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

[In2You]

Hallmark's movies this year just haven't been holding my interest.

[Irlandesa]

I've actually felt they've been better than in year's past.  It's Lifetime's movies that have really fallen off for me.

[MerBearHou]

15 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I've actually felt they've been better than in year's past.  It's Lifetime's movies that have really fallen off for me.

Agreed.  I've found at least 3 new ones that I have really, really liked.  Usually I feel that they're decent to OK to good, but this season I've so enjoyed One Royal Holiday, On the Twelfth Date of Christmas, and Cranberry Christmas.  For me, that's a win in my book!

[Miss Bones]

Just started A Timeless Christmas, and words I never thought I would hear uttered in a Hallmark movie:  “Thanks, but I’m not really in a hot cocoa mood.” 😱

 

[WinnieWinkle]

Am in the middle of One Royal Holiday right now and have to post to say how much I'm enjoying it.  For one thing some people actually have asked for cocoa and not specified hot cocoa.  That alone was worth the price of admission 😀.   Another thing I like is how the misunderstandings are resolved almost immediately (for example Anna thinking her mother didn't like formal dances) - quite the change from the usual formula of constant confusion until the last 5 minutes!

Edited November 18, 2020 by WinnieWinkle

[In2You]

On 11/16/2020 at 12:23 PM, bunnyface said:

I was given the book of A Timeless Christmas last year and liked it well enough.  It was written by a friend of a friend.   I have taped the movie but not sure I want to watch it.  It might ruin the book for me.

I read a book this weekend and the entire time, I was thinking "this would make a good Hallmark movie."  Until the very end and something happened that never, ever happens in Hallmark movies.  The man gave up everything to follow the woman and she kept her very satisfying city job, instead of the other way around.  Now I hope Hallmark never gets their hands on the book because they will ruin it.

Sometimes I'll read a book and think it could make a good Hallmark movie and then I think Hallmark would ruin it lol

[Kaoteek]

Happily surprised by On the 12th Day of Christmas and Holly & Ivy (same writer in both cases) and the way they seem to sidestep the usual Hallmark tropes while staying entertaining and/or touching.

Frustrated by Timeless Christmas, which needed at least a couple of rewrites to feel less superficial, and sometimes felt a waste of its main couple.

Left cold by Cranberry Christmas and its 90 min marriage counseling session. Not the biggest fans of Benjamin Ayres, though.

Really didn't care for Christmas with the Darlings which lacked energy, chemistry, and felt way too generic to be interesting. Then again (unpopular opinion), I've never been the biggest fan of Snow Bride (same writer and same star), so there's that.

Liked The Christmas Bow, even though I still feel Michael Rady is too safe & bland for my taste.

 

Overall, so far, Hallmark is faring better than I expected them too - sometimes, they're overcompensating on the diversity mandate, they often fall back on the usual tropes, but they seem to be giving their writers slightly more leeway, this season.

[ehall1052]

Is Daniel Lissing doing anymore Hallmark movies? I haven’t seen him in one for quite a while and I really like him.

[norcalgal]

On 11/15/2020 at 2:57 PM, EyewatchTV211 said:

Did anyone watch Meet Me At Christmas? I haven't watched it and admittedly wasn't really interested to. Partially because the storyline didn't seem like anything special or interesting and partially for superficial reasons - in the previews Mark didn't look great and Catherine looks strange. I recorded it just in case people actually thought it was good but am ready to just delete it also. 

 

On 11/15/2020 at 3:54 PM, MerBearHou said:

I watched some of it.  Sadly, to me, Catherine’s mouth looks strange and it was distracting.  It is a shame.  And I felt she was so hostile to Mark’s character a bit too often — honestly, I don’t know why Hallmark does this so often.  The often quite rude, off-putting, insulting, hostile behavior and verbiage would turn me off of the other person FOR GOOD!  

Maybe others liked the movie more.  I’m such a Good Witch fan and oh, I wish Catherine would have left her face alone for these past several years.  

 

On 11/15/2020 at 5:20 PM, Callietwo said:

I just sat through it and Catherine Bell's character remains bitchy throughout.  The wedding of the young couple (her son & Mark's character's niece) is absolutely stunning and their characters are adorable, but that is pretty much the only redeeming factor of the movie.

I pretty much forgot about Meet Me at Christmas right after the show ended, except for one thing (see below). I didn't intend to watch as, like @EyewatchTV211 wrote, the story (based on previews for me) didn't seem interesting. But I did watch because I had a couple of hours with nothing to do, so gave this a whirl.

