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

[AAEBoiler]

TV Guide had a simpler rundown of the movies on a single page.

 

It's funny how some of the later ones don't even have actors associated with them. Have they not filmed them yet? If not, I'm hoping that Chris Bearstick gets cast in a few of them!

[mikeb]

1 hour ago, AAEBoiler said:

It's funny how some of the later ones don't even have actors associated with them. Have they not filmed them yet? If not, I'm hoping that Chris Bearstick gets cast in a few of them!

This was discussed in separate Holiday TV Movies forum.   Alicia Witt just started filming her movie this week and it is scheduled to air 11/19, so would not be a surprise that some of the ones scheduled for December haven't begun filming yet.  In2You mentioned in past years, some of them were filming all the way up to end of November.

Edited September 20, 2018 by mikeb

[Kaoteek]

Late to the party, but I just finished Love In Design. Eh. Nothing particularly annoying, I don't mind McKellar, I like Walker, the house was nice, but it was so generic that I just never particularly cared for it, and felt it was going through the motions. Maybe I'm burned out on McKellar as a lead, just like I was with Chabert. Oh well.

[LexieLily]

Way late to the party but I watched the three summer Hailey Dean mysteries this week: now that Will's murder is solved is that it for the series? And I know it was supposed to be a twist that Will got killed on accident and he was really after Hailey, but Chad Lowe's reasoning for going after Hailey in the alley that night was a total copout. Of course Emma was going to use her dying breaths to try and save her own life and say she had told Hailey everything. Isn't that Surviving Your Attack And Staying Alive 101? It makes Chad Lowe look incompetent (as incompetent as the good he hired) and criminally unsophisticated that he took the words of his first dying victim as gospel.

A smaller thing but it still bugs. When Hailey was first searching for Emma she said that Emma had a half-sister. When she and that sister met up, the woman said that her mother had died young and her father married Emma's mom. That would make them stepsiblings, not half-siblings.

[mikeb]

7 hours ago, LexieLily said:

now that Will's murder is solved is that it for the series?

This wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hallmark_Channel_Original_Movies includes a list of 'announced or in development' movies and does not include any new Hailey Dean movies, so not sure they will continue, although their ratings seem to be better than some of the other series that do have more movies listed.  Looks like getting at least 4 more Garage Sale Mysteries, 2 more Aurora Teagarden Mysteries and Emma Fielding Mysteries,  and 1 more Fixer Upper Mystery and Morning Show Mystery.

This article is interesting as shows all the movies shown on both Hallmark Channel and HMM Channel back to 2000 and the number of viewers for most of them since 2012.  Candace Cameron Bure has a 4 year streak going of starring in movie with most viewers in given calendar year.

[JAYJAY1979]

4 hours ago, mikeb said:

This wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hallmark_Channel_Original_Movies includes a list of 'announced or in development' movies and does not include any new Hailey Dean movies, so not sure they will continue, although their ratings seem to be better than some of the other series that do have more movies listed.  Looks like getting at least 4 more Garage Sale Mysteries, 2 more Aurora Teagarden Mysteries and Emma Fielding Mysteries,  and 1 more Fixer Upper Mystery and Morning Show Mystery.

This article is interesting as shows all the movies shown on both Hallmark Channel and HMM Channel back to 2000 and the number of viewers for most of them since 2012.  Candace Cameron Bure has a 4 year streak going of starring in movie with most viewers in given calendar year.

I think candace plays in different types of holiday movies...so it isnt the same old for her.  My favorite holiday movie was the one where she time traveled frok the 40s to modern day....though the shoe addict one she's doing this season looks interesting.

And I love her Aurora Teagarden movies...apparently, she fought to make the character and movies more like the book series..hence why it doesn't have that Hallmark Channel vibe (thank gosh).

