dubstepford wife

Interesting, Kohola3 and Misslindsay! I admittedly didn't know much about the Amish life despite growing up in Northern MD. I sometimes saw Amish people but it was mostly limited to Pennsylvania Dutch Markets and occasionally getting stuck behind a buggy on a rural road. This movie also piqued my curiosity and I was amazed to see that Amish romance novels are quite the thing. I never would have anticipated that, though I guess it does fit with the whole return to the land, live a simple life theme that Hallmark loves so much. It's dangerous ground though since the Amish lifestyle isn't just about simple living, it's also about religion, and I could see that easily being oversimplified and misconstrued, which is ironic for a network that has pretty strong religious overtones.

I haven't seen the film but, when you leave the Amish life, aren't you ostracized? It's not really something you can be like, I need a break from the Evil Big City, I'm going to wear plainclothes and cook for a while to get refreshed, and then return to my old life with a new perspective.

I wonder sometimes who makes the casting decisions at Hallmark. I imagine that their cream of the crop talent (Alicia Witt, CCB, Danica McKellar) gets offered the best scripts written by the top writers (top by Hallmark standards) whereas newcomers get the scripts that barely get greenlit. Hallmark strikes me as a hierarchical place, particularly during the Bill Abbott era. And I have a bad feeling that you're right re: them saying, we tried it, didn't work, not our fault! Give me Christina Milian, who has been in a couple of Lifetime and Netflix romcoms, opposite someone like Ryan Paevy plus a decent script and you'll have Hallmark gold. Gold crown in fact. (sorry)

Ooof, not a fan of that Hannukah movie premise. The idea of Judaism being your race and not your religion is getting dangerously close to...being racist? I mean, I guess it's not a bad idea in theory to explore your cultural heritage if you find out that your ancestors were Jewish, but the description makes it sound like that character is going to be, "Well, I guess I'm Jewish now and I need to celebrate Hannukah, my DNA says so!" And if he's been celebrating Christmas his whole life and all of a sudden he's the fish out of water at a Hannukah celebration, isn't that what the "Hannukah" movie from last year was criticized for? That is was basically making fun of Hannukah traditions and contrasting them with Christmas ones?

C'mon guys, it's totally fine, they're married. And like, actually married, not "married" the way that those awful gay people can get married these days. It's totally cool and completely family friendly to post your husband grabbing your boobs -- but a lesbian wedding, how will we explain that to the kids? Won't someone think of the CHILDREN?!? (/s, in case it wasn't abundantly obvious. I love boobs. Boobs are great. I love teehee pics. I also love that LGBTQ people have rights nowadays.) Oh, and because I want to play too: "What do you mean you're a prince?!?"

I'm really surprised to see The Craft included, as that movie includes some pretty dark stuff (rape, murder). That list otherwise is very kid/family friendly.

I don't think they had to pay him to say it. Jesse seems quite happy at Hallmark. He probably knows he's not the best actor in the world and at 42 he's nearly twenty years older than Hollywood's current crop of male heartthrobs like Timothee Chalamet. At Hallmark he has a lead role in a successful (albeit getting towards the end) series where he gets to not only act but perform musically, which seems like something else he loves, and he has guaranteed paychecks in made-for-tv movies (particularly at Christmas) and mysteries. He also seems like he's got a lot of goodwill at the network, he's popular with fans, and when Chesapeake ends he'll probably get cast in something else. This is a tough time for a lot of actors and he seems very grateful for what he has. I like him, resemblance to Eddie Munster notwithstanding. (Seriously dude, the longer swept back hair is a huge mistake.) He seems like a sweetheart.