As for the one redeeming thing about Meet Me at Christmas, I loved, loved, loved the sparkly green dress Catherine Bell wore for the wedding scene. I'm trying to find where I can buy it, or something similar to it. I tried the site As Worn on TV but that was no help. 

Can anyone here help?  Please....

34 minutes ago, Kaoteek said:

Frustrated by Timeless Christmas, which needed at least a couple of rewrites to feel less superficial, and sometimes felt a waste of its main couple.

Liked The Christmas Bow, even though I still feel Michael Rady is too safe & bland for my taste.

Overall, so far, Hallmark is faring better than I expected them too - sometimes, they're overcompensating on the diversity mandate, they often fall back on the usual tropes, but they seem to be giving their writers slightly more leeway, this season.

I watched the first 30 mins or so of Timeless Christmas but just couldn't get into it. [It also reminded me of a similar Jen Lilley Christmas movie where the owner of the house somehow comes into the modern period. [I liked that movie because I thought Jen and the lead actor had lovely chemistry and looked beautiful together as a couple.]  

As for the Christmas Bow, the best thing about it was the introduction of Asian diversity in the lead female/major supporting roles. I think this is the first time I can recall Asian characters being more front and center in these sorts of holiday films. 

[Callietwo]

3 hours ago, norcalgal said:

I watched the first 30 mins or so of Timeless Christmas but just couldn't get into it. [It also reminded me of a similar Jen Lilley Christmas movie where the owner of the house somehow comes into the modern period. [I liked that movie because I thought Jen and the lead actor had lovely chemistry and looked beautiful together as a couple.]  

(I don't remember that Jen Lily movie- I'll have to look out for it, I really like her)

I just finished a Timeless Christmas and I actually enjoyed it a lot.  After reading here, I had low expectations so maybe that helped.

I had absolutely no problem suspending disbelief over his seeming ability to know things he shouldn't have known or understood and also about his lack of a social security number, etc. because we had to suspend disbelief that he was a time traveler so no big deal to wave off the logical specifics on what that might mean.  🤷‍♀️ 

Ryan P has beautiful eyes and really deep lines on his forehead, both of which are a bit distracting up close.  He's only 36 years old, what is up with that?   

I also watched Christmas in Vienna and what a total disappointment that had, gorgeous scenery notwithstanding.  All that build up to a concert and all we got was a big ol pile of nothing.  And we're supposed to believe she's a guest performer at this amazing event but no practices with the orchestra in advance, just an admonishment from the conductress that she needs to be ready?  Blah.   (I guess that was probably due to Covid-19, assuming this was filmed recently but the ending was pretty flat.) 

[Kohola3]

5 hours ago, Kaoteek said:

Overall, so far, Hallmark is faring better than I expected them too - sometimes, they're overcompensating on the diversity mandate

Seriously?  Name one single movie where the cast is less than 95% Caucasian.  Even with the main characters are not, the rest of the cast is.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

Seriously?  Name one single movie where the cast is less than 95% Caucasian.  Even with the main characters are not, the rest of the cast is.

Have you been watching Hallmark over the last month? I’m usually very critical of them on the issue but there have been significant improvements in way that is clearly deliberate. This year it’s unusual to see a Hallmark movie without multiple POC and an interracial couple. 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Guest

[Irlandesa]

I think there's a difference between "making an effort" and "overcompensating." 

They've definitely made an effort to improve the diversity of their leads instead of having their diversity just be background characters. 

But I don't think they've overcompensating.  Overcompensating to me implies overdoing it.  I don't know what that would look like, exactly, but I don't think Hallmark is anywhere near it.

Edited November 20, 2020 by Irlandesa

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I think there's a difference between "making an effort" and "overcompensating." 

They've definitely made an effort to improve the diversity of their leads instead of having their diversity just be background characters. 

But I don't think they've overcompensating.  Overcompensating to me implies overdoing it.  I don't know what that would look like, exactly, but I don't think Hallmark is anywhere near it.

I completely agree with you. It’s striking this year because it is such a change but it really just means the movies actually look closer to the real world now. 

[norcalgal]

31 minutes ago, Dani said:

Have you been watching Hallmark over the last month? I’m usually very critical of them on the issue but there have been significant improvements in way that is clearly deliberate. This year it’s unusual to see a Hallmark movie without multiple POC and interracial couples. 

I think there's also going to be one gay couple featured in a holiday movie either this weekend or next. I wonder if certain Hallmark viewers will stage a boycott. Didn't "traditional" viewers cause a stink when there was a commercial for Hallmark that had a lesbian wedding kiss? And that was just a commercial!

25 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I think there's a difference between "making an effort" and "overcompensating." 

