'I LOVE LUCY AND SHE LOVES ME, WERE AS HAPPY AS TWO CAN BE. SOMETIMES WE QUARREL, BUT THEN, HOW WE LOVE MAKING UP AGAIN. LUCY KISSES LIKE NO ONE CAN, SHE'S MY MISSES AND I'M HER MAN. AND LIFE IS HEAVEN, YOU SEE... CAUSE I LOVE LUCY, YES, I LOVE LUCY, I LOVE LUCY, AND SHE LOVES ME.' (Desi Arnaz)

FEEL THE LOVE FOR 'LUCY,' 13-HOUR MARATHON KICKS OFF THE COMEDY QUEEN'S REIGN

'I LOVE LUCY' DEBUTS JANUARY 2 ON AMERICA'S TOP FAMILY NETWORK � HALLMARK CHANNEL

Television's Most Beloved Sitcom Comes to Hallmark Channel; Catch Classic Episodes Seven Days a Week

It is the most famous theme song in television, and though fans may be at a loss to sing the lyrics, the Desi Arnaz-penned musical opening heralds that hijinks, blunders, adventures and laughs are on the way. "I Love Lucy," television's gold standard sitcom which has aired continuously since its premiere in October 1951, is coming to America's top family network, Hallmark Channel, on January 2. Beginning with a 13-hour marathon, Friday, January 2 (8am/7c � 9pm/8c), viewers will also be able to enjoy several hours of Lucy's escapades each week, as the sitcom will air Mondays - Fridays (8a/7c � 9a/8c and 4p/3c - 5p/4c), Saturdays (6a/5c � 9a/8c) and Sundays (8:30a/7:30c � 10a/9c).

"I Love Lucy," which followed the weekly, wacky adventures of housewife Lucy Ricardo, her bandleader husband Ricky and their friends Fred and Ethel Mertz, was the recipient of five Emmy� awards and 17 additional nominations. It has been listed as No. 2 on TV Guide's Top 50 television shows, and appeared as one of Time magazine's top 100 shows and The Washington Post's top reruns of all time.

An instant favorite of viewers, "I Love Lucy" was the No. 1-rated television program for four of its five seasons, with an astounding 72 percent of American televisions tuning in to see "Lucy Goes to the Hospital," which celebrated the birth of 'Little Ricky,' Lucy & Ricky's real-life son who was born only 12 hours earlier. To this day, it is a ratings feat that has only been surpassed once, by Elvis Presley's appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1956.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of 86 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,450 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel consistently ranks among the top 10 ad-supported cable networks in Prime Time and Total Day household ratings and is the nation's leading network in providing quality family programming. Crown Media also operates a second 24-hour linear channel which plays the greatest family movies of all time, Hallmark Movie Channel, and launched Hallmark Movie Channel HD in April, 2008.