Hallmark Movies: Small Town Royalty Magically Celebrating Rekindled Love! - General Discussion

[Callietwo]

I found You're Bacon me Crazy really slow and rather dull.  And Cleo was pretty bitchy to make that crazy order which she had no intention of paying for (and he was able to fulfill and give away free?)   Not one I'll ever bother with which is sad because Michael Rady is a favorite and the actress that played Cleo was fine.  Story was the problem here.  Perhaps taking a book intended for youth and making it into a romance movie wasn't the best idea after all. 

[MissyPoo]

I rather liked You're Bacon Me Crazy but I think it was more enjoyable because the mister kept making jokes about it with me throughout. Not quite MST3K but close. 😉 He pointed out a few things also bugged me: no hair nets to be had, no gloves while prepping food, NH's hair was all out and flowing (pour one out for the poor customer who finds strands of blonde hair in their sandwich), people rolling up from the street and then handling food like nobody's business, things like that.

Early in my viewing, penned down some of the story cues like the misunderstanding and such though I did like the way Michael Rady's character was so sweet and easy going enough to be like "a contest? Whatever, not my thing. You can have that" because it fit his character. Natalie Hall was a tad uptight and sometimes a witch with how she later approached him. I did love how she tried to pull one over on him with the huge order and he totally ran with it including faking the exaggerated accent back at her. Gave us a good laugh.

I also have to agree with the mister that she was way too "wanna know my secret identity" with her grandpa's secret recipe. She dang near told everyone about it until the contest when she was suddenly tight lipped. 

Overall, I'll probably keep this one in the background. Loved Michael Rady in Pemberley Manor and he didn't disappoint here. I just missed his beard cause he seemed naked without it haha.  

[Scarlett45]

I watched Fashionably Yours with my Mom. Yay for a Hallmark movie with POC in it! Yay for having them lit properly! Yay for having a decent hair and makeup team-everyone’s hair and makeup (save for the boss, her wig was a little cheap looking), looked so nice. 
 

Kat Graham is charming. Even though it was totally predictable and a little slow I liked it. 
 

Has anyone else noticed they have been showcasing particular cities this movie season? It’s not just “plain generic town in middle USA” but Portland or Seattle. I dig it. 

[twoods]

Yes! I loved that it was Seattle. Both leads were very charming and I liked their chemistry but I agree that it was a little slow. I would like to see both of them again in movies that have a better script. Plus Kendrick Sampson is very easy on the eyes. It was weird not seeing him as a vampire (yay Vampire Diaries reunion) or a crazy person. I like his acting in this, especially how relaxed he was with the kids.

Edited April 12, 2020 by twoods

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, twoods said:

Yes! I loved that it was Seattle. Both leads were very charming and I liked their chemistry but I agree that it was a little slow. I would like to see both of them again in movies that have a better script.

This.  They're both so natural, they had charisma and chemistry.  I'd love to see them in more movies.  But even with the "fall in love with the city" twist, the movie was slow and kind of boring. 

[Ashforth]

I tuned into All of My Heart: Inn Love as background while working from home this afternoon, and wow, what a stinker. Lacey Chabert's lead character, Jenny, was perhaps the most unlikable, needy, Whiny McWhinerson bitch ever. Her fiance goes back to his job (in the Big City, natch) to make money to save their fledgling B&B and all she does is complain about how she misses him and he's gone all the time (the entire movie seems to take place over the course of a week or so). He, of course, gives up the lucrative work that he enjoys to go back to the boonies with his "girl." These are people well into their thirties who apparently have separate bedrooms at the B&B.

A secondary character who is a guest at the B&B goes into some sort of zombie-like, googly eyed state every time she sees the town's general store owner-handyman, and of course they are in love by the end. 

Not to mention the ridiculousness of the "reservation" process:

Phone rings...

Jenny: Hi, Emily's Magical Love B&B. Do you want a reservation?

Caller: Yes

Jenny: What's your name?