[GaT]

4 hours ago, mikeb said:

This wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hallmark_Channel_Original_Movies includes a list of 'announced or in development' movies and does not include any new Hailey Dean movies, so not sure they will continue, although their ratings seem to be better than some of the other series that do have more movies listed.  Looks like getting at least 4 more Garage Sale Mysteries, 2 more Aurora Teagarden Mysteries and Emma Fielding Mysteries,  and 1 more Fixer Upper Mystery and Morning Show Mystery.

This article is interesting as shows all the movies shown on both Hallmark Channel and HMM Channel back to 2000 and the number of viewers for most of them since 2012.  Candace Cameron Bure has a 4 year streak going of starring in movie with most viewers in given calendar year.

Looks like there are a few new ones in there. I had heard about The Crossword Mysteries already, but this is the first I'm seeing about The Chronicle Mysteries, The Matchmaker Mysteries, or Mystery U. I'm sad that there doesn't seem to be a Signed, Sealed, Delivered movie on the list.

[MissyPoo]

So that's the Chronicle Mysteries slot. I saw Alison Sweeney post the hashtag on her twitter while on set. Looks like that's what she'll be doing instead of the Murder She Baked series.

https://deadline.com/2018/03/alison-sweeney-topline-hallmark-movie-franchise-the-chronicle-mysteries-1202354275/

I see from that wiki link they are still doing the same title situations. "Love at the Fair". "Love at the Lake". "Love Under the Rainbow". Goodness. I'm curious about the other mysteries though.

Edited September 23, 2018 by MissyPoo

[KLovestoShop]

I’m not sure I can handle Kellie Pickler in a full movie.  Just can’t handle that voice.  

Hope it’s only one Witt movie this Holiday.  Can’t handle much more than that. 

Love the NCIS Brit.  I was so totally angry when they killed him off. 

[Jaded]

I liked Alicia Witt in Cybil and L&O: Criminal Intent (I know she's been in a lot of other stuff that I haven't really seen her in). The two or three Hallmark holiday movies I've seen her in had her playing characters were really obnoxious and annoying.

[GaT]

55 minutes ago, Jaded said:

I liked Alicia Witt in Cybil and L&O: Criminal Intent (I know she's been in a lot of other stuff that I haven't really seen her in). The two or three Hallmark holiday movies I've seen her in had her playing characters were really obnoxious and annoying.

There's something about the way she speaks that gets on my last nerve.

[MissyPoo]

Since she's on the other channel this year, I'm thinking she'll probably be more toned down. For some reason, the main channel has everyone super hyper and pre-teenish in their deliveries.

3 hours ago, KLovestoShop said:

I’m not sure I can handle Kellie Pickler in a full movie.  Just can’t handle that voice.  

 

Hallmark is making a big deal about her, but I had no idea who she was until I had to look her up. Based on the movie clip they showed during the preview show, I'm guessing this is her first acting role? She seemed very stiff. I'll probably skip hers.

[Jaded]

12 hours ago, GaT said:

There's something about the way she speaks that gets on my last nerve.

At some point over the years it seems like she's acquired some kind of weird lisp thing. I've wondered if it was due to some poor dental work or something else.

Edited September 23, 2018 by Jaded

[GaT]

1 hour ago, MissyPoo said:

Hallmark is making a big deal about her, but I had no idea who she was until I had to look her up. Based on the movie clip they showed during the preview show, I'm guessing this is her first acting role? She seemed very stiff. I'll probably skip hers.

I remember her back from when I watched American Idol, she thought you pronounced the "l" in "salmon", she kept calling it sal-mon

[mikeb]

13 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

So that's the Chronicle Mysteries slot. I saw Alison Sweeney post the hashtag on her twitter while on set. Looks like that's what she'll be doing instead of the Murder She Baked series.

https://deadline.com/2018/03/alison-sweeney-topline-hallmark-movie-franchise-the-chronicle-mysteries-1202354275/

I see from that wiki link they are still doing the same title situations. "Love at the Fair". "Love at the Lake". "Love Under the Rainbow". Goodness. I'm curious about the other mysteries though.

