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Road to Avonlea | |
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Created by | Kevin Sullivan |
Based on | The Story Girl The Golden Road Chronicles of Avonlea Further Chronicles of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery |
Starring | Sarah Polley Jackie Burroughs Lally Cadeau Cedric Smith Gema Zamprogna Zachary Bennett Michael Mahonen Mag Ruffman [1] |
Composers | John Welsman, [2] Hagood Hardy |
Country of origin | Canada |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 7 |
No. of episodes | 91 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Running time | 45 minutes |
Production company | Sullivan Films |
Original release | |
Network | CBC |
Release | January 7, 1990 – March 31, 1996 |
Road to Avonleais a Canadian television series first broadcast in Canada between January 7, 1990, and March 31, 1996, as part of the CBC Family Hour anthology series, and in the United States starting on March 5, 1990. It was created by Kevin Sullivan and produced by Sullivan Films (later Sullivan Entertainment) in association with the CBC and the Disney Channel, with additional funding from Telefilm Canada. It follows the adventures of Sara Stanley, a young girl sent to live with her relatives in early 20th-century eastern Canada. It was loosely adapted from novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery, with many characters and episodes inspired by her stories.
Some episodes were turned into independent books by various authors; [3] around 30 titles have been released.
In the United States, its title was shortened to Avonlea, and a number of episodes were retitled and reordered. The series was released on VHS and DVD there as Tales from Avonlea.
The series was initially loosely inspired from several books by Lucy Maud Montgomery, primarily The Story Girl and The Golden Road , both of which feature Sara Stanley and the King family. While set in Prince Edward Island, these books did not take place in the village of Avonlea. Many early episodes' plots are based on stories from Montgomery's Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea .
A number of supporting characters were sourced from Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series. The show is set within the same continuity as Sullivan's 1985 film and its 1987 sequel based on the Anne novels. Rachel Lynde, Marilla Cuthbert, and Muriel Stacy all originally appeared in Montgomery's debut novel Anne of Green Gables , with Rachel and Marilla being briefly mentioned in passing in Chronicles of Avonlea. Patricia Hamilton, Colleen Dewhurst, and Marilyn Lightstone, who had played the characters in the films, returned for Road to Avonlea. The characters of Davy and Dora Keith were originally from Anne of Avonlea , the first sequel to Anne Of Green Gables. Anne Shirley herself never appeared, although she was referred to on rare occasions.
In the United States, its title was shortened to simply Avonlea, and a number of episodes were retitled and reordered. When the series was released on VHS and DVD in the United States, the title changed from Road to Avonlea to Tales from Avonlea.
The series is set in the fictional small town of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, in the early 20th century (1903–1912). Ten-year-old Montreal heiress Sara Stanley (Sarah Polley) is sent by her wealthy father to live with her two maiden aunts, Hetty and Olivia King, to be near her late mother's side of the family after an embezzlement scandal results in him being placed under house arrest. The show's focus shifted over the years from Sara's interactions with locals to stories about the King family. Later seasons of the show focused more on residents of Avonlea who were connected to the King family. Sarah Polley left the show in 1994, returning for a guest appearance in the sixth season as well as the series finale episode.
Following the series proper, a reunion TV movie called An Avonlea Christmas was produced in 1998.
Many famous actors made guest appearances on the show, including
The Road to Avonlea set was constructed in Uxbridge, Ontario—the town where Lucy Maud Montgomery lived and wrote for a decade after moving from Prince Edward Island. The town of Avonlea was adapted from existing buildings. Its roads were painted red in an attempt to match the distinctive color of the island's iron-rich soil. Filming also took place regularly at Westfield Heritage Centre in Flamborough, Ontario. Photography and enhanced digital matter work married second-unit scenes of Prince Edward Island with the Leaskdale location where necessary.
Sullivan Entertainment released all seven seasons on DVD in Region 1 for the first time between 2005 and 2006. In 2009, they began re-releasing the series in wide screen format. As of December 2012, all seven seasons and the Christmas special had been released in widescreen format. [4]
In 2016, Sullivan Entertainment announced it would launch their own streaming service called Gazebo TV that would feature the Road to Avonlea series among other titles produced by the company. The service launched in early 2017.
The series debut garnered 2.527 million (2+) viewers. [5]
During Road to Avonlea's seven-year run, it won and was nominated for numerous awards worldwide:
Anne of Green Gables is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Written for all ages, it has been considered a classic children's novel since the mid-20th century. Set in the late 19th century, the novel recounts the adventures of an 11-year-old orphan girl Anne Shirley sent by mistake to two middle-aged siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who had originally intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm in the fictional town of Avonlea in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way through life with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town.
Anne Shirley is a fictional character introduced in the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Shirley is featured throughout the classic book series, which revolves around her life and family in 19th and 20th-century Prince Edward Island, in Canada.
Jacqueline Burroughs was a British-born Canadian actress. Burroughs starred in over 100 films and television shows over her career, including Heavy Metal, The Care Bears Movie, The Grey Fox, and Anne of Green Gables, and was best known for her role as Hetty King in the TV series Road to Avonlea.
Colleen Rose Dewhurst was a Canadian-American actress mostly known for theatre roles. She was a renowned interpreter of the works of Eugene O'Neill on the stage, and her career also encompassed film, early dramas on live television, and performances in Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. One of her last roles was playing Marilla Cuthbert in the Kevin Sullivan television adaptations of the Anne of Green Gables series and her reprisal of the role in the subsequent TV series Road to Avonlea. In the United States, Dewhurst won two Tony Awards and four Emmy Awards for her stage and television work. In addition to other Canadian honors over the years, Dewhurst won two Gemini Awards for her portrayal of Marilla Cuthbert; once in 1986 and again in 1988. It is arguably her best known role because of the Kevin Sullivan produced series’ continuing popularity and also the initial co-production by the CBC; allowing for rebroadcasts over the years on it, and also on PBS in the United States. The initial broadcast alone was seen by millions of viewers.