They've definitely made an effort to improve the diversity of their leads instead of having their diversity just be background characters. 

But I don't think they've overcompensating.  Overcompensating to me implies overdoing it.  I don't know what that would look like, exactly, but I don't think Hallmark is anywhere near it.

Agreed - Hallmark isn't at the overcompensation stage yet.

This is also the first time I can recall a Hallmark holiday season with an interracial couple. I watched Deliver by Christmas (the male lead played Pinocchio in Once Upon a Time), The Christmas Bow, and The Christmas Ring but I think there's another interracial movie - - - can't recall the name the of it though.

Edited November 20, 2020 by norcalgal

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

I think there's also going to be one gay couple featured in a holiday movie either this weekend or next. I wonder if certain Hallmark viewers will stage a boycott. Didn't "traditional" viewers cause a stink when there was a commercial for Hallmark that had a lesbian wedding kiss? And that was just a commercial!

The Christmas House on Sunday. I think there has been a continuous boycott since the lesbian wedding aired a few months ago. 

19 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

Agreed - Hallmark isn't at the overcompensation stage yet.

This is also the first time I can recall a Hallmark holiday season with an interracial couple. I watched Deliver by Christmas (the male lead played Pinocchio in Once Upon a Time), The Christmas Bow, and The Christmas Ring but I think there's another interracial movie - - - can't recall the name the of it though.

Jingle Bell Bride, Christmas with the Darlings and Holly and Ivy have also had interracial leads. 

[Kaoteek]

I probably should have rephrased that, I guess (and i think the word might be stronger in english than it is in french, so nuance got lost in translation), but by "overcompensating", I meant that from what i've watched so far, there's sometimes an air of Hallmark trying to awkwardly cram as many minorities/ethnicities as possible in some of their movies, this year, to prove that they're making an effort on that front.

Whether it's having their season-opening movie feature more diversity in a 100-people remote alaskan town than in the 10 previous years of Hallmark movies combined, having the token redhead bff be a lesbian who has the hots for the sexy asian barmaid, or Michael Rady's mom being played by a wheelchair-bound latina, there's something that rubs me the wrong way in this sudden approach.

Yeah, they're making an effort, and in theory, i'm all for it, but i'm not sure they're making an effort for the right reasons - but then again, it's still Hallmark we're talking about, subtlety was never their forte, and I might be expecting too much from the network : the Hallmark guidelines may have changed, but the writers are still clearly limited in what they can do.

(as for the upcoming Jonathan Bennett-fronted movie, yeah, it will be boycotted by the usual suspects ; they're already pretending Christmas with the Darlings never aired nor existed, so what's one more - or less - movie for them ?)

Edited November 20, 2020 by Kaoteek

[Guest]

17 hours ago, Kaoteek said:

I probably should have rephrased that, I guess (and i think the word might be stronger in english than it is in french, so nuance got lost in translation), but by "overcompensating", I meant that from what i've watched so far, there's sometimes an air of Hallmark trying to awkwardly cram as many minorities/ethnicities as possible in some of their movies, this year, to prove that they're making an effort on that front.

Whether it's having their season-opening movie feature more diversity in a 100-people remote alaskan town than in the 10 previous years of Hallmark movies combined, having the token redhead bff be a lesbian who has the hots for the sexy asian barmaid, or Michael Rady's mom being played by a wheelchair-bound latina, there's something that rubs me the wrong way in this sudden approach.

Yeah, they're making an effort, and in theory, i'm all for it, but i'm not sure they're making an effort for the right reasons - but then again, it's still Hallmark we're talking about, subtlety was never their forte, and I might be expecting too much from the network : the Hallmark guidelines may have changed, but the writers are still clearly limited in what they can do.

(as for the upcoming Jonathan Bennett-fronted movie, yeah, it will be boycotted by the usual suspects ; they're already pretending Christmas with the Darlings never aired nor existed, so what's one more - or less - movie for them ?)

Sounds like you meant disingenuous. I’ve wondered about that some but overall I think the change is so drastic because they are aligning to the priorities from the new CEO. They went from a guy who was trying to recreate a Norman Rockwell painting to a woman who used to be the CEO for TV One.

I’m sure it’s disingenuous from some involved but I think it’s also the people involved creatively finally being given free reign in certain areas. 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Guest

[norcalgal]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

Sounds like you meant disingenuous. I’ve wondered about that some but overall I think the chance so drastic because they are aligning to the priorities from the new CEO. They went from a guy who was trying to recreate a Norman Rockwell painting to a woman who used to be the CEO for TV One.

