''Christy'' is an American

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

series that aired on CBS 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 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. Inspired by the experiences of the author's mother, the novel was 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 ''

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bestseller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...

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 whose six-decade career included many leading roles in movies and theater. She has won six Emmy Awards for her television work, a Tony Award, and is a 2011 American Theatre Hall of ...

won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for her work on the series.

Cast

Primary Cast *

Kellie Martin Kellie Noelle Martin (born October 16, 1975) is an American actress. Her roles have included Rebecca "Becca" Thatcher in '' Life Goes On'' (1989–1993), Lucy Knight on '' ER'' (1998–2000), Samantha Kinsey in the '' Mystery Woman'' TV film se ...

as Christy Huddleston * Randall Batinkoff as Reverend David Grantland * Stewart Finlay-McLennan as Dr. Neil MacNeill *

as Alice Henderson * Emily Schulman as Ruby Mae Morrison * Tess Harper as Fairlight Spencer *

LeVar Burton Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host. He played Geordi La Forge in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994), Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries ''Roots'' (1977 ...

as Daniel Scott (Season 2) Secondary Cast * Scott Michael Campbell as Lundy Taylor, the school bully *

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning nearly seven decades. An Academy Awards, Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Awards, Grammy Award-winning rec ...

as Aunt Hattie McCabe, folk singer * Dale Dickey as Opal McHone * Mike Hickman as Bird's Eye Taylor, Lundy's abusive father * Richard Kiley as Dr. Jacob Ferrand, the mission director * Scott Latham as Festus Allen * Bruce McKinnon as Jeb Spencer, Fairlight's husband * Chelcie Ross as Ben Pentland, who delivers mail to the community * Sally Smithwick as Bessie Coburn * Andy Stahl as Tom McHone, Opal's husband * Sam Tyler Wayman as John Spencer, Fairlight's son * Collin Wilcox as Swannie O'Teale

Storyline and characters

The show starred

as Christy Huddleston, a new teacher arriving in the fictional

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

n village of Cutter Gap,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, in 1912. The villagers have old-fashioned ways. For example, they maintain rules and vengeance similar to the Highland clans of old Scotland. They also have a strong belief in

folk medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) refers to the knowledge, skills, and practices rooted in the cultural beliefs of various societies, especially Indigenous groups, used for maintaining health and treatin ...

. At the same time, many of their ways are portrayed in an idealized fashion. The show emphasized their culture by making Christy and most of the main cast outsiders in one fashion or another. These "outsiders" included a minister, David Grantland, played by Randall Batinkoff;

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

missionary woman Alice Henderson, played by

; and physician, Dr. Neil MacNeill (played by Stuart Finlay McLennan), who while born and raised in Cutter Gap, also grew up and was educated outside of the Appalachia. The television show maintained the book's

romance novel A romance or romantic novel is a genre fiction novel that primarily focuses on the relationship and Romance (love), romantic love between two people, typically with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Authors who have contributed ...

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. Executive Producer Ken Wales used his life savings and mortgaged his home to buy the rights to produce the TV series.

Reception and cancellation

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

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'', Tom Shales 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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' 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 Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

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 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, the family-friendly network

Pax TV Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American terrestrial television, broadcast television network and Free ad-supported streaming television, FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scri ...

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 taking over the role. On November 19, 2000, Pax aired '' Christy: The Movie''. The second and third films aired in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

as a two part mini-series entitled '' Christy, Choices of the Heart'', 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 (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 Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

Tom Blomquist, who served as supervising producer of the original CBS series.

Syndication

The show began airing on Gospel Music Channel in June 2009, with a later migration to INSP.

Home media

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

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, 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
Christy Cove – The Definitive ''Christy'' (TV Series) ResourceFan Site for ''Christy'' and McNeillA ''Christy'' Fan SiteCatherine Marshall's Masterpiece: ''Christy''
* ttp://christyfest.suddenlaunch3.com/ ChristyFest online forum {{MTM Enterprises 1994 American television series debuts 1995 American television series endings 1990s American drama television series Christy (novel) Christian entertainment television series American English-language television shows 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 CBS television dramas Television series set in 1912