<P> I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley . The black - and - white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). All 180 episodes aired on Mondays . </P> <P> In total 180 episodes of I Love Lucy were produced, plus a pilot episode . The pilot, which was not made for broadcast and did not air as part of the show's original run, is generally not counted as one of the episodes and therefore is not listed below . It is, however, included on DVD and Blu - ray releases of the first season . Following I Love Lucy, a further 13 hour - long episodes were produced under the title of The Lucy--Desi Comedy Hour . </P>

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