Christy (TV series)
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| Christy | |
|---|---|
| Format | Family, Drama |
| Created by | Catherine Marshall (author of novel) |
| Starring | Kellie Martin Tyne Daly Randall Batinkoff Stewart Finlay-McLennan |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 20 + 3 TV movies (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | April 3, 1994 – August 2, 1995 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Christy is a brief family television series drama which aired on CBS from 1994 to 1995, for twenty-one episodes.
Christy gained small note among family viewers for its general wholesomeness. Christy was based on the novel Christy by Catherine Marshall, the widow of Senate chaplain Peter Marshall.
It could be seen as in the vein or genre of Little House on the Prairie or Road to Avonlea, as a period piece about a young female teacher in a rural community. However, it was not as successful in ratings as either of those shows and ended in its first season. Series regular Tyne Daly won an Emmy Award for her work on the series; the series was also noted for ending in a cliffhanger and having a loyal following on family-oriented channels in syndication. Episodes later were released on VHS-format videotapes. In 2007 the episodes became available on DVD.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- Kellie Martin as Christy Huddleston
- Randall Batinkoff as Rev. David Grantland
- Stewart Finlay-McLennan as Dr. Neil MacNeill
- Tyne Daly as Alice Henderson
- Emily Schulman as Ruby Mae Morrison
- Tess Harper as Fairlight Spencer
- LeVar Burton as Daniel Scott (Season 2)
[edit] Storyline and characters
The show starred Kellie Martin as Christy Huddleston, a new teacher arriving to the fictional Appalachian village of Cutter Gap, Tennessee, in 1912. The villagers have old-fashioned ways. For example, they maintain rules and vengeances similar to the Highland clans of old Scotland. They also have a strong belief in folk medicine. At the same time many of their ways are portrayed in an idealized fashion as well. The show emphasized their culture by making Christy, and most of the main cast, outsiders in one fashion or the other. These "outsiders" included a minister character (played by Randall Batinkoff), a Scottish agnostic doctor, and a Quaker woman played by Tyne Daly. Arguably the strongest characters were in many respects the women. The men tended to have brooding pasts and confusions. They also were love-interests for the title character, albeit in a normally G-rated fashion, hence the show had some appeal to readers of romance novels.
The show's last episode was a cliffhanger concerning Christy's fate in the town and with the two rival male love interests. The fact that this episode's dilemmas were not resolved, until possibly the later movies, caused irritation to its small, loyal following.
[edit] TV-movies
In 2000, ION Television (previously PAX) produced three made-for-TV movies based on the series in response to demand from loyal fans. On November 19, 2000, PAX aired Christy: Return to Cutter Gap. The second and third films aired in 2001 as a two part mini-series entitled Christy, Choices of the Heart. Part 1, entitled Christy: A Change of Seasons aired on May 13, 2001 and Part 2, entitled Christy: A New Beginning aired on May 14, 2001. Stewart Finlay-McLennan (who played Doctor MacNeill), Bruce McKinnon (Jeb Spencer), Mike Hickman (Birds-Eye Taylor), Andy Stahl (Tom McHone), and Dale Dickey (Opal McHone) were the only original TV-series cast members to appear in these telemovies.
[edit] DVD release
20th Century Fox has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.
| DVD Name | Cover Art | Release Date | Ep # |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Complete Series |  |
March 20, 2007 | 21 |