I did some googling and found that "The Matchmaker Mysteries" is a new franchise recently announced starring Danica McKellar as a professional matchmaker who gets involved in cases involving her clients.    Could not find any details regarding "Mystery U".

[Ohwell]

9 hours ago, GaT said:

I remember her back from when I watched American Idol, she thought you pronounced the "l" in "salmon", she kept calling it sal-mon

Not only that, but the whole "pick Pickler" crap got on my last nerve.  I think Simon started it because he thought she was a little country sex kitten. 

[carolibra]

On 9/20/2018 at 12:56 AM, twoods said:

Kimberly Sustad and Paul Campbell together could be pretty great. Both of them have such great comedic timing.

Totally agree - I've often thought this pairing would be stellar, so am VERY excited to see this!

[Happywatcher]

I mostly like Truly Madly Sweetly. I liked the male lead, Dylan, in his detective movie series. The situation wasn't as contrived as some of these movies. 

The worst part was that the lead had better chemistry with the competition character actress, Alison Wandzura, who I have never heard of before, every time she is on screen. Otherwise the female lead is likable.

[mikeb]

I wonder if any of the actresses who star in these movies will start refusing to appear on Hallmark's "Home And Family" show to promote them.  Former host Mark Steines is suing Hallmark claiming he was fired for supporting two women who worked on the show who claimed the executive producer was sexually harassing them.  He also claims the executive producer would make sexually suggestive comments to him in his ear piece about attractive guests on the show while he was interviewing them, presumably including some of these actresses.

https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/hallmark-channel-mark-steines-harassment-1202951935/

[Happywatcher]

I saw that. If there is evidence that was why he was fired, they need to settle this quick. You can't brand as the ultra wholesome channel while your showrunners are holding mandatory casting couch time

[JasmineFlower]

On 9/20/2018 at 12:56 AM, twoods said:

Kimberly Sustad and Paul Campbell together could be pretty great. Both of them have such great comedic timing.

I learned about this a bit ago and while I was initially thrilled since I've been complaining about Kimberly not getting a second starring role forever, and to get one with Paul is nirvana, I soon came down after. It's a HMM movie that's based on a series of books, so more of a religious undertone and one of those heartwarming movies instead of the lighthearted, more comedic fare that Hallmark has. HMM has several of these more religious sounding ones this season. This one seems to skirt what the book really goes for based on the movie's description, so there's definitely a chance this is an unfounded worry. But there is no doubt a God angle to this one. So, we'll see, but without seeing the movie and going off of what I read about the books, I can easily say I wish their combined talents were used in a different movie.

 

On 9/22/2018 at 8:23 AM, mikeb said:

This wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hallmark_Channel_Original_Movies includes a list of 'announced or in development' movies and does not include any new Hailey Dean movies, so not sure they will continue, although their ratings seem to be better than some of the other series that do have more movies listed.  Looks like getting at least 4 more Garage Sale Mysteries, 2 more Aurora Teagarden Mysteries and Emma Fielding Mysteries,  and 1 more Fixer Upper Mystery and Morning Show Mystery.

That list is definitely no exhaustive just so you know. I definitely wouldn't read much into Hailey Dean missing for future movies. With it going into Garage Sale Mystery limited series month of movies mode this year, they aired all of theirs that were shot in one chunk. Similar to GSM, I'd expect more of the same for next year just nothing has been announced yet. Remember that Kellie Martin is one of their favorites, and Emma Fielding Mysteries is hers as well, so I'm sure it's just a matter of time that more Hailey Dean will be announced.

[GaT]

53 minutes ago, JasmineFlower said:

Remember that Kellie Martin is one of their favorites, and Emma Fielding Mysteries is hers as well, so I'm sure it's just a matter of time that more Hailey Dean will be announced.

The Emma Fielding mysteries star Courtney Thorne-Smith, not Kellie Martin.

[Jaded]

52 minutes ago, GaT said:

The Emma Fielding mysteries star Courtney Thorne-Smith, not Kellie Martin.

Kellie is listed as an executive producer for the series of movies.

