| 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 seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 21 3 Television movies (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | April 3, 1994 – August 2, 1995 |
Christy is an American drama series which aired on CBS from April 1994 to August 1995, for twenty episodes.
Christy was based on the novel Christy by Catherine Marshall, the widow of Senate chaplain Peter Marshall. The novel had been a bestseller in 1968, and the week following the debut of the TV-movie and program saw the novel jump from #120 up to #15 on the USA Today bestseller list.[1] Series regular Tyne Daly won an Emmy Award for her work on the series.
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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, David Grantland (played by Randall Batinkoff); and Quaker missionary woman Alice Henderson, played by Tyne Daly. The television show maintained the book's romance novel element by showing Christy drawn both to the minister and the doctor.
The show's last episode was a cliffhanger concerning Christy's fate in the town and with the two rival male love interests. Later TV movies resolved the love triangle according the ending of the novel.[2]
Christy was developed for television by Emmy Award winning writer Patricia Green.
Although similar to Little House on the Prairie or Road to Avonlea (a period piece about a young female teacher in a rural community), Christy was not as successful in ratings as either of those shows and ended after just two seasons.
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.
The Christy movies were developed for television by executive producerTom Blomquist, who served as supervising producer of the original CBS series.
The show began airing on Gospel Music Channel in June 2009.
20th Century Fox released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 on March 20, 2007.
There is an annual festival dedicated to Christy, the novel, TV Series and movies held every year in Townsend, TN. It's held each summer and is a gathering of those dedicated to the preservation of "Christy" and Southern Applachian culture. It is called "ChristyFest".