Today in Television History (December 24th, 1956): The "I Love Lucy Christmas Show" Becomes the First Clip-Show-Style Television Program!

On December 24th, 1956, season 6, episode 11 of "I Love Lucy", "I Love Lucy Christmas Show" premiered on television. The special was prerecorded on Thanksgiving Day 1956, which was unusual for a television program at the time. Because it was recorded on a holiday, there was no live studio audience and the episode consisted mostly of clips from past episodes. The flashback scenes were taken from episodes 50, 52, and 56 of the series. Although there is much debate on what the first clip-show-style television program was, many sources claim that this monumental broadcast was the first.