[GaT]

2 minutes ago, Jaded said:

Kellie is listed as an executive producer for the series of movies.

Ah, I didn't know that, thanks.

[twoods]

Truly, Madly, Sweetly was decent. I was intrigued by the bakery storyline and the leads had okay chemistry (the lead and her best friend had terrific chemistry), but the ending was clunky. I don’t like when a decent movie is ruined by a crappy ending. I was hungry throughout the movie with all that dessert porn.

[MissyPoo]

Whoever mentioned Kellie Pickler's voice upthread wasn't kidding. In her 30 sec promo for the second christmas preview show (they needed another??), my ears wanted to jump out of the window. That's a definite skip.

[VartanFan]

Quote

There's something about the way she speaks that gets on my last nerve.

For me, it's the way her mouth moves when she speaks.  I feel like I'd like many of these actresses a lot more if they were allowed to be adults, but alas...

 

I watched the Truly, Madly Sweetly movie and I haven't seen Dylan Neal in anything in a long time (Dawson's Creek?).  I don't remember him being so limited as an actor.  

[JasmineFlower]

36 minutes ago, VartanFan said:

I watched the Truly, Madly Sweetly movie and I haven't seen Dylan Neal in anything in a long time (Dawson's Creek?).  I don't remember him being so limited as an actor.  

Dylan is one of my Hallmark faves personally, but if you don't like him, you don't like him. As for seeing him recently though, he's been in a decent number of things over the years and he's a Hallmark regular. He's co-starred in one of their TV series, appeared in a few regular movies, and stars in one of their mystery movie series. He's also a producer of the movies, and sometimes a writer. Truly, Madly, Sweetly is his project, similar to the Gourmet Mystery movies.

Edited September 25, 2018 by JasmineFlower

[MissyPoo]

Hmmmm.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4483486/hallmark-movie-bc-interracial-couples/

[mikeb]

29 minutes ago, MissyPoo said:

Hmmmm.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4483486/hallmark-movie-bc-interracial-couples/

I might have been seeing subtext that really wasn't there, but in Bridget Regan's "Christmas Getaway" 2017 movie, there seemed to be an attraction between her character's mother and an African-American shop owner.  By the end of the movie, they were planning on going on a trip together as part of a tour group. 

[beadgirl]

Quote

Hmmmm.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4483486/hallmark-movie-bc-interracial-couples/

Like I said, another 20 years. <eyeroll>

[MissyPoo]

26 minutes ago, mikeb said:

I might have been seeing subtext that really wasn't there, but in Bridget Regan's "Christmas Getaway" 2017 movie, there seemed to be an attraction between her character's mother and an African-American shop owner.  By the end of the movie, they were planning on going on a trip together as part of a tour group. 

You're not alone. I had the same feeling and upon viewing it recently in July, I thought it was a bit more direct (could be my wishful thinking) but the subtle hint was certainly there. Also, the relationship between Mrs. Henley and Luigi in A Gift to Remember was nice to see and I thought that meant they were heading toward having interracial leads. I have spotted a few interracial couples in the background of some of their previous movies, but judging from this incident, that may be changing. Sigh. 

 

1 minute ago, beadgirl said:

Like I said, another 20 years. <eyeroll>

Yep.

[Happywatcher]

There is an odd trend in US romance fiction. Harlequin mixes white, Asian, and hispanic, to the extent that most of the post 1990 'force' romances are Greek or Arab men (pre-90 the initial sex encounter in Harlequins were usually rapes, which is why most of the pre internet catalog is not reprintable now. Since then the trend is a man in the force imprints making the woman date him in public for contrived reason, then they fall in lust for the encounter).

However, they use an entirely different imprint line for black romances.

I think it is consumer driven, so until that changes I don't think we will see romance, even Hallmark clean romance, that crosses that line

[twoods]

I also thought I had seen interracial couples in the background. I was excited that it seemed like Hallmark was getting better with diversity this season because of the minority leads and in Truly, Madly Deeply the friends were African American, the Historical society guy was Asian and a lot of the Historical board were minorities. I liked seeing interracial couples on Lifetime and Freeform so am bummed that we may not get that on Hallmark.

