The New York Times was founded on September 18, 1851. Their prime-time local TV guide booklet began in 1988. The cover featured everything from the Tony Awards, the World Series, Roseanne, Roots, Twin Peaks and more.
It’s quite surprising that Christy was on the front of this local New York Times TV guide in 1994. The previous year did feature Richard Thomas for a special Thanksgiving movie for The Waltons, but it wasn’t centered around a church mission like Christy. Logically it makes no sense why Christy would be on the front. Yes, it was for the premiere of the Pilot, but we’re talking about New York City which has always been considered a liberal area with a population of 7.3 million at the time. It had nothing in common with the area. Some of the top shows in 1994 were Seinfeld, Home Improvement, The Nanny, Ellen and Roseanne.
As a whole I’m sure the TV industry was pushing for more female leads. Perhaps this was a part of landing on the front cover. I seriously doubt they knew about the true nature of the religious tones and values the show would have. But all they had to do was pick up the novel. The cover mentions “Appalachian Mission” and there’s even a full page insert mentioning the novel, and teaching in the Smoky Mountains.
It reminds me of the time Rob Allen entered a short story contest in the episode “Lost and Found”. “I write Cutter Gap. Those folks want to read New York City.” Rob decides to send off his story anyway. At the end of the episode we hear the mailman utter “New York City? That’s a fur piece from Cutter Gap.” “Time they heard from us.”
Later on in “A Man’s Reach”, we find out Rob Allen’s dream of winning the contest never came true, however his message was heard. In such a small community in East Tennessee at the time, well that was an accomplishment of itself. This New York Times feature must have been as well. Especially for the family of Leonora Wood, the executive producers and East Tennessee.
New York’s local TV guide finally halted its printing in 2006 even while some fierce readers wanted it to remain in print. Although Christy never became a staple for NYC the fact remains that Christy made its mark in one of the world’s largest newspaper companies in the world, The New York Times. You can view more historic media clippings on the Christy media clippings page.
