Featherhat

Yeah I guess the Batwoman one isn't a true show up and more along the lines of how this show might do a flashback or whatever at first. I also think they'll hold off until S2 (assuming renewal) a nice hook once/if people accept the initial premise of "Watson begins a new life after Holmes's death".

I also suspect that the temptation to have Sherlock come back "for real" will eventually be too much, especially if they get a well known/charismatic actor who is interested in more than flashbacks. Supergirl and Batwoman both started off saying "no Superman/Batman ever" but that didn't last long. It so often happens on this type of "supporting character becomes the main character" type of shows. As for Mary, well meh "working with your ex" is way over exposed as a trope right now. Added to that: All of the most recent adaptations of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock, Guy Ritchie, Elementary) have used her and it's not hard to see why because she's one of the only women in the stories. HOWEVER all of them have done her dirty in different ways. In the original story, not only did she *beat* Holmes fair and square but she was morally correct as well. Holmes was working for someone who wanted to use his power to pressure a woman into giving back those pictures that had been willingly given to her. Holmes says this. In modern adaptations they can't resist the temptation for Sherlock to not only win against her one way or another but morally wrong as well. The trailer does seem very House to me, complete with the gaggle of young "best of the best" doctors following him around. If I didn't know the creator had been on Elementary I would have assumed they'd pitched it as the next House and CBS said "but what if it really was Sherlock Holmes in a medical setting?" I generally like Morris Cheshunt but I haven't seen him in much since I tried "Rosewood" which in itself was an attempt to create a successor to Bones for FOX. I guess I'm curious about how they'll involve Moriarty in a medical setting but at this point he's so over blown as a character.

That was a lot of fun. I'm glad Doug Jones got an episode to shine. After a career spent mostly being first one on set and last one off because of make up it is nice that you get to (sort of) see his actual face and how great he is without prosthetics as well as with them. I figured it was a trap when Nandor exposited that it was an award he'd never heard of. Of course the Baron knew it was a trap and just wanted to kill Jerry himself and now he's had to be out two nights in a row and The Sire will be annoyed because he's been stuck looking after the kids by himself. Interesting though that Jerry went into his Super Slumber in 1976 when allegedly the "plan" to conquer the new world (still after 200 years) was supposed to be in full swing but the Baron didn't get there until 2018 and abandoned those plans pretty quickly. Perhaps Jerry just needed a night on the town? I've never seen Warriors but I did enjoy it. Loved seeing all the different "types" of Vampires and how easily they just refered to each clique/geographical area as their own separate thing. The Guide was right about it being hard to break into a new group. I knew the Van Helsing blood was going to come back up once Miguel joined the fray, that was fun. I mean, I get his family's point that Guillermo has barely been around the last 16 years and how he runs out whenever he does visit. They have a right to be upset and concerned about that. However I hate "it's just how I express myself!/We're Family!" as a defence against what Miguel was doing when Gizmo expressed several times that he doesn't like it and doesn't think it's bonding. I've been on the end of it and it's not fun and it doesn't feel great when everyone is telling you "No big deal" just because you ask someone to stop "playfully" attacking you or teasing you about vulnerable subject. So Miguel can kick rocks for that, it was shitty but good for him for wanting to back up Guillermo when he thought he was about to head into a dangerous situation.

I thought this episode was kind of meh. We saw Janine give out appropriate holiday cookies to her kids before (including a Jewish kid and a Jehovah's Witness), we've seen Muslim students before in no way is it believable that this is the first time they've realised not everyone celebrates Christmas even if this is the first show in years. I could possibly see it if they decided to revive the old Christmas Show and rebrand it as a "Winter Show" and Barb wasn't happy about that but then realised that kids felt left out and bullied. Janine, Jacob and probably Gregory would have been all over that. I get it's a sitcom and they like making points but the point they wanted to make felt like it came out of the 90s more than 2024 West Philly. I don't like Caleb. I found nothing funny about his character, I've known too many people like that (less OTT but the baseline) who think it's funny to steamroller over everything and that everything they do is "just me being me" and thinking it's hilarious to tell stories that potentially humiliate other people but never themselves. I'm glad Gregory was there for him. I know in show it's "because Ava" bit it is weird that so many of the teacher's relatives end up hanging out at the school interacting with the kids. Melissa and her food, eh the pay off is next ep but has she never hosted a family gathering before?

