Love's Abiding Joy

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August 11, 2006                                                          Sheri Helmers, 818.755.2490

A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE CLASSIC,

‘LOVE’S ABIDING JOY,’

FROM THE NETWORK’S MOST POPULAR SERIES OF MOVIE ORIGINALS

PREMIERES DECEMBER 16

Michael Landon, Jr. Returns to Direct Fourth Installment;

Dale Midkiff, Erin Cottrell and Logan Bartholomew & James Tupper

Return in Familiar Roles Created in Janette Oke’s Beloved Bestsellers

          “Love’s Abiding Joy,” the fourth installment in the popular movie series that began in 2003 with “Love Comes Softly,” premieres Saturday, December 16 (9/8c) with encores on Saturday, December 16, (11/10c), Sunday, December 17, (1am/midnight c) and Thursday, December 21 (9/8c).  Michael Landon, Jr., son of “Little House on the Prairie” producer/director/star Michael Landon, again serves as co-writer and director.

Dale Midkiff (“Back to You and Me”) returns as Clark Davis in the Hallmark Channel Original Holiday Movie along with Erin Cottrell as Missie and Logan Bartholomew as Willie.  Also reprising their roles from “Love’s Long Journey” are Frank McRae, W. Morgan Sheppard and James Tupper (“Men in Trees”).  The film also stars John Laughlin (“The Rock”), Drew Tyler Bell (“Jeepers Creepers II”) and Mae Whitman (“Thief”).

In “Love’s Abiding Joy,” Willie LaHaye and his wife Missie must cope with the tragic death of their infant daughter while struggling to keep their frontier ranch going.  Meanwhile, Willie, the new sheriff, finds himself being used by Sam Doros, the mayor and richest man in town, in a scheme to foreclose on other ranchers’ properties.  Further complicating matters is the budding romance between Missie and Willie’s adopted teenage son and Doros’ pampered daughter.

Love’s Abiding Joy is the fourth of an eight-book franchise by Janette Oke who, in her genre, ranks second in popularity only to Laura Ingalls Wilder of Little House on the Prairie fame.  Michael Landon, Jr. co-wrote and directed the three previous movies in the series.  

“Love’s Abiding Joy” is an RHI Entertainment Presentation.  Robert Halmi, Jr. and Larry Levinson are executive producers.  Director is Michael Landon, Jr., who co-wrote the screenplay with Douglas Lloyd McIntosh and Bridget Terry, based on the book by Janette Oke.  The Hallmark Channel Original Movie is an Alpine Medien Production in association with 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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