Growing up, my family had favorite sitcoms to watch. We loved Perfect Strangers, Full House, and The Cosby Show. Later I learned that Todd loved Hogan's Heros and Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. As a girl I could not get enough of the Dick Van Dyke Show or The Brady Bunch re-runs.
But, my ultimate, all-time favorite series to watch? Road to Avonlea, created by Canadian Kevin Sullivan and appearing on the Disney Channel in the 1990s. The 45-minute episodes are about a farming family called the Kings, growing up in the early 1900s on Prince Edward Island, in Canada. The series lasted for seven seasons, so viewers truly got to see the children grow up on the screen. Avonlea is based on the book The Story Girl by Lucy Maud Montgomery, who also wrote the Anne of Green Gables books. The director, Kevin Sullivan, had created a beautiful mini-series of Anne of Green Gables in the 1980s, and used the same set and many of the same characters when he created Road To Avonlea. Most of the filming was done in Uxford and Toronto, but some footage was done actually on Prince Edward Island. When I visited Prince Edward Island in 2003, it was extremely exciting to me to find locations from both Anne of Green Gables and Road To Avonlea. My favorite? Having high tea at the White Sands Hotel (actually called Dalvay By The Sea) with my kindred spirit friends, Amy and Jess.
As mentioned above, Road to Avonlea was about the Kings: Alec and Janet ran the family farm and brought up Felicity, Felix, Cecily and Daniel. Next door lived Aunt Hetty (a school teacher) and Aunt Olivia (who wrote for the local newspaper and later married Jasper Dale). Hetty and Olivia raised their niece, Sara Stanley who was about the same age as cousins Felicity and Felix. Sara was "The Story Girl" because she told stories so well and knew so much about far away places. Sara had been raised by her rich father in Montreal, until she came to live with her deseased-mother's sisters on Prince Edward Island. In addition to Alec, Hetty, and Olivia, there was another brother, Roger who only appears on a few episodes because he is a busy geologist in South America. His son, Andrew appears in the first few seasons of the show while he is living with the King family too. Of course, we get to know many other townspeople through the King family. I appreciated how Kevin Sullivan always had the episodes have a connection with the Kings. We don't ever watch an entire episode about some other family without it connecting to the Kings somehow. There is an eccentric woman living in the woods that the children call The Witch of Avonlea. There is a Scottish hotel owner at the White Sands Hotel who mentors Felix King. A very gruff former soldier named Clive Pettibone moves to Avonlea to teach school when Hetty quits teaching to write novels. Mr. Pettibone has children of his own who provide new friendships for the Kings. We get re-acquainted with Muriel Stacy, Marilla Cuthbert, and Rachel Lynde (from Anne of Green Gables) who play major roles in Road To Avonlea. Marilla Cuthbert even tries her hand at raising two more orphan children (Davy and Dora) who provide some wonderful childhood story lines again once the original King children have grown.
As a girl, I usually watched Road to Avonlea in the living room each Monday night. Sometimes my brother David would watch them with me and often Mom would peek around the corner of the kitchen while doing the dishes and follow the story line that way. I was about the same age as Felicity King and David was about the same age as Felix King. So, stories about Felix were always David's favorite. David's wife, Julia grew up watching Road to Avonlea in Montana and she now appreciates that David is familiar with the storylines. I loved all the old fashions, the ways the homes were decorated, the old-fashioned one-room school house, and the innocent fun the children had growing up on such a beautiful island. The red dirt roads and high cliffs over the water always fascinated me.
Although, I originally watched the series off the TV, I now have the DVDS and have watched the episodes numerous times. My husband and I have watched all seven seasons twice now (in our 4 1/2 years of marriage). Todd likes the show partly because of all the great old farm machinery and antique tools used during the show. He opens my eyes to a lot of details I had never noticed before. As a girl, I related most to Felicity. But, now as a married gal, I relate most to Oliva. Todd and I joke around that he and I are like Jasper and Olivia because Jasper is sort of a fix-it guy who is resourceful and kind, but doesn't like to talk in front of people. Olivia is a dark-haired writer who is quite emotional (both when happy and sad) and she loves her husband like crazy. We can relate.
I think part of what makes Road to Avonlea such an excellent show is that viewers can relate to the characters. There are so many characters that Kevin Sullivan truly develops in these seven seasons. Alec King is not only a farmer, but a leader in the community. He's a father and a husband who is often the peace-maker in the famiy. He is a man of integrity who reaches out to others with his kindness and wisdom. His wife, Janet is a dedicated mother who has spunk and wisdom of her own. She stands up for what is right (including trying to help women get the right to vote). Janet has the daunting task of dealing with her difficult sister-in-law, Hetty. Hetty is the eldest and the leader of the King clan and she lets everyone know it. When I first watched Avonlea episodes with my friend Angie, she could not believe I liked the show because of how awful Hetty acts toward others. I agree that Hetty has some unacceptable behavior, but if you stick with her, you soften to her. She loves her family, her town, her island, and her job. She just doesn't always know how to show it. And, Hetty learns lessons. She is teachable. She is an important character. Hetty's sister, Olivia is now my favorite character, as mentioned above. In the early episodes, she gets pushed around a lot by Hetty. She sort of finds herself in the early episodes and has to defy Hetty at times to do that.
When Kevin Sullivan began Road To Avonlea, I think he was planning Sara Stanley to be the main female character. She is a very important character, but before long it is obvious that Felicity King is going to develop into the leading role. Sara is a peace-maker and a story-teller, but the personality that bursts open on the screen is Felicity because of her growth as a person. She goes from a spoiled, selfish, egotistical young girl to a beautiful, elegant, kind-hearted woman. She goes from wanting to be a beautiful princess (as most young girls do), to a mom (with dozens of kids), to a school teacher (because all the top students go to teacher's college), to a doctor (she loves the excitement of being one of the first women to attend medical school), to a manager of an orphanage (as she tries to find meaning for her life again after a great loss). And, then there is the romance in Felicity's life: David Hawes, Edward Ray, Gus Pike, Arthur Pettibone, Stewart McCrae...... great storylines!
Girly storylines not your favorite? Never fear! There are plenty of plots about Felix, Andrew, Gus or Davy to satisfy you. Felix King is an adorable little boy who struggles in school, is too competitive for his own good, gets extremely annoyed by his bossy older sister, and is full of schemes to earn more money! It seems he is always coming up with some new idea..... that simply gets him in trouble! He learns and grows and finds his way. He is very endearing. By the end, a viewer feels downright proud of him and how far he has come!
The other great thing Road to Avonlea has going for it is the excellent guest stars throughout the series. Michael York, Christopher Reeve, Peter Coyote, Christopher Lloyd, Treat Williams, and Robby Benson each do an excellent job when they guest star. The regular actors themselves are fabulous! In all the interviews I have seen, the actors felt happy on the set and felt like the cast created a second family for them.
I was sad when the series ended, but I feel just as sad knowing that Avonlea never existed. It was always a made-up town with made-up characters. The storyline was created from a novel written in 1911. It was a happy made-up place. Some people say to "go to your happy place" in your mind when you need to get away. When I need to get away, I think of Avonlea. I think of the white puffy clouds over the yellow wheat fields and the sound of the waves crashing against the high cliffs over the water. I think of canoes and lobster traps and red roads and horse-drawn buggies. I think of wild flowers and waving grass, trails in the woods, and a cool glass of lemonade. I know it's not real, but it is happy and it is peaceful and maybe it is real in my heart.