Oh, yes I forgot to mention that Jen/Alice "Do I hate her or do I want her phone number?" "Same" convo. So yeah all or almost all of the cast being non straight seems true. I think What We Do In the Shadows is one of the only other current shows where all the main cast are queer. Are there any others I should be aware of?

I thought 5 Year Christmas Party was okay. I do like both leads though I thought they worked better as friends supporting each other growing into their careers than people who were each other's "one that got away". I think if you're going to do pining and time jumps there needs to be a very good reason why they're still interested after so long or why they haven't just gone for it and I didn't think they really conveyed that here. I presume that quite a few actors enjoy playing parts where they're struggling actors because most of them have experienced it. Just like there's nothing TV/movie writers seem to like more than writing about genius writers. I do think Hallmark changing up some of the usual formats is a good thing though. Again none of the ratings are really setting a high benchmark for Hallmark right now, I think they really are starting too early, the ones before C2C started got better numbers. http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/search/label/Hallmark movie ratings?max-results=5

It took me a rewatch to realise it but Mulder's parents knew Samantha was going to be taken that Thanksgiving and went out to a party, leaving the kids alone together. Maybe it was to give themselves an alibi, maybe it was because they couldn't bare to deal with what was going to happen but they dropped all the guilt on their 12 year old son. They never explained what happened and let him go his whole life blaming himself. And he was also old enough that there would be rumours in their small island community that he killed his own sister and his parents covered it up. Obviously CSM was the worst but all of his parents were monsters to him.

Ok so I have to mention Agatha All Along here, which has a variety of queer characters. There's Teen/William/Billy and his boyfriend Eddie who had a significant chunk of ep 6 exploring their story and how Eddie is supportive no matter the crazy stuff "William" is saying. Helps to live in the MCU I guess. He was first shown as having a boyfriend in ep 2 (on the phone) and so far it has been relatively natural and low key whilst also making it clear that whoever Teen is he loves Eddie and that his parents are supportive. Then there's the chaos of Agatha and Rio who are confirmed to be exes with a terrible break up. Obviously Means that even under ideal circumstances there's no real way they can be any kind of regular couple but Ep 5 showed us Rio sticking up for Agatha against her mother and whilst there's a lot of violence, snark and jokes it is being taken seriously by the writers (see also ep 4). I know it's not for everyone but I think the mix of taking LGBT themes seriously and also having queer characters making snarky jokes about being queer "Queer-ent" and "If you want a straight answer ask a straight lady!" is a big deal for Marvel who have otherwise been more tentative and tepid, even with gender fluid, pansexual Loki who was in love with himself. It's not perfect but with ep 7 it does seem to have even silenced those critics who were saying "no one cares". Paul Tassi from Forbes even wrote an article about Agatha defying those who thought it was just "another woke project" from the start, as though he hadn't been saying that the last week.

Not sure I can really imagine him as young Gibbs, not that I've been watching it anyway. I feel like SA often has a bit of a victim complex going about things like this. Like the only reason he didn't get the part is that someone blocked him. It might be true but it's also possible that Austin Stowell had an audition later that week and blew everyone away.

Oh, I didn't see this thread before! I enjoyed Holiday Crashers okay. I liked the fact that there was a strong friendship between Lyndsey and Daniella Monet's characters and that it wasn't all talking about guys, there was some real connection there. However I'm not a fan of the crashing parties trope, it just seems silly. There are so many other ways to "change your life" or have fun over the holidays than that. Toni even said in the beginning they're all the same because she had to go to them to network in law school. And they would certainly have attracted the attention of the hosts with the insane stories they were coming up with every time. I know there was a Hannukah party in there but they could have taken the opportunity to show case a wider variety of winter holidays. Sorry, I'm on a Diwali would be perfect for an early Hallmark C2C movie. I know they had the wedding at the end, which was beautiful and was partly what made me think about it. I thought it was a lot better than Operation Nutcracker that I also watched yesterday. I usually like Ashley Newbrough but this one was just stupid with the switching suitcases and not double checking. Meta calling out the romcom/Hallmark tropes they were using didn't make it any funnier, just more awkward for me.