Anne of Green Gables is a 1985 Canadian made-for-television drama film based on the 1908 novel of the same name by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, and is the first in a series of four films. The film stars Megan Follows in the title role of Anne Shirley and was produced and directed by Kevin Sullivan for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It was released theatrically in Iran, Israel, Europe, and Japan.
Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel is a 1987 Canadian television miniseries film. A sequel to the 1985 miniseries Anne of Green Gables, it is based on Lucy Maud Montgomery's novels Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, and Anne of Windy Poplars. The story follows Anne Shirley as she leaves Green Gables in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, to teach at a prestigious ladies' college in New Brunswick. The main cast from the original film reprised their roles, including Megan Follows, Jonathan Crombie, Colleen Dewhurst, Patricia Hamilton, and Schuyler Grant.
Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story is a 2000 miniseries television film, and the third installment in a series of four films. The film was highly anticipated among fans of Anne of Green Gables, and was the most controversial and heavily criticized of the three film adaptations written and produced by Kevin Sullivan.
Anne of Avonlea is a 1909 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, who published as L. M. Montgomery. The first sequel to Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (1908), the book covers the second chapter in the life of Anne Shirley, from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at the Avonlea school on Prince Edward Island.
Anne of the Island is the third book in the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The plot sees Anne Shirley leave Green Gables in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, for the first time to attend Redmond College in Kingsport, Nova Scotia.
Gilbert Blythe is a character in Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series of novels.
Anne of Green Gables is a Canadian television film directed by Don Harron that aired on 4 March 1956. The film was based upon the 1908 novel, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
Anne of Green Gables is a 1972 made-for-television British mini-series directed by Joan Craft, based on the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
Chronicles of Avonlea is a collection of short stories by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery, related to the Anne of Green Gables series. It features an abundance of stories relating to the fictional Canadian village of Avonlea, and was first published in 1912. Sometimes marketed as a book in the Anne Shirley series, Anne plays only a minor role in the book: out of the 12 stories in the collection, she stars in only one, and has a small supporting role in another. She is otherwise only briefly mentioned in passing in five other stories: "Each in His Own Tongue", "Little Joscelyn", "The Winning of Lucinda", "Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's" and "The End of a Quarrel".
Further Chronicles of Avonlea is a collection of short stories by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery and is a sequel to Chronicles of Avonlea. Published in 1920, it includes a number of stories relating to the inhabitants of the fictional Canadian village of Avonlea and its region, located on Prince Edward Island. Sometimes marketed as a book in the Anne Shirley series, Anne plays only a minor role in the book: out of the 15 stories in the collection, she narrates and stars in only one, and is briefly mentioned in passing in two others. Three other characters from the Anne books are seen in brief secondary roles: Diana Barry and Marilla Cuthbert in "The Little Brown Book of Miss Emily", and Rachel Lynde in "Sara's Way". As well, Matthew Cuthbert is mentioned in passing in "The Conscience Case of David Bell".
Patricia Ruth Hamilton was a Canadian actress who had an active career on stage, television, and film from the 1960s through the 2010s. She had a lengthy association as a stage actress with the Tarragon Theatre with whom she appeared in multiple world premieres of works by Canadian playwrights; including Judith Thompson's I Am Yours (1987) for which she won a Dora Mavor Moore Award in 1988. She also appeared as a guest actress at other theaters in Canada and internationally including the American Shakespeare Theatre, the Stratford Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, and The Old Vic.
Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning is a 2008 Canadian made-for-television drama film and the fourth and final film in Sullivan Entertainment's Anne of Green Gables series. It was released in 2008 on CTV. Shortly before the broadcast, CTV had acquired the rights to the entire Anne catalogue, including the 1985 miniseries.
Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series is a Canadian animated children's television series produced by Sullivan Entertainment and developed by writer/director/producer Kevin Sullivan, based on the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Many supporting characters are sourced from Sullivan's television series Road to Avonlea, which is based on Montgomery's books The Story Girl and The Golden Road. One season of the series was produced, with 26 episodes, originally airing from 2001 to 2002. The series was developed for PBS member stations and was originally distributed by PBS from 2001 to 2005, then later by American Public Television from 2010-2015. It is the second animated series based on the Anne of Green Gables story. The first one is of the same name, produced by Nippon Animation in 1979.
Anne of Avonlea is a film made for television 6-part miniseries, developed in the United Kingdom by the BBC as a sequel to its 1972 Anne of Green Gables miniseries. It is based on Anne of Avonlea (1909) and Anne of the Island (1915), both sequels to the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This British version was directed by Joan Craft, with Kim Braden in the role of Anne. Both had previously worked on the 1972 adaptation of the preceding novel.
Anne with an E is a Canadian period drama television series loosely adapted from Lucy Maud Montgomery's 1908 classic work of children's literature, Anne of Green Gables. It was created by Moira Walley-Beckett for the CBC and Netflix, and stars Amybeth McNulty as orphan Anne Shirley, Geraldine James as Marilla Cuthbert, R. H. Thomson as Matthew Cuthbert, Dalila Bela as Diana Barry and Lucas Jade Zumann as Gilbert Blythe.
An Avonlea Christmas is a 1998 Canadian made-for-television Christmas film directed by Stefan Scaini and written by Raymond Storey. A reunion special to the 1990–1996 television series Road to Avonlea, the story takes place against the backdrop of World War I as the King family prepares for Christmas Eve.