Caller: Denise

Jenny: Ok, we'll see you soon! *hangs up*

Everything about this sucked big time. All I wanted was some generic fluff. As it unfolded, I was just hate-watching and almost angry. It was insulting to everyone involved.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Ashforth

[Ashforth]

OTOH, Love, Take Two was really good! Really, really good.

[ECM1231]

On 4/14/2020 at 3:47 PM, Ashforth said:

OTOH, Love, Take Two was really good! Really, really good.

Has this aired yet? The Hallmark Channel says it is airing May 26 but I don't know if it has aired prior.

[Ashforth]

13 minutes ago, ECM1231 said:

Has this aired yet? The Hallmark Channel says it is airing May 26 but I don't know if it has aired prior.

It was on yesterday afternoon. I missed part of it, but I liked what I saw. The characters weren't idiots or jerks and the relationships were treated respectfully. It had a trope or two but not too over the top.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Ashforth

[Dr.OO7]

I just realized that one of the few benefits of this nightmare is that production has probably been halted on all their generic movies.

[ehall1052]

I love those “#care enough” spots shown during commercials with the Hallmark stars giving us encouraging words and they are wearing NO MAKE-UP! If they didn’t have their names under their pictures, I wouldn’t have even recognized some of them!  LOL.  So, I’ve decided that’s my problem... if I wore more make-up, I’d be stunning! 😉

[Scarlett45]

3 hours ago, Camille said:

I just realized that one of the few benefits of this nightmare is that production has probably been halted on all their generic movies.

I was thinking how Countdown to Christmas is going to go- don’t they normally start filming that now?

1 minute ago, ehall1052 said:

I love those “#care enough” spots shown during commercials with the Hallmark stars giving us encouraging words and they are wearing NO MAKE-UP! If they didn’t have their names under their pictures, I wouldn’t have even recognized some of them!  LOL.  So, I’ve decided that’s my problem... if I wore more make-up, I’d be stunning! 😉

Styling (hair, makeup & clothes) can do A LOT but it can’t do everything. Those that look really gorgeous with good styling have god given beauty underneath but it’s a process. To quote Cindy Crawford “Even I don’t wake up looking like Cindy Crawford.”

[Dr.OO7]

2 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

was thinking how Countdown to Christmas is going to go- don’t they normally start filming that now?

They have 80 billion that they can still air. The world will not come to an end just because there aren't any 2020 movies.

And if they can resume production, these movies use virtually the same script and the same 20 actors, so I'm sure it won't take more than a day or so to churn out the new ones.

[Scarlett45]

1 hour ago, Camille said:

They have 80 billion that they can still air. The world will not come to an end just because there aren't any 2020 movies.

And if they can resume production, these movies use virtually the same script and the same 20 actors, so I'm sure it won't take more than a day or so to churn out the new ones.

Yup!!!

[Kohola3]

And to add insult to injury that horrible Princess Toast commercial is back. 

Talk about Groundhog Day! Same movies, same commercials day after day after day after day after day after......

[Luckylyn]

I’m hoping that the temporary shutdown of filming will lead to the Hallmark airing classic movies.  I’d be so happy to see Sarah Plain and Tall again.

[kirinan]

5 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

I’m hoping that the temporary shutdown of filming will lead to the Hallmark airing classic movies.  I’d be so happy to see Sarah Plain and Tall again.

Or The Love Letter with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Campbell Scott. Oh, how I love that movie!

[chitowngirl]

What the Deaf Man Heard!

[Luckylyn]

23 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

What the Deaf Man Heard!

That’s one of my favorites.  Also Back When We Were Grownups 

[MerBearHou]

I'm watching an Instagram live with Paul Campbell and Jonathan Bennett (with completely silver hair).  Paul is one of my favorites.  Jonathan is a LOT to take, lordy.

[Crs97]

Decoration Day!!!

[Scarlett45]

Nature of Love .....