I’m sure it’s disingenuous from some involved but I think it’s also the people involved creatively finally being given free reign in certain areas. 

Maybe it's both disingenuous and cynical?  At least the cynical part is my take on things.  It's like Hallmark looked up and saw Lifetime & UPtv (sort of Netflix too) with all that diversity in their holiday programming and wanted in on the action.

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

Maybe it's both disingenuous and cynical?  At least the cynical part is my take on things.  It's like Hallmark looked up and saw Lifetime & UPtv (sort of Netflix too) with all that diversity in their holiday programming and wanted in on the action.

I’m plenty cynical about the changes and Hallmark trying to play to both audiences. I couldn’t help noticing that the interracial romances are all frontloaded in the schedule and the higher rated month is heavily white leads. I am very happy with what I am seeing but it does feel like there are a group of diverse movies and a group of movies to appeal to the racist and homophobic audience. Of course that could be because the new CEO was hired late in the year and going forward it will be more balanced.

Based on what happened last Christmas my guess is the much more inclusive parent company (Hallmark Cards) realized Hallmark Channel’s exclusivity was in serious danger of damaging the brand and stepped in to with new mandates, booted the old CEO and handpicked a new CEO to create a “new Hallmark”. 

[dubstepford wife]

This is reminding me of that philosophical discussion about whether true altruism exists.  If people always get something out of doing good works (and you do get a warm fuzzy feeling from it), then is it true altruism?  And if Hallmark's motives for increasing diversity are more Machiavellian than we would like, yeah that sucks, but they are kind of changing, so that's good.  They'd hardly be the first business to take their bottom line into consideration when deciding the best course of action.  That's kind of what businesses do.

Me, I want to see if this effort is sustained.  If they feature interracial couples and LGBTQ characters often enough that it stops being noteworthy, then I think that will show a commitment to change.  But if by next summer things are back to the way they were before, then that shows they were just checking off a box.  If that happens, I think they lose me forever.  There are just too many other options for feel-good entertainment that don't have uncomfortable racial/homophobic undertones.

On 11/19/2020 at 1:53 PM, ehall1052 said:

Is Daniel Lissing doing anymore Hallmark movies? I haven’t seen him in one for quite a while and I really like him.

I think we've seen the last of him.  He's either been blacklisted by the network or doesn't want to come back.

[Bronx Babe]

A Quarantine Christmas.

"Winner of the Snowball Toss gets a year's supply of Lysol!"

The ultimate Hallmark fantasy.

[WinnieWinkle]

To give myself a Friday treat after the end of a very stressful week I watched Window Wonderland and Nine Lives of Christmas.  After reading through this thread and the other holiday themed thread I've realized what I love about these movies is that the acting is very good, the scripts are well written and as believable as it gets for the genre, the chemisty between the two leads is great and the supporting cast are stellar.  But what I absolutely like best is no cookie baking, no snowball fight, no "oh nos the Christmas festival will have to be cancelled" and no hot cocoa!

 

[norcalgal]

On 11/19/2020 at 10:53 AM, ehall1052 said:

Is Daniel Lissing doing anymore Hallmark movies? I haven’t seen him in one for quite a while and I really like him.

I think I only saw one interview with him (speaking his native Aussie accent) so it would have been interesting if we could watch him in more Hallmark productions just being an Aussie, instead of portraying an American or Canadian character. Ah well...if it's a mutual parting between the actor and Hallmark, that's too bad.

17 minutes ago, WinnieWinkle said:

But what I absolutely like best is no cookie baking, no snowball fight, no "oh nos the Christmas festival will have to be cancelled" and no hot cocoa!

 

GASP!  No hot cocoa!!!  That's blasphemy in my house. Hot cocoa is an annual staple for us when the weather starts getting cold. 

[Kohola3]

29 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

No hot cocoa!!! 

Well, we only drink cold or lukewarm or iced cocoa.  Because if they insist on using "hot" to describe it there must be other alternatives.

[Irlandesa]

Is pursuing diversity any more cynical than giving lip service to "taking diversity seriously" on Facebook and year after year showing that they didn't take diversity seriously?

Diversity takes effort.  But make no mistake, Hallmark's lack of diversity also took effort.  It's easy to think it might not since media representation has always lagged behind real demographic shifts. Therefore, it feels "normal" to not see much diversity on our screens whereas anything else feels like effort because it's different.   I think that's probably wrong. I definitely think there was deliberateness and choice involved in who the old CEO chose to put in front of us. 

