Originally set in an apartment building in new york city, i love lucy centers on lucy ricardo lucille ball and her singer bandleader husband ricky ricardo desi arnaz, along with their best friends and landlords fred mertz william frawley and ethel mertz vivian vance'. '.strtoupper('l')ucy is naïve and ambitious, with an undeserved zeal for stardom and a knack for getting herself and her husband into trouble whenever she yearns to make it in show business'. '.strtoupper('t')he ricardos' best friends, fred and ethel, are former vaudevillians and this only strengthens lucy's resolve to prove herself as a performer'. '.strtoupper('u')nfortunately, she has few marketable performance skills'. '.strtoupper('s')he does not seem to be able to carry a tune or play anything other than off key renditions of songs such as 'glow worm' or 'sweet sue' on the saxophone, and many of her performances devolve into disaster'. '.strtoupper('h')owever, to say she is completely without talent would be untrue, as on occasion, she is shown to be a good dancer and a competent singer'. '.strtoupper('s')he is also at least twice offered contracts by television or film companies first in 'the audition' when she replaces an injured clown in ricky's act, and later in hollywood when she dances for a studio benefit using a rubber ricky dummy as her dancing partner'. '.strtoupper('l')ucy's husband, ricky ricardo, is an up and coming cuban american singer and bandleader with an excitable personality'. '.strtoupper('h')is patience is frequently tested by his wife's antics'. '.strtoupper('w')hen exasperated, he often reverts to speaking rapidly in spanish'. '.strtoupper(''')the very best of i love lucy' features 18 hilarious episodes across 3 discs showcasing ball's considerable talents for clowning and physical comedy.