PREVIOUSLY RELEASED                     CONTACT:            Pam Slay, 818.755.2480

December 6, 2004                                                     David Johnson, 818.755.2675

A WOMAN’S UNSETTLED SPIRIT RETURNS IN ‘ANGEL IN THE FAMILY’

TO MEND HER BROKEN FAMILY

IN HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL

Meredith Baxter, Ronny Cox Star as Spouses;

Natasha Gregson Wagner, Tracey Needham Are Sparring Sisters

in Sentimental Holiday Story

Airing November 24; December 9 and 13

          The spirit of a deceased wife and mother revisits life to make amends – and mend the spirit of her broken family in “Angel in the Family,” a Hallmark Channel Original Movie airing Friday, November 24 (11pm/10c).  Encore presentations on Saturday, December 9 (5pm/4c) and Wednesday, December 13 (9pm/8c).

          When Buddy Bishop (Ronny Cox), an ailing widower, insists that his estranged daughters take him back to the family farm for the holidays, they begrudgingly grant his wish.  Sarah (Tracey Needham), a recovering substance abuser, is her father’s devoted caregiver.  Beth (Natasha Gregson Wagner), while confident in her career, is uncertain about her marriage.

          Forced together in the house they grew up in, the sisters allow old resentments and misunderstandings to surface.  When their late mother, Lorraine (Meredith Baxter), miraculously appears, the girls pull together to create a perfect Christmas.  But Lorraine, sensing her visit will be all-too-brief, is determined to take care of the family’s “unfinished business” once and for all.  

        “Angel in the Family” is a Hallmark Entertainment presentation.  Robert Halmi, Jr. and Larry Levinson are executive producers.  Nick Lombardo, Michael Moran and Amy Goldberg are co-executive producers.  Stephen W. Bridgewater and Albert T. Dickerson III are producers.  Director is Georg Stanford Brown.  Writer is Duane Poole.  The Hallmark Channel Original movie is A Mat IV Production in association with Alpine Medien and Larry Levinson Productions.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of 75 million subscribers.  The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,300 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country.  Hallmark Channel consistently ranks among the top 10 ad-supported cable networks in Total Day and Prime Time household ratings and is the nation’s leading network in providing family-friendly programming.  Crown Media also operates a second 24-hour linear channel, Hallmark Movie Channel.

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