Created by Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis, the series aired for one season on ABC from September 20 to November 15, 1986.

Developed amidst an industry-wide interest in comeback vehicles, ABC and producer Aaron Spelling coaxed Ball out of retirement for a new series.

Unlike Ball's previous sitcoms, Life with Lucy was a failure in the ratings and poorly received by critics and viewers alike.

Ball plays a recently widowed grandmother who has inherited her husband Sam's half interest in a hardware store in South Pasadena, California, the other half being owned by his business partner, widower Curtis McGibbon (played by Gale Gordon).

ABC, looking to stage a similar resurgence for an older sitcom star and to boost Saturday night ratings, approached 75-year-old, five-time Emmy award winner and cultural icon Lucille Ball.

Her longtime co-star Vivian Vance had died in 1979, and Gale Gordon was retired in Palm Springs.

[1] Ball's only conditions working on the series were that she be reunited with Gordon, and longtime writers Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Pugh.

Ball’s husband Gary Morton, carrying the title of executive producer, negotiated for $150,000 per episode.

The series was initially developed by Carroll and Pugh to resemble The Golden Girls, and Ball had offered to do something different from her previous projects.

The final to air, "Mother of the Bride", was the twelfth episode filmed and featured Audrey Meadows as Lucy's sister.

[2]: 342  On November 17, the day of the taping the final episode, ABC informed Spelling and Morton that they were not ordering a full season, thus cancelling the series.

Ball was devastated by the failure of the show, and she never again attempted another series or feature film; her subsequent interviews and other TV appearances were infrequent.