[Happywatcher]

As I have been typing this, and working, Love in Design, the new Danica movie, has been running off my dvr in the background. The black woman best work friend and the igor looking work character double dated with the leads. I almost missed it, because the two leads seem on the edge of being self aware they are in a hallmark. So it is happening a little

[MissyPoo]

57 minutes ago, Happywatcher said:

There is an odd trend in US romance fiction. Harlequin mixes white, Asian, and hispanic, to the extent that most of the post 1990 'force' romances are Greek or Arab men (pre-90 the initial sex encounter in Harlequins were usually rapes, which is why most of the pre internet catalog is not reprintable now. Since then the trend is a man in the force imprints making the woman date him in public for contrived reason, then they fall in lust for the encounter).

However, they use an entirely different imprint line for black romances.

I think it is consumer driven, so until that changes I don't think we will see romance, even Hallmark clean romance, that crosses that line

5

To Harlequin's credit they do have IRs under their black romance banner. Mostly with black heroines and other races of heroes. The interest grew in the 90s but there is a substantial fanbase for the pairing. So much that a BISAC (book cataloging) category was created for it.

 

On another note, that explains why it's tough to find old school Harlequin reprints. Makes sense.

[Irlandesa]

22 hours ago, twoods said:

Truly, Madly, Sweetly was decent. I was intrigued by the bakery storyline and the leads had okay chemistry (the lead and her best friend had terrific chemistry), but the ending was clunky. I don’t like when a decent movie is ruined by a crappy ending. I was hungry throughout the movie with all that dessert porn.

Yeah, I tend to like Dylan's screenplays.  And movies.  The chemistry wasn't off the charts but both actors/characters were watchable.  That last bit of angst was unnecessary but overall it was a pleasant movie.

[In2You]

8 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

To Harlequin's credit they do have IRs under their black romance banner. Mostly with black heroines and other races of heroes. The interest grew in the 90s but there is a substantial fanbase for the pairing. So much that a BISAC (book cataloging) category was created for it.

 

On another note, that explains why it's tough to find old school Harlequin reprints. Makes sense.

Harlequin ended their black imprint. They stop releasing books from it at the end of this year I think. As far as Hallmatk I dont consider insider people in the background who don't get a love story onscreen as representation. But not surprised racist brass there does.

[JasmineFlower]

So a question about Love in Design. I've already watched it. I liked it enough because of Andrew and Danica even though a few things didn't work for me. But am I totally missing it or did we not get a full or even limited tour of the B&B after it was complete? Did I miss the reveal? I was probably mildly distracted, but I rewound and fast forwarded a few times trying to find the grand tour of the B&B that they spent the entire movie redesigning and it didn't seem to be included. I feel like Hallmark basically set this movie in the world of HGTV but apparently never watched HGTV or doesn't get the deal with that channel because we're not just here for the process, but the reveal. I saw an almost complete pergola, a few things that were in close to complete but still works in progress, I saw the fireplace in the background when they were at the party. I didn't see anything once it was deemed complete and there were plenty of rooms and details that felt like they should be getting a final reveal including the pergola done up for the party. I hope there was some problem with my DVR recording and that's why I didn't see it and it wasn't left out of the movie entirely.

[MissyPoo]

11 hours ago, In2You said:

Harlequin ended their black imprint. They stop releasing books from it at the end of this year I think. As far as Hallmatk I dont consider insider people in the background who don't get a love story onscreen as representation. But not surprised racist brass there does.

Well, crap. I guess they're just releasing the stuff they already had on the pipeline in production. Double sigh.

7 hours ago, JasmineFlower said:

So a question about Love in Design. I've already watched it. I liked it enough because of Andrew and Danica even though a few things didn't work for me. But am I totally missing it or did we not get a full or even limited tour of the B&B after it was complete? Did I miss the reveal?

