The series was based on Catherine Marshall's 1967 bestselling novel Christy, which was inspired by the real-life experiences of the author's mother.

The week after the TV movie and series debuted, the original novel jumped from number 120 to number 15 on the USA Today bestseller list.

Executive producer Ken Wales used his life savings and mortgaged his home in order to buy the rights to produce the TV series.

Tyne Daly won an Emmy Award for her role as Alice Henderson on the series.

Critics were divided: the Washington Post's Tom Shales called the show humdrum and criticized the lead performances, while the New York Times' John J. O'Connor praised Kellie Martin as extraordinary and the Los Angeles Times called it highly appealing.

The pilot episode placed fifth in the weekly Nielsen ratings and prompted hundreds of letters from grateful viewers, but the show later struggled as CBS lost affiliates to Fox over NFL rights issues.

Each episode cost about $1.2 million to produce but generated only around $900,000 in advertising revenue, partly because it performed poorly with young urban viewers sought by advertisers, contributing to its cancellation.

In 2000, Pax TV produced three television movies continuing the story, but Kellie Martin did not return as Christy; Lauren Lee Smith took over the title role, while only five original cast members (Stewart Finlay-McLennan, Bruce McKinnon, Mike Hickman, Andy Stahl, and Dale Dickey) reprised their parts.