Bronx Babe

lol No. I've even seen them show hot chocolate carts/stands IN THE BIG BAD CITY. I mean, I enjoy fantasy/escapism as much as the next person but this is just beyond ridiculous!

Is it The Christmas Club where the male lead says he can't even look at candied pecans because it reminds him when his parents were fighting over them during one holiday season in his childhood? Then there's one where the heroine's daughter has to show the male lead HOW TO DRINK HOT CHOCOLATE. "You put the marshmallows on top....." I wish I were making this up. I saw one where they were holding giant cups of coffee, then sipping, but it was obvious there was no liquid inside. And is it also The Christmas Club where the leads meet after pooling their money and giving it to some little old lady on the street after she tells them her cash got scattered by the wind, leaving her unable to buy gifts for the grandkids? (at least the guy wonders if this is a scam. Hallmark acknowledging reality?)

Those are great! Thanks for sharing!

Did Lacey Chabert get a nose job?

Re: parents in these Hallmark schlockfests: either dead or obnoxiously alive -- "Hi, honey! Welcome back! Our favorite daughter is home at last! We're so happy to see you! Now get ready for the snowball toss!" The fathers all have raspy voices and the mothers seem to be played by actresses who are recovering from a stroke or something.

I could hardly believe that was former Italian heartthrob Franco Nero as the old guy! Wow. But frankly I thought he looked better, sexier, and more animated than Sam Page. At least they didn't go over-the-top American with holiday décor, but had her apartment dressed up in a more understated, European way.

@oakville, I'm glad you enjoyed Christmas in Rome -- desperately wished I could have done the same. Could...….the...….male...….lead...…..have...…..spoken...…...any...…...slower? Even by Hallmark standards, it was excessive. And their old workaholic-needs-to-slow-down-and-smell-the-poinsettias seemed beyond stale. More like decrepit to me. I like Lacey Chabert; she and Candace are my favorites on this channel. Have no quarrel with her or the guy. It's those rigid Hallmark guidelines that churn my stomach. There was a little girl in a Rome hotel who told Lacey "Can we make a gingerbread house?" Sometimes I think Hallmark is punking us with this stuff.

Christmas at the Plaza. "I'd like to take you to a great restaurant...." As soon as he said that I knew it would be Italian. And it was, lol.

Yep. L&O or Snapped. Two minutes into Christmas at the Plaza the old concierge guy (I didn't even recognize Bruce Davison -- my God) sees the female lead (who he doesn't know from Eve) walk into the hotel and he starts talking to her about HOT COCOA. I....just....can't......

Thanks for the title. Hallmark and reality are worlds apart, lol.

Another Italian restaurant last night "Primo", lol, where one of the characters (or was it two?) were celebrating....something. Don't ask me the movie title, I couldn't tell you. Those male model "actors" and the curling iron haired women are like something out of that great classic Twilight Zone episode "Number 12 Looks Just Like You". And have you noticed that the candy canes lining every Main Street storefront are becoming larger and more mutant? It's like Christmas in Bizarro World. Not a shred of reality when it comes to décor or characters. (don't all our neighbors greet us during holiday season with "Hi! I've got a cup of hot chocolate just waiting for you") I understand the concept of wish fulfillment but it sure would be nice to see people on screen who look and act like normal human beings.

I guess it's "Christmas Under The Stars" At first I was confusing it in my mind with the one where the workaholic male lead who can't be bothered with Christmas (and is looking after his sister's two children because she's in Norway on business with her husband) finds a Santa decoration on his front lawn and attempts to remove the thing with little success as it keeps coming back, apparently by a neighbor who wants to instill some holiday cheer into the poor misguided guy. The title eludes me. Another Hallmark "winner", lol. I want a Law and Order version of Hallmark. Briscoe and Curtis find the body of Santa Claus stuffed up a chimney. Lenny: "And to all a good night.....except him"

Thanks, @MissyPoo! I tried watching one of their new Christmas movies this evening -- at least, I think it was new, but not really paying attention, since there was a workaholic male lead who apparently could not be bothered by the holiday yet showed up at a Chicago tree lot manned by an African American secondary character offering everyone hot chocolate.....I couldn't go on, at that point I needed some grim reality so switched over to Sundance with the Preppy Central Park murder.

Ever notice that whenever a character asks about recommendations for a nice restaurant in town, it's always an Italian place. The safe "ethnic" choice! (never Mexican, Thai, Indian, etc.)

@Kohola3 LOL such a brilliant parody which I've enjoyed many times although it's frightening -- those sound like actual Hallmark Christmas movies.

Lynn -- even better. Yes, buh-bye, quality. I'm just wondering how many fictional "European" countries they can come up with for those stooopid commoner-meets-royalty plotlines.

Could someone tell me how to access The Hallmark Channel on Primetimer? Seems they changed everything up since yesterday. TIA

Vanessa Redgrave -- I'm speechless.

Thanks so much, @mikeb. I'm waiting for them to do a Christmas movie with Meryl Streep reprising her role as Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada. Can't you see Miranda telling Santa Claus "bore someone else with your problems" before being miraculously re-routed by him from mid-town Manhattan to Merrydale USA? The townsfolk enlist her expertise in judging their local gingerbread competition. Miranda slowly sheds her workaholic ways, resigns from Runway, and opens up a small, quaint fashion shop on Main Street, next door to the diner where everyone drinks hot chocolate and not Starbucks. That's all.

Oh, no! Rats. Patty Duke! Wonder if I can find this on YouTube.... "Repetitive schlock" -- boy you got that right, @Kohola3. Perfect description.

I'm not familiar with the stories behind these companies -- all I know is that the Hallmark movies I've seen after 2012 or thereabouts (can't pinpoint exactly) are the creepily robotic ones they're plopping out now. Those fantasy titles you mention sound like fun -- right up my alley.

And you'll be amazed at not just how much Natasha Gregson Wagner looks like mom Natalie Wood, but SOUNDS just like her too. I'll definitely try to catch it! Thanks for the input!

Watching An Angel In The Family. When did Hallmark stop making this type of Christmas movie, the kind that at least gives an illusion of reality? That one seems positively gritty next to the synthetic, overly corporate, Twilight Zone-ish, pod-people output their company cranks out now.

New addition to the bingo card: "Two weeks" (until Christmas) Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas -- if it's not broke, etc. The vapidity, dead relatives, and halting speech patterns continue.

Watched some of Matchmaker Santa (2012). He sure has a lot of time on his hands. All that work just to get Lacey Chabert hooked up with the right fellow.