When it comes to storytelling, in fact, we've heard dribbles from people within Crown Media who have indicated just how hamstrung they were by Hallmark's "requirements" which meant they had to add/remove things to create a sameness.  That takes work.  They've probably done the same with casting. 

So this year they had a character with CMT in The Christmas Bow.  They decided to go out and find someone with CMT to play that character for more authenticity.  In the past, an able bodied actress would have just gotten the part while the person with CMT would have been ignored.  I don't hate that effort.  Not one bit.  Because they've committed to diversity, we are also seeing new actors in these roles and not the same people 10 times a year. 

This sameness was not always Hallmark's brand.  I think it was largely part of when Crown Media started taking over all the production. Now there's a new leader in charge and she  gets to shape her vision like the last guy shaped his.

It sounds like there's an excitement from a lot of people who work with Hallmark, especially many of their stars, at the changes.  Maybe that's why there seems to be an energy to their movies this year.

And there are still movies with white leads.  A ton of them.

 

 

[Ashforth]

8 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Because they've committed to diversity, we are also seeing new actors in these roles and not the same people 10 times a year. 

So much good stuff in your post! This stood out for me. I hope the same will be true for the leads as well as for supporting roles. I get tired of the Hallmark "stars". If they didn't relentlessly rerun the movies from past years, maybe it wouldn't bug me as much.

I swear one weekend they aired a marathon of Christmas movies starring Alicia Witt. I used to like her, but now, not as much. She's developed a thing (or maybe I just started noticing it) of saying "s" as "esh". 

[Kohola3]

On 11/19/2020 at 2:01 PM, norcalgal said:

[It also reminded me of a similar Jen Lilley Christmas movie where the owner of the house somehow comes into the modern period. [I liked that movie because I thought Jen and the lead actor had lovely chemistry and looked beautiful together as a couple.]  

The Spirit of Christmas.  It's already been on a couple of times this week on Lifetime.  I like it because it's real snow and real cold in a beautful setting.

[NYGirl]

7 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

The Spirit of Christmas.  It's already been on a couple of times this week on Lifetime.  I like it because it's real snow and real cold in a beautful setting.

And..you forgot the good looking ghost!

[norcalgal]

18 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Is pursuing diversity any more cynical than giving lip service to "taking diversity seriously" on Facebook and year after year showing that they didn't take diversity seriously?

Diversity takes effort.  But make no mistake, Hallmark's lack of diversity also took effort.  It's easy to think it might not since media representation has always lagged behind real demographic shifts. Therefore, it feels "normal" to not see much diversity on our screens whereas anything else feels like effort because it's different.   I think that's probably wrong. I definitely think there was deliberateness and choice involved in who the old CEO chose to put in front of us. 

When it comes to storytelling, in fact, we've heard dribbles from people within Crown Media who have indicated just how hamstrung they were by Hallmark's "requirements" which meant they had to add/remove things to create a sameness.  That takes work.  They've probably done the same with casting. 

So this year they had a character with CMT in The Christmas Bow.  They decided to go out and find someone with CMT to play that character for more authenticity.  In the past, an able bodied actress would have just gotten the part while the person with CMT would have been ignored.  I don't hate that effort.  Not one bit.  Because they've committed to diversity, we are also seeing new actors in these roles and not the same people 10 times a year. 

This sameness was not always Hallmark's brand.  I think it was largely part of when Crown Media started taking over all the production. Now there's a new leader in charge and she  gets to shape her vision like the last guy shaped his.

It sounds like there's an excitement from a lot of people who work with Hallmark, especially many of their stars, at the changes.  Maybe that's why there seems to be an energy to their movies this year.

And there are still movies with white leads.  A ton of them.

That's sad there was a deliberate agenda at Crown Media under the old regime to ONLY focus on certain kinds of stories and characters (basically, what would be palatable to their conservative audience). Regarding the bolded above, even IRL, people mostly associate with others who look/think like them. So one could naively assume the casting & stories on Hallmark movies of yesteryear was due to the CEO and other Powers That Be only associating with people like them, so those were the stories that got told. But wow - if it was a deliberate policy to exclusively focus on whiteness and white-centered stories, it took long enough for that regime to be tossed out (and good riddance!).  

I'm glad there's a new sheriff in town, and like you pointed out @Irlandesa, there's actually attention paid to casting that's authentic. May it long continue.

10 hours ago, Ashforth said:

So much good stuff in your post! This stood out for me. I hope the same will be true for the leads as well as for supporting roles. I get tired of the Hallmark "stars". If they didn't relentlessly rerun the movies from past years, maybe it wouldn't bug me as much.

