Chippings

They did, to their credit, last year have as a lead Alyson Stroker, previously Ado Annie in that very odd revival of 'Oklahoma', who is in a wheelchair. I didn't watch the entire thing, but don't recall that they mentioned it. Just sayin' (Not here to defend the many odd limitations they have, but they did use an actually disabled person as a heroine. Just the one)

Well, Y E S . As a former costume designer, in the teeny-tiniest way, I can say that the designer surely looked at images of the period and decided to do this one nearly exactly. I imagine she/he would be very pleased to see that somebody appreciated that.

Ditto that Makes no sense at all The main thought I had during the episode was how much I can't stand either Mr Russell or Mrs. Russell - both despicable, if really fond of each other. Did enjoy the Chef story, though. Can't wait to see how else y'all take this thing apart and examine all its elements !!

I don't know the specifics in Memphis' state, but I did hear the lawyer say that Hamza would have to be allowed to have a lawyer of his own review a pre-nup or a post-nup with him, and be positive that he understood its terms. They'd have to meet without Memphis being present. And, I guess, with an interpreter unless the lawyer happened to speak his language. Also not knowing about her state, but I expect it's pretty universal that any assets you bring into a marriage are, and remain, separate property if you keep them noted as such and don't mingle them. Thus her "savings" would still be hers. Any earnings of either after marriage are community property, in a community property state, but there may be ways she could fiddle that. My bosses used to say (when I worked in a law office for a lot of years) "Remember you're not a lawyer." So there's that. But I'm pretty sure about the prior-to-marriage assets.

It's almost surprising to see Samantha Bond in a Hallmark movie, isn't it, given her awesome resume' - but I guess even for her, if you have a chance to spend a few weeks working at a nice location, you do it Noticed in the resume' they provide on the show's page, they don't mention that a couple of years ago she played the Queen in Hallmark's 'One Royal Winter' which was on last weekend. She did a lot of nagging and complaining in that one too, but got nice at the end.

Santino Fontana has a really heavy Broadway bio, I just went and looked at it. He was the Prince in the 'Cinderella' several years ago, along with Laura Osnes and Victoria Clark (the two of them being reunited in "One Royal Holiday" a couple of years ago on Hallmark). Fontana was also the original lead in "Tootsie." Amazing he has time to do a Hallmark movie, but evidently he isn't in a show right now. The Broadway guys are always my favorite Hallmark leads, when they have the time to do them.

Yes, that whole Entry space as presented in the bare house was problematic. It seemed to me (after some thought) that to welcome visitors as they walk in, with the first view of your home being all your family's coats &c on hooks, is kind of odd. But also looking at some art piece isn't practical. It would seem that when company walks in, you say "Let me take your coat.." and have someplace to put it. So - wouldn't you most sensibly put a closet there ?? So people aren't gazing at your coats and umbrellas, and you can take theirs. (I assume they have winters where people wear coats in Charleston.) Around here we have always called it "the front hall closet". This house didn't have one and I don't think anybody gave it one. That said, seconding the notion that Egypt and Mike have a huge lead right now, having connected the garage to the house.

I know this is old news, but it occurs to me with every catfish episode. Dr Phil presses the point "This person does not exist" .. But (and I think I've even posted this before) there was actually a person with a keyboard typing in all those messages, including the copied lines from the love poem, and of course all the anecdotes about the construction site and that -- some actual person was typing, answering her remarks, etc. So there is a person whom she is going to miss when and if she blocks him for good. I wish Dr Phil, the psychologist, would recognize that there is a person who does exist with whom she was communicating. It wasn't all just smoke and mirrors and images from the internet. I wonder maybe if you were lonely enough, even after you learned the truth you might put some value on an utterly amoral scammer who was, nonetheless, taking the time to sit and type out conversations with you. An utterly immoral scammer who says nice stuff is still another human being. Hmm.

Is it too obvious to guess that when Bertha Russell says she isn't looking for *Just* a New Yorker with lots of money and a big house, but something better -- that she's aiming for an impecunious, feckless English duke or earl? This seems the period they were shipping their girls over to England for just that purpose. I'll be surprised if she has anything else in mind, but could be wrong Maybe it's just me (probably) but when the Downstairs people go out and have their four-minute drama outside the main houses, in this case the unfortunate lady with the horrible mother, I entirely have no idea which house they're from and why it matters. And for my final random thought, a viewer above mentioned how the Russell maid who tried to seduce Mr. Russell really had no motivation for her attitude or general unpleasantness. I was reminded of Downton Abbey, though, where the actor who played Thomas Barrow, the constantly disgruntled footman &c was asked what was the reason for his character's really bad attitude, and he said he had no idea -- and that he'd asked Julian Fellowes and got no answer.

