Happy Anniversary and Goodbye was Lucy's first television special since Here's Lucy's unceremonious cancellation at the end of its sixth season.  Lucy and Art Carney (The Honeymooners) portrayed a couple married for twenty-five years who decide to separate.  Variety said the special was severely weakened by "dusty zingers and ancient sitcom humor [used] to hammer home a story whose sensitive message gets buried in the accumulation of cornball."