First Look: Lifetime’s "Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow"

From Monsters & Critics

A real treat for families is coming this Thanksgiving thanks to Lifetime and the Jim Henson company. Daughter Lisa Henson is producing with Kirk Thatcher directing an original script by the late Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl. Lifetime’s special film stars Academy Award and Golden Globe-winner Mary Steenburgen, Jay Harrington and Grammy and SAG-winner Chris “Ludacris” Bridges (Fast & Furious).

 “As we all know, Jim Henson was a one-of-a-kind visionary whose works have entertained and sparked the imagination of millions of people across the globe for generations,” said Tanya Lopez, SVP, Original Movies, A+E Networks.

The story unfolds with Ludacris guiding us to meet the Emmerson family, and a recently divorced father Ron (Harrington) and his kids Tim (Graham Verchere) and Annie (Genevieve Buechner), as they head to bucolic Turkey Hollow to spend a rustic Thanksgiving at the farm of Ron’s eccentric Aunt Cly (Steenburgen).

Eccentric Aunt Cly lives her simple, happy life off the grid on her all natural produce farm in Turkey Hollow just on the outskirts of the town’s mystical forest. A feisty, outspoken, modern day hippie, Aunt Cly is more comfortable around her livestock than humans, but welcomes her nephew, Ron Emmerson and his kids Tim and Annie, with slightly open arms. Aunt Cly is one with nature and understands what the mystical forest of Turkey Hollow has to offer and protects its majesty from unwanted intruders.

Newly single father and textbook workaholic Ron Emmerson has the best intentions at heart when he takes his kids Annie and Tim to visit his Aunt Cly for Thanksgiving, where he spent his holidays as a child. More comfortable in a busy office than in the great outdoors, Ron is hesitant to believe the mystical tale of the “Howling Hoodoo” monster that lives in the forest of Turkey Hollow. But after an adventure to save his children through the mystical forest, Ron is surprised by what it has to offer.

But there’s a hitch for the kids! No Internet. How did we live before technology and smartphones? Annie Emmerson, 16, is described as temperamental and cynical, a typical teenager. Not looking forward to spending her Thanksgiving away from her friends, she’s even more devastated to discover there is no signal at her Aunt Cly’s house in Turkey Hollow.

Something else is occupying people’s thoughts: Tim and Annie soon find themselves swept up in tracking the “Howling Hoodoo,” an elusive monster that, up until now, Turkey Hollow residents have long dismissed as mere legend.

Meet the musical monsters of Turkey Hollow, Burble, Squonk, Thwring and Zorp, live in the forest just outside of Aunt Cly’s farm. Though they don’t do much talking, they love to sing and feast on rocks of all shapes and sizes. Always up for a nice belly or head rub, they will swing into action to protect those they love at a moment’s notice. The Thanksgiving holiday threatens to take a bleak turn when a scheming neighbor blames Aunt Cly for the loss of his turkeys, but the fractured family teams up with some surprising new friends to save the day. Ludacris appears as an on-screen narrator in the film.