The Good Witch

The Good Witch
Written by	Rod Spence
Directed by	Craig Pryce
Starring	Catherine Bell Chris Potter
Country of origin	United States Canada
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Orly Adelson Ian McDougal Frank Siracusa
Editor(s)	George Roulston
Running time	89 minutes
Release
Original network	Hallmark Channel
Original release	January 19, 2008 (2008-01-19)
Chronology
Followed by	The Good Witch's Garden

The Good Witch is a television film that aired on the Hallmark Channel on January 19, 2008. It starred Catherine Bell as Cassandra Nightingale and Chris Potter as Chief of Police Jake Russell. The film has spawned six sequels and a television series.

Plot

A mysterious, darkly beautiful woman named Cassandra Nightingale moves into an old, abandoned house which is reputed to be haunted by its original owner, "The Grey Lady". The small community is divided in their opinion of her: some want her to stay (especially widowed police chief Jake Russell and his two children), while others want her to leave especially Martha Tinsdale. Through the course of the story, seemingly magical things happen, and the community attributes these occurrences to her. Everyone begins to wonder if she is really a witch.

Cast

• Catherine Bell as Cassandra Nightingale / (Cassandra's real name: Sue-Ellen Brock)
• Chris Potter as Chief of Police Jake Russell
• Matthew Knight as Brandon Russell
• Hannah Endicott-Douglas as Lori Russell
• Nathan McLeod as Michael
• Jesse Bostick as Kyle
• Paula Boudrea as Nancy
• Noah Cappe as Deputy Derek Sanders
• Catherine Disher as Martha Tinsdale
• Peter MacNeill as George

Promotion

On January 15, 2008, Hallmark Channel and Limbo, the mobile entertainment community, teamed up to create and launch the cable network's first-ever mobile interactive initiative. The campaign "enhanced viewers' experience of the premiere of the network's original movie ... through 'Limbo Unique' – a game played via cell phone or online". The grand prize was $2,000 and a portrait of the "Grey Lady" that was featured in the movie.^[1]

Production

Although set in "Middleton, USA" it was filmed in Hamilton and Niagara on the Lake, Ontario. In the sequel, The Good Witch's Charm, the map on the wall in the police station shows Middleton north and west of Chicago, in the vicinity of DuPage County. The names of the suburbs and interstates that are west of Chicago can be clearly seen.

Reception

The movie had great success on Hallmark Channel on the night of its premiere, making it the second-highest-rated original movie to that date. It premiered with a 3.8 HH (household) rating and was in nearly 3.2 million homes.^[2] It also was #1 in its time period, propelling the channel to the #4 spot in weekly ranking.^[3]

Home media

The Good Witch (Region 1) DVD was released on January 5, 2010.

The Good Witch Collection (Region 1) DVD was released October 14, 2014.^[4]

Sequels

On February 7, 2009, the Hallmark Channel aired a sequel, The Good Witch's Garden.^[5][6] The third installment, The Good Witch's Gift,^[7] aired on November 13, 2010, on Hallmark. The fourth installment, The Good Witch's Family, aired on October 29, 2011. The fifth installment The Good Witch's Charm premiered on October 27, 2012. The Good Witch's Destiny sixth installment premiered on October 26, 2013. A seventh installment, The Good Witch's Wonder, aired October 25, 2014.^[8]

Television series

In February 2014, the Hallmark Channel announced that Good Witch had been green-lighted for a ten-episode series, starring Catherine Bell, to premiere on February 28, 2015.^[9][10] Production for the first season began on October 29, 2014, in Toronto,^[11] with Sue Tenney as showrunner. Bailee Madison and James Denton also star.^[11][12]

Characters

• A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film.

References

External links

• The Good Witch at Hallmark Channel
• The Good Witch Movies on Hallmark Channel
• The Good Witch at the Internet Movie Database