''An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving'' is a television film loosely based on a short story by

Louisa May Alcott Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known as the author of the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Little Men'' (1871) and ''Jo's Boys'' (1886). Raised in ...

. Filmed on location in Canada, the film premiered on

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies and ...

on November 22, 2008. It was followed by the sequel, ''An Old Fashioned Christmas'' which aired on December 11, 2010.

Synopsis

Widow Mary Bassett (

Helene Joy Helene or Hélène may refer to: People *Helene (given name), a Greek feminine given name * Helen of Troy, the daughter of Zeus and Leda *Helene, a figure in Greek mythology who was a friend of Aphrodite and helped her seduce Adonis * Helene (A ...

) and her three children have hit difficult times on their farm; it is especially apparent when they cannot even afford a

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

for their

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

dinner. Oldest daughter Tilly (

Tatiana Maslany Tatiana Gabriele Maslany ( ; born September 22, 1985) is a Canadian actress. She rose to prominence for playing multiple characters in the science fiction thriller television series ''Orphan Black'' (2013–2017), which won her a Primetime Emmy ...

) writes to Mary's wealthy and estranged mother Isabella (

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in '' The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet Ride'', for which she rec ...

), exaggerating their situation in a lengthy letter. Isabella comes to the farm to offer her help and finds a kindred spirit in Tilly. However, Mary resents her mother's attempts to help them out of their financial difficulties.

Cast

as Isabella *

as Mary Bassett *

as Mathilda "Tilly" Bassett * Kristopher Turner as Gad Hopkins *

Gage Munroe Gage Munroe (born January 4, 1999) is a Canadian actor. He has performed roles on television programs like '' Stoked'', ''Murdoch Mysteries'', '' Mr Moon'', ''Falling Skies'' and ''Alphas'', and has appeared in films like the 2008 Canadian drama ' ...

as Solomon Bassett

Reception

When the film premiered on the

, it gained 5.2 million viewers, delivering a 3.2 household rating and nearly 2.8 million homes, making it the highest-rated cable movie of the premiere day and week. It also ranked No. 1 in the time period for household and total viewer ratings and deliveries, and boosted the network to rank first in prime Ttme for the day. This made Hallmark Channel rank sixth for the week. This made the film the fifth-highest-rated original movie in the network's history to its date, and its fourth-most-watched original movie among households. It is also the network's most watched and highest-rated November original movie ever. Critics' reviews, however, were mixed. ''

Star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

'' magazine called the film "stuffy,", while the ''TV Examiner'' claimed "Hallmark Channel has cranked a sweet, ultimately uplifting old school holiday film" and called it an "old style of made-for-TV film".

References

External links

*
''An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving''
on

''An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving''
on

's press site {{DEFAULTSORT:Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, An 2008 television films 2008 films Hallmark Channel original films Thanksgiving in films Television films based on short fiction Films shot in Toronto Films based on works by Louisa May Alcott Films directed by Graeme Campbell (director)