The scenery was beautiful (filmed in Canada according to google), but the leads AND the supporting characters were bland. I don’t think I would ever watch again.

 

Seems we aren't getting June Weddings this year?

[MerBearHou]

13 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Nature of Love .....

The scenery was beautiful (filmed in Canada according to google), but the leads AND the supporting characters were bland. I don’t think I would ever watch again.

 

Seems we aren't getting June Weddings this year?

Nature of Love grew on me.  I ended up liking it but not a new favorite.  The lead guy — Christopher Russell — is stunningly handsome but so unexciting as an actor.  Very, very earnest and though he tried, just no spark of humor.  I like Emilie Ullerup in everything — here she was as endearing as ever but I never got more than a friend-vibe with Christopher.  

The glamping looked pretty darn awesome — incredible scenery and I could get into those tents, activities and meals.  

Emilie was 4 months pregnant when she filmed and just starting to show.  They used a body-double for her in the tougher activities.

A perfectly pleasant way to spend a quarantined Saturday night.  

Edited April 19, 2020 by MerBearHou

[Irlandesa]

The scenery was gorgeous and I like Emilie but I started watching YouTube videos midway through.

It was especially jarring because we had a similar plot recently about an author writing a story and they didn't go the "The editor took over" misunderstanding route.

[Luckylyn]

20 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Nature of Love grew on me.  I ended up liking it but not a new favorite.  The lead guy — Christopher Russell — is stunningly handsome but so unexciting as an actor.  Very, very earnest and though he tried, just no spark of humor.  I like Emilie Ullerup in everything — here she was as endearing as ever but I never got more than a friend-vibe with Christopher.  

The glamping looked pretty darn awesome — incredible scenery and I could get into those tents, activities and meals.  

Emilie was 4 months pregnant when she filmed and just starting to show.  They used a body-double for her in the tougher activities.

A perfectly pleasant way to spend a quarantined Saturday night.  

Every time Christopher Russell has been cast to play the lead I haven’t seen any chemistry between him and his love interest.  When he plays supporting characters, I can enjoy him but he doesn’t work for me as a romantic lead.  There was another movie he did with Autumn Reeser and, I didn’t see a spark there either which surprised me because I usually like Autumn Reeser movies .   I know it’s subjective though. 

Nature of Love wasn’t terrible but I was board.  I ended up fast forwarding.  I just couldn’t get into it.  I thought I would enjoy it because I’m vaguely interesting in Glamping.  I know myself well enough to know I’m too inlove with my comforts to do regular camping and really rough it.

[twoods]

I actually didn’t mind him in Midnight Masquerade- I’ve watched that movie three times. He wasn’t bad in the puppy one with Jen Linney either, but he is on the stiff side. I got bored with the Nature movie after 15 minutes but may try it again if I’m really bored.

[MerBearHou]

33 minutes ago, twoods said:

I actually didn’t mind him in Midnight Masquerade- I’ve watched that movie three times. He wasn’t bad in the puppy one with Jen Linney either,

Good to know — I’ll check those out!

[Kohola3]

On 4/17/2020 at 8:16 AM, Luckylyn said:

I’m hoping that the temporary shutdown of filming will lead to the Hallmark airing classic movies.  I’d be so happy to see Sarah Plain and Tall again.

Skylark

A Place for Annie

The Boys Next Door

A Season For Miracles

The Magic of Ordinary Days

Loving Leah

Oh, for the days before Hallmark decided to clone their repetitive pap.

[Ashforth]

On 4/17/2020 at 7:16 AM, Luckylyn said:

I’m hoping that the temporary shutdown of filming will lead to the Hallmark airing classic movies.  I’d be so happy to see Sarah Plain and Tall again.

Hahaha for a second I saw this as "Sarah Palin"!

