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Date: 10/4/2022
GRANBY – During the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and adjusting to at-home orders, many found more time than ever to sit down and find a new TV show to binge. Local resident Nita Abbott found what became her favorite show and a future focus for a cookbook.
When scrolling through Netflix, Abbott discovered the hit Canadian show “Heartland,” a family comedy-drama series which has been on for 16 seasons and is based on the book series by the same title. The show follows a family who lives in the fictional town of Hudson, Alberta.
Abbott loved the show, its characters and its heart which eventually led her to start a Facebook group for fans of the show called Keep Heartland Strong. The page grew to over 50,000 followers, connecting Abbot with so many different people who are fans of the show. The page shares news updates from the show and is a place to post photos and other posts about thoughts on the show.
Following the growth of connection with fans of the show on one social media platform, she tried her hand with a YouTube channel under the same name, which has now gathered just over 5,200 subscribers. Abbott uses the video platform to do commentary videos on episodes and interviews with cast and creators from the show, something that she was able to set up after growing the fanbase audience through social media.
After meeting and eventually interviewing show producer and creator Michael Weinberg, Abbott was able to form a friendship with the person who was behind the creation of her new favorite show. Earlier this spring, Abbott threw the idea out to Weinberg for a cookbook based on the show.
Abbott thought the idea for a cookbook would be great for fans and a way to introduce others to the show if they come across the book.
“If you’re a super fan like me, it’s fun anyway. I love being involved with the show,” Abbott said. “It’s totally a comfort show.”
Abbott described the show as a “good clean family show which is interesting” and said while it may contain some more mature story lines, children are able to still watch with their families and enjoy the entertainment.
She added that she has received many messages and posts from people online who have seen the show saying it helped save their lives and helped with grieving after relating to storylines on the show.
“It’s that kind of show, you watch it, and you feel better. I had COVID [-19] back in January and I actually literally felt better after watching it,” Abbott said. “I do not feel that way with anything. I look at other shows on Netflix and it’s like Jeffery Dahmer. Seriously? I feel sick seeing it. It’s all about morbid fascination and exploiting that and this [Heartland] is not like that at all, it’s so different.”
The themes of family and nature from the show relate to Abbott and many fans of the show. She hopes people continue to find and connect with the show and hopefully afterwards check out the cookbook and some of the meals straight from the show.
“It’s rural lifestyle [in the show], it’s not shown on TV at all. There’s a huge demographic of people not portrayed on any shows,” Abbott said.
Anyone interested in buying The Unofficial Heartland Cookbook by Nita Abbott and Mike Hurley can find it on Amazon by searching for the title.