Does this go here? Netflix have released the trailers for their Christmas/holiday movies 2024. It features the last of Lindsay Lohan's movies with them among others. As a side note I didn't even realise she'd done "Irish Wish" with them in March: Netflix Christmas Movies 2024

Maybe but this is also the company that does Christmas in July so.... But it's interesting that the movies in the run up to the start of C2C did better than the official kick off. Mid October really is too early IMHO. Add to that that there seems to be a lot of paint by numbers going on and it's not surprising everything is quite low. I'm sure it will pick up closer to December though.

Well if we count Hallmark+ it's one movie, one of the Cherry Lane sequels. And if we're talking non Christmas movies it's one of the Groomsmen movies also on Hallmark+ so it's still crumbs even behind a paywall. I would say it's because Wonya Lucas stepped down but they made the announcement of more LGBT+ content coming in 2024 *after* she left. Maybe it's the political climate in an election year but it's depressing. Hallmark hasn't had stellar ratings so far this year: Scouting for Christmas Hallmark 0.07 1.13m Holiday Crashers Hallmark 0.10 1.55m 'Twas the Date Before Christmas Hallmark 0.11 1.19m And this is with mostly their newer, slightly younger stars, apart from Tamera Mowry. I did enjoy the friendship in Holiday Crashers, I thought that was the best part and it was definitely a Hallmark movie which passed the Bechdel test and the sexy lamp test which doesn't always happen. I thought the side romance between Bri and the valet was cuter than the main romance with Lyndsey Fonseca.

Her Funko just says "Death" but it's possible that they aren't making the distinction in the show.

I read somewhere else that *this* is how a show about magic and witches sticks the landing. Not with big CGI colour blasting or a fight scene but by laying out a character's powers, strengths and weaknesses and then using them in the final battle and I couldn't agree more for this episode. I just hope that the same holds true for 8&9. I'm looking forward to watching it on Halloween evening. It wouldn't necessarily surprise me to see Lilia again because as her younger self at the end implied, she's still around living out her time traveller life even though she now knows and accepts where it "ends". Like if a companion of the Doctor dies it doesn't mean that they aren't going to show up at the places they went to in the future, just that they didn't live linearly. Jen had some awesome lines. I liked her before because I thought the "potions witch" selling terrible GOOP products was a great choice but Sasheer Zamata was also awesome this ep. I'm not from the US so I've never seen her in SNL. "Damn, using his full name!" Amazing. Also Chloe Camp made a great young Lilia in her very limited screen time. I mean by her very nature Rio is the final boss.

Absolutely the need to develop new stars and I think it's unclear from the lawsuit whether the Lisa Hamilton Daly wanted to replace them right away or was simply recognising that the current favourites won't be around forever. A lot of people are running with the former, especially because some of those mentioned don't have Christmas movies this year or are significantly down on the amount they've been in recently. But it doesn't say they want to scrap them immediately. I do think trying to fit a 40 something in a role most suited to a 20 something doesn't work but as I said, it's not hard to come up with scenarios for people in their 40s and 50s along side the "new class". @MissyPoo is right that traditionally they've recruited from recognisable faces to each generation and I think Janel Parish, Skyler Samuels, Hunter King, Amiee Teegarden etc are an attempt to do that. Amy Groening has "come through the ranks" as a supporting player now given her shot. Whether they become popular remains to be seen. I also don't think we can talk about this without mentioning the fact that Hallmark has gone back on it's December 2023 commitment to more LGBT+ diversity and in terms of holidays there's one Hannukah movie and less POC in leading roles than two years ago. No Kwanzaa movies, no Lunar New Year movies, no Diwali movies (got a bee in my bonnet about this one, would be so awesome to do). They're also playing it safe with less movies with interesting premises like Round and Round or Biltmore Christmas etc. Ok fine, if that's what you think will sell this year but it doesn't jive with trying to get younger viewers. Or with what they actually promised. https://www.gaytimes.com/films/hallmark-announces-plans-to-feature-more-lgbtq-holiday-films-in-2024/