The listings don't show a song from "Moulin Rouge" today, so that must have been a pretty last-minute addition. Happen to be a huge Aaron Trveit admirer, and it was great to see him singing this. Just wish I'd known ahead. Yes, the feet thing was unnecessary and kinda gross. But seeing both Ariana deBose and Aaron Tveit (also from 'Schmigadoon') made my day anyhow.

This is NOT off-topic, I think. In the Super Bowl, did I just see a Kia commercial with a Hallmark hero in it at the very end? I think it was Sam Page, but could be wrong. (The one with the automated doggie trying to follow the electric Kia.) If it wasn't Sam Page I'm still pretty sure it was another Hallmark hero. I just love to see actors working, it's a tough business.

Well, bankerchick, I can't say I watched the entire Wedding Veil Unveiled closely, but the scenery was lovely and the guy was very pleasant. A couple of side-stories, tracking down an old mystery -- a little bit different, and not a Pumpkin Festival in sight, so that was good. Worth a try.

The first Hallmark thing I remember CIndy Busby in was Royal Hearts, the one with Andrew Cooper (British, like him a lot), and James Brolin (who also directed) as her father, who had to his surprise inherited the "crown" of the usual tiny European country. It was fun and had good energy. A great number of her subsequent movies have been disappointing, but were lacking the script and James Brolin. I can see why she's not popular around here. Oh, and thank you for sorting out the various networks and sub-networks!

I hope somebody can sort this out. I hadn't seen any promos for Love in Action, the CIndy Busby thing, but this morning when I went to find a promo on line it said at the end "Only on W." And indeed I am pretty sure my Hallmark channels here (western U.S.) had the Lacey Chabert wedding veil movie last night, the Feb 5 they were promoting. Looked up "W" and it seems to be a Canadian entity. So I have to figure they're making some movies that they're showing first -- or only -- in Canada? So confused. (Not that I'm eager to see that Busby-Russell combo again.) Thanks to whoever has a handle on this "W" business !

We know it's standard procedure for Dr. Gates (and, actually, for anybody studying up a row of ancestors) to stop and study the interesting stories. He took a very long and sketchy path to the 11th great-grandfather. (How sure are they of the lineage through the 7th, 8th and 9th generations??) But because there was a vivid and shocking story at the 11th great-grandfather he of course focused on that and, as usual, wanted Mario Lopez to have a very personal connection with the usual "how do you feel about.." question. He really needs to remember, and let his guests know in these cases, the basic math of this. I keep a chart at my desk showing the contribution that each generation of grandparents has in our makeup. We each have four grandparents, so that's one quarter; the numbers grow quickly, and an 11th great-grandparent has contributed 1/8,192nd of our DNA / our selves. At that same level for Mr. Lopez there were 8,181 other people contributing. (Or fewer, I know, because of intermarrying &c) I wish Dr. Gates would acknowledge this just once in a while.

I'm really appreciating the discussions here, and they're helping me digest all the input from Episodes 1 and 2. At the end of 2, actually, without the coaching, I was thinking "These people are horrible and, beautiful costumes aside, I really don't want to watch them irrationally stomp on the people they want to accept them." I'll give it another try, though. Using, maybe, 21st century logic about one part, I had this thought about the truncated 3-day charity bazaar -- When the Russells burst in, he asked somebody "How much do you expect to make from this 3-day event?" and she said something like $300 (??) or so -- Maybe I remembered the figure incorrectly? So he went around forcing hundred dollar bills on everybody - which someone above has kindly calculated at so much more in current money. And they seemed to take that because it meant more money for the Deserving Poor. My immediate thought was, would they not have said to him, "No thanks, we think we'll just go on for the three days and make what we usually do" -- and if the difference in money made a real difference to them, aren't they are all rich enough to make it up themselves? Why did they let him shut the whole thing down after a couple of hours, spoil their pleasure of hanging out together, &c ? It seemed very odd but maybe I don't think like a person born ca 1850 with Rich Person New York values. The second thing that's interesting me -- the back story on Marion's friend from Brooklyn (sorry, her name is eluding me). I was interested that the quite nice restaurant where she met her mother was entirely patronized by African-Americans, and men at that. I read somewhere that there was a nicely prosperous community of "Colored" people in Brooklyn in these years, living the kind of lives illustrated by the restaurant - and saying "Why would we even bother to go over to Manhattan where all that other mess is going on." I hope we hear much more about that.

