Production
CBS vice president Harry Ackerman conceived the idea for the program after reading Isabel Scott Rorick's comedic novel Mr. and Mrs. Cugat: The Record of a Happy Marriage. Actress Lucille Ball and her agent, Don Sharpe, were both eager for her to play the lead role; Sharpe felt that Ball was well suited for the role of a "[ditzy] society wife", and Ball "wanted the part so badly" that Sharpe offered her services to Ackerman for free. Ackerman, who also thought that the show would be a "great vehicle" for Ball, agreed, and he and Sharpe worked together to develop the show. Because of the success of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, another domestic comedy on CBS, Ackerman approached two of the show's writers, Bill Davenport and Frank Fox, to write a half-hour pilot episode called "Mr. and Mrs. Cugat." Ball initially wanted her real-life husband Desi Arnaz to be her co-star, but CBS felt that the Cuban Arnaz would not be convincing as a Midwestern banker. Ball gave in, and Lee Bowman was cast as George Cugat.

The show, which aired on July 5, 1949, proved a success, and CBS decided to produce it as a weekly series even though a sponsor had not yet been found. Because of other commitments, Bowman was unable to remain with the program, and Richard Denning was brought in as his replacement; Ruth Perrot was also added to the cast as Katy, the Cugats' maid. When Ozzie and Harriet's summer hiatus ended a few weeks later, Davenport and Fox returned to their original positions, and Ackerman hired Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll, Jr., writers for The People Next Door and It's a Great Life, as their replacements. Jess Oppenheimer was later hired as the lead writer after his last project, Baby Snooks, was abruptly canceled. Shortly after, he also replaced Gordon Hughes as producer when the latter left due to personal conflicts with Ball. At the end of 1948, after three months without sponsorship, the show finally found a sponsor in General Foods, who wanted to advertise their product Jell-O. Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet later joined the cast in co-starring roles as Rudolph and Iris Atterbury, George's boss and his wife. The series enjoyed success, ending its third and final season near the top of the ratings.

Later Adaptations
The favorable reception of Husband and the growing interest in television prompted Ackerman to push for a television adaptation of the series. Seeing the television show as a way to keep her failing marriage to Desi Arnaz together, Ball again requested that Arnaz play her husband on the new series. CBS executives again opposed, citing a lack of credibility for the "All-American typical redhead" Ball and the "Latin bandleader" Arnaz as a married couple. To convince them otherwise, Ball and Arnaz formed the production company Desilu and toured the country in the summer of 1950, performing a husband-and-wife vaudeville act written by Husband writers Pugh and Carroll. The tour was so successful that CBS consented to film a pilot episode for the new series. Ball and Arnaz, however, did not like the scripts they had initially bought and made a deal with CBS to retain Oppenheimer as the producer and head writer. Since CBS still felt Arnaz would be unconvincing as a Midwestern banker, Oppenheimer, Pugh, and Carroll rewrote the premise. The main characters (now named Lucy and Ricky Ricardo) would still be a middle-class couple and Ball's character would remain a suburban housewife, but Arnaz would play a Cuban bandleader. According to the synopsis Oppenheimer wrote for the show, the Ricardos "are happily married and very much in love. The only bone of contention between them is her desire to get into show business and his equally strong desire to keep her out of it." To maintain some of the dynamics from Husband, the writers also created Fred and Ethel Mertz, a married couple that would fill a role similar to that of Atterburys on the radio program. Gordon and Benaderet, who had played Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury, were offered the parts, but both had to decline due to previous commitments. The pilot aired on March 2, 1951, although it was not until the end of April that a sponsor was found—Phillip Morris Cigarettes—and the final title, I Love Lucy, was decided.

CBS later produced another television adaptation of Husband. The new series, which kept the name of the radio show, starred Joan Caulfield (and in the final season, Vanessa Brown) as Liz Cooper and Barry Nelson as George. Unlike Lucy and its radio precursor under Oppenheimer's direction, Husband followed Rorick's novels more closely, presenting the Coopers as a wealthy couple and making their socioeconomic status one of the main plot points. While still "scatterbrained", Liz was written to be "glamorous and sophisticated." The new series also introduced the Cobbs, the Coopers' wealthy neighbors with whom they competed for social status. The short-lived series lasted only two and a half seasons, running from 1953 to 1955.

Synopsis and Writing
Husband is a depiction of the comic misadventures of Liz and George Cugat (Ball and Denning respectively), a married couple living in the fictional town of Sheridan Falls in an unnamed state. Unlike most of the radio comedies that preceded it, the show was written with each episode a consistent narrative instead of the vaudeville format popular at the time. In early episodes, the Cugats were portrayed as a wealthy, high-society couple, in keeping with Rorick's original characters. However, after joining the show as the head writer, Oppenheimer felt that the Cugats as originally written would not be accessible to the general public, and he made the Cugats a middle-class couple and changed their last name to Cooper. Oppenheimer changed the tone of the series as well, preferring slapstick to the more urbane humor of Rorick's "gay, sophisticated" novels. One of the recurring themes of the program was the conflict between male and female gender roles, to which end the writers expanded the role of Rudolph and Iris Atterbury (Gale and Benaderet respectively). While Rudolph remained George's boss, the Atterburys became the Cugats' best friends as well, with the "battle-of-the-sexes" episodes positioning Liz and Iris against George and Rudolph. Oppenheimer also rewrote Ball's character, making Liz "daffier and broader" and "more childish and scheming," echoing the main character of Oppenheimer's previous series Baby Snooks. Many of Husband's plots then focused on the farcical outcomes of Liz's schemes.

Under Oppenheimer's direction, Ball was able to hone her comedic artistry, and many of the techniques she developed during her tenure on the show were carried over to Lucy.