Some of the men were also mentioned in the lawsuit: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25248682/perry-hallmark-lawsuit.pdf There's quite an age range between the actors mentioned here as well. Hunter King was mentioned specifically as someone they wanted: I think the actresses mentioned are too old to play the ingenue so why not write stories that makes sense for their ages? I also don't think Hunter King particularly works in ingenue parts either for that matter. One of the "newer" actors in Janel Parish who is 36 next week, although she can definitely play younger but one of the best things about "Haunted Wedding" was that they were already together and instead of the meet cute it was the cute proposal and (mostly) outside forces causing the problem. That works for any age. One actor they've given a chance to as a new leading lady, Amy Groening from last week's movie is nearly 35 so it seems they're going 6-10 years younger than Lacey for some of the potential new "queens".

I can see why they're interested in the "next generation" of big name Hallmark actresses for the same reason every studio is always looking for the next big name to make money out of. The current popular leading ladies (and men) won't be around for ever. That said I don't think they should be kicked off Hallmark and there's certainly room for a variety of stories and ages. The can always adjust the story so it's not always a 40/50 something finding true love for the first time ever but more love after divorce or married couples dealing with stuff. Interestingly if you look at some of the newer Hallmark leading ladies like Janel Parrish and Kim Mantula they're both 36 so not a million miles behind Lacey Chabert, who can definitely play younger, as can they. I think it might be difficult for Hallmark to recruit a 20 something with name recognition to lead the channel because many of those will want to try their luck elsewhere before committing to a career as a "Hallmark actor" which still has something of a stigma attached I think, although not as much as previously. Also if Hallmark is worried about its aging demos and wants to attract a younger audience why is it scaling back diversity and leaning more into straight white people and the same handful of plots again?

Well that was both banana's nutso (in a good way) and heart breaking at the same time. I like "life lived out of order" stories and Patti LuPone was awesome in this. So we finally got the reveal that Rio is Death, I think they did a good job with the hints leading up to this. "If you want a straight answer, ask a straight lady!" Heh. I'm glad that they're actually anticipating fan theories and questions and actually asking them in text like is Teen Billy or William and questioning whether Agatha had actually ever walked the road. I feel like I'm going to have to watch it again to catch most of it.

I love the credits for this, fits right in with the show and it's aesthetic. In the book the Johnny interview was because he was trying to clean up his image after serving time for sleeping with a 14 year old, glad they changed that. I've just realised that Bas is played by Luke Pasqualino of Skins etc fame so cool. Really good casting on that one as well. Ah Maud in all your "glory". It's a fact of Rutshire that everyone sleeps with every *except* their spouse but cuddling on the sofa in front of your daughters whilst they all watch Declan's big interview is something else. The family has basically not only parentified Taggie but also end up treating her like their personal chef and maid. Lizzie at least seems to be trying to work on her marriage even if it's a lost cause. James is just an arsehole with no redeeming qualities. Poor Monica, epitome of a "jolly hockey sticks" person and her husband can't even really appreciate her for doing most of the legwork at charming people. She did get in a good zinger about Valerie reminding Tony of his mother though. Sarah and Paul Stratton are exactly what happens when a powerful man marries his 20-30 years younger mistress and then the excitement wears off. I'm loving Emily Atack's 80's look it really suits her. In fact the costumes are good all around. It was interesting to make Taggie a bit of a voyeur, and kind of shows that she's intrigued by Rupert's sexuality even though he's done nothing nice for her at this stage and she most definitely didn't deserve to be sexually assaulted at the table of course. Then she got yelled at by Cameron, who was probably dealing with her own stuff in that moment but poor girl.

