GOING FOR THE GOURD

SHANNEN DOHERTY STARS IN THE MOVIE ABOUT HARVESTING LIFE'S BIGGEST GIFTS FROM THE TINIEST SEEDS IN 'GROWING THE BIG ONE' A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE WORLD PREMIERE, OCTOBER 23

Shannen Doherty ("Beverly Hills 90210," "Charmed") and co-star Kavan Smith ("Stargate: Atlantis") star in the film about a mismatched pair who start out trying to grow the world's biggest pumpkin and end up cultivating something much more evergreen in "Growing the Big One," a Hallmark Channel Original Movie World Premiere, Saturday, October 23 (9 p.m. ET/PT, 8C). "Growing the Big One" is the first film to be harvested in the network's three-month countdown to the holidays, making Hallmark Channel the biggest holiday destination in television.

Radio DJ Emma Silver (Doherty) leads a chic city life in Seattle until she finds out her beloved grandfather has died. Traveling to his farm in quaint Valleyville, Washington to take care of the details, she is stunned to learn her grandfather has left her his farm, along with a sizable amount of debt. To keep the bank from foreclosing, Emma must find a way to raise the money, or face seeing her grandfather's precious land end up as a parking lot. Following her grandfather's famed legacy, Emma decides to enter Valleyville's annual pumpkin growing contest with his prized seeds and grow the world-record biggest gourd. If she can win the grand prize of $50,000, she can save the farm.

But farming isn't Emma's forte, and she soon realizes she has traded in the glamorous city lights to find herself knee-deep in manure. The pressure to win is even greater when the vicious new radio station manager, Kate (Sarah-Jane Redmond, "Smallville"), revamps Emma's show to include complete coverage from the pumpkin patch. Then, Emma's annoying neighbor, Seth (Smith), cons Emma into becoming partners to get a share of the prize money. But as the two spend the summer nurturing their pumpkin plants, they grow closer and a romance develops. Finally feeling at home, Emma begins to carve out a simpler life in the country, but her relationship with Seth is threatened when her radio show becomes a hit and she gets a job offer in New York. Will Emma be able to grow the biggest pumpkin and win the money to save her grandfather's farm, or is the greatest prize one she just can't put a price on?

"Growing the Big One" is a GBO Films, Inc. production. Ted Bauman, Howard Braunstein, Jane Goldenring and Howard Meltzer are the executive producers. Randolph Cheveldave is the producer. Mark Griffiths directed from a script by Diane Mettler and Anna Sandor.

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 available in high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) to a national audience of 90 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 is the nation's leading network in providing quality family programming with an ambitious slate of original TV movies, general entertainment and home and lifestyle content. Hallmark Channel's sibling network is Hallmark Movie Channel, also available in HD and SD, which focuses on the family-friendly movies with a mix of classic theatrical films, presentations from the acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame library, original Hallmark Channel movies and special events.