I swear one weekend they aired a marathon of Christmas movies starring Alicia Witt. I used to like her, but now, not as much. She's developed a thing (or maybe I just started noticing it) of saying "s" as "esh". 

YES!!!  Not to Alicia Witt exactly, but the same actors/actresses appearing over and over. Except for Corey Sevier*, I don't really have strong feelings (like/dislike) about any of the same crop of actors/actresses that are constantly rotated on Hallmark, but I do get tired of seeing the same faces. It's like the old Hollywood Studio System. For me, after a while, instead of focusing on the current movie, my mind might drift to one of their past Hallmark movies or I might confuse projects an actor/actress has done for Hallmark!  

* I think Corey is an OK actor, but I have warm feelings for him ever since he was a child actor on that long ago tv series Little Men, set in the universe of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.  Yes, I am old as dirt that I remember that tv show!

ETA: another exception I might make is for Natalie Hall. I've liked her ever since I saw some movie she made with Darin Brooks where they're friends who found out they might be "common law" married. [She & Darin really need to do another rom-com together; they're good at the com part] My warm and fuzzies for Natalie was cemented by the tv series Star-Crossed (her character was my fave on that show).

[Kohola3]

2 hours ago, NYGirl said:

And..you forgot the good looking ghost!

Nah, hated his haircut.

1 hour ago, norcalgal said:

I get tired of the Hallmark "stars". If they didn't relentlessly rerun the movies from past years, maybe it wouldn't bug me as much.

It wouldn't be so bad except that they play the same characters over and over and over and over and...

[Guest]

23 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Is pursuing diversity any more cynical than giving lip service to "taking diversity seriously" on Facebook and year after year showing that they didn't take diversity seriously?

Diversity takes effort.  But make no mistake, Hallmark's lack of diversity also took effort.  It's easy to think it might not since media representation has always lagged behind real demographic shifts. Therefore, it feels "normal" to not see much diversity on our screens whereas anything else feels like effort because it's different.   I think that's probably wrong. I definitely think there was deliberateness and choice involved in who the old CEO chose to put in front of us. 

This is so true. The fact that these more diverse moments often seem forced and deliberate is a sign of the problem. Hollywood has normalized the abnormal to the point normal people in tv and movies feels abnormal. 

The stories coming out of Vancouver about Hallmark over the last few years have shown how deliberate they were in keeping all diversity out of the movies. 

Edited November 21, 2020 by Guest

[Luckylyn]

Every Hallmark Movie Again: A Single Dad Christmas 

So As usual I am behind but trying to keep up with Hallmark, Lifetime, and Up.  So far I have enjoyed One Royal Holiday , On the 12th Date of Christmas , Deliver by Christmas , Never Kiss A Man in a Christmas Sweater (until the mandatory misunderstanding towards the end) and Christmas with the Darlings.

 I got bored during Timeless Christmas .  Lifetime’s Spirit of Christmas did so much better with a similar premise.  I can’t remember the Alicia Witt/Andrew Walker movie name but I found that one just okay.  The Cranberry marriage in trouble movie had bits I liked but didn’t pull me in as much as the ones I liked better. So far I have been enjoying Hallmark the most and finding most of Lifetime and Up disappointing.   This year seems better than last year for Hallmark.

 I genuinely love hot cocoa.  I drink it all year round.  So I don’t mind the Christmas movie hot cocoa references.

[Luckylyn]

On 11/15/2020 at 5:27 PM, KaveDweller said:

The Christmas version of Pleasantville sounds like it would be a lot of fun.

I think I remember a movie where two sisters get sucked into one sister’s favorite Christmas movie. I can’t remember the name.  It might have been on Up?  I liked the premise but the execution wasn’t as fun as I hoped.

[Angel pie]

20 minutes ago, Luckylyn said:

 I genuinely love hot cocoa.  I drink it all year round.  So I don’t mind the Christmas movie hot cocoa references.

Last year it was "winter storm Megan" in all the movies.

[Luckylyn]

8 minutes ago, Angel pie said:

Last year it was "winter storm Megan" in all the movies.

I’m having flashbacks to TWOP’s Rae Dawn Chong Challenge.  Every year the recappers would slip a particular reference into all the recaps and readers had to figure out what it was.  The first was Rae Dawn Chong. 

[EyewatchTV211]

4 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

Every Hallmark Movie Again: A Single Dad Christmas 

So As usual I am behind but trying to keep up with Hallmark, Lifetime, and Up.  So far I have enjoyed One Royal Holiday , On the 12th Date of Christmas , Deliver by Christmas , Never Kiss A Man in a Christmas Sweater (until the mandatory misunderstanding towards the end) and Christmas with the Darlings.