[ECM1231]

The scenery was so beautiful in Nature of Love. I never noticed a lack of chemistry between the leads b/c I was too busy staring at Christopher Russell! What a gorgeous man! Used to watch Chesapeake Shores but gave up after 2 seasons and that's where I first saw Emilie U. Never knew she was born and raised in Denmark.  She left for Vancouver right after high school. I don't detect any slight foreign accent at all.

[Callietwo]

I find Russell most unattractive and as wooden an actor as they come.  If it weren’t for the scenery & Emilie who is charming, I’d have bailed.   
 

But, I’d love to go glamping somewhere like that if it looked perfect.  

Edited April 23, 2020 by Callietwo

[twoods]

For anyone that has Direct TV, Hallmark Movies Now is free for the next month. It has a ton of movies, including Loving Leah, The Color of Rain, The Magic of Ordinary Days, Riding in the Bus with My Sister and Lucky 7 (before Patrick Dempsey got famous). I’m impressed with their collection. 

Edited April 23, 2020 by twoods

[Luckylyn]

7 hours ago, twoods said:

For anyone that has Direct TV, Hallmark Movies Now is free for the next month. It has a ton of movies, including Loving Leah, The Color of Rain, The Magic of Ordinary Days, Riding in the Bus with My Sister and Lucky 7 (before Patrick Dempsey got famous). I’m impressed with their collection. 

I love Lucky 7.  I think that was a Family Channel movie when it first came out. I’m curious if it’s been edited.  I notice that Hallmark Movies Now also includes movies that were originally created for other networks.   I was so happy to see they had The Outsider staring Naomi Watts and Tim Daly at his sexist which originally was a Showtime movie.   I noticed that it was edited.  The love scene was shortened significantly.  And yes the first thing I did was fast forward to the love scene for......science.  

[MerBearHou]

6 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

I love Lucky 7.  I think that was a Family Channel movie when it first came out.

Oh, I love that one too!!  May just have to seek it out during quarantine.

[redpencil]

I just searched Lucky 7 on my Roku and found it free on a couple other random channels, yay (tubi and Vudu or something). I also love that one. It must be available multiple places, and Hallmark Now is one of them.

[In2You]

On 4/23/2020 at 12:16 AM, twoods said:

For anyone that has Direct TV, Hallmark Movies Now is free for the next month. It has a ton of movies, including Loving Leah, The Color of Rain, The Magic of Ordinary Days, Riding in the Bus with My Sister and Lucky 7 (before Patrick Dempsey got famous). I’m impressed with their collection. 

Every time I check it out they're playing Little House on the Prairie

[twoods]

8 hours ago, In2You said:

Every time I check it out they're playing Little House on the Prairie

It’s not the channel, it’s their on demand that usually costs money (different than hallmark channel on demand- this one is hallmark now). 

[In2You]

2 hours ago, twoods said:

It’s not the channel, it’s their on demand that usually costs money (different than hallmark channel on demand- this one is hallmark now). 

I'll check it out

Edited April 25, 2020 by In2You

[Kohola3]

10 hours ago, twoods said:

It’s not the channel, it’s their on demand that usually costs money (different than hallmark channel on demand- this one is hallmark now). 

I am so bummed that I can't get this without paying.  So many great movies!

[MissyPoo]

For any Love Letter fans, looks like it's leaving the HMNow app which means it will probably appear on the channels in the next month or so (usually their timelime when they leave). I'd keep an eye out for it appearing on Hallmark Drama if you have it.

 

[kirinan]

23 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

For any Love Letter fans, looks like it's leaving the HMNow app which means it will probably appear on the channels in the next month or so (usually their timelime when they leave). I'd keep an eye out for it appearing on Hallmark Drama if you have it.

Darn it, no HM Drama available here. I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that it eventually shows up somewhere else. My husband swears I have the DVD, so I guess I really need to do a spring cleaning so I can find it. Unless I loaned it out. 