 

Nope, you didn't miss anything. That was one of the major complaints online about the movie. I agree, though, that's why we watch the HGTV shows and I think this, along with some other hitches in the story, kind of brought down my enjoyment of the movie. A bummer because I was also looking forward to this one.

Edited September 26, 2018 by MissyPoo

[EyewatchTV211]

Reading the article about the Hallmark opposition to interracial couples, I found this quote interesting: "It’s just common knowledge that Hallmark expects people of the same ethnicities to be coupled,” said one insider.

You can definitely see this. I had watched Truly, Madly, Sweetly the night it aired (before reading this article) and already thought to myself how "coincidental" that one lead had an African American friend/co-worker and the other lead had an African American co-worker and they happened to meet and a pairing was highly suggested (her asking him what superpower he would choose). Obviously this could happen in real life, but it's in so many of their movies that the "sidekicks" happen to be A.A. and end up interested in each other that it is clearly the preference.  

This is on top of how obviously the leads up until this point have always been white or passed as white (Meghan Markle or Alexa PenaVega). And now they will finally have A.A. leads for Christmas but all paired with other A.A.

Edited September 27, 2018 by VMepicgrl

[Crs97]

7 hours ago, VMepicgrl said:

 

Reading the article about the Hallmark opposition to interracial couples, I found this quote interesting: "It’s just common knowledge that Hallmark expects people of the same ethnicities to be coupled,” said one insider.

 

I find this so completely offensive I can’t even. . .

I am reminded that I once looked up their Christian imprint guidelines for authors, and it had rules like no one could be called Father unless he had a child and no church could have the word Saint in its title.  Hmm, what a coincidence that those two rules affect writing about people who are catholic.

I think this turns me off the brand and channel completely.

[mikeb]

19 hours ago, JasmineFlower said:

So a question about Love in Design. I've already watched it. I liked it enough because of Andrew and Danica even though a few things didn't work for me. But am I totally missing it or did we not get a full or even limited tour of the B&B after it was complete? Did I miss the reveal? I was probably mildly distracted, but I rewound and fast forwarded a few times trying to find the grand tour of the B&B that they spent the entire movie redesigning and it didn't seem to be included. I feel like Hallmark basically set this movie in the world of HGTV but apparently never watched HGTV or doesn't get the deal with that channel because we're not just here for the process, but the reveal. I saw an almost complete pergola, a few things that were in close to complete but still works in progress, I saw the fireplace in the background when they were at the party. I didn't see anything once it was deemed complete and there were plenty of rooms and details that felt like they should be getting a final reveal including the pergola done up for the party. I hope there was some problem with my DVR recording and that's why I didn't see it and it wasn't left out of the movie entirely.

The way they handled her renovation of her parents' backyard patio area was also poorly done.  After building it up as something she wanted to do to thank them for everything they had done for her,  they completely skipped over showing any work being done and instead just ended up briefly showing a new gazebo which had been built in less than one day by an unseen crew.

Edited September 27, 2018 by mikeb

[catrice2]

On 9/26/2018 at 5:45 AM, In2You said:

Harlequin ended their black imprint. They stop releasing books from it at the end of this year I think. As far as Hallmatk I dont consider insider people in the background who don't get a love story onscreen as representation. But not surprised racist brass there does.

Interesting you should say this because I messaged with one of the writers for Harlequin about what I am calling the Meghan Markle effect. I expect to see that event to have an impact on romance books and they did have at least two that I can think of in the last year that was in their regular Presents line not in the IR line that they discontinued. They had the black heroine on the cover and in one of them they even referenced her natural hair. although she was mixed race it was made clear that she was considered black. In the other I was really annoyed that they just really didn't talk about her race at all although the cover made it clear.

