kirinan

I just saw Window Wonderland for the first time (it’s been on my DVR since 2020 and I need room, lol). Such a cute movie! I really enjoyed it, and of course, it just firmly cemented my love for Paul Campbell. I’m glad I finally got to see it.

I know the year is flying by, but this is just too soon, LOL. Hallmark’s January Movie Slate to Star Katherine McNamara, Erica Durance and More — See the Full Schedule

I don't watch the royal movies unless one of my favorites is in them, but I've already set the DVR for this Saturday's movie with Will Kemp, A Not So Royal Christmas. I liked A Merry Scottish Christmas a little better than you did, but Will was a breath of fresh air, wasn't he? I'm hoping for another movie with him and Lacey.

A Biltmore Christmas: Loved, loved, LOVED it. It was magical and romantic and everything I needed right now. I cried happy tears at the end. Did it have flaws? Perhaps; I wasn’t looking for them. Maybe in the morning I’ll remember them, but tonight, this is far and away my favorite Hallmark movie of the last few years.

I liked Haul Out the Holly 2...well enough, let's say. Did not like the Jolly Johnsons, who took away from the core cast, who were the reason I loved the first one. The bonkers-ness wasn't there this time. Might watch it again, might not. One I loved was Holiday Road. At the beginning I was a little iffy, thinking I'd never make it through two hours of the annoying influencer. But she got better, and I enjoyed her story as much as all the others, which was a lot. (Bonus: Warren Christie, who I like so much I even watched that awful CCB Dorothy/Kansas movie for him.) A definite keeper and re-watcher. I also caught the last hour of Letters to Santa and enjoyed it, so I DVR'd a future showing so I can see the whole thing. Tonight is the movie I've been looking forward to since I first heard about it this summer, A Biltmore Christmas (time travel, my favorite). Okay, universe, please let it be the best one so far!

Nothing to see here; accidental duplicate.

I don't usually watch Luke Macfarlane's movies—I like him well enough, but he just never seems like that good an actor to me. So I started watching Catch Me If You Claus only because I had my leg up on a pillow (achilles tendon pull) and I couldn't get to the remote to change the channel. Well, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this! He and Italia Ricci were so good together. It reminded me of a 1930s-1940s screwball comedy, which I love to watch, and I ended up laughing out loud a lot. Luke played kind of a sweet himbo who came into his own—and he played it well; comedy seems to be his forte IMO—while Italia was sharp and smart, but not bitchy, and she was also great. I now officially apologize to Luke for my previous dismissal of him. I would watch this again, too!

I'll sit through anything with Tyler Hynes, so I stuck it out. It was an odd movie. Two 35-year-old women whose emotional development was apparently perma-frozen in the middle of a squeal during high school. I didn't like either of their characters, especially the blonde girl, who seemed so combative with everyone for...what reason? I never really figured it out. Although I did think she had more chemistry with Tyler than Janell Parrish did. As far as Tyler, there are movies I liked him in more...but I thought he looked really good. I don't think the writing did the three leads any favors, and I doubt it's one I'll watch again.

I thought Lacey was the funniest part of the commercial. Especially since Haul Out the Holly, I've done such a big turn-around on my opinion of her. She has some good comic chops, and I'm glad she's using them. It makes her so much more likable and relatable for me.

This is tangentially related to Hallmark via Lacey Chabert: Mean Girls reunion Walmart commercial with Lacey Chabert

Well, it's here: the Official 2023 Hallmark Christmas Overload Schedule. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but hopefully there will be more good ones this year than in 2022 (IMO, of course).

An article about Hallmark's fall movies. I'm definitely all in for the Antonio Cupo/Sarah Drew one, but not sure about the others yet.

I know Haul Out the Holly wasn't everyone's cup of hot chocolate, <whispers> but to my surprise I really liked it a lot, so I'm kind of excited by this news. <end whisper>

Make room at the table for another one. Yeah, lots and lots of holes, but I did enjoy it. As a Detroit-area resident who has been to Windsor and Toronto many times over the years, I loved all the Canadian references. And I swear, there were times Paul Wesley's Kirk reminded me of Chris Pine's Kirk, and Chris Pine always makes me happy. And to the second point, about the gun, I gotta ask...Would that be Chekov's gun instead of Chekhov's gun? 😁

It's so funny, that was the very first thing I liked about Jake Epstein when I saw him in one of the other Hallmark movies, that he reminded me so much of Mark Ruffalo. As the world's oldest Marvel fangirl, I love him! I enjoyed this movie. I agree it was kind of low-stakes, but I liked that. It was different from what's been on so far this year. I'm not an observant Jew, but a lot of parts did remind me of my family. Especially the tension between the two mothers; it perfectly matched the stories I've heard through the years of the interaction between my mom's Jewish mother and my dad's Lutheran mother. My dad, who I get my lack of religiosity (is that a word?) from, told his parents he was going to convert in order to marry my mom, and I guess it went downhill from there. There was eventually an uneasy truce, but they were never warm toward each other.

Nice article for the Paul Campbell fans among us.

Which reminds me, I saw somewhere that they're running The Christmas House tonight at 8 p.m. ET as a tribute. One of my all-time favorite movies, and I loved Treat Williams in it. He was, IMO, the best of the Hallmark movie dads. I never watched Everwood, but I did watch the last two seasons of Chesapeake Shores, after Robert Buckley joined the show. I'll admit, I didn't think the show itself was all that great, but Treat Williams raised it to a whole other level—like he did everything he acted in. And this wasn't Hallmark-related, but I remember seeing him in an episode of Law and Order SVU (the first SVU ep I ever saw, in fact), where he played a former football player who was suffering from brain issues due to his years in football. I cried my eyes out, he did such a beautiful job with that character. Just a fantastic actor, and I'm so sorry we won't be able to see him in future projects. So I'll watch The Christmas House tonight and think of the joy he gave us over the years.

