JenMD

For those looking for older Christmas movies, they've been running them on Hallmark Family (formerly Hallmark Drama). Lots of movies that used to air very sporadically or were otherwise only available on the old app.

They definitely mentioned it being a Christmas in July movie before the movie. My sister and I figured someone hit a wrong button somewhere as none of the previews had mentioned it, plus it not being July. :-) re: Jodi Sweetin in tonight's movie - not exaggerating, I absolutely did not recognize her from the preview, just felt sorry for the new actress being subjected to such terrible, awful, no-good hair. Between that and the makeup, she's unrecognizable. New low bar has been set.

The writers envisioned a super fast ship (maybe some magic involved) that also comes with excellent healthcare? If not that, I got nothing. It's just all weird. I love the idea of them going to India at some point in the future, but as a way to get them off screen now it was just the wrong writing choice at this time, imo. And I still hate the idea that they missed Francesca's wedding with no mention of it, either.

I went in to this season with as open mind as possible but Luke Newton still does nothing for me as Colin, even with the glow up. I adore Nicola and probably care more about Penelope than I would otherwise. Together, they're just kind of there; I can't say I bought their whole romance as presented. One of those "different strokes" things. I mean, I'm happy they're happy, on to the next one. Penelope looked fabulous this season, lovely job by the hair and costume folks (although, her hair being down so much was giving me odd 1940s vibes, which I just read was intentional, so good job there). Lovely seeing Violet getting a new romance of her own, so cute to see her all flustered. And dancing! Got to throw some love to Cressida's hair and costumes because I LOVED them. Sure they were wackadoodle, but dang if her maid and Madam Delacroix don't deserve raises. I think my favorite was the red dress with her hair in round discs dripping in crystals. She was very Regency Barbie Goes To the Met Gala all season and I was here for it. I admit to being surprised that I felt bad for her; her home life is terrible. Sure, she's old enough to have to take responsibility for her bad decisions but I though the show did a pretty good job showing us her desperation. I'm actually interested to see how she comes back, cause you know she will. Regarding Daphne, the showrunner said in an article that the writers couldn't figure out how to mention her absence without it coming off sounding wonky so they decided to just not mention her. Not the most creative choice, imo. But then again, if I had a dollar for every time I wished a show included "just one sentence" to explain something, I'd have a lot of dollars. Speaking of questionable writing decisions: Anthony and Kate, admittedly my faves, got short shrift, again, imo. I know there were scheduling and production considerations, and it's "not their season", etc, however, I can't help but question the creativity, or lack thereof, in how the writers chose to deal with those challenges. I mean, I loved seeing them on screen and Simone and Jonny were fantastic, but Anthony missing his sister's wedding because he wanted to take his wife to India to give birth will never make sense to me. It's six months each way on a merchant ship, not two weeks on Royal Caribbean. Nice thing, I guess, about the epilogue being about a year in the future is they can, theoretically, be on their way home. I didn't want to quote the whole thing, but yes, all of this. Overall, I thought the season was beautiful, it just looks stunning, from the locations to the people. And there are so many people! It's really wild to me how many extras there are and they all get these elaborate outfits. Kudos to the show for that. And now we wait for more.

Same, they should have just shipped them off to Aubrey Hall, with Kate needing some rest or something, as an excuse to be missing. I realize it romantic fiction and nothing bad is going to happen, but aside from all perils a trip of that length would be for a pregnant woman, it's a baby, it's not going to remember anything from the trip! Why not take a family trip later when the child (or children) can appreciate it? And they can't stay, Anthony's the viscount, he has, dare I say it, duties. I was kind of surprised the writers remembered Benedict would have to sign off on things. Don't get me wrong, I loved every minute of Kate and Anthony on my screen, I just would have appreciated much more thoughtful writing. They wouldn't have had time to go to India and back, it was around a 6 month trip each way back then (which is why the idea that a visibly pregnant Kate will be in India before the baby comes is questionable at best). The writing wasn't terribly clear about Edwina except that she was in India with her new husband; whether she married him there or moved there after wasn't specified (or if they were just visiting). Writers are barely interested in Kate and Anthony as it is, no flashbacks for them.

