• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, October 4, 2023

The new Canadian-made drama “Sullivan’s Crossing” comes to The CW this week dripping with unabashed sentimentality.

You got a problem with that? Many people do these days. They have little tolerance for gentle homecoming dramas like “Sullivan’s Crossing.”

But as I often say in these TV Blogs, a little sentiment can come like blue skies after a stormy night compared with the sadness and fatalism that characterizes so many of our hangdog dramas and cynical comedies these days,

I will admit, however, that “Sullivan’s Crossing” lays on the sentiment as thickly as peanut butter in a Skippy commercial.

The central character in this “Sullivan” show is a young woman named Maggie Sullivan (played by Morgan Kohan, pictured above).

She’s a hard-charging neurosurgeon earning notoriety for her doctoring talents in the heady world of Boston medicine.

But after a legal misfortune upends her career, Sullivan’s travels take her to her picturesque hometown in Nova Scotia, where the residents include her estranged father, known locally as Sully (played by one-time “Gilmore Girls” star Scott Patterson).

The title of the show refers to the Sullivans’ long-time family business, Sullivan’s Crossing -- a down-home, family-oriented summer camp and rustic resort set amid majestic pines, and bordering a sparkling northern lake.

Maggie grew up there, and in Episode One, we see her trying to readjust to the old homestead as she reunites with old friends.

It’s the stuff of a thousand Hallmark movies -- a young-ish (or middle-aged) woman decides to leave big-city life following a life-changing event, and decides to move back to the wholesome, close-knit community where she spent her formative years.

Before long, she becomes intrigued by the local hunk and after a period of hesitation, gradually warms to his attention.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. In Episode One, Maggie does indeed meet an intriguing local man named Cal Jones, played by one-time “One Tree Hill” heartthrob Chad Michael Murray. 

Cal is not exactly silent, but he treads carefully and politely in his initial encounters with Maggie, who remains aloof.

She also won’t confide in an old friend who asks her tenderly why she left Boston and her high-flying career.

The friend could have found out anyway. The scandal that enveloped Maggie was widely reported in Boston local media.

Will Maggie leave her Boston past behind and find solace and love close to home? To find out, watch any Hallmark movie.

“Sullivan’s Crossing” premieres Wednesday night at 8 Eastern on The CW.