NEW YORK, April 20, 2016 — At the 67th annual Christopher Awards ceremony here on Thursday May 19th, Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Ernie Anastos will receive the Christopher Life Achievement Award, while the family-friendly Hallmark Channel series, When Calls the Heart, will be honored with the Christopher Spirit Award.
You may not expect a TV series on the Hallmark Channel to be described as “radical,” but such is the case with “When Calls the Heart,” winner of the 2016 Christopher Spirit Award for telling stories that reflect the Christopher motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” The show’s radical nature doesn’t stem from its pushing the envelope on edgy content, however, but rather from its embrace of stories that an entire family can watch together—a rarity in this day and age. It has been compared to TV classics like “Little House on the Prairie.”
Created by executive producers Michael Landon Jr., Brian Bird, and Brad Krevoy—and supported by Hallmark Channel president and CEO Bill Abbott and Executive Vice President of Programming and Network Publicity Michelle Vicary—“When Calls the Heart” was inspired by the Janette Oke novel of the same name, and stars Erin Krakow, Daniel Lissing, Lori Loughlin, and Jack Wagner. It takes place in 1910, and tells the story of Elizabeth Thatcher, a young teacher who gets assigned to the frontier town Hope Valley, where residents are good-hearted people with a deep sense of community. Community is also at the heart of the show’s success: namely, the online fanbase known as “Hearties.” Their Tweeting during each episode has set new social media records for Hallmark Channel programming and continues to win the show more and more viewers. The series was recently renewed for a fourth season.
Why does “When Calls the Heart” resonate with so many people? Executive producer Brian Bird explains, “The goal is to tell universal stories with themes like forgiveness, redemption, sacrifice, courage, and banding together to help one another. The characters on our show reflect those virtues and hopefully make a lasting impression on our viewers.”
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