CYBILL SHEPHERD STARS IN "MRS. WASHINGTON GOES TO SMITH," AN ORIGINAL MOVIE WHICH HAS COMPLETED PRODUCTION FOR AIR ON HALLMARK CHANNEL IN 2009

Cybill Shepherd ("The L Word," "Cybill") stars in "Mrs. Washington Goes to Smith," an original movie about a fortysomething woman who returns to Smith College to finish her interrupted education and in the process befriends her troubled young roommate and also ends up in an unexpected but off-limits romance.

The movie has completed production and will air on Hallmark Channel in August 2009.

Alice Washington (Shepherd), a recent divorcee and mother of two adult children, arrives at Smith College as an "Ada Comstock Scholar," a group of women of various ages who didn't finish their college educations and are now back to complete their degrees. College takes some getting used to for Alice who looks and feels a little out of place, showing up at her dorm's first social in a designer dress and high heels. And due to a mix-up in room assignments, Alice gets a surprise roommate: Zoe Burns (Corri English, "The Bedford Diaries"), a 20-year-old transfer student who rides a Vespa and is constantly changing the color of her spiky hair. Neither one is impressed with the other.

But before long Alice starts to feel at home at Smith and is enjoying her classes, especially one taught by her and Zoe's English teacher, Professor O'Neill (Jeffrey Nordling, "24," "Once & Again"). After both Alice and Zoe face some obstacles, both let down their guard and find they have much to learn and offer one another.

"Mrs. Washington Goes to Smith" is being produced by Grossbart Productions in association with Silver Screen Pictures. Jack Grossbart ("Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy," "Personally Yours") and Linda Kent ("Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy") are the executive producers; Kyle Clark and Marta M. Mobley are the producers. Armand Mastroianni ("A Gunfighter's Pledge") directed from a script written by Susan Rice ("A Match Made in Heaven").

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 86 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 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, Hallmark Movie Channel.