While this wasn't Mr. kirinan's or my favorite episode, we both enjoyed it. It had enough good moments to keep us entertained. Agree with everyone that Pike and Number One (in our case) were sorely missed, but it was enough to tide us over until the next episode, in which I hope everyone's back together and things start humming along again. And I also have to admit, I liked Carol Kane's character! I agree, the accent was jarring at first, but by the end, I was used to it and I am interested to see more of her story. (Still miss Hemmer, though. He grew on me.) I'm not replying to start an argument or discussion or to say anyone's wrong. I just want to comment on the theme of these characters not being able to become the TOS characters, which has run through a fair amount of the posts on the ST:SNW forums since this series started. I completely respect those who hold that view, but to me it just seems like a recipe for never-ending frustration. I'll preface my points below by saying that I'm in my 60s, and have seen all of the series (except Discovery; I made it through the first episode and never went back) on their original runs and multiple times in reruns over the years. Collectively, they're probably my favorite shows ever. First, I don't view TOS Chapel as wimpy. Well, I suppose by today's standards she could be considered so, but I just see her as a product of the mid-1960s, maybe because I grew up through that era. In that context, Majel-Barrett-as-Chapel behaves the only way she possibly could, given the restrictions of the times. So in my head, I just dissociate the TOS timeline from any of the timelines with the same characters, like the ones in this show or the Kelvin timeline of the movies (which I love). I wouldn't want this show to be a moment-by-moment retread of the original episodes, and I think it's safe to say no one else would, either—because let's be honest, it wasn't always great (Spock's Brain, anyone?). The TOS writers had no way of knowing what a cultural touchstone Star Trek was going to become, so short of going back in time and forcing Gene Roddenberry to retool the series, there's simply no way to reconcile the characters in this show with something that was written half a century ago. Chapel and Spock in a relationship basically negates the way Chapel and Spock behave in TOS, or the Uhura/Spock relationship in the movies. To me, that's a "So what?" kind of thing. Different timelines, different details. I'm perfectly willing to go with the individual series' flows within their own universes and block out the inconsistencies that thinking of them together as one timeline creates. I know for a lot of people, one of the big pleasures of being a fan is debating those inconsistencies, but like I said, it's also a frustration that can't ever be resolved. Anyway, just wanted to mention that. Thanks for reading, if you did, and keep posting those inconsistencies and debates—I really do enjoy reading them!

OMG, Mark Humphrey was Jake the cameraman on one of my favorite Canadian TV shows, E.N.G.! (I live in a Detroit suburb, across the river from Windsor, so I've watched Canadian shows for years.) I have GOT to find that movie to see what he looks like at 62. And to keep it on topic, I tend to enjoy characters in their late 30s and up, so I would gladly watch movies with middle-aged and older leads.

I finally watched this last night and enjoyed it. I'm not much of a mystery fan, so while I agree the mystery was a bit thin, that didn't bother me. I do like Lacey and Will together (Love, Romance and Chocolate is one of my favorites), so that and, as @Irlandesa said, Will hamming it up and dancing were more than enough to keep me entertained for a couple of hours. I would watch it again, and would even be interested in a second one.

Lots! I can watch Falling for You, Flip that Romance, Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade, Royal Matchmaker, Pearl in Paradise, Just My Type, Falling for Vermont, Christmas by Starlight, and The Christmas House, just to name a few off the top of my head, as many times as they can show them.

So happy to see Gus back—he and Margaret are so fun together! I loved Todd acting like a grownup finally (well, for the most part) to help save that settlement and getting his license (or whatever it is he got) back. Hopefully next season, he'll keep upping the ratio of adult to overgrown kid a little more each week. Don't love the idea that they left us a cliffhanger of "Did he go to the airport or didn't he?" (I hope the answer is he listened to Francey and didn't. Or that he doesn't run into Susan coming back to the office, having left Peter at the airport.) Margaret's cliffhanger I saw coming a mile away because they kept showing him in the previouslies. Allison...I don't know what to say about her. Are they trying to portray her as suffering from severe depression, or is she just lost? Either way, it's dragged on so long that I don't really care anymore. But despite my kvetching above, I really did enjoy this episode. Ready for Season 2!

When I saw the plot of this Saturday's movie, When Love Springs, I didn't think I'd watch it. Then I realized that the male lead is James O'Halloran, aka James the Australian male model on The Price is Right, and darn it, I had to at least set it to record so I could zip through it on the DVR if I couldn't handle the plot. Rhiannon Fish is in it, too, and I liked her in that last movie with Tyler Hynes. So I'll try it.

A lot of characters were way more annoying than usual in this episode—I wanted to slap Lexi and Edward, and at least pop Dennis lightly on the back of the head—but as always, the last few minutes of the episode made it all come together and got several "Awws" out of me. I really enjoyed the musician couple; like @DanaK said, they were fun. I'm getting too attached to most of the dead people, though (especially Monty); I don't want them to go!

Dear show runners: First, PLEASE stop trying to make Todd and Susan happen. I'm usually all over a love story, but this is not it. Todd had way more chemistry with the podcast host. Second, please do NOT mess up Margaret and Gus; I love those two together. Third, I would be all in for Kyle coming on board to torment Todd, too. Thank you for your consideration. Oh, and P.S. Fourth, as ridiculous and unrealistic as the legal and medical stuff was, I really enjoyed this episode.