Rob and Corey's Parade.com interview is up; they're so lovely. Corey confirms it was directions to the last task that did them in.

A Season for Miracles is my favorite Hallmark Hall of Fame movie (along with The Love Letter) so I'm beyond delighted it topped the list. Nice that Crown for Christmas got in there, too. A few others I enjoy, but I confess I don't remember a bunch of those. For those looking for it, A Season for Miracles is airing on Hallmark Drama next Saturday and also available on Peacock and Pluto. Agree in the like but not love for Haul out the Holly 2. The new family was annoyingly over the top. Kudos to the costume department as I coveted every one of Melissa Peterman's coats. Also, I did chuckle at Ellen Travolta giving brother Joey a shout out (I don't even know if the movie she mentioned was real or not, but I thought it was cute). The proposal was sweet. Even if I didn't love it, I did get a record 5 bingos on my Hallmark Bingo card, though. Hee!

Lovely article on Ashley Williams, Nikki DeLoach and Hallmark (and other) friends raising money for Alzheimer's.

Yes, Tom was hopeful that her attending the regatta back in S1 would put Sanditon on the map if the then Prince Regent and/or her other high society friends attended.

I don't know if I'd consider S1 Esther and Edward equally villainous, but then I really, really dislike his character. But even if we call them even in S1, the writers then doubled-down on Edward in S2 and he very nearly got Esther committed to an asylum after gaslighting and drugging her, at a time when she was at her most vulnerable, mourning the loss of a child and being told she'll never conceive. I'm having trouble seeing him as anything other than a vile human being. Had he been absent from S2, I might have bought a redemption this season; but after S2, he could save puppies and kittens and fair maidens galore, but I won't buy it. I so prefer they don't go there with Augusta. And if they do redeem Edward, what happens with his child with Clara, who is now being raised by Esther and Babington? I don't have strong feelings about Charlotte and Colbourne, but I did figure him for endgame as soon as the military guy from last season appeared the least bit shady. The actor playing Colbourne just doesn't do anything for me. Ralph seems perfectly nice, but I think there's zero chance he'll actually end up with Charlotte

Clara is baby George's mother. She left him in Esther's care in the S2 finale and went off in a carriage (not sure if we know where). Esther was overjoyed to become a mother and we're left to presume she and Babington are off screen being a happy family. As much as I disliked the route they took with Babington's absence in S2, Charlotte Spencer totally killed it as Esther. I haven't finished the ep yet (all my favorite characters are gone, although I am still enjoying it), but I wouldn't hate a shout out about Esther/Babington and Alison/Fraser at some point this season.

I can't believe this is the movie that brings me out of lurkdom. Oh Hallmark. Yes, indeed she did, which was as ridiculous as that giant facility being a bed & breakfast. Was it really so hard to call it an inn, at the very least? I mean, either way, hotels (of all sizes) more often than not have a non-refundable deposit and it would have already been charged by the time she checked in. The idea that at the end of her stay she's says "What do I owe you?" like she's buying a purse and didn't already have a method of payment on file was just silly and that's not even getting in to Mary giving her that stay for free for all her "help". Also, do they not get visitors from other states? Mary seemed awed that Chloe was from Miami. It was kind of odd. That was so incredibly dumb. I may have yelled at the tv. Had to wonder, did Mary work at that "B&B" all by herself? No other actual employees to offer help? And yes to all the other dumb stuff mentioned above. Lovely scenery, but so badly written.

They've done it on the Holiday version the last couple of seasons, but it's not usually done on the Spring version. They ended up with an extra baker, though, since they didn't do a double-elimination after they brought back Carolyn so I guess they figured they might as well make things "interesting". They could very well have chosen to just have 4 bakers in the finale. From Romy's IG stories it sounds like they really weren't expecting the mid-finale elimination. I almost feel like this season needs the "Hollywood True Story" treatment. So many weird things going on. I still want to know what was with those two random bakers they brought in for Ep 2.

Frank Blake is Irish, not Scottish.

Yeah, the editing on Romy's exit was so weird. I couldn't believe the lack of follow-up after the commercial, just Molly with her "stress" excuse. Ugh, what a disappointing end to a disappointing season.