An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving

An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving
Distributed by	Hallmark Channel
Directed by	Graeme Campbell
Produced by	Michael Prupas Steve Solomos
Written by	Shelley Evans Louisa May Alcott (short story)
Starring	Jacqueline Bisset Helene Joy
Music by	James Gelfand
Cinematography	Mitchell Ness
Editing by	Jean Beaudoin
Country	United States
Language	English
Original channel	Hallmark Channel
Release date	22 November 2008
Running time	90 minutes
Followed by	An Old Fashioned Christmas

An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving is a television movie based on a short story by Louisa May Alcott. Filmed on location in Canada, the movie premiered on Hallmark Channel on November 22, 2008. It is followed by the sequel, An Old Fashioned Christmas which aired on December 11, 2010.^[1]

Plot

Widow Mary Bassett (Helene Joy) and her 3 children have hit difficult times on their farm; it is especially apparent when they cannot even afford a turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. Oldest daughter Tilly (Tatiana Maslany) writes to Mary’s wealthy and estranged mother Isabella (Jacqueline Bisset), 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

• Jacqueline Bisset as Isabella
• Helene Joy as Mary Bassett
• Tatiana Maslany as Mathilda "Tilly" Bassett
• Kristopher Turner as Gad Hopkins

Reception

The film did very well for Hallmark Channel when it premiered. 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 #1 in the time period for household and total viewer ratings and deliveries, and boosted the network to rank #1 in Prime Time for the day. This made Hallmark Channel rank #6 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.^[2]

Critics' reviews, however, were mixed. Star magazine called the film "stuffy,"^[3], 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."

External links

• An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving at the Internet Movie Database
• An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving on Hallmark Channel
• An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving on Hallmark Channel's press site

References

1. ^ JACQUELINE BISSET Reprises Role in Hallmark’s AN OLD-FASHIONED CHRISTMAS Daemons TV. Retrieved on 3 October 2010
2. ^ Hallmark Channel Press Release: 25 November 2008
3. ^ Star Magazine An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving Review by Marshall Fine