I would have said that James and Lori Loughlin would have made a great pairing, but...yeahhhh. Candace Cameron Burre honestly wouldn't be the worst match, she's in her mid-40s and while she looks a little younger she doesn't look 25 either. I feel like wardrobe dresses her younger, with her berets and skirts and Mary Jane shoes. I'd love to see her in a power suit and a Christmas movie about her facing off with James in a hijinksy legal battle. Meetcute outside the courthouse, perhaps? I had to look up Barbara Niven's age because I also thought of her, and holy cow does she look amazing for 67 (!!). Catherine Bell needs to figure out who her dermatologist/plastic surgeon is and switch to them. I don't doubt that Barbara has had a little help, nothing wrong with that, but she still looks human and like she's aging gracefully. Bless her heart, Catherine Bell's cheekbones look like water balloons.

We'll never know for sure but I'm guessing it was a death of a 1000 cuts. WCtH had probably gotten very boring/monotonous for him, especially considering it had become the Abigail show. I can't imagine he enjoyed doing paint-by-numbers Christmas movies, and stuff like "Christmas Cookie Matchup" honestly seems very cringey and humiliating. And the Bill Abbott regime of zero diversity and kowtowing to the One Million Moms might have bothered him. I haven't seen The Rookie so I can't comment on his character there but if it's a gay actor then at least it's something different and a little more challenging. And he's only a recurring character on a moderately successful show now but this way he's much freer to go to auditions, or maybe write or try his hand at directing, or do theater. Actors are artists, they want to do things that feel creative. It's just a shame that his character had to be killed off. If he only wanted to appear occasionally then I get why they did -- a Hallmark show can't *not* focus on romance (because that's all that matters in women's lives, right?) -- but still, it's sad. I've long maintained that the correct thing to do was end the show and just focus on the spinoff.

Yeah I'm hoping with the new CEO being a WOC that the diversity problem will actually be addressed, but she's also just one person and I figure a lot of Bill Abbott's people are still there. So diversity to them means three seconds of screentime for people of color, and then it's back to the white people, who are always the main storyline. I remember being legit angry when they stuck a black child in the schoolroom in the last season of WCtH with no explanation and no speaking lines. 1910s Canada had segregation too and they just completely ignored it, it felt so exploitative. I want to congratulate them for including a same-sex wedding, but I keep comparing it to Falling Inn Love on Netflix, where a same-sex married couple wasn't just an afterthought or a hat tip to diversity, they were actual characters. (Very cute movie btw if anyone hasn't seen it. The main actor is a little wooden but the story is charming and New Zealand is always beautiful.)

I think this is changing though. When I watched "Virgin River" on Netflix, I initially scoffed at the main couple. Martin Henderson (main couple man) is eight years older than Alexandra Breckenridge (main couple woman) and I thought the age difference was distracting. I also never watched Grey's Anatomy so I didn't have an image in my head of him as a young, sprightly surgeon -- he just seemed like a middle aged (albeit very fit middle aged) guy who was kind of obsessed with a very youthful looking 30-something woman. He still looks great of course, and when you're talking about late 30s/mid 40s it's less of a big deal than an early 20s woman with a late 30s man, but still, I noticed. And when I look at Hallmark's leading couples most of them seem to be approximately the same age. The men of the channel are mostly in their 30s or early 40s, same as the women. Older dudes like Treat Williams are family patriarchs and grandfathers, not put in a winter-spring romance with someone half their age.

It has to be so bizarre filming Christmas movies in July. You get all bundled up in coats and plaid scarves, nestle in front of fireplaces, and fake drink hot chocolate when it's 70+ degrees outside. Though I do remember that The Nine Lives of Christmas had Kimberly Sustad walking around in a miniskirt so ostensibly that one took place somewhere that had a warmer climate. They might do more of that. And ice skating. Where do you even find an outdoor rink in July? Or do they just have stock skating footage that they use again and again?

I don't know why Google News felt the need to tell me this (I'm guessing because I've commented here and cookies are a thing), but it looks like filming the next season is starting soon. This show is never going to end, I'm convinced. As long as Erin Krakow sticks with it, it's going to continue. Place your bets on how other main characters will join Jack in meeting their own untimely and somewhat bizarre offscreen ends when the actors decide to leave. I'm going with, Nathan will get stung by a bunch of bees a la Macauley Culkin in "My Girl," Rosemary will adopt a baby, experience two seconds of happiness, and then fall off a horse, leaving Lee to be a single Dad, and Little Jack will turn into Michael Myers and stab Allie.

