''Christy'' is an American

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...

series which aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from April 1994 to August 1995, for twenty episodes."One Week Out: Events coming next weekend," ''The Daily Times'' (Maryville, TN), June 13, 2008, Weekend section: ''"Although Cutter Gap does not exist, it is widely believed that Marshall based the village on the real community of Morgan Branch in nearby Cocke County.

Townsend Townsend (pronounced tounʹ-zənd) or Townshend may refer to: Places United States *Camp Townsend, National Guard training base in Peekskill, New York *Townsend, Delaware *Townsend, Georgia *Townsend, Massachusetts, a New England town ** Townsend ...

served as Cutter Gap for the popular CBS television series 'Christy' in the mid-1990s."'' ''Christy'' was based on the 1967 novel '' Christy'' by Catherine Marshall, the widow of Senate chaplain

Peter Marshall Peter Marshall may refer to: Entertainment * Peter Marshall (entertainer) (born 1926), American game show host of ''The Hollywood Squares'', 1966–1981 * Peter Marshall (author, born 1939) (1939–1972), British novelist whose works include ''Th ...

. Inspired by the experiences of the author's mother, 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 ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

'' bestseller list."USA Today best-selling books," ''USA Today'', April 14, 1994, page 4D. Series regular

Tyne Daly Ellen Tyne Daly (; born February 21, 1946) is an American actress. She has won six Emmy Awards for her television work, a Tony Award and is a 2011 American Theatre Hall of Fame inductee. Daly began her career on stage in summer stock in New York, ...

won an Emmy Award for her work on the series.

Cast

Kellie Martin Kellie Martin (born October 16, 1975) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Rebecca "Becca" Thatcher in '' Life Goes On'' (1989–1993), Lucy Knight on '' ER'' (1998–2000), Samantha Kinsey in the '' Mystery Woman'' TV film seri ...

as Christy Huddleston *

Randall Batinkoff Randall Matthew Batinkoff (born October 16, 1968) is an American actor, known for his roles in the films '' For Keeps'', '' School Ties'', and ''Higher Learning''. Early life and education Batinkoff was born in Monticello, New York, the son of Ba ...

as Rev. David Grantland * Stewart Finlay-McLennan as Dr. Neil MacNeill *

as Alice Henderson * Emily Schulman as Ruby Mae Morrison *

Tess Harper Tessie Jean Harper (''née'' Washam; born August 15, 1950) is an American actress. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her first film role in 1983's '' Tender Mercies'', and for the Academy Award for B ...

as Fairlight Spencer *

LeVar Burton Levar Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host, best known for playing Geordi La Forge in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994). He also played Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries ''R ...

as Daniel Scott (Season 2) * Sally Smithwick as Bessie Coburn * Collin Wilcox as Swannie O'Teale *Scott Latham as Festus Allen *Sam Tyler Wayman as John Spencer

Storyline and characters

The show starred

as Christy Huddleston, a new teacher arriving to the fictional Appalachian village of Cutter Gap,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, in 1912. The villagers have old-fashioned ways. For example, they maintain rules and vengeances similar to the

Highland clans A Scottish clan (from Gaelic , literally 'children', more broadly 'kindred') is a kinship group among the Scottish people. Clans give a sense of shared identity and descent to members, and in modern times have an official structure recognised ...

of old Scotland. They also have a strong belief in

folk medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...

. 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

); and Quaker missionary woman Alice Henderson, played by

. The television show maintained the book's

romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pr ...

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 to the ending of the novel.Karen Pierce. "Who will the lucky husband be? '''Christy''' insiders keep mum on subject," ''The Daily Times'' (Maryville, TN), November 17, 2000 (no page number). Christy was developed for television by Emmy Award-winning writer Patricia Green.