The lead guy (Corey Cott) was adorable, actually, and I did look him up. He has some excellent stage credit, including following Jeremy Jordan in the lead of 'Newsies' on Broadway. The story and lead girl aside, they did meet my criterion of new faces -- Have to admit I probably only watched only 35% of it, and missed the beginning, and I certainly see the points (above) about the story being really lame. But, they tried. No pumpkin festival or high school boyfriend, and Corey Cott is a great find. If they can get him again for a better story (as they got Jeremy Jordan twice that I remember) I wouldn't mind at all.

In regard to the Catfish UK episode that ended with it being a Nigerian scammer, I was shocked (Shocked, I tell you!!) to see that the hosts were so Shocked (Shocked!!) that it was. It was exactly the situation that Dr Phil uncovers every month or so and we all see it coming a mile away. From what we've learned from Dr Phil, it won't do a bit of good bringing in law enforcement, because none of them has been caught yet (or I don't think so). You'd think someone on the U.S. side of the production would have been aware of what's known about this little Nigerian industry.

I absolutely did like them in Christmas Waltz, and him again in Royal Matchmaker, which I think was his first Hallmark movie. He strikes me as another Hugh Jackman type (I think they were even in one movie together). btw, I'm not one who is bothered at all by Bethany Joy Lenz, because of having watched her for a long time in 'Guiding Light' -- the spunky Michelle Bauer, who married Danny Santos. She is fine with me in anything.

I had only seen Nazneen Contractor in A Winter Getaway last year, and she (that is, her character) was charming. Also liked Brooks Darnell in that - another new face, and he was really endearing. Haven't watched the wine thing yet and may not because I'm kind of tired of seeing Brennan Elliot find true love for the 110th time. (Nice man, I am sure.) My point, I guess, is that it is nice to see new faces who do a good job and have some good chemistry. It is, I know, too much to ask to avoid the last-20-minutes-misunderstanding. But, fresh actors, people ??

I so totally agree with this one, too. :-)

Also, in my mind, Autumn Reeser is still living happily with Jesse Metcalfe from 'Country Wedding', and Lacey Chabert is with Will Kemp making chocolate in Brussels ('Love, Romance and Chocolate') -- Some pairings just work and stick in my mind, and those really did. Do y'all remember other pairings that seemed particularly legit?

Posted this note on the Hallmark site earlier, but now am in the right place The first movie I'm seeing since finding the GAC channel on my cable is Royally Wrapped for Christmas. It has Jen Lilley, which is not exciting, and Brendan Fehr, whom I liked a lot in A Christmas Kiss. He's playing a very standard buttoned-up prince (actually the most subdued "prince" I've ever seen), and employing the generic European Royal English accent. It's a situation not unlike what I've seen Warren Christie in -- he can do a character with good energy and be very winning, but there's not much that can be done with a limpid one, and so disappointing to watch. This is one pallid story, really a snooze. Nice palace, though. But, there must be some dicey political situation in that country, because it's the only "royal palace" I've seen lately with guards actually standing there all day inside the place.

Thank you !! I've found it, and I'm over there as we speak.

Needing some direction here -- I just discovered where the new GAC movies are on my cable system, and have one up now. Where are they being discussed, does anybody know ?? The first movie I'm seeing has Jen Lilley, which is not exciting, and Brendan Fehr, whom I liked a lot in A Christmas Kiss. He's playing a very standard buttoned-up prince, and employing the generic European Royal English accent. It's a situation not unlike what I've seen Warren Christie in -- he can do a character with good energy and be very winning, but there's not much that can be done with a limpid one, and so disappointing to watch. Yes and yes. I liked everything about A Timeless Christmas, and enjoyed Ryan Paevey more than in any other role so far. Maybe it's that "character with energy" thing that I mentioned a minute ago.