Oh man this. There is something inherently scary about a sport where athletes like Evgenia Medvedeva are washed up at 19. And rhythmic gymnastics is the same way. The documentary "Winner Takes it All," which was produced by RT and is specifically designed to portray Irina Viner in a positive light, still manages to make her look like a dictatorial and abusive monster. It does make me wonder about how much abuse happens in countries where there is state-led deference to the coaches and their regimes. Steve Penny and the Karolyi's were eventually caught. It took decades, which is shameful, but it sounds like that was mostly due to the authorities not being notified. Once the FBI was involved they did take this seriously, and things happened quickly. But if someone were to go to the Russian police saying that someone on Irina's team or Eteri's team sexually abused them, I feel like it would just be buried. The Olympics are not these pure bastions of sportsmanship and nobility that we like to believe. There's so much darkness beneath the surface, and it's all at the expense of children.

Oh boy, I remember that. I was really pleasantly surprised when they did that. And that's the problem they face: so many of their supporters are extremely conservative Karen types who would never say they're racist but are absolutely fine with only seeing white faces on TV. They have a choice to make, do they diversify at the risk of losing them, or stay how they are and alienate everyone else? Personally it seems like an easy choice to me. You'll gain so many more fans by actually welcoming new races and creeds into your programming. Karens are thankfully kind of a dying breed. But, we'll see if they actually follow through on that. Losing Bill Abbott I absolutely think will be a good thing in the long run. Things are chaotic right now but they are for everyone, and he had a very narrow minded vision for the company.

Wasn't this the plot of a Kevin McGarry movie last year? The oh-so-creatively-named "Christmas Scavenger Hunt" or something like that? At least it's in Chicago though. Yay for showing big cities some love! Baby steps, people.

If this happens I am HERE for it. I'm a huge lover of sci-fi, and in fact lot of sci-fi series have soapy elements to them, including Star Trek (especially Next Gen and DS9), Stargate SG-1/Atlantis, Farscape, and my beloved, gone-far-too-soon Firefly (which was essentially a Western). Then again though, the soap stuff usually takes a backseat to, ya know, like, aliens. I can't wait to hear Hallmark's version of technobabble. I'm kind of predicting this will be like WCtH, since if it takes place in a "colony" that probably means somewhat primitive conditions. They can just pretend it's a historical drama but no one can complain about period accuracy, because it's technically taking place in the future. They might even film it on the WCtH set, since that series might be done (it should have been done two years ago) by the time this is ready to film.

I watched the first episode and I think I'm dropping it. Netflix does good grittier romantic dramas (Virgin River is awesome), but this attempt at a more lighthearted one felt just vacant. It was a Hallmark series but without the soul. Though they do get points for having main characters who were of color (the lawyer) and not a size 2 (the chef). You won't see that on Hallmark, that's for sure. Chris Klein. Oh Chris. That Southern accent is awful. And man are they heavy handed with that character. We get it show, we're supposed to hate him.

I haven't read through this entire thread but...I loved Max Medina. He's my dream man: tall, dark, and handsome, well read, knows how to cook Osso Bucco. And he had a good sense of humor in dealing with Lorelai's early season spazzing. There was no way the show would pair up its female co-lead in season one, but, if it had been me, I'd have married him and never looked twice at the jackass in the flannel. I sew, and that thing looked very, very homesewn, and like it was made out of fabric that cost $2 at Joann's. Which I guess is somewhat realistic considering that's probably where Lorelai would have purchased it, but as a drool-worthy dress that private school girls who have access to designer stuff would covet? No way. (Her hair looked great though. Oh, early 00's updos.)