Reception and cancellation

The show received mixed reviews from critics. Writing for the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'',

Tom Shales Thomas William Shales (born November 3, 1944) is an American writer and retired critic of television programming and operations. He was a television critic for ''The Washington Post'' from 1977 to 2010, for which Shales received the Pulitzer Pr ...

said: "It is earnest, well intentioned, based on a beloved book by Catherine Marshall, handsomely photographed, wholesome as a tea cozy, cute as a kitten and almost unspeakably humdrum." He criticized the performances of Martin and Batinkoff. John J. O’Connor of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' was more positive. "This is an impressive production," he wrote. "The cast is generally quite good; Ms. Martin is extraordinary, making Christy's fresh-faced innocence utterly captivating on these beautiful and sometimes dangerous mountains." Howard Rosenberg of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' called it "highly appealing" and "too nice to pick apart." The series developed a loyal following among readers of the novel and families. It was an initial ratings success, with the pilot episode placing fifth in the weekly Nielsen ratings and inspiring hundreds of letters to CBS from grateful viewers. But it later faltered, as it came on in a period of two years where CBS lost strong affiliates to Fox due to NFL football rights and issues with CBS that had built up years before. Episodes were also expensive to produce, with each installment costing $1.2 million despite generating advertising revenues of only $900,000, in part because it performed poorly among young urban viewers most highly sought by advertisers. The series was cancelled by the network to make way for an attempt to program for younger audiences, but the show's fanbase remained strong despite the cancellation.

Episodes

Season 1: 1994

Season 2: 1994–95

Television movies

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, the family-friendly network

Pax TV Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented ente ...

produced three made-for-television movies based on unresolved stories from the novel and original CBS series in response to demand from loyal fans, though Kellie Martin did not return as Christy, with

Lauren Lee Smith Lauren Lee Smith (born June 19, 1980) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her television roles, including Emma DeLauro in the syndicated science fiction drama '' Mutant X'', Riley Adams in the CBS forensics drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investi ...

taking over the role. On November 19, 2000, Pax aired '' Christy: The Movie''. The second and third films aired in 2001 as a two part mini-series entitled ''

Christy, Choices of the Heart ''Christy, Choices of the Heart'' is a 2001 American two-part television miniseries starring Lauren Lee Smith, Stewart Finlay-McLennan, James Waterston, Diane Ladd, Dale Dickey, Andy Stahl, and Bruce McKinnon. Individually, the first part is k ...

'', with Part 1 entitled ''Christy: A Change of Seasons'' and airing on May 13, 2001, and Part 2 entitled ''Christy: A New Beginning'' and airing on May 14, 2001. Stewart Finlay-McLennan (who played Doctor MacNeill), Bruce McKinnon (Jeb Spencer), Mike Hickman (Bird's Eye Taylor),

Andy Stahl Andrew Render Stahl (born April 8, 1952) is an American actor who has been acting for over 20 years. Two of his more memorable roles were Tom McHone in the '' Christy'' series and General Armand Stassi in ''seaQuest 2032''. Life and career St ...

(Tom McHone), and Dale Dickey (Opal McHone) were the only original TV-series cast members to appear in the telefilms. The Christy movies were developed for television by executive producer Tom Blomquist, who served as supervising producer of the original CBS series.

Syndication

The show began airing on

Gospel Music Channel UP TV (stylized as UPtv; formerly GMC TV and originally Gospel Music Channel) is an American basic cable television network that was founded to have a focus on gospel music. It has expanded into family-friendly original movies, series, and special ...

in June 2009, with a later migration to INSP.

Home media

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 on March 20, 2007.

Festival

An annual festival, called "ChristyFest," dedicated to ''Christy'', the novel, television series and movies, was held in

Townsend, Tennessee Townsend is a city in Blount County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The city was chartered in 1921 by persons who were involved with the Little River Railroad and Lumber Company. The population was 244 at the 2000 census and 448 at ...

, also home to a private, non-profit museum called Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center. Taking place during summer, it was a gathering of those dedicated to the preservation of "Christy" and Southern Appalachian culture. Early in 2018 it was announced that the ChristyFest event would never again be held, but that a successor organization called "Christy Friends" would preserve its spirit.

References

External links

* *
''Christy''
at TVGuide.com
Fan Site for ''Christy'' and McNeillA ''Christy'' Fan SiteCatherine Marshall's Masterpiece: ''Christy''
* ttp://christyfest.suddenlaunch3.com/ ChristyFest online forum {{DEFAULTSORT:Christy (Tv Series) 1994 American television series debuts 1995 American television series endings 1990s American drama television series Christy (novel) CBS original programming Christian entertainment television series English-language television shows Fiction set in 1912 Television series set in the 1910s Period family drama television series Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series Television shows based on American novels Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows set in Tennessee Films set in Appalachia Television series by MTM Enterprises