Road to Avonlea

Road to Avonlea
Season two opening title
Created by	Kevin Sullivan
Starring	Sarah Polley Jackie Burroughs Lally Cadeau Cedric Smith Gema Zamprogna Zachary Bennett Mag Ruffman
Country of origin	Canada
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	91, plus a TV movie (An Avonlea Christmas) (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	45 minutes
Release
Original network	CBC Television The Disney Channel
Original release	January 7, 1990 (1990-01-07) – March 31, 1996 (1996-03-31)
External links
Website

Road to Avonlea is a Canadian television series first broadcast in Canada between January 7, 1990, and March 31, 1996, and in the United States starting on March 5, 1990. It was created by Kevin Sullivan and produced by Sullivan Films (later Sullivan Entertainment) in association with CBC and the Disney Channel, with additional funding from Telefilm Canada. The Disney Channel began airing the series in the United States on March 5, 1990, and continued airing it into January 1997.

The series was loosely adapted from a number of books by Lucy Maud Montgomery, primarily (at least initially) the books The Story Girl and The Golden Road, both of which feature the character of Sara Stanley, as well as the characters of Felicity, Felix, and Cecily. However, these books, while set in Prince Edward Island, were not set in the village of Avonlea, and a number of the series' episodes and situations were adapted from stories recounted in Montgomery's Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea.

Other characters are sourced from other Montgomery works. The frequently seen characters of Rachel Lynde and Marilla Cuthbert were only briefly mentioned in passing in Chronicles of Avonlea—instead, they initially appeared as full-fledged characters in Montgomery's debut novel Anne of Green Gables. (These characters had also previously been featured in Sullivan's 1985 television adaptation of the novel. They were here played by the same actors, Patricia Hamilton and Colleen Dewhurst, who played the characters in the telefilm.) Finally, the characters of Davy and Dora were originally from Anne Of Avonlea, a sequel to Anne Of Green Gables.

Later episodes in particular included many leading characters that had no direct basis in Montgomery's written work. As well, Montgomery's most famous character, Anne Shirley (i.e., Anne of Green Gables herself) never appeared on Road To Avonlea, although she was referred to on very few occasions.