 I got bored during Timeless Christmas .  Lifetime’s Spirit of Christmas did so much better with a similar premise.  I can’t remember the Alicia Witt/Andrew Walker movie name but I found that one just okay.  The Cranberry marriage in trouble movie had bits I liked but didn’t pull me in as much as the ones I liked better. So far I have been enjoying Hallmark the most and finding most of Lifetime and Up disappointing.   This year seems better than last year for Hallmark.

 I genuinely love hot cocoa.  I drink it all year round.  So I don’t mind the Christmas movie hot cocoa references.

Looks like we share very similar opinions on most of the movies this year. Timeless Christmas was a shame because I had read the book, but I'm not really surprised that the movie wasn't that good. I also had been disappointed by the casting of the leads. 

And I also love hot cocoa. I drink it all year round, although I'm more in the mood when it's colder. I also eat pumpkin products all year.

[kirinan]

5 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

I think I remember a movie where two sisters get sucked into one sister’s favorite Christmas movie. I can’t remember the name.  It might have been on Up?  I liked the premise but the execution wasn’t as fun as I hoped.

A Christmas Movie Christmas. It was on UP last night, but I didn't watch it because I've seen it, plus Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was on, and I got sucked into that for the 949th time. ACMC was cute, but not something I'd watch a lot. My main interest in it was the fact that it was filmed in Frankenmuth, Michigan, just a little over an hour from my house and a place my family has visited for years.

Which means I didn't watch A Nashville Christmas Carol, either (to bring it back on topic), and I think I may save myself the two hours given the lukewarm reception to it in the holiday movie thread. I'm iffy about The Angel Tree, too, much as I like Jill Wagner. I'm trying to only watch the movies I really think offer a good chance of being two hours well-spent. Like the upcoming Christmas by Starlight with Kimberly Sustad and Paul Campbell on Thanksgiving night—I am SUPER excited about that one!

Edited November 22, 2020 by kirinan

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

I think I remember a movie where two sisters get sucked into one sister’s favorite Christmas movie. I can’t remember the name.  It might have been on Up?  I liked the premise but the execution wasn’t as fun as I hoped.

A Christmas Movie Christmas. I had high hopes for that one but that it fizzled once it started buying into the tropes rather than poking fun at it. 
 

Unfortunately, every movie that uses a story similar to Pleasantville makes it more of a boring Groundhog Day style movie. 

[Bronx Babe]

The counting continues.  70 mentions so far of the word "Christmas" in The Christmas Club and there's 14 minutes left.

There's the signpost up ahead....

[Shorty186]

On 11/20/2020 at 3:06 PM, Irlandesa said:

So this year they had a character with CMT in The Christmas Bow.  They decided to go out and find someone with CMT to play that character for more authenticity.  In the past, an able bodied actress would have just gotten the part while the person with CMT would have been ignored.  I don't hate that effort.  Not one bit.  Because they've committed to diversity, we are also seeing new actors in these roles and not the same people 10 times a year. 

I haven't seen the movie, so not sure what the character's storyline is but are you sure the character was written as having CMT and not that they auditioned the actor with CMT and liked them so much they decided to tailor the character to them? That would obviously also show their willingness for diversity. I just have a hard time believing a writer would decide to give a character a physically noticeable disease unless they had a personal connection to it. And I don't know, maybe they do.

Different random question, has anyone seen if Trading Christmas has aired yet or will be airing soon? I always try to watch that one but Hallmark tends to air the older movies less and less. Same with A Season for Miracles.

[WinnieWinkle]

16 minutes ago, Shorty186 said:

Different random question, has anyone seen if Trading Christmas has aired yet or will be airing soon?

I love that movie!  I haven't seen it listed anywhere that I get yet.  I agree with you and others that they aren't airing the older movies much anymore.  I'd love to see Mrs Miracle again but haven't noticed it come on in a few years.  I've noticed they air Call Me Mrs Miracle, which I enjoy, and Mr Miracle, which I most emphatically did not!  Why no Mrs Miracle?  Enquiring minds want to know!

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Shorty186 said:

Different random question, has anyone seen if Trading Christmas has aired yet or will be airing soon? I always try to watch that one but Hallmark tends to air the older movies less and less. Same with A Season for Miracles.

I haven’t seen Trading Christmas this year. I think they moved it to the subscription service. A Season for Miracles has been airing pretty regularly on Hallmark Drama. 

