A Dog Named Christmas

Plot

A tale of a young man with a learning disability, named Todd McCray (Noel Fisher) living with his parents in the rural midwest. The story takes place over a two-week period over the Christmas holidays when the local animal shelter launches an "Adopt a dog for Christmas" program. Todd's unconditional love for animals enables him to embark on an endeavour to ensure that as many dogs as possible get adopted by the local community.

One dog in particular has grabbed Todd's heart and through intermittent flashbacks, viewers slowly discover the reasons for his father's reluctance to fully support Todd's efforts.

Cast

Production

A Dog Named Christmas is the 237th presentation by Hallmark Hall of Fame, the long-running anthology program of American television films. It was based on a novel of the same name by Greg Kincaid, which was published in 2008. He wrote the story almost ten years prior for his wife, Michale Ann, and his five children, who ranged in age from 9 to 13. Kincaid said his family hated the original story, particularly because of the unhappy ending. Kincaid rewrote the story over the next year, with a new ending that his family liked better. He named a character in the story after each of his children.

The novel was fast-tracked into a film production in January 2009. During the film's original broadcast on CBS on November 29, 2009, the network sponsored a nationwide "Foster a Lonely Pet" program with Petfinder.com, an online database of adoptable pets, which included more than 2,000 shelters and animal-rescue groups across North America. After the end credits, a public service announcement was aired featuring Greg Kincaid describing the promotion.

Reception

In its original American broadcast on November 29, 2009, A Dog Named Christmas was seen by 18.7 million households, according to the Nielsen ratings. It was outperformed in the ratings by NBC's Sunday Night Football broadcast of the NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens, which drew 17.3 million households. It was also seen by fewer households than CBS's 60 Minutes at 14.3 million and ABC's Desperate Housewives at 12.6 million, but outperformed Fox's The Simpsons (9 million) and Family Guy (8.5 million).

Location

The movie was shot in the Southey and Earl Grey area, located in Saskatchewan, Canada.