The writer seem to think that they were in a moving in a different direction and she spoke about how they were letting them have more input on choosing the covers and that she knew one of her colleagues had a book coming out soon that would have a dark-skinned woman not mixed race on the cover so she thought that was progress. She 

Did keep pointing out that they have had Asian,Arab and Hispanic men but  skirted around the issue that they always regulated  black male white woman or white man black woman to the IR line.  I was still mad at them for one of the books they had in the Desire series where the secretary was passing as white. Just when I thought I couldn't get  more offended  I read one 2 weeks ago where the hero drugged the woman and took her to another country. I was shocked to see reviews of the book where people thought it was a good read. In today's climate I wonder how that made it past any editor to think that it was a good idea for a man to drug a woman and that be considered romantic. 

I would really love to contact them about that because that was just so appalling. Women have died being drugged from allergic reactions and in what world would that be sexy?

[catrice2]

On 9/26/2018 at 10:08 PM, VMepicgrl said:

Reading the article about the Hallmark opposition to interracial couples, I found this quote interesting: "It’s just common knowledge that Hallmark expects people of the same ethnicities to be coupled,” said one insider.

You can definitely see this. I had watched Truly, Madly, Sweetly the night it aired (before reading this article) and already thought to myself how "coincidental" that one lead had an African American friend/co-worker and the other lead had an African American co-worker and they happened to meet and a pairing was highly suggested (her asking him what superpower he would choose). Obviously this could happen in real life, but it's in so many of their movies that the "sidekicks" happen to be A.A. and end up interested in each other that it is clearly the preference.  

This is on top of how obviously the leads up until this point have always been white or passed as white (Meghan Markle or Alexa PenaVega). And now they will finally have A.A. leads for Christmas but all paired with other A.A.

Where was this article about Hallmark movies? I would like to read that. I watch Mostly the Mystery Channel and not the romance Channel but I had vaguely noticed it was always the obligatory black friend or co-worker guess I had a minority at all, and usually that person didn't have a love interest of their own.

 I don't know what channel it came on maybe lifetime? But the only movie I can think of was the movie where the Mowry twins got married and that was what 10 years ago? one of them has a white love interest and then there was a movie I believe on Lifetime with Keesha Sharps daughter having a white boyfriend and they were the lead characters. I can't think of any on Hallmark but again I don't watch them that often.

The Holly Robinson Peete series is truly awful.

[Happywatcher]

On 9/26/2018 at 6:45 AM, In2You said:

Harlequin ended their black imprint. They stop releasing books from it at the end of this year I think. As far as Hallmatk I dont consider insider people in the background who don't get a love story onscreen as representation. But not surprised racist brass there does.

Almost 20 years ago I was in a multisided case on digital rights and our client was a clean black romance writer. It was a very small group of women who could write for that genre and make product people wanted to read. 

I haven't talked to her for about a decade, but she was nice and I hope she retired before now, given this.

Edited September 29, 2018 by Happywatcher

[In2You]

12 hours ago, catrice2 said:

Interesting you should say this because I messaged with one of the writers for Harlequin about what I am calling the Meghan Markle effect. I expect to see that event to have an impact on romance books and they did have at least two that I can think of in the last year that was in their regular Presents line not in the IR line that they discontinued. They had the black heroine on the cover and in one of them they even referenced her natural hair. although she was mixed race it was made clear that she was considered black. In the other I was really annoyed that they just really didn't talk about her race at all although the cover made it clear.

The writer seem to think that they were in a moving in a different direction and she spoke about how they were letting them have more input on choosing the covers and that she knew one of her colleagues had a book coming out soon that would have a dark-skinned woman not mixed race on the cover so she thought that was progress. She 

Did keep pointing out that they have had Asian,Arab and Hispanic men but  skirted around the issue that they always regulated  black male white woman or white man black woman to the IR line.  I was still mad at them for one of the books they had in the Desire series where the secretary was passing as white. Just when I thought I couldn't get  more offended  I read one 2 weeks ago where the hero drugged the woman and took her to another country. I was shocked to see reviews of the book where people thought it was a good read. In today's climate I wonder how that made it past any editor to think that it was a good idea for a man to drug a woman and that be considered romantic. 