1 hour ago, WinnieWinkle said:

I love that movie!  I haven't seen it listed anywhere that I get yet.  I agree with you and others that they aren't airing the older movies much anymore.  I'd love to see Mrs Miracle again but haven't noticed it come on in a few years.  I've noticed they air Call Me Mrs Miracle, which I enjoy, and Mr Miracle, which I most emphatically did not!  Why no Mrs Miracle?  Enquiring minds want to know!

I’ve noticed the same thing but they have been airing Mrs. Miracle this year. The next time it airs is Wednesday morning on HMM. 

1 hour ago, Shorty186 said:

I haven't seen the movie, so not sure what the character's storyline is but are you sure the character was written as having CMT and not that they auditioned the actor with CMT and liked them so much they decided to tailor the character to them? That would obviously also show their willingness for diversity. I just have a hard time believing a writer would decide to give a character a physically noticeable disease unless they had a personal connection to it. And I don't know, maybe they do.

I don’t know for sure but my guess is it was written that way. The male lead was a physical therapist and his mom’s CMT was why he moved back to his home town. 

ETA: I found details for Christmas Bow. The producer is friends with the founder of The Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation and wanted to include a character with CMT. The role originally was written as women in a wheelchair because of a car accident.

Joy Perry and The Christmas Bow

Edited November 22, 2020 by Guest

[Callietwo]

4 hours ago, Dani said:

I haven’t seen Trading Christmas this year. I think they moved it to the subscription service

I just checked and yes, it has indeed been moved to HMM now app. 

I did one month early in my now 9 month long mandatory WFH but it just isn't worth the extra $$ to me.  

[Shorty186]

1 hour ago, Callietwo said:

I just checked and yes, it has indeed been moved to HMM now app. 

Thanks! Looks like they have a 7-day free trial so I will probably do that.

[Miss Bones]

Has anyone else noticed that, in Hallmark movies, only people who use treadmills and are dedicated to their careers have Christmas trees that are white, red or silver tinsel?  If it wasn’t cut down from a forest, it’s the villain’s tree.   

This person in The Christmas House is on the treadmill with a white tinsel tree in the background, so I know she is BAD NEWS!  Clay from One Tree Hill is definitely getting with his old flame who likes Christmas, over treadmill girl, who likes artificial trees over the real thing!  Funny it has only taken me like 10 yrs of watching this Hallmark nonsense to notice that only bad guys can have a fake tree.  But i do enjoy watching these movies, for some reason!

I will say that I am proud of this movie and Christmas with the Darlings (as HALLMARK movies!  Rome wasn’t built in a day!) being lifestyle-y diverse in a not too heavy-handed way!  As in, letting the Hallmark world know that it isn’t just straight folk out there!

 

ETA:  I’m probably overthinking what I said, but just want to make it clear that when I said “not too heavy handed”, I didn’t mean it like I don’t want to see other lifestyles embraced, I just meant that I wouldn’t like if they’d  tried to overcompensate for all the time they haven’t been as diverse as one may have hoped, and made it less organic in its portrayal.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Miss Bones

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, Miss Bones said:

I will say that I am proud of this movie and Christmas with the Darlings (as HALLMARK movies!  Rome wasn’t built in a day!) being lifestyle-y diverse in a not too heavy-handed way!  As in, letting the Hallmark world know that it isn’t just straight folk out there!

I have to admit I was shocked that they kissed in The Christmas House.  I really thought they were going to play the game like Christmas With The Darlings did where they were gay but their romantic relationship wouldn't be full of displays of affection. 

I was wrong.

[Miss Bones]

5 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I have to admit I was shocked that they kissed in The Christmas House.  I really thought they were going to play the game like Christmas With The Darlings did where they were gay but their romantic relationship wouldn't be full of displays of affection. 

I was wrong.

Totally agree!  When they kissed I think I said “Wow, Hallmark! Look at you!” out loud.  I thought for sure that they were going to pussyfoot around it.

[starri]

I've never watched a Hallmark movie before, but I did watch The Christmas House, and I was honestly expecting, at most, a lot of hugging.  I was definitely impressed that they went for it.  I still think they sidestepped the bigger issue by not going for a romance plot like Lifetime and Paramount Network, but they went further than I expected.

As for the movie as a whole...I can't say that I liked it, because it's really not my thing, but I'm glad I watched it.  I did legitimately buy the family as a family, which I think should be credited to the actors instead of the writers, particularly Sharon Lawrence.

[Kohola3]

10 hours ago, Miss Bones said:

 Funny it has only taken me like 10 yrs of watching this Hallmark nonsense to notice that only bad guys can have a fake tree.

Good catch!  Altough even the green trees are fake despite the ubiquitous tree lot scene.  Gotta shill the Balsam Hill crap nonstop.