When Canadians and Americans settled down to an evening’s entertainment in the new year of 1953, they could be forgiven for relegating one of the most influential moments in U.S. presidential history in favour of a scatterbrained redhead who would change forever how we relate to the medium of television.

On Jan. 21, 1953, 44 million TV viewers watched the I Love Lucy episode in which Lucille Ball gave birth to Little Ricky — the same day she gave birth in real life to Desi Arnaz Jr. — representing an astonishing 72 per cent of all televisions in the U.S., and to this day one of the most-viewed broadcasts ever.