INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED CULTURAL ICON MAYA ANGELOU WELCOMES THE WORLD TO HER TABLE

'THE SPIRIT TABLE,' A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL SERIES PREMIERING Q1

Unscripted Weekly Series Features Cooking, Laughing and Sharing Stories With Dr. Angelou and Today's Most Fascinating People

Hallmark Channel announces that internationally renowned cultural icon and recent Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Maya Angelou will debut a new 13-episode unscripted, half-hour Hallmark Channel Original Series, "The Spirit Table" as part of the network's portfolio of lifestyle series beginning Q1. The announcement was made as part of Crown Media Networks' presentation to advertisers at the annual Upfront.

"The Spirit Table," blends Maya Angelou's Letter to My Daughter with Hallelujah, the Welcome Table to bring together the best of Maya Angelou, her family and traditions, in an entertaining and inspiring series that celebrates life's special moments with a feast from the heart. New traditions will unfold and today's most fascinating people will gather to bring substance and sustenance to Maya Angelou's table.

Transcendent as an actor, teacher, writer, civil rights activist and Renaissance woman, Maya Angelou is a potent mixture of the spiritual and the earthy who has inspired millions with her multi-faceted career. Dr. Angelou possesses the innate and compelling grace of a woman who has constructed a life lived without concession or false excuse. Long one of the country's most sought-after speakers, Dr. Angelou first gained widespread critical attention for her autobiographical I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, recounting a difficult childhood and the five years of silence that ensued, during which she listened intensely and found the unique voice of the poet she was born to be.

Dr. Maya Angelou and Sidney Clifton are executive producers of "The Spirit Table."

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 available in high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) to a national audience of 87.5 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 is the nation's leading network in quality family programming with an ambitious slate of original TV movies, lifestyle and general entertainment content, and is the home of "The Martha Stewart Show", which anchors the channel's new daytime HOME block. Hallmark Channel's sibling network is Hallmark Movie Channel, also available in HD and SD, which focuses on the family-friendly movies with a mix of classic theatrical films, presentations from the acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame library, original Hallmark Channel movies and special events.