Just a (cynical) guess, but I'm thinking they're Team Nathan because they basically see him as Jack re-cast. Elizabeth and Jack intially didn't get along either and Jack was a jerk to her...for one episode. If anything I always thought the showrunners ended that whole thing a bit too early. But Nathan's bad personality has been going on for two seasons now and he doesn't even have a reason to be nasty, he just kind of is. And there doesn't seem to be the same playful back-and-forth banter, Elizabeth just takes it like the milquetoast she has become. But hey, he looks good in red* and that's all that matters, right? *=subjective, of course.

I'm not Canadian but it's on American Netflix. Have you checked there?

This was the last episode of the season right? So that's it until either Christmas or they might do a season seven filmed in like, summer for a fall premiere, if world events permit it? And if they're not filming until the fall of this year, they're done until next spring? I don't envy y'all who are still watching, because man this sounds frustrating. I get the Cliff's Notes version here and even that seems like too much time invested. And from the sound of it this thread is more fun than the show at this point.

Lou loves nothing more than to boss people around. In that sense, he's the perfect guy for her. 😋

I recommend Heartland (if you haven't already watched it). He shows up in season nine. And while that show has, like WCTH, gone on for too long, it at least is still charming. His character is an absolute sweetheart, albeit a bit of a doormat for a woman who doesn't treat him all that well. Hmm, where have I heard that before?

So, I've been a casual watcher of Chesapeake Shores. I've mostly done it for the lol's, because I live in Maryland and just in terms of scenery the show is so blatantly inaccurate it's hilarious. Seriously, there are mountains in the background (the area surrounding the bay is flat), the water of the "Chesapeake Bay" is pristine (the actual bay is murky and the sight of empty beer cans floating by is not uncommon), and people wear sweaters and blankets to July 4th fireworks shows, which, it's so humid here in July that you'd suffocate if you tried to do that. (I love it here, I'm just poking fun.) Anyway, that aside -- it contains elements of the things you've mentioned. The main female lead is divorced, and the show actually doesn't put her back with her ex-husband when he tries to reconcile with her, because he's a jerk. People lose their jobs and their businesses get into financial trouble. So, it should be good, right? Conflict, right? Not really. Because the problems don't last, and people aren't really active participants in their happy endings. They just sort of happen. It is, as you say, simplistic and white washed. I compare that with something like Once Upon a Time (great show if you're looking for something to marathon during quarantine), where just about every character eventually had a happy ending, but it wasn't easy to get there. Nor did they pretend that reality didn't exist or that kids, if they were watching, needed to necessarily be sheltered from basic life truths, it just approached all of these things in ways that felt real. That's not a bad accomplishment for a show that's literally about fairy tale characters. And that's why I've basically given up on Hallmark, because I think they've proven they just can't find the balance between family friendly and providing actual conflict. I'm still watching CS (if it ever comes back, the last season ended in a way that could suggest it is done), but I'm watching it I think for the same reason you guys are still watching WCTH. I'm with it until the end but it's just so freaking frustrating (and increasingly very boring) and I really don't know why I bother. Hallmark has a way of making their shows last way too long. Ironically all of the things I'm talking about I think would have contributed to WCTH having a great ending if they had just ended it when DL wanted to leave. Five years of being there for each other culminating in a wedding and beginning a life together. That is the most Hallmark thing I've ever heard. I just looked it up and black people were 3% of the population of Canada in 2016. This show is taking place (at least in theory) a hundred years before that, in I think what is now British Columbia, and I'm not Canadian so I don't know the history but apparently Canada had segregation too. A black child in an early 20th century schoolroom in rural BC should be like, an entire storyline! Where did she come from?!? Who is her family? Did anyone in the community have a problem with her being in school with their children, or are we ignoring racism the same way we are ignoring the gigantic war taking place? We're just sticking her in the background, presumably so we can point to her and be like, "See! See! DIVERSITY!" WHY HALLMARK, WHYYYYY????