"Be thankful that the sorrow expected has turned into joy" -- Louisa May Alcott

'AN OLD-FASHIONED THANKSGIVING,' STARRING EMMY� AND GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEE JACQUELINE BISSET, A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE PREMIERING NOVEMBER 22

Based on the 1881 Short Story An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Acclaimed Author and Poet Louisa May Alcott

Give thanks where it is due. That is the theme for the Hallmark Channel Original Movie, "An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving," starring Emmy� and Golden Globe nominee Jacqueline Bisset ("The Deep," "Joan of Arc"), premiering Saturday, November 22 (9/8 c).

"An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving" is the story of a young woman searching for her true path amidst a holiday season of decisions and discoveries and is based on an 1881 short story of the same name by American treasure, author and poet, the acclaimed Louisa May Alcott.

Disturbed by the financial strains her family has endured following the death of her father, 17-year-old Tilly (Tatiana Maslany, "Diary of the Dead"), a headstrong young woman with a keen intellect, writes a letter to her grandmother Isabella Caldwell (Bisset), whom she has never met. In fact, Tilly's mother Mary (H�l�ne Joy, "Murder in the Hamptons"), has rarely spoken of her. In the letter to Isabella, Tilly pretends to be Mary, and begs for financial assistance. Mary is soon shocked to come face-to-face with her estranged, high-society mother from New York. Isabella recounts the letter, which Mary immediately realizes has been written wholly out of Tilly's imagination and concern for the family.

The family reunion is far from ideal, as Mary has long resented the lack of love and moral support she received from her mother, and Isabella has not forgiven Mary for abandoning her life of privilege to marry her 'vagrant' husband years earlier.

In the midst of this family drama, Tilly is torn among love and duty to her mother and siblings, a deepening romance with her boyfriend Gad (Kristopher Turner), and the wonderfully textured life offered by her wealthy, wise grandmother. Perhaps Tilly won't have to choose. She can have it all.

"An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving" is a Muse Entertainment and Automatic Pictures production in association with WildRice Productions. Michael Prupas is the executive producer, Shelley Evans is the co-executive producer and Steve Solomos and Jesse Prupas are the producers. Graeme Campbell directed from a script by Shelley Evans, which was based on a short story by Louisa May Alcott.

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 85 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,450 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 Prime Time and Total Day household ratings and is the nation's leading network in providing quality family programming. Crown Media also operates a second 24-hour linear channel which plays the greatest family movies of all time, Hallmark Movie Channel, and launched Hallmark Movie Channel HD in April, 2008.