April 3rd, 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the Christy pilot episode. It was marketed as a movie for a trial run on the CBS network at 8pm EST in 1994. Back then many of us only had a handful of TV stations using rabbit ears (antennas). CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX were the ones my family and I watched. During primetime that Sunday night, from 7-10:30pm Christy outscored every network TV show/movie including The Ten Commandments, 60 Minutes, Murder, She Wrote and Married with Children, among others.
Many journalists attributed Christy’s success that night due to Easter Sunday. However it outscored the always popular movie, The Ten Commandments. I believe people saw that Christy was so unique to television. Journalists compared it to Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman but I think they rushed to judgment. Dr. Quinn focused on the frontier of the west in the 1860s, Native Americans, practicing medicine and a town full of buildings. In contrast Christy had the mission and school along with a few cabins scattered here and there. It’s set in the early 1900s, nearly 50 years after Dr. Quinn. It’s also rugged mountain terrain, with no traditional town setting. Dr. Quinn obtained a degree from a medical college while Christy had absolutely zero training as a teacher. Both shows however, leaned toward family-centered entertainment.
TV shows in the 90s like Christy were more special to watch. Mainly because there was less entertainment available, and no social media. The majority of us didn’t have the internet, nor were we able to watch TV shows on it. Let alone, we all had the question “What is the Internet, Anyway?”. Your “on demand” was Blockbuster or another local VHS rental. Today we have an overload of material to watch, so much so that we don’t take a special appreciation for them. We can barely focus today by having so many distractions due to social media. Christy had a focus on morals, values and a path to learn more about God’s way. I think for even 1994 Christy stuck out like a neon sign for this very reason. Dare try to produce a TV series like this today. Studio executives would laugh in your face, and it would take another miracle for it to happen.
Christy was filmed on location meaning outside of the traditional climate controlled studio set. It’s more challenging for an actor or actress due to travel and cold or hot weather. As you can tell in the series the actors had condensation coming from their mouths due to the cold. I would rather keep the 2 seasons we had, instead of 10 seasons on a studio set. You can’t replicate the landscape they were working on. The real-life location where Christy happened was too remote and they couldn’t get the equipment back in the hollow near Del Rio, TN. The filming location in Townsend was remote enough for the actors.
Millions have read the novel and seen the TV series. I believe there are many out there who still have the story of Christy in their mind. It just takes a bit to joggle their memory. Although it’s been 30 years, Christy still lives on. The novel continues to be published and is still mentioned today. The Christy Friends Facebook, formerly ChristyFest is still posting material. To top it off the Neil and Christy website is still paying to host their material online. Hopefully some day we’ll receive another DVD release, streaming or a most desirable Blu-ray. However, I guess we should be thankful for what we have. I don’t know if executive producer Ken Wales would have believed his triumph of bringing Christy to TV would still be discussed today. Especially after all the chaos in society and it’s rapidly deteriorating values. But here we are 30 years later.