I would really love to contact them about that because that was just so appalling. Women have died being drugged from allergic reactions and in what world would that be sexy?

I get access to Harlequin advanced reader copies of many books and I've seen a few interracial ones pop up this year on different Harlequin imprints while they burn off the Kimani one. One of the problems for me is these IR romances are mainly being written by white female authors who have no clue how to write a black character. And that was a complaint about the Kimani line from some of their writers. Harlequin was moving towards black romances written by non black writers while dropping the black imprint. I had a problem with the influx of black lvoe stories with an obviously biracial woman on the cover too. Diversity onscreen is great but diversity behind the scenes is also needed for it to work well. I have no interested in a white washed story either.  I hope in Hallmark's move towards diversity they have some much needed diverse writers. 

This one is Harlequin Carina

Harlequin Intrigue

Harlequin Desire

[Happywatcher]

14 hours ago, catrice2 said:

Where was this article about Hallmark movies? I would like to read that. I watch Mostly the Mystery Channel and not the romance Channel but I had vaguely noticed it was always the obligatory black friend or co-worker guess I had a minority at all, and usually that person didn't have a love interest of their own.

 I don't know what channel it came on maybe lifetime? But the only movie I can think of was the movie where the Mowry twins got married and that was what 10 years ago? one of them has a white love interest and then there was a movie I believe on Lifetime with Keesha Sharps daughter having a white boyfriend and they were the lead characters. I can't think of any on Hallmark but again I don't watch them that often.

The Holly Robinson Peete series is truly awful.

How did they screw it up? Everything is wrong, from the writing to the casting.

[catrice2]

Please add the hair and makeup. Everything about that Series is truly tragic. I would imagine the book series wasn't that great to begin with, but trust me there are some others that they could have used. I've always wanted someone to adapt and Valerie Wesley Wilson Tamara Hayle books. I wonder why she stopped writing them? Or there's the Frankie Bailey Lizzie series she's a college professorOr Berger and Mitry by David Handler. Both of them have that kind of small town feel like the Murder She baked Garage sale and Aurora Teagarden backdrops.

Edited September 30, 2018 by catrice2

[MissyPoo]

22 hours ago, catrice2 said:

Where was this article about Hallmark movies? I would like to read that.

 

This one? https://globalnews.ca/news/4483486/hallmark-movie-bc-interracial-couples/

 

22 hours ago, catrice2 said:

 I don't know what channel it came on maybe lifetime? But the only movie I can think of was the movie where the Mowry twins got married and that was what 10 years ago? one of them has a white love interest and then there was a movie I believe on Lifetime with Keesha Sharps daughter having a white boyfriend and they were the lead characters. I can't think of any on Hallmark but again I don't watch them that often.

 

Yep! That one was Double Wedding, one of my faves. I think that was about 10 years ago (man, time flies). I've been waiting for another one like that for a while but no go, especially since Lifetime put a cap on their rom coms (until Christmas, that is). The second movie you are describing is Killer Coach I think. Lifetime is miles ahead of Hallmark in terms of IR couples and diverse leads. Even Pixl is usually miles ahead. 

9 hours ago, In2You said:

Diversity onscreen is great but diversity behind the scenes is also needed for it to work well. I have no interested in a white washed story either.  I hope in Hallmark's move towards diversity they have some much needed diverse writers. 

This one is Harlequin Carina

1

True all of this. I would love for them to get more diverse directors, writers, editors, etc behind the scenes. Not sure how the climate is though with the whole lawsuit and such but maybe it needs an overhaul with completely new people about now.

And thanks for the book posts. I'm adding them to my to-reads list. Happy to see Therese Beharrie has a new one coming out. Love her books.

Catrice2, agree about Berger & Mitry but I have a feeling Hallmark may 'Hallmarkize' it and take all the awesome and bite out of the stories to water it down. I'd rather another network handle it that can do it justice. But I wouldn't mind seeing something similar as one of their mystery series.