First Look: Watch a Preview of the Colorized I Love Lucy Christmas Special!

More than 62 years after I Love Lucy debuted, the wacky Ricardos and the whole Lucy gang are getting a fresh look in time for the holidays. The I Love Lucy Christmas Special, which will air Dec. 20 on CBS, will feature two newly colorized episodes—the long-lost ­“Christmas Episode” and “Lucy’s Italian Movie.”
The new color will have a “vintage look”—but one thing’s clear from the first released clip, above: there’s nothing muted about the way Lucy’s vivid red hair has been tinted.

“The Christmas Episode” originally aired in 1956, but according to CBS, the episode was thought to be lost and wasn’t aired as a rerun until it was found again in 1989. In the episode, Lucy and Ricky (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz) along with their neighbors, the Mertzes (Vivian Vance and William Frawley), decorate the Ricardos’ Christmas tree and reminisce about the arrival of Little Ricky.

The other episode to be included in the colorized Christmas special is the iconic “grape-stomping” episode (see photos of what that episode looks like in color here), in which the Ricardos and Mertzes visit Rome and Lucy gets an invitation to appear in an Italian movie called Bitter Grapes. Thinking the film is about the wine industry, Lucy goes to a vineyard to do some research; a famous grape-smashing fiasco ensues.