[Scarlett45]

On 4/22/2020 at 11:16 PM, twoods said:

For anyone that has Direct TV, Hallmark Movies Now is free for the next month. It has a ton of movies, including Loving Leah, The Color of Rain, The Magic of Ordinary Days, Riding in the Bus with My Sister and Lucky 7 (before Patrick Dempsey got famous). I’m impressed with their collection. 

I do adore Loving Leah and The Magic of Ordinary Days. Thanks! I have directv. 
 

I wonder WHY we are getting “a little romance” rather than June Weddings. 

[Luckylyn]

13 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

I do adore Loving Leah and The Magic of Ordinary Days. Thanks! I have directv. 
 

I wonder WHY we are getting “a little romance” rather than June Weddings. 

Maybe because a lot of people were forced to cancel their weddings due to the crisis and they are worried a Weddings promotion might bother some people?

[Scarlett45]

13 minutes ago, Luckylyn said:

Maybe because a lot of people were forced to cancel their weddings due to the crisis and they are worried a Weddings promotion might bother some people?

Duh. I’m obtuse. Thank you!!!!!!!

[TVFan17]

I am pretty sure I posted here a while back to mention something about how Hallmark didn't have any new movies filmed to cover them beyond a certain point.  But... just in case I only posted it in the Mystery thread and not here, I will go over it again.  I'll break it all down into categories!

 

No Wedding Movies Means No June Weddings Event

Hallmark simply does not have any wedding-specific movies filmed.  Hence, the reason their June movie event is changing titles this time, to "A Little Romance" -- which is just a generic title to attach to an event including 3 random movies that were not supposed to air in June in the first place. 

Instead of wedding movies, this time they are airing two never-aired movies from 2019 (Country at Heart and Love Under the Olive Tree) that were/are Fall Harvest-themed (finally), and a 3rd movie (Love in the Forecast FKA When it Rains it Pours) that was supposed to be for "summer" when it was shooting, which probably means it was either intended to air in May or in August, but was moved to June to fill a gap.

I guess Hallmark didn't have time to acquire independent wedding movies from random production companies and get them Hallmark-ized in time to air.  Or maybe they are in the process of acquiring something wedding-specific that will magically pop up in June.  Either way, weddings are not the main focus of this year's June movie event because they were not able to get any new wedding movies filmed.

 

A Rocky Start to 2020 Means Fewer Projects in Production

Hallmark was already off to a slow start with filming new movies this year, due to the backlash and resulting snowball effect from pulling the Zola ad during the 2019 holiday season, then losing their CEO (Bill Abbott) a few months ago.  They canceled their already-scheduled, annual January/Winter TCA party (where they would normally present a plethora of upcoming projects to the entertainment press and media) -- and that never happens.  Hallmark always takes part in every TCA, whether it's the Winter event or the Summer event.  They never miss a TCA.  So the fact that they actually had a party planned for a date in January and then canceled it means that they were not in a place to make any presentations about their programming to the media -- especially since the CEO always has to take part in the presentations and make announcements.  They couldn't have a TCA bash without a CEO.  (For the record, I am not sure if there will be a Summer TCA Press Tour in July his year, but, IF there is one, I am not expecting Hallmark to be there because apparently they still don't have a CEO.)

Hallmark had also not signed on to the spring Upfronts in New York either, prior to the Upfronts being canceled when the world shut down.  It looked as though Hallmark was going to skip the Upfronts completely anyway, but then all of the scheduled Upfront participants had to end up canceling or switching to streaming/online presentations.  Where the TCA Press Tours are media-focused, the Upfronts are more focused on networks and various other entertainment platforms presenting their programming to ad buyers, advertisers, distributors, etc.

So... with Hallmark neither having a presence at the Winter TCAs nor the March/Spring Upfronts, and with no CEO at the helm, and with their movie productions slowed way, way down (compared to 2019), this year was already shaky for them.  They were finally, at long last, starting to pick up a little bit of steam and line up some other projects to film (including mysteries and a couple of wedding movies).  BUT...  a pandemic came along and threw everyone and everything off track. 

