HALLMARK CHANNEL BEGINS PRODUCTION ON "KINGDOM COME," ORIGINAL MOVIE STARRING DEAN CAIN TO AIR IN 2009

Hallmark Channel is pleased to announce that production has begun on "Kingdom Come," a western-themed original movie set to air on the family-friendly network in mid 2009. The movie is being shot in Vancouver, Canada. Actor Dean Cain ("Final Approach") stars in the lead role.

In the Old West town of Brazos, con man Shea McCall (Cain) wins half a parcel of land over a game of poker, which he now shares with B.J. Stoker (James Tupper, "Samantha Who?") � known to everyone as a rough 'n' tough cowboy. The two begin a contentious relationship, one-upping the other over working the land, overseeing the workers, and winning the heart of B.J.'s current "lady friend," Liz Calhoun (Allison Hossack, "Reaper"). When outlaws ride into Brazos with plans to run everyone off the land and take over the town, Shea and B.J must put aside their differences and work together or risk losing everything they have.

"Kingdom Come" is a Hallmark Channel presentation of a Blueprint Entertainment/Randolph Films production. Ira Pincus ("Till Death Do Us Part"), John Morayniss ("Best Years"), Noreen Halpern ("Whistler") and Gary Hoffman ("Thanksgiving Family Reunion") are the executive producers. Randy Cheveldave ("Ace of Hearts") is the producer; Anne Wheeler ("Mom, Dad and Her") will direct from a script written by Neal and Tippi Dobrofsky ("Flinch").

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 5,450 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 which plays the greatest family movies of all time, Hallmark Movie Channel, and launched Hallmark Movie Channel HD in April, 2008.