He is but I think they've done as well as they can adapting it. She's very slightly older and clearly going in with eyes wide open about who Rupert is. Considering a lot of the "romances" she writes about in later books especially (because a school becomes part of the main plot) are between 13-15 year olds and 20-30 year old adults, this is tame in comparison. I started watching it over the weekend and I have to say I'm enjoying it and I wasn't sure that I would. The cast really grew on me, they completely understood the assignment that a Jilly Cooper adaptation is a silly, raunchy, "bonkbuster" otherwise it isn't Jilly Cooper. DT is great as Tony Baddingham, even though in my head he was always like the actor playing Paul Stratton. Whilst the actor playing RCB doesn't look anything like him (that would be more like James, Lizzie's husband) he does bring the arrogance, ego and underlying fucked up ness and loneliness of him as well. Always nice to see Aiden Turner bring his intensity as well. They actually got a really good cast for this. I'm really enjoying Katherine Parkinson as Lizzie as well. It also seems they're keeping most of the subplots from this long book which isn't surprising seeing as 8 episodes doesn't even finish the story.

I just watched Haunted Wedding because I was really interested to see how Hallmark did a Halloween movie. It was okay, I liked both the leads, the beginning with him proposing in an old asylum was cute (Mona would approve!) and Dominic Sherwood was good at differentiating both characters, which isn't always easy to do. I did think the middle sagged with unnecessary angst (although the way she kept mentioning her ex 2 days before her wedding would make a person wonder how committed she was). I was hoping for a bit more spookiness or straying a little further from the genre norms but it was good to see them doing something *slightly* different. I wish they'd make more of October and November before Countdown to Christmas though, you'd think Thanksgiving would be perfect for their aesthetic but it doesn't seem like many have been produced recently. Or heaven forbid since Diwali usually falls in October/November produce a movie featuring that.

I enjoyed that one. I was worried that a flashback episode would slow the narrative down but I think it was badly needed. The extended Bar Mitzvah scene and party served as a pretty good introduction to William Kaplan, his parents and his world. Not to mention Lilia! I wouldn't have picked her for the one that cast the sigil on Billy but her couple of scenes were awesome. It was incredibly sad to realise that when she told William he was a good egg and to enjoy the moment that he literally only had moments left. Although I do think it's possible that William is still in there somewhere or amalgamated but we'll have to wait and see. The fact that he doesn't remember anything from before the accident would probably go against that. Speaking of it was great how supportive his boyfriend was of Billy admitting part of the truth at least and that they just treated their relationship as they would any other. Really loved the scenes from Billy's side of ep 1, both funny and a clever way to tie it all together. And another glimpse of poor Mrs Hart, RIP. It will very interesting to see how this ties up as we don't have that long left. I did miss Rio and I don't think it's a coincidence that she's suddenly not there. That's not something I'd really considered but it is interesting. I think they'll end up having been real as they all have reasons for wanting/needing to be on the road. I think playing with reality might be a part though, beyond the obvious trials because it came up again this ep.

I'm an idiot, I've seen this advertised for weeks and only just realised it's based on Jilly Cooper's Rivals. To be fair if they had started with Riders I might have realised. Then I thought "is David Tennant playing 80s era RCB, that's an interesting choice. The I realised he's Tony Baddingham. Off to check it out this weekend I suppose. Teenage me would probably have eaten this up.

Ok, that was one of the best cold opens. I feel like Men in Black also has a line dance to it? Loved Tariq's "what always inevitably happens in West Philly school gyms" and the return of Barbara's celebrity mix up. I'm still itchy from the thought of ringworm. Gah, I've never had it but I've had other fungal infections and yeah not fun. I'm surprised Ava didn't flee the school like she did with the fire, progress? Of course Barbara was going to get it and she apparently deliberately infected her bitchy church choir? Or had she had it for a few days before it presented symptoms? I enjoyed Melissa and her hot tub in the ground that was against HOA regulations. I'm glad Janine and Gregory worked their stuff out, it felt pretty in character. I also enjoyed the line about getting Charlie the white kid to use beige pencils as they hadn't been used before. All in all a fairly standard episode but enjoyable.