 

Countdown to Summer (AKA May Movies)--A Little Romance--Christmas Keepsake

Hallmark is not having a "Countdown to Summer" movie event in May this year either, but is airing an acquired Julie Gonzalo movie (How to Train Your Puppy Husband) that was not made for them, but already aired on Amazon and on Hallmark's streaming service.

June will have the 3 previously mentioned "A Little Romance" movies that don't fit a wedding theme.  July will feature the Christmas Keepsake marathon (maybe they will acquire a Christmas movie from someone else just to have something new to air, but there is no indication of that happening yet), as well as Gold Crown Christmas on the HMM Channel.

 

Summer Nights--Fall Harvest--Countdown to Christmas

IF -- and it's a big IF -- Hallmark can resume production on anything between now and June, they might possibly be able to get a couple of movies filmed to fit into their Summer Nights event in August.  At the moment, though, nothing is being filmed -- for Hallmark or for any other network.  The entire TV and film industry has shut down, for the most part, as far as production activity.

If Hallmark cannot get any Summer Nights movies filmed by June or July, then the next goal would be Fall Harvest.  They have been known to film Fall movies in July and August in the past.

And then there is the Countdown to Christmas -- which is Hallmark's biggest event of the year.  They've got two filmed movies (Christmas in Vienna and A New Year's Resolution), and that's it.  Nothing else has been filmed, so they'd have to acquire some random independent movies from various production companies.  But they also film a lot of their Christmas movies in September and October.  So if this shutdown eases up and they can go back to filming even by late summer, they might still be able to crank out a bunch of Christmas movie shoots in Sept-Oct. 

But I don't think that the Countdown to Christmas will be anything like it was the last couple of years, because Hallmark has lost too much momentum this year, even before COVID-19 came along.  They won't be able to make as many new movies because I think too much time has passed and it will be difficult to get caught up to match last year's number of new movies.  They should be able to get some made, but probably not another 38 Christmas movies or whatever. 

 

Series

Also, When Calls the Heart, When Hope Calls and Chesapeake Shores have each been renewed for new seasons, and not a single one of them can go into production until everything opens up again (including Canada), and all of the logistics get sorted out as far as how many people can be on the same set at the same time, which crew members can be on the set at which times, possible self-isolating in between filming scenes, possible mandatory temperature checks and tests, etc.

[ECM1231]

18 hours ago, TVFan17 said:

When Hope Calls

Do we have a thread for this show? I couldn't find it.

[TVFan17]

1 hour ago, ECM1231 said:

Do we have a thread for this show? I couldn't find it.

That's a good question!  I don't know if there is a series thread for it.  I know there is a section for When Calls the Heart, but I have never looked for a When Hope Calls thread because I don't watch it regularly.  Since there is -- at some point in time -- going to be a second season, it seems like it would be a good idea to have a section for When Hope Calls.

[TVFan17]

A writer for Parade magazine mentioned on Twitter that the Summer TCA Press Tour (in July/August) has been canceled.  So even if Hallmark had decided to jump back into the TCAs with their annual summer party to promote their programming slate through the second half of the year, they would not be able to now because the whole Press Tour was canceled.

I doubt that Hallmark had planned to appear at the Summer TCAs without a CEO in place, but this year has not been normal in any way so it's hard to know for sure.  I wonder if Hallmark will to be able to sign on for the next Winter TCA tour in January.  They'd have to register and submit their paperwork in September, I think, if they want to be part of the Winter TCAs in 2021.  Will they have a new CEO by September?  At this rate, it's anyone's guess.

Edited May 1, 2020 by TVFan17

[Valentine]

On 4/24/2020 at 12:38 PM, In2You said:

For anyone that has Direct TV, Hallmark Movies Now is free for the next month.

Thanks for the tout! Amazon is offering a 30 day trial of HMN right now. The selection looks good.

 

[DanaMB]

 Just started How to Train Your Husband and